BIHAR

BODHGAYA

BODHGAYA - One among the four most holy places associated with the Buddha. Here, Gautama attained enlightenment or supreme knowledge under the Bodhi Tree, and came to be known as Lord Buddha. Bodhgaya is visited by thousands of tourists from all over the world to study Buddhism and the art of meditation, or to simply absorb the aura of solemn grandeur that surrounds the place.Estimated to be at least 1,000 years old, the temple was virtually forgotten by the Buddhist world as the strength of the religion diminished in the land of its birth, but struck firm roots in other Asian lands. In fact, if it had not been for a Hindu religious leader and his successors, who had continued to revere the ruined and forest covered site of the temple, a team of Burmese Buddhists, who came here in 1877 might never have found it. It was only then that it was extensively restored by the British.

The Buddha’s gentle, reasonable, creed was carried to other lands by Indian missionaries, along with a knowledge of martial arts which sought to turn the strength of the attacker against him, and the soothing Indian beverage tea. In those lands, Buddhism adapted to local ways of life and the architecture of Buddhist temples assumed the character of the place. So, when the many streams of Buddhism returned to Bodhgaya, and built temples of their own, this religious town took on an eclectic international character.

Thus, the Thai temple is a royal resplendence of gold and glitter in marked contrast to the understated elegance of the tow Japanese temples. The Chinese temple belongs, reputedly, to a Taiwanese-based monastic order. Here, a prayer-drum, as high as a room, turns and creaks. And the Bhutanese temple is vividly alive with bright colored carving representing the fearsome protective forces of their Himalayan Pantheon. The forests the Buddha knew, have gone. But the message of peace he gave to the world lives on in ancient Bodhgaya.

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