Mahabodhi Tempel Complex at Bodhgaya

The Mahabodhi Temple is a Buddhist temple in Bodhgaya in the northeastern Indian state Bihar. In Sanskrit, maha means large and bodhi means enlightenment or awakening. In accordance with the tradition, it is that place, at which Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment.

The Mahabodhi temple is a 55 m high brick building out of the 1 st to 3 rd century A.D. The outer facade comprises of seven steps and is decorated with numerous Buddha statues. Inside the temple, there is a gold plated statue of the meditating Buddha. The temple complex houses numerous Stupas. At the west side of the pyramid-shaped large Stupa, there is the holy Mahabodhi Tree, a poplar fig (ficus religiosa, also called Bodhi tree). It is derivative of that tree, under which the Siddhartha Gautama attained the enlightenment. Around 250 B.C. visited the Buddhist ruler Ashoka Bodhgaya with the intention to create there a memory place which comprises of monasteries and shrines. In the Sunga period, an open pavilion with stone columns was erected around the Bodhi tree. The Mahabodhi temple was erected in the 2 nd century. The older part of the temple is made out of sandstone. In the year 625, the temple and the original Mahabodhi tree fell to destructions during a war. Little later, the younger part of the temple newly was constructed out of coarse granite. At that time newly planted and yet today existing Mahabodhi tree is the scion of the Sri Mahabodhi tree in Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka), which in turn is the cutting of the original tree, brought in Srilanka by Sangamitta, daughter of king Ashoka, in the 3 rd century B.C. Around the year 635 visited the Chinese monk Xuanzang the temple during his pilgrimage journey and left behind a description of the place in its tour report.

ver centuries, the temple in Bodhgaya was one of the largest Buddhist pilgrimage places that were visited by monks out of all countries. In 12th and 13th century, restorations were carried out and the four small towers were erected at the corners of the large Stupa. The UNESCO included the temples in June 2002 in the list of the World cultural heritage.