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Bodhgaya

In Bihar, a state in northeastern India, about a hundred kilometers south of Patna is the small town of Bodhgaya.

If the city has retained modest dimensions (Bodhgaya has less than 40,000 inhabitants), it is nonetheless of major historical and religious importance.

Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama)

It is in this city that Siddhartha Gautama attains nirvana, enlightenment.

The name of Siddhartha Gautama is unknown to many, but it is the name of Buddha. The term Buddha designating a stage in the religious achievement of men, meaning the awakened one. The shrine built on the place where Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment is the subject of another film.

Bodhgaya falls into oblivion

Bodhgaya therefore existed as early as the 6th century BC, since Buddha lived there.

Fallen into oblivion following the Muslim invasions of the 12th century, Bodhgaya would only be reborn in the middle of the 19th century with one of the last restorations of the Mahabodi by archaeologist Alexander Cunningham.

Sacred cities of Buddhism

Bodghaya is one of the 4 sacred cities of Buddhism, the other 3 being Lumbini in Nepal (presumed birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama), Sarnath in India, a few kilometers from Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh (place where Siddhartha Gautama gave his first teaching ) and Kushinagar, a city also located in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India (place where Siddhartha Gautama died).

Restoration of Bodhgaya

The end of the reconstruction and restoration work corresponds with the independence of India in 1949.

Since that time, Bodhgaya, after centuries of oblivion, has once again become a major pilgrimage site for Buddhists around the world.

So all the Buddhist countries were keen to come and build a temple there. A Tibetan temple and monastery, a Chinese temple, a Japanese temple, a Thai temple, and many more.

the Sujata stupa

Much older than these temples built after the rebirth of Bodhgaya, the Sujata stupa at the entrance to the village of Senanigrama (Bakraur) was erected in the 2nd century BC, in honor of a milkmaid named Sujata who allegedly offered milk and rice to Siddhartha Gautama, helping him achieve enlightenment after 7 years of fasting.

The village of Bakraur or Senanigrama

Beyond the Sujata stupa stretches the village of Bakraur (or Senanigrama). A village like all the villages of Bihar. With its farmers, cows, houses and schools.

We visited the school where we received honors from the students and where one of them sang us a song (which I think is a patriotic song).

Note the use of cow dung on the facades of houses, probably serving as thermal insulation.

A walk in this charming village allows you to come back down to earth after visiting all these temples. And it feels good...

 

about the place, Bodhgaya:

The city of Bodhgaya in the state of Bihar in India is above all a city of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi temple complex. It is under the ficus of the pagodas (or rather an ancestor of it) which is in the enclosure of this complex that the Buddha attains enlightenment (nirvana). Since the dawn of time, Bodhgaya has been a renowned religious center for both Buddhists and Hindus.

Bodhgaya is the most important of the Buddhist sites in India.