Mahabodhi Temple

Budh Gaya temple

The Mahabodhi Temple (literally: "Great Awakening Temple") or the Mahabodhi Mahavihar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an ancient, but much rebuilt and restored, Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya, marking the location where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. The site contains a descendant of the Bodhi Tree under which Buddha gained enlightenment, and has been a major pilgrimage destination for Hindus and Buddhists for well over two thousand years, and some elements probably date to the period of Ashoka (died c. 232 BCE). It is the "National Buddhist temple of India" respectively.

Mahabodhi Temple Media

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  Another relief of the early circular Mahabodhi Temple, Bharhut, c. 100 BCE

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  The current Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, said to be a descendant of the tree under which Gautama Buddha is believed to have obtained enlightenment

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  Discovery of the Diamond throne, built by Ashoka c. 250 BCE

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  Reconstitution of the Sunga period pillars at Bodh Gaya, from archaeology (left) and from artistic relief (right). They are dated to the 1st century BCE. Reconstitution is done by Alexander Cunningham.

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  The stupa finial on top of the pyramidal structure

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  Bodhgaya Chinese inscription of Huaiwen dated 1033 CE who arrived on behald of Emperor Zhenzong of Song dynasty

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  Mural of Śāriputra, the last pre-modern abbot of the Mahabodhi Temple

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  Historical image of Bodh gaya temple

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  The temple as it appeared in 1899, shortly after its restoration in the 1880s