BODHGAYA:
As the place of the Buddha's Enlightenment, Bodhgaya is the
spiritual home of Buhddhists. It attracts tens of thousands
of believers from all over the world. Bodhgaya situated near
the river Niranjana, is one of the holiest Buddhist
pilgrimage centres since it was here that Buddha attained
enlightenment under the Bodhi tree.
The population
of this town is 22,000 and is situated at an altitude of 113
m. Maximum temperature in summer rises to 45-47 degree
Celsius and minimum is 27 degree, while in winter maximum is
28 degree and minimum is 4 degree. It receives an annual
rainfall of 1,860 mm. Most countries with vast Buddhist
population have a temple or monastery here.
The 25 m Great Buddha Statue in the Japanese Kamakura style
was unveiled by his holiness Dalai Lama in 1989.
Bodhgaya is 12
km from Gaya, 140 km from Patna, 66 km from Rajgir and 482
km from Calcutta.
Nalanda was
the most renowned university in ancient India. It derived
its name from Na-alam-da, meaning Insatiable in Giving, one
of the names by which the Lord Buddha was known.
Established in
the 5th century B.C. it remained a live center of learning
till the 12th century A.D. when it was destroyed by the
invader Bakhtiar Khilji. Lord Mahavira and the Buddha both
taught here for years. Hsuan Tsang. the Chinese traveler
studied here in the 7th century A.D. and there is a monument
in his memory. He was one amongst many of those from East
and Southeast Asia who came here to study logic,
meta-physics, medicine, prose composition and rhetoric. The
university of Nalanda offered free educational and
residential facilities to as many as 10,000 students and
2000 teachers, for it was supported by a number of villages.
Its library, Ratna Sagar, is believed to have contained nine
million volumes. It is not surprising, then, that the
destruction of this university dealt a crippling blow to
Buddhist education in India.
The Archaeological Survey of India maintains the Nalanda
Museum across the road which houses some exquisite bronzes
of the 9th and 10th centuries, Pala dynasty, and other
remains excavated at the site. The beautiful Thai Temple and
the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, a centre for research in Pali
and Buddhist studies, are 2 kms from the main site
