In honour of Buddha Purnima or Saga Dawa

The Buddhist heritage of Bihar is something to be thought about.

The Bodhgaya Stupa, or Mahabodhi Vihara , was erected in the place where Buddha Shakyamuni gained enlightenment some two thousand five hundred years ago. Here we see boy monks from two Buddhist traditions.

Its origins are lost in time, but it is known that King Ashoka erected a shrine to Buddha here in the third century B.C.

In spite of extensive research by scholars, until this day no one has been able to give a definite date as to when this present temple was built, who constructed it or how long it took to be completed. It is generally believed that the Great Stupa must have come into existence between the fifth and seventh centuries A.D.

Much of the history of Bodhgaya is known from its inscriptions, graffiti and to a lesser extent literary accounts of the many pilgrims who visited throughout the centuries.

During the long reign of the Pala Kings of Bengal, the Mahabodhi Temple received lavish patronage, and most of the images and Stupas that can still be seen in and around the temple date from this period.

Several inscriptions mention Pala Kings as having made gifts and endowments as did Kings from other parts of India.

The beginning of the thirteenth century saw much of India in chaos due to the invasion by the Turkish Empire. Invading Muslim armies destroyed temples and defaced statues. There is no record of exactly how and when Bodhgaya was destroyed, but there are records that in the onslaught the Turks put to death innumerable monks and destroyed images and shrines.

During the Turkish rule, the Mahabodhi temple fell into ruins due to deliberate destruction and neglect, and the visits of pilgrims became less and less frequent. All accounts of the temple prior to the British restoration in 1880 indicate that it was an uncared for and neglected ruin, with the ground floor and second floor chambers collapsed. An accumulation of rubbish around the temple meant that the level of the ground had reached above the niches on the outer wall.

In 1802, the Burmese sent a mission to Bodhgaya, and the British also became interested.

Francis Hamilton's 1811 visit didn't yield a published report until 1836, however Alexander Cunningham was led to recommend excavations after his visit in 1861.

The initial excavations were led by Major Mead, but no report was ever published and today the papers whereabouts are unknown.

It was in 1880 that the Governor of Bengal appointed J.D. Beglar to restore the temple in conjunction with the Burmese. This restoration was based on earlier models of the temple found in the local area.

Some say that this sadly destroyed much of the original nature of the temple by rebuilding the front pavilion and four corner towers and covering the arched doorway despite the physical evidence these existed at an earlier stage.

[source:A Brief History of the Mahabodhi Temple ]