Gidhaila

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Gidhaila (गिधैला) near Gidhaula Pahad (गिधैला पहाड़) is a village in Ramnagar tahsil in Satna district in the Madhya Pradesh. In ancient literature it was called Griddhraj Parvat (गृद्घराज पर्वत).

Griddhraj Parvat

Griddhraj Parvat (also called, Gridhrakuta Hill or locally known as Giddhaila Pahar) (English: Vulture Peak, Hindi: गृद्घराज पर्वत), which literally means the hill of vultures, is a hill of religious, archeological and ecological importance situated in Devrajnagar village of tehsil Ramnagar in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, India.

It is located at a distance of 8 km from Ramnagar town and 65 km from Satna in south direction. Its latitude and longitude are 24°18' North and 81°15' East. The altitude of the hill is 2354 feet. The hill is situated between Kaimur Range in the north and Maikal hills in the south.

The place is of archaeological importance. There are four caves on the hill in which Rock painting and mural paintings are visible.

An annual fair is organized every year in the month of Magha on the occasion of Vasant Panchami. Thousands of people come and take a dip in the Ganges River.

In Hindu mythology

Griddhraj Parvat is of great religious importance in Hindu mythology. It has been mentioned in Skanda Purana as ‘Griddhanchal Parvat’ (page 208). It is believed to be the birthplace of ‘Sampati’, the brother of Griddhraj ‘Jatayu’ mentioned in Ramayana. The poet Kalidas mentions about this place as the most sacred in his book ‘Griddharaj Mahatmya’ (Narad Uvach) in Sanskrit language. He has written that a dip in the Mānasī Ganga River originating from Griddhraj Parvat, at an altitude of 2354 feet, is a saviour of all kinds of sins. Sons of Brahma and then goddess Parvati first saw this hill. It finds mention in Shiva Samhita (Chapter 19-Bhoogol varnan).

Mention by Fa-hien

Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Faxian (Fa-hien) had visited probably a different, Buddhist holy place with the same name (Vulture Peak in Rajgir, and has mentioned it as Gridhra-kuta Hill in Chapter XXIX (see also James Legge): Chapter XXIX : GRIDHRA-KUTA HILL, AND LEGENDS. FA-HIEN PASSES A NIGHT ON IT. HIS REFLECTIONS.

"Entering the valley, and keeping along the mountains on the south-east, after ascending fifteen le, (the travellers) came to mount Gridhra-kuta.(1) Three le before you reach the top, there is a cavern in the rocks, facing the south, in which Buddha sat in meditation. Thirty paces to the north-west there is another, where Ananda was sitting in meditation, when the deva Mara Pisuna,(2) having assumed the form of a large vulture, took his place in front of the cavern, and frightened the disciple. Then Buddha, by his mysterious, supernatural power, made a cleft in the rock, introduced his hand, and stroked Ananda's shoulder, so that his fear immediately died. The footprints of the bird and the cleft for (Buddha's) hand are still there, and hence comes the name of "The Hill of the Vulture Cavern."

In Buddhist Literature

Vulture Peak Mountain is, by tradition, one of several sites frequented by the Buddha and his community of disciples for both training and retreat. Its location is frequently mentioned in the Buddhist sutras both in the Theravada]] Pali Canon[1] [2]and in the Mahayana sutras, as where the Buddha gave a particular sermon. Among the latter are the Heart Sutra, the Lotus Sutra and the Suramgamasamadhi sutra, as well as many other Prajnaparamita Sutras.

It is explicitly mentioned in the Lotus Sutra in Chapter 16 as the Buddha's "Pure Land":[3]

And when the living have become faithful,
Honest and upright and gentle,
And wholeheartedly want to see the Buddha,
Even at the cost of their own lives,

Then, together with the assembly of monks
I appear on Holy Eagle Peak.

...

Such are my divine powers.
Throughout countless eons,
I have always lived on Holy Eagle Peak
And in various other places.

When the living witness the end of an eon,
When everything is consumed in a great fire,
This land of mine remains safe and tranquil,
Always filled with human and heavenly beings.

Habitat of vultures

Griddhraj Parvat is a unique habitat of vultures not only in India but the world also. Vultures in number of thousands can be seen in the crevices of the hill rocks. The vulture species seen here are long billed vulture (Gips indicus) and White backed vulture (Gips bengalensis). Apart from vultures it is also the habitat of number of wild animals.

Further reading

  • Jitan Singh Diwan, Kothi State, 1907: Rewa Rajya Darpan
  • Kalidas : Griddharaj Mahatmya (Narad Uvach)
  • Shiva Samhita (Chapter 19-Bhoogol varnan)
  • JAMES LEGGE: A RECORD OF BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS, Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline

References

External links



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