Rajya Sabha MP Sudha Murty on Friday emphasized on documenting history and how one should learn from history and try not to repeat the same mistakes.

A Coffee Table Book titled ‘Monasteries of Bodh Gaya—Abodes of Cultural Amalgamation of South Asia’ written by Dr. Kaynat Kazi was officially launched by Sudha Murty, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) on December 6 at the Hansraj College, University Delhi, New Delhi.

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This event was a collaboration between the literary society of Hansraj College and the Bougainvillaea Art Foundation.

Talking about the author, Kaynat Kazi is a passionate researcher, writer, photographer, and traveler. She has travelled from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Nagaland to Gujarat and journeyed three lakh kilometres in five years and this art foundation has been created by Kaynat.

The event was chaired by Vanathi Srinivasan, National President Mahila Morcha, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Padma Award winner archaeologist KK Muhammed, who was present in the event along with several college students, Teachers and media people.

Emphasising the history of perseverance, Sudha said, “As we are today, we don’t know what happened 1000 years ago due to a lack of documentation. We should know what human beings have achieved in what we have failed. If we don’t learn from history, we will make the same mistake, so we should preserve our history.”.

“Buddhism spread up to Japan and other parts of the country during Samrat Ashoka’s time; it went up to China with the help of Buddhist Kumara monks; there are very few Buddhist monks who took it to different parts of the country,” she concluded.

Stating more about Buddhism culture, she said, “I went to Taiwan; there is a Buddhist temple; in China, you can find different Buddhist monasteries; you get a lot of respect when you say we are from India and in reply they say it is a land of Buddha.”

During the event, she referred to herself as the teacher, not as MP, stating, ” I come some other time and talk to you for another 45 minutes until the bell rings.”.

She also honoured her guru, KK Muhammad, who was present in the event. Referring to him, she said, “He sent me a book on Madhya Pradesh and it was so enchanting that I felt I was travelling there. I am not a trained historian but whenever I have a problem, I talk to KK Muhamad.”

Talking about the Buddhist culture, Muhammad said, “This book, written by Kaynat Kazi, will play an important role for the upcoming future generation and they need to know about how exactly rich our culture is.”.

This coffee table book introduces the audience to the Buddhist pilgrimage place Bodh Gaya and also talks about different monasteries situated in the district of Gaya.

This book is also a travel memoir and the cultural record of the 41 different temples and monasteries that are situated in Bodh Gaya. The book beautifully captures different pictures describing the life of Lord Buddha and Dr. Kazi has beautifully described her experience of solo travelling through the book.