327. Day 5 – Bodh Gaya

Got up early in the morning, had breakfast and left for Bodh Gaya.  After about a drive of 2-3 hours, it started raining.  We had kept 2 big suitcases on the top of the vehicle. Unfortunately, the driver also did not have any plastic sheet to cover the top.   Since we couldn’t do anything that time, we continued our journey.  We reached Bodh Gaya in the afternoon.  Both the suitcases had got wet and some of the water had also seeped through the zip and had gone inside.

We opened the suitcase and laid out the wet clothes on the bed and switched on the fan and the A/c. Luckily, this hotel, even though it was a 4-star hotel, did not have the key as the input for the electricity in the room.  It had a switch which had to be put on for the electricity to flow.  So, we kept the switch on and went to have lunch.  By the time, we returned at night, all the clothes were completely dry😊!

After lunch, it was still drizzling.  We hired an electric rickshaw, called TOTO and he offered to take us to all the places in Bodh Gaya and bring us back to the hotel.  We could have even walked the entire distance, but it was drizzling and no one in our group was keen on walking😊!

First, we went to the Great Buddha Statue. The Great Buddha statue (Daibutsu) is one of the popular stops on the Buddhist pilgrimage and tourist routes in Bodh Gaya, Bihar (India). The statue is 18.5 m high representing the Buddha seated in a meditation pose, or dhyana mudra, on a lotus in the open air. The total height of the construction is 80 ft of which the Buddha makes up 64 ft, the lotus on which the Buddha sits 5 ft and the lower pedestal 10 ft. The construction's width is nearly 60 ft at its maximum.

The statue was designed by V. Ganapati Sthapati and took seven years to complete using the labor of 12,000 stonemasons. It is constructed from a combination of sandstone and red granite blocks. A hollow spiral staircase inside the statue leads from the ground up to the chest. Shelves on the interior walls display 16,300 small bronze images of the Buddha. The Great Buddha statue is located in a garden at the end of Temple Street and is surrounded by smaller sculptures of Buddha's ten principal disciples, five on each side. The Great Buddha was possibly the largest Buddha statue in India at the time and was consecrated on 18 November 1989 by the 14th Dalai Lama.

Then we went to other temples in the area – Chinese temple, Thai Temple and the Japanese Temple. Then came the Mahabodhi Temple. 

The Mahabodhi Temple (literally: "Great Awakening Temple") or the Mahābodhi Mahāvihāra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an ancient, but rebuilt and restored Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India, marking the location where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. The site contains a descendant of the Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment, and has been a major pilgrimage destination of Buddhists for over two thousand years.

Some of the site's elements date to the period of Ashoka (died c. 232 BCE). What is now visible on the ground dates from the 6th century CE, or possibly earlier, as well as several major restorations since the 19th century. The structure, however, also potentially incorporates large parts of earlier work, possibly from the 2nd or 3rd century CE. Archaeological finds from the site indicate that the place was a site of veneration for Buddhists since at least the Mauryan period. In particular, the Vajrasana, which is located within the temple itself has been dated to the third century BCE.

Many of the oldest sculptural elements have been moved to the museum beside the temple, and some, such as the carved stone railing wall around the main structure, have been replaced by replicas. The main temple's survival is especially impressive, as it was mostly made of brick covered with stucco, materials that are much less durable than stone. However, it is understood that very little of the original sculptural decoration has survived.

The temple complex includes two large straight-sided shikhara towers, the largest over 55 metres (180 feet) high. This is a stylistic feature that has continued in Jain and Hindu temples to the present day, and influenced Buddhist architecture in other countries, in forms like the pagoda.

Traditional accounts say that, around 589 BCE, Siddhartha Gautama, a young prince who saw the suffering of the world and wanted to end it, reached the forested banks of the Phalgu river, near the city of Gaya, India. There he sat in meditation under a peepul tree (Ficus religiosa or Sacred Fig) which later became known as the Bodhi tree. According to Buddhist scriptures, after three days and three nights, Siddharta attained enlightenment and freedom from suffering. In that location, Mahabodhi Temple was built by Emperor Ashoka in around 260 BCE.

Lord Buddha obtained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in the kingdom of Magadha, now in the Indian state of Bihar. The place was given the name of Bodh Gaya to differentiate it from Gaya-a city of Hindu pilgrimage where pilgrims came to perform shradha.

This tree was destroyed and replanted several times and the present tree is thus the fifth incarnation of the original holy tree.

The Buddha then spent the succeeding seven weeks at seven different spots in the vicinity meditating and considering his experience. Several specific places at the current Mahabodhi Temple relate to the traditions surrounding these seven weeks.

The first week was spent by Lord Buddha under the Bodhi Tree.

After spending a week under the Bodhi tree, the Buddha went to a place from where he could see the Bodhi tree and sat there for a week gazing at it without blinking (animesh lochanam – steadfast eyes).

Week 3 was spent by Lord Buddha in meditation, walking back and forth. Flowers sprang up miraculously as he walked and they are said to be eighteen in number. This jewelled ambulatory is also called Ratnachakrama and is located near the north wall of the main temple.

Week 4 was spent by Lord Buddha in the Ratnaghar Chaitya located towards the north-east near the enclosure.

Week 5 was spent by Lord Buddha meditating under Ajapala Nigrodh Tree. Here Lord Buddha answered the questions put to him by Lord Brahma. Only a signboard survives today.

Week 6 was spent by Lord Buddha at the Muchilinda lake situated outside the enclosure to the south of the temple complex. This was the lake of the serpent king Muchilinda who kept guard over Lord Buddha with his folds as the former sat in rapt meditation.

Week 7 was spent in meditation. A tree named Rajyatana Tree marks the site. It is located towards the south-east of the temple.  He sat here in meditation till two travelling merchants named Tapusa and Bhallika offered him rice cakes and honey.

There was a Jagannath temple nearby.  We went there too.  Then we returned to the hotel.  Jayashree and her brother’s family went shopping after coming back.  I was busy sorting out the dried-out clothes and packing😊!  Once they returned, we had dinner and slept off as tomorrow we had to start early for Gaya.

Thus ended Day 5 of our tour! 

Cheers till next time😊!!

PS – Sourced from Wikipedia and internet