I was heading out to a place called Aurangabad in Bihar and nearest Airport was Bodh Gaya. Now I had about 2-3 hours in my hand as this trip was a real quick one. But I knew that I can’t miss going to the tree where Siddhartha became Buddha and I have to say it was worth the time. All this was a long time back in the month of February when the world was very different and nobody could have imagined lockdowns implemented in our country. As I write this we are already initiating a lockdown 3.0.

Gaya – A brief history

Bihar has a lot of history related to religions like Buddhism and Jainism. Bodh Gaya has so much history that it can rival Nalanda in many ways. Gaya has been earlier called as Hindu (Brahma) Gaya which is the current district headquarter and Bodh (Buddha) Gaya as the site of Buddha’s enlightenment. As with many ancient sites in India it is very difficult to separate archaeology and mythology and the same is true with Gaya. Gaya is very significant in Hindu religion as a place where one does shraddha, rites for recently departed souls or sometimes called pind daan. This has significance due the Vishnu temple known as Vishnupad Temple where doing this ritual is believed to bring about salvation to the departed soul.

There is a very interesting backstory to this which Rajendra Lala Mitra, one of the first Indologist, in his book The Hermitage of Sakya Muni has quoted from Vayu Purana’s Gaya Mahatmya section and the story revolves around Gayasura. British folks thought that this story was really absurd and stupid and Dr. Buchanan Hamilton, an east India Company Surgeon, called it a monstrous legend. It is an expressive allegory about the tussle between Hinduism and Buddhism and success of Brahminism over Buddhism

During the time of Buddha Gaya was part of Magadha Kingdom. Magadha Kingdom is where two of India’s greatest Maurya and the Gupta Empires flourished. It is believed when Buddha announced to his followers his imminent death and then he was asked how we would like to be commemorated, after resisting he finally advised his followers to go to places of his birth (Lumbini, Nepal), enlightenment (Bodh Gaya), his first sermon (Sarnath, UP) and death (Kushinagar, UP). Accordingly Bodh Gaya one of the most important pilgrimage places for Buddhists. During the time of Buddha this place was called Uruvilva according to Mr. Mitra and the name Gaya got associated much later.

Buddhism and importance of Bodhi Tree

Bodhi Tree (Ficus Religiosa) is a fig tree found in India and has religious significance on all three religions that originated in India Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. All the ascetics had been meditating under the tree which is commonly known as Peepal Tree in the local parlance. This is the tree under which Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment. The Peepal tree in the Bodhi Tree complex is considered to be from the same family under which Buddha meditated before his enlightenment. A tree mostly cannot survive 2300 years as the period of Budhha’s enlightenment is around 300 BCE.

It is believed that the tree bore the brunt of royal contempt and intentional desecration. Asoka before the conversion is supposed to have the cut the root and branches of the tree and have ordered them to have burnt but while burning it was found that the branches shone in flames and then repented and bathed the roots with milk and magically next day it stood with full height. This is the story that 7th Century chinese traveller Xuanzang recorded in his travelogue. There are more stories related to desecration of the tree by one of the Asoka’s queen and the king of Gauda (present Bengal).These stories signifies that the tree has been very central to the belief of the people.

Twisted story of the Bodhi Tree temple Complex

The first structure is attributed to Asoka as with many other things of that time is attributed to him. During the Mauryan/Gupta era Buddhism went beyond northern India to far away places like Sri Lanka, China, Burma, Japan, Tibet and Central Asia. The decline of Buddhism in India started with the downfall of the Gupta Kingdom and by the 12th Century the religion was almost extinct in the country of origin. Fall is evident in the travel notes of Xuanzang , Fa Hien and others. The decline can be attributed to the competition with Hinduism which was revived with new forms and also because of the rise of Brahmins and their influence in the socio-political process. Later on influx of Islam also led to desecration of Buddhist monuments and monasteries

The tree and the place where Buddha sat is venerated from the start. All other structures and viharas were constructed later on in Gupta Era who supported Buddhism and Pala Dynasty who were Buddhist themselves

The Stupa at Bharhut (Madhya Pradesh) is somewhat contemporary to the time when the tree was being venerated by disciples of Buddha. This photo from the Stupa shows the absence of any superstructure around the tree and hence the temple is something which was made later though the pilgrims were visiting the tree already. The Temple structure was made later by the patrons of Gupta and Pala empires. 

Around 1590 a Hindu ascetic named Gossain Ghamandi Giri, a Hindu Saivaite Monk of Shankara lineage founded the Saivite monastery in Bodhgaya. One of his successors Mahadeva Giri was able to get a firman from the Mughal Ruler Shah Alam and the area where the temple existed was given to the monastery.Since Buddhism was already in decline, for quite sometime Mahants had established a Shiva idol in the temple and was used for worshipping lord Shiva. Even today there are many sculptures in the custody of Mahant’s compound. The Temple Management Committee still has multiple members from the Mahant’s monastery. With the permission of Mahant there was a burmese expedition to repair the temple which was something Rajendra Lala Mitra was sent by British Government to monitor and Mr. Mitra made sure that no irrecoverable damage was done to the temple and its premises

The existing one is reconstruction of the temple and is attributed to Alexander Cunnigham who the founder head of the Archaeology Survey of India. He has written many books on India and one of the relevant here would be The Stupa of Bharhut and Mahabodhi

Practical tips for visiting Bodhi Tree temple

In the temple one cannot take mobile phones and phones need to be deposited in crowded counters for free manned by overtly uninterested workers. If you would like to take photos please get a camera and by paying some nominal amount for point and shoot or SLR one can carry it along.

Please keep at least 3-4 hours for the Bodhi Tree Temple complex. You can hire a guide for a sum of Rs 200/- and he can take you around the temple. Don’t believe in everything he says. If you are interested in other temples constructed by different countries then it could take days.

If you like ancient Indian History then Bodh Gaya is definitely a place to visit. I wish I had more time to go around and actually understand more. I would like to visit Mahant’s compound as well and Sujata’s Stupa.

Not sure how travel will start again in the aftermath of Covid-19 but for centuries Buddhists have been coming to Bodh Gaya and hence this too shall pass hopefully.