Gaya-Bodhgaya – A freshening trip

May,7,2019.

We started from Patna at 6 AM by Janshatabdi express and reached Gaya at 8 AM. The train was comfortable and we had the reserved seat in Chair car. The railway station at Gaya was clean and it was not so hot also being morning. We came out of the station and settled for a tempo to show us two temples at Gaya. No auto wala troubled us and with slight bargaining we settled for a tempo for Rs.200 for dropping us at Vishnu paad temple. It was high fare for this distance but there is no other go.

Our itinerary

Just note that Gaya and Bodh Gaya are just 20 KM apart. Gaya is clean but not as clean as Bodh Gaya. There are at least 50 spots in Gaya to see but since we had just few hours we had plan to just see two famous temples of Gaya and then to proceed to Bodh Gaya.

There are 50 spots in Gaya which will take 2 days. But we just saw 2 famous temples- Vishnupad and Mangla Gauri temples.

Vishnu paad temple. This temple is adjacent to river Phalguni which is dry in all seasons except rainy.

Pind-daan can be done just beside the Vishnupad temple. I saw this ceremony in mass here.

Next we moved to Mangla Gauri temple which is about 2 KM. We took an auto from here for Rs.100

Long Que at Mangla Gauri temple since it was Tuesday. It took exactly 1.5 hours for darshan.

Our darshan finished at 11.30 AM and we took and Electric auto for Bodh Gaya for Rs.300. The distance is just 20 KM. On way very near to Mangala devi temple there is an old banyan tree called “Akshay Vat”.

The E-Riksha took about one hour to reach Bodh Gaya. Normally E-Riksha are slower than normal transport. On way we saw wast dry land of Phalguni river. It is said that it is always dry except in rainy season.

The auto dropped us at main temple of Bodh Gaya which is known as Maha Bodihi temple. Its 20 feet bottom was built by Ashoka the great which was later it was built by Ashoka the Great. It has a huge green compound maintained under high security and cameras. There is entry fee and no baggage are allowed inside. For camera there is separate charge.

Maha Bodhi Temple- This is huge compound in about 70 acres and is meticulously well maintained.

The whole compound has marked the spots week wise where Lord Buddha spent 7 weeks.

The walls of the Maha Bodhi temple. It is renovated a lot by next kingdoms after Ashoka.

This is the spot where Lord Buddha got Enlightenment.

In 623 BC Lord Buddha attained Maha Nirvan under this tree. It is said to be 7th generation of tree.

Apart from main temple in Bodh Gaya , the centre of attracion are the monastries from different countries such as Tibet, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Japan etc.

Japan has established “Daibutsu – Large Buddha” statue in Bodh Gaya.

Daibutsu- The Great Buddha Statue. Built in 4 years time, height is 64 feet. Built in 1996.

It is not possible to publish here photos of all monasteries. Gust giving few photos. It seems now India government has stopped giving permission to build monasteries here.

Epilogue

There are two places like twin towns 20 KM apart – Gaya and Bodh Gaya.I was thinking that as soon as I will reach Gaya, Pandas will catch me but it did not happen. No one troubled us.The “pind daan” can be performed here without any trouble as i saw many “Pind Daans” ceremony was going on in Vishnu Paad temple in mass. There is a river which flows in heart of Gaya but it seems it is always dry.

We easily got an electric auto to Bodh Gaya and reached to Bodh Gaya in one hour. It was a very neat and clean place. It took about 3 hours to see main old temple and a few monastries.