by

Mukesh Khosla

• 
  One of the world’s largest statues of Lord Buddha built by the Japanese in Bodhgaya.

The temple site in Bihar is one of the four places of great significance in the historical legacy and heritage of the Buddhist faith. It is also one of the ten most important monuments of ancient India.

Now, as a belated response, the government of India, along with various other non-government agencies, is making an all out bid to get the Mahabodhi temple complex listed in the UNESCO World Heritage sites. And by the positive response it has generated, the complex may well succeed in becoming one.

Mahabodhi Temple is a monument where people come from all over the world to offer prayers and seek the blessings of the Enlightened One. The Bodh tree beneath which Buddha sat in meditation is of the highest significance to Buddhists.

After the death of Buddha, Bodhgaya flourished as an important religious centre and numerous shrines, stupas and monasteries were erected here. The site continued to attract pilgrims and was only abandoned in the 15th century.

Mahabodhi Temple finds mention in the pillar edicts of Emperor Ashoka and is seen depicted in the sculptures in Sanchi and Bharhut as well as reflected in the accounts by various travellers through the course of centuries, including the Chinese travellers of the 4th and 5th centuries.

Says Benoy Behl, director of the Cultural Documentation and Conservation Foundation of India, " There is no other grand structural property of its kind in the Indian sub-continent belonging to this period of antiquity. It is remarkably well preserved and makes a high point of achievement for its times. The architecture and design have remained essentially unaltered since the time when it was built."

The known history of the Bodhgaya temple has been recorded from the time of Ashoka (when he built the Vajrasana under the Bodhi Tree and the sculptural railings around it) up to the 12th Century when Burmese kings carried out restoration and conservation work of the temple.

next page