Land of Stupas: Sarnath

Sarnath, Varanasi is known for two things: Buddha gave his first sermon and for the Ashoka Pillar.

• In ancient times, this place was known by many names — Rishipatana, Mrigadava and Mrigadaya. The word Sarnath comes from a corruption of the name Saranganatha (lord of deer).
• The ashes of the Buddha were buried in stupas built at locations associated with important events in the Buddha’s life including:
  
  • Lumbini (where he was born), Bodh Gaya (where he achieved Enlightenment), Deer Park at Sarnath (where he preached his first sermon sharing the Four Noble Truths (also called the dharma or the law), and Kushinagara (where he died).
• The choice of these sites and others were based on both real and legendary events.

Stupas at Sarnath

• Two hundred years after Buddha, the Mauryan emperor, Ashoka, fought the battle of Kalinga and, disgusted by the bloodshed, became a Buddhist.
• Ashoka built many beautiful stupas and monasteries in Sarnath.
• Sir Alexander Cunningham (First Director-General of Archaeological Survey of India), excavated the Dhamekh, Dharmarajika, and Chaukhandi stupas along with a monastery and temple between 1834 and 1836.

• Many excavations followed these, the most famous among them being the 1904-05 excavation by Friedrich Oscar Oertel of the Ashoka Pillar, including the Lion Capital.

Invasions and Restorations

• Dharmarajika stupa is the one said to have been built by Ashoka to commemorate Buddha’s first sermon.
• After Ashoka, the other rulers who added to Sarnath’s glory were the Kushans, the Guptas and Harshavardhana.
• Under the Guptas, the Dhamekh stupa (synonymous with Sarnath) was encased with stone-carved floral designs.
• Sarnath suffered from the Huna invasions, but Harshavardhana later restored some of the earlier buildings. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-Tsang (602-664) left detailed accounts of the Dharmarajika stupa and Ashoka’s lion pillar.
• Sarnath also suffered when it was attacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century. After that, Mahipala, the Pala king, restored the monuments.
• The last great monument of Sarnath, a monastery named Dharmachakra Jina Vihara was built in the 11th century by Kumaradevi, wife of Govindachanda of the Gahadavala dynasty.

Kerala Sets Up Drug Price Monitor

Kerala has become the first State to set up a Price Monitoring and Research Unit (PMRU) to track violation of prices of essential drugs and medical devices under the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO).

Composition

• PMRU will be registered as a society with following composition:
  • State Health Secretary (Chairman)
  • Drugs Controller (Member secretary)
  • State government representative (Member)
  • Representatives of private pharmaceutical companies (Members)
  • Representative from consumer rights protection fora (Member)
• The society would also have an executive committee headed by the Drugs Controller.

Background

• This comes more than five years after the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) proposed such a system for the States and the Union Territories.
• The suggestion to set up PMRUs was made against the backdrop of the lack of a field-level link between the NPPA and the State Drugs Controllers and State Drug Inspectors to monitor drug prices.

Objective

• The PMRU will work to develop synergy between the central and state authorities.
• It will provide technical help to the State Drug Controllers and the NPPA to monitor notified prices of medicines.
• Detect violation of the provisions of the DPCO.
• Look at price compliance.
• To collect test samples of medicines, and collect and compile market-based data of scheduled as well as non-scheduled formulations.

Important Facts for Prelims (5th February 2019)

Asian Elephant Alliance

• The Asian Elephant Alliance has decided to raise about 187 crore rupees to secure 96 out of the 101 elephants corridors across 12 States in India in the next 10 years.
• Asian Elephant Alliance is a joint initiative by five non-governmental organizations(NGOs).
• Five NGOs include Elephant Family, International Fund for Animal Welfare, IUCN Netherlands, World Land Trust and Wildlife Trust of India.

Kisan Credit Cards

• The Government of India has decided to launch a campaign aimed at financial inclusion of farmers by enhancing the coverage of Kisan Credit Cards (KCC).
• This campaign will be launched through the Financial Institutions including Commercial Banks, Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks in collaboration with the State Governments.
• At present, there are around 6.95 crores active KCCs. However, there are still a large number of farmers who do not have access to institutional credit either because they have not been issued a KCC or the KCC issued earlier have been inactive due to various reasons.
• Kisan Credit Card (KCC) was introduced in August 1998 to enable farmers in having quick and timely access to affordable credit. It was launched by the NABARD and Reserve Bank of India.
• The scheme aims to reduce farmers’ dependency on informal banks for credit, which is often lucrative yet very expensive.

Black Softshell Turtle

• The black softshell turtle is being bred in the pond of Hayagriva Madhab Temple at Hajo in Guwahati, Assam.
• Locals regard the turtles in the pond as Kurma avatar of Lord Vishnu to whom the Hajo temple is dedicated.
• India hosts 28 species of turtles, of which 20 are found in Assam. Threats to turtles include hunting for meat and eggs, silt mining, encroachment of wetlands and change in flooding pattern have had a disastrous impact on the turtle population.