Retracing the Footsteps of the Buddha and Xuanzang: Interview with Indian explorer and researcher,Deepak Anand (Dakini Coversations, Ep.9 )

For Episode 9 of the Dakini Conversations podcast I am delighted to welcome Deepak Anand, an Indian explorer, writer and researcher and author of several books on Indian Buddhist heritage sites and Buddhist relics, and founder of a remarkable project to film and document important Buddhist sites by personally retracing by foot, the route of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, 7th CE monk scholar Xuanzang’s epic journey of over 10,000 miles from China to India and back, to throw fresh light on the routes and sacred places of the Buddhist pilgrimage and create awareness about the importance of Xuanzang in preserving the Buddhist pilgrimage legacy. Anand's walk took six months going through Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and parts of southern Nepal, and ended at Nālandā in Bihar, which was Xuanzang’s final destination in his journey, covering a distance of roughly 2000 kilometres. This pilgrimage was no hyper-expensive luxury spa/hotel trip with privately arranged cars and tour guides. It involved Anand walking long distances, sleeping wherever he was offered a place to stay in local villages and institutes, crossing many rivers during the monsoon season and along precarious paths and routes. Making his pilgrimage as close experientially to Xuanzang's (and Buddha's) footsteps as possible. Although Anand has been working on this project since 2020, I only recently discovered his work on his excellent website, Nalanda-Insatiable in Offering (http://nalanda-insatiableinoffering.blogspot.com/), while researching pilgrimage sites of Buddhism myself in relation to my own current andongoing pilgrimage travels around Asia. Part of the project is also to include local communities in their heritage by raising awareness within them but also using their unique local knowledge about the places themselves that have been passed on for generations. In this interview we discuss Anand’s background and interest in Buddhism in India and Xuanzang, inspired by the Xuanzang Memorial project built in Nālanda in 2007 (https://artsandculture.google.com/story/xuanzang-memorial-n%C4%81land%C4%81-xuanzang-memorial-nava-nalanda-mahavihara/-gXx1Bey76EHJA?hl=en) his work on reviving walking pilgrimage in India (Cetiya Cārikā), motivation for starting the project, the highlights and challenges of his journey so far, and plans and aspirations for the future.