Bodh Gaya Travel Guide: The Mahabodhi Temple, Monasteries and Planning

Everything here turns on the Mahabodhi Temple Complex. The monasteries, the Great Buddha and the museum are close to it, and Sujata Garh, the Dungeshwari caves and Gaya's Vishnupad Temple are drives out of town.

Mahabodhi Temple

The emperor Ashoka built the first temple here in the 3rd century BCE; the present one, about 50 metres tall, dates from the 5th or 6th century and is, in UNESCO's words, one of the earliest Buddhist temples built entirely in brick still standing in India. In the sanctum sits a gilded Buddha touching the earth as witness to his enlightenment. The whole complex lies about 5 metres below the town around it and is entered down a flight of steps from the east. A committee set up under the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949 manages it for the Government of Bihar.

The Bodhi Tree and the Vajrasana

West of the temple grows the Bodhi Tree, a sacred fig held to descend from the tree under which the Buddha spent the first week after his enlightenment; the temple committee calls the present tree probably the fifth in succession. Against the temple wall beside it lies the Vajrasana, the Diamond Throne, a polished sandstone slab that Ashoka set to mark where he sat. Pilgrims gather round both through the day, and the committee's own day at the complex begins at dawn with chanting and meditation.

The seven sacred places

Each of the seven weeks the Buddha is said to have spent in meditation after his enlightenment has a marked spot. The second was at the Animeshlochan Chaitya, a prayer hall north of the central path, where he gazed at the tree; the third on the Ratnachakrama, the Jewelled Walk by the temple's north wall, where carved lotuses mark his 18 paces; the fourth at the Ratnaghar Chaitya, to the north-east. A pillar inside the east entrance marks the Ajapala Nigrodh tree of the fifth week; the sixth was by the Lotus Pond, Muchalinda Sarovar, south of the enclosure; the seventh under the Rajyatana tree.

The Great Buddha Statue

The 80-foot Buddha, built of sandstone blocks and red granite, was consecrated by the 14th Dalai Lama on 18 November 1989; its foundation stone had been laid in 1982. The Gaya district administration describes it as the first great Buddha statue made in modern India. It is close to the Mahabodhi Temple, and the committee's Buddha Purnima procession has set out from here for the Bodhi Tree. The state tourism department lists the site as open round the clock.

The monasteries

Buddhist communities from across Asia have built temples and monasteries around the Mahabodhi. The Thai temple, one of the oldest, is built in the Thai royal style, with murals of the Buddha's life inside; the Gaya district also lists Chinese, Burmese, Bhutanese, Japanese and Tibetan temples, and the committee's directory adds a Bangladeshi monastery and the Maha Bodhi Society of India. A Sri Lankan, Anagarika Dharmapala, took up the cause of returning the temple to Buddhist hands in 1891, the committee's history records. Auto-rickshaws and cycle-rickshaws link them.

Archaeological Museum

The Archaeological Survey of India's museum holds Buddhist and Hindu sculpture and other finds from Bodh Gaya and nearby excavations. See it after the temple: UNESCO notes that only a few pillars of the carved sandstone balustrade Ashoka built around the Bodhi Tree remain in place, with faces, animals and ornament on them, and the museum fills in more of the site's story. The district notes that the museum is generally closed on Fridays.

Sujata Garh

Across the Niranjana river, at Bakraur, an ancient stupa protected by the ASI marks where a village woman, Sujata, offered the Buddha kheer, rice cooked in milk, and so ended the six years of austerities that came before his enlightenment. It is about 2 km from Bodh Gaya. Kheer still has its place at the Mahabodhi Temple: the committee's daily schedule includes an offering of it at 10 am.

Dungeshwari Cave Temples

North-east of Bodh Gaya, the caves of Dungeshwari hill are where the Buddha is believed to have meditated for six years before he came to Bodh Gaya. Today they hold Buddhist shrines and a shrine to a Hindu goddess. Go by car or taxi, and allow a half-day with the drive, as the hill lies well outside town.

Vishnupad Temple, Gaya

Gaya, 16 km away, is a Hindu pilgrimage city in its own right. Its Vishnupad Temple stands on the bank of the Phalgu with a footprint of Vishnu carved in rock, and Hindus come to offer pind daan for their ancestors, most of all during Pitrapaksha, 16 days in September or October. The state tourism department dates the present temple to 1787 and Queen Ahilyabai, and lists phones, cameras and other electronic gadgets as prohibited inside.

• By air: Gaya Airport (GAY), which the Airports Authority of India also calls Bodhgaya Airport, is a few kilometres from town; besides its domestic services, it receives seasonal pilgrim flights from Thailand, Myanmar and Bhutan. Patna's airport is the alternative.
• By train: the nearest station is Gaya Junction on the Grand Chord, about 17 km away.
• By road: the temple committee puts Rajgir 78 km away, Nalanda 101 km and Varanasi 252 km; Patna, the state capital, is more than 100 km to the north. If you are travelling on west, our Varanasi travel guide covers that city and its Buddhist neighbour, Sarnath.

Our 3 Days Bodhgaya Rajgir and Nalanda Tour Package meets you on arrival in Gaya or Patna and keeps the same car and driver for all three days.

One full day covers the temple complex, the Great Buddha and a few monasteries; stay the night so that you see the temple at both ends of the day. A second day adds Sujata Garh, the Dungeshwari caves, the museum (not on a Friday) and Gaya's Vishnupad Temple. With three days, go on to Rajgir and Nalanda, as our three-day tour does, sleeping a night in Bodh Gaya and a night in Rajgir. The committee's history follows the Buddha from here to the Deer Park at Sarnath, where he preached his first sermon; our Sarnath from Varanasi trip takes you there. For Bihar's other sights, from Patna to Vaishali, see our Bihar travel guide, and for routes that link several holy places, our pilgrimage tour packages.