Date: March 26, 2023
Location: Site 3B, Outer Ring Encampment — Bodh Gaya.
There is no longer a clear boundary between waking and sleep.
I hear the chant everywhere.
It started with Kavya. Around 3:00 AM, she stood outside Chamber Theta's containment tent, barefoot, staring at the sealing wax. Whispering something in a dialect I didn't recognize. Mira found her. Her nails had curled into her palms—she was bleeding, smiling. Repeating a phrase over and over:
> "The monk saw God inside the marrow. The marrow screamed."
She doesn't remember this now. She thinks she was dreaming. But her footprints lead in a perfect circle—seven times—around the manuscript case.
Later, when Mira opened her laptop to document it, she found a line typed into her notes, time-stamped while she was asleep:
> "Carve out the god inside you, or he will eat you from within."
No one admits writing it.
And then… the light started bending.
---
The Interactive Relic:
One of the bone-carved beads moved last night.
It was placed in a sealed specimen case in the containment chamber. I personally recorded its orientation. When Sonam opened the case to rephotograph it this morning—it was upside down. And another glyph had appeared.
New. Wet. Still seeping red into the glass.
We didn't open the box. We didn't touch it. The team insists it was sealed. No one wants to say the word—but we all know what this means:
Something is responding.
---
From the Decoded Manuscript (Lu and Zhang's translation log):
We've managed to extract a partial passage from Manuscript Theta II. The script is a degenerated form of early Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit, mixed with Prakrit. But the context is alien.
> "He walked backward into the Sangha, with silence dripping from his shadow. They gave him the name Vighnakara — not in praise, but fear. He spoke of the Eighth Path. The Unreturning Spiral. He said suffering could be preserved. That karma could be banked. And that Nirvana… could be eaten."
They called him the Hungry Monk.
We found a sketch etched into the back of the parchment, drawn in ash. A skeletal figure sitting in a lotus position — but instead of eyes, it has mouths. Instead of a heart, a spinning spiral, drawn so obsessively that the parchment tore around it.
---
Incidents in Camp:
Rohan tried to smudge the glyphs from the bleeding tooth beads. His hand blistered on contact. The burns formed a spiral pattern. Mira is documenting it. He's too afraid to sleep now.
Ashan spoke to me this morning, quiet but serious. He said he saw someone standing between tents at night, chanting in a voice that wasn't human—wet, echoing like inside a well. The voice said his name. He hasn't told anyone else. He's packing his bags.
Three interns from Nalanda University left this morning without permission. We found their shoes near the banyan tree. But no tracks beyond that. Like they were lifted.
---
The Walls Are Listening:
I was writing in this very journal, sitting near the containment vault. I turned away for a moment, and when I returned, I found these words etched faintly into the corner of the page:
> "Do not look at the mirror when alone."
The obsidian mirror from Chamber Theta has begun to fog over… but only when someone is near it. The fog takes shapes. I saw a hand pressing against the inside of the glass.
It matched mine.
---
Theory from Back-translation:
If our translations are right… this Vighnakara — this heretical monk — didn't just want enlightenment.
He wanted to trap it. To reverse the release. To take the souls of the dying and feed on their unfulfilled karma, looping their suffering eternally, storing it in mantras—like echo chambers of pain.
He called it "Siddha Nābhika" — the Perfect Naval.
A place inside the body where reality could be tied like a knot and pulled.
---
Closing Thoughts:
I was strict before. With my team. With the interns. I've been called harsh, cold, overly rigid. But you must understand—I had to be.
When you're the thread holding back madness, your grip cannot shake.
But I'm not sure I'm holding the line anymore.
Tonight, I dreamt I was sitting in the meditation posture. Head bowed. And from my stomach, a spiral opened. Something looked out. And spoke in my voice.
I woke up crying.
We
seal Theta again tomorrow. If it lets us.
Advait Sen
Lead Archaeologist, ASI
Project Bodh Gaya – Site 3B