Holidays Travel Guide

Mahabodhi Temple


The complex, located about 96 kilometers from Patna,  contains
the Mahabodhi Temple with the diamond throne (called the Vajrasana) and
the holy Bodhi tree. This tree was originally a sapling of the Sri Maha
Bodhi tree in Sri Lanka, itself grown from a sapling of the original
Bodhi tree.

It is believed that 250 years after the Enlightenment of the Buddha,
Emperor Asoka visited Bodh Gaya. He is considered to be the founder of
the original Mahabodhi temple. It consisted of an elongated spire
crowned by a miniature stupa and a chhatravali on a platform. A double
flight of steps led up to the platform and the upper sanctum. The
mouldings on the spire contained Buddha images in niches. Some
historians believe that the temple was constructed or renovated in the
1st century during the Kushan period. With the decline of Buddhism in
India, the temple was abandoned and forgotten, buried under layers of
soil and sand.

The temple was later restored by Sir Alexander Cunningham as part of
his work for the British Archaeological Society in the late 19th
century. In 1883, Cunningham along with J. D. Beglar and Dr Rajendralal
Miitra painstakingly excavated the site. Extensive renovation work was
carried out to restore Bodh Gaya to its former glory.