Bodhgaya
Both spellings, Bodh Gaya as well as Bodhgaya, are used almost equally extensively. However, an analysis of sign-boards in the holy town indicated that the government as well as the Buddhist establishment spelled the name as one word. Bodh Gaya was more popular with the private sector.
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Mahabodhi Temple
The Times of India 2013/07/08
It was at the Mahabodhi Temple that Prince Siddhartha Gautama attained nirvana after fasting under the peepal tree for 49 days at the young age of 35
Leaving Kapilavastu, the palace home of his father Suddhodana in the Nepal Terai, Siddhartha, wandering in search of answers to the world’s truths, reached Bodh Gaya via Rajagriha
Emperor Asoka visited Bodh Gaya 250 years after Buddha’s nirvana. He is considered by many to be the founder of the original Mahabodhi temple
Sir Alexander Cunningham restored the temple in the 19th century
Today, the nine-member Mahabodhi Temple Management Committee headed by the district magistrate manages the complex spread over 1km
The Bodhi tree
Under the Bodhi tree, near the Niranjana river, Prince Siddhartha Gautama practised mediation
Spending seven weeks at seven spots in the vicinity, he recounted his experiences with his first disciples
After seven weeks, Buddha travelled to Sarnath, where he gave his first sermon
Controversies through the ages
Abdul Qadir, Temple & controversy, July 30, 2006: The Times of India
The alleged felling of a branch of the sacred Mahabodhi tree, the symbol of Buddha's enlightenment, has made one more addition to the long list of controversies surrounding the shrine visited by thousands of pilgrims and tourists from India and abroad.
The shrine is a UNESCO world heritage site. At least one controversy is as old as the shrine itself. Though Buddha was born as Prince Siddhartha in Lumbini, the shrine associated with his name and regarded as the seat of enlightenment was built much later.
According to Buddhist scholar P C Roy, formerly head of Ancient History and Buddhist Studies Department of Magadh University, researchers look to Fa Hein and Huien Tsang's (now Xuanzang) diary to arrive at the exact age of the temple. Fa Hein travelled in India between 399 AD and 414 AD and also visited Bodh Gaya.
But his diary does not make any reference to the Buddha shrine which means that then the shrine did not exist, argues Roy. Xuanzang visited India between 629 AD and 644 AD. He refers to the shrine in his diary and as such, according to Roy, the temple must have been built sometime between 414 AD and 629 AD.
Another controversial point in the shrine's long history is who vandalised the shrine about 600 years after its existence? One school of thought blames the Muslim rulers for vandalising the Buddhist shrine.
Another school says that the shrine was vandalised by followers of Adi Shankaracharya following the perceived defeat of Buddhist religious scholars in a Shastrarth with the Shankaracharya. Again in the year 1891, Buddhist missionary Angarika Dhammapala joined issue with the Hindu mahant of Bodh Gaya on management rights over the temple.
2017: ‘Not in a bad shape or leafless’--FRI
2,600-yr-old Bodhi tree shed leaves naturally: Experts, April 19, 2017: The Times of India
The Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute (FRI), which maintains heritage trees, some of the oldest with historical and religious significance, has said that the Mahabodhi tree in Bihar's Gaya “is not in a bad shape and leafless“ as widely reported.
The institute, which signed an MoU with Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC) in 2007 to manage the 2,600-year-old tree under which Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment, said leaf shedding is a natural phenomenon. FRI also manages the banyan tree at Jyotisar in Kurukshetra that finds a mention in Mahabharata and is considered by many to be around 5,000 years old.
NSK Harsh, a scientist at FRI, told TOI, “There was a lot of talk about the Mahabodhi tree drying up. However, we clarified to members of the BTMC during their visit to Dehradun that the autumn period has prolonged due to which sprouting of leaves has somewhat delayed, which is a natural phenomenon.However, a few saplings in some branches have begun appearing on the tree, so there is nothing to worry about.“ Harsh said the re vered tree had to be given micro-nutrients since 2007 when the tree showed signs of drying up. The institute's scientists had given instructions to BTMC to ensure devotees do not water it on their own or light earthen lamps under it. After these measures, the tree regained good health.
Mahabodhi temple complex
2024: Satellite images signal architectural wealth under shrine
July 14, 2024: The Times of India
Patna : A geospatial analysis utilising satellite images and ground surveys has found evidence of the presence of “huge architectural wealth” buried in the Mahabodhi temple complex and its surroundings in Bihar’s Bodh Gaya, officials said.
The study has been carried out by Bihar Heritage Development Society, a wing of Art, Culture and Youth Department, in collaboration with Cardiff University in UK. The Mahabodhi temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of the four holy areas related to the life of Lord Gautam Buddha. Bodh Gaya is a place where Lord Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment.
“The study has unearthed evidence of the presence of archaeological treasure beneath the soil of the UNESCO World Heritage site and its surrounding areas…It’s a huge architectural wealth that needs further excavation,” the Art, Culture and Youth department’s additional chief secretary Harjot Kaur Bamhrah told a news agency.
The UK-based varsity and BHDS are cooperating in the project, ‘Archaeology on the footsteps of the Chinese traveller Xuanzang’.
Bengaluru-based National Institute of Advanced Studies faculty M B Rajni, one of the project members, studied satellite images of Mahabodhi temple and its surroundings and tried to correlate the findings with the description of ‘Xuanzang’, she said.
“BHDS in association with Cardiff University has been working on the multidisciplinary project on the archaeological trail of the travel of 7th-century Chinese translator monk, Xuanzang, in Bihar. The satellite images from the last several years show an alignment of structures to the north of the temple, buried underground,” said Bamhrah. Significantly, the images show the shift of the river Niranjana from east to west.
“Let us remember that the Mahabodhi temple is west of the river, and the Sujata Stupa and several other archaeological remains are located east of the river. The monuments and other archaeological remains in the east of the river are now regarded to be independent of the Mahabodhi temple. But the latest finding shows that both the temple and the Sujata stupa along with other archaeological remains stood on the same river bank in the past,” she said.
Bamhrah said this is really “very significant”. “Thus, there is a strong possibility that the monuments and other archaeological remains, now east of the river, were a part of the Mahabodhi complex,” the official said. BHDS plans to start “research to delimit the boundaries of the Mahabodhi complex in the light of these findings”, Bamhrah said. “Fresh ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey, followed by excavations, will be undertaken to unravel the buried archaeological features shown by satellite images,” she added. PTI
Buddha Poornima
On Buddha Poornima each year, his birth, nirvana, and mahaparinirvana are celebrated and thousands of pilgrims from Japan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, China, and other countries assemble here
Bodh Gaya was enlisted as the only UNESCO World Heritage site from Bihar in the year 2002
The area was at the heart of a Buddhist civilization for centuries, until it was overrun by Turkic armies in the 13th century
