|
Buddhist Pilgrimage Sites In India
In religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or to a shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of every major religion participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim. There are number of historical Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the Republic of India. Places associated with the life of Buddha Primary sites Buddhism offers four primary sites of pilgrimage: Lumbini (birthplace of the Buddha), Bodh Gaya (the site where the Buddha attained enlightenment), Sarnath (the location of the Buddha’s first sermon), and Kushinagar (the location where the Buddha attained parinirvana). All of these sites are located in India except Lumbini, which is located in southern Nepal. File:Exterior view of the Mahabodhi Temple.jpg, "Maha Bodhi Temple" at Bodh Gaya File:Dhamek Stupa, Sarnath.jpg, Dhamek Stupa, Sarnath File:Ancient Buddhist monaste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarnath
Sarnath (Hindustani pronunciation: aːɾnaːtʰ also referred to as Sarangnath, Isipatana, Rishipattana, Migadaya, or Mrigadava) is a place located northeast of Varanasi, near the confluence of the Ganges and the Varuna rivers in Uttar Pradesh, India. Sarnath is where Gautama Buddha taught his first sermon after attaining enlightenment, and where the Buddhist ''sangha'' came into existence through the enlightenment of his first five disciples (Kaundinya, Assaji, Bhaddiya, Vappa and Mahanama). According to the '' Mahaparinibbana Sutta'' ('' Sutta'' 16 of the ''Digha Nikaya''), the Buddha mentioned Sarnath as one of the four places of pilgrimage his devout followers should visit. Singhpur, a village approximately north of Sarnath, is believed to be the birthplace of Shreyansanatha, the 11th ''tirthankara'' of Jainism. A temple dedicated to Shreyansanatha in Sarnath is an important pilgrimage site for Jains. Etymology The name ''Sarnath'' derives from the Sanskrit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kushinagar
Kushinagar ( Hindustani: or ; Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is a town in the Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is an important and popular Buddhist pilgrimage site, where Buddhists believe Gautama Buddha attained ''parinirvana''. Etymology According to Buddhist tradition ''Kushavati'' was named prior to the king Kush. The naming of Kushwati is believed to be due to abundance of Kush grass found in this region. Demographics According to the 2011 Census of India, Kushinagar had 3462 households and a total population of 22,214, of which 11,502 were males and 10,712 were females. The population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 2,897. The total number of literate people in Kushinagar was 15,150, which constituted 68.2% of the population with male literacy of 73.3% and female literacy of 62.7%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 1,117 (5.03%) and 531 (2.39%) respectively. History The present Kushinagar is identified with Kusavati (in the pre-B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodh Gaya
Bodh Gaya is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous as it is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained Enlightenment ( pi, bodhi, pi-Latn) under what became known as the Bodhi Tree. Since antiquity, Bodh Gaya has remained the object of pilgrimage and veneration both for Hindus and Buddhists. In particular, archaeological finds including sculptures show that the site was in use by Buddhists since the Mauryan period. For Buddhists, Bodh Gaya is the most important of the main four pilgrimage sites related to the life of Gautama Buddha, the other three being Kushinagar, Lumbini, and Sarnath. In 2002, Mahabodhi Temple, located in Bodh Gaya, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. History Bodh Gaya is considered to be the holiest site in Buddhism. Known as Uruwela in the Buddha's time, it is situated by the bank of Lilajan River. The first temple at the site was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lumbini
Lumbinī ( ne, लुम्बिनी, IPA=ˈlumbini , "the lovely") is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in the Rupandehi District of Lumbini Province in Nepal. It is the place where, according to Buddhist tradition, Queen Mahamayadevi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama at around 566 BCE. Gautama, who, according to Buddhist tradition, achieved Enlightenment some time around 528 BCE, became Gautama Buddha and founded Buddhism. Lumbini is one of many magnets for pilgrimage that sprang up in places pivotal to the life of the Buddha. Lumbini has a number of older temples, including the Mayadevi Temple, and various new temples, funded by Buddhist organisations from various countries, have been completed or are still under construction. Many monuments, monasteries and a museum, and the Lumbini International Research Institute are also within the holy site. Also, there is the Puskarini, or Holy Pond, where the Buddha's mother took the ritual dip prior to his birth and where he had his fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India in the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city. The name "Nepal" is first recorded in texts from the Vedic period of the India ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dhamek Stupa
Dhamek Stupa (also spelled ''Dhamekh'' and ''Dhamekha'') is a massive stupa located at the archaeological site of Sarnath in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Dhamek Stupa marks the precise location where the Buddha preached his first discourse to his first five disciples (Kaundinya, Assaji, Bhaddiya, Vappa and Mahanama), and where all five eventually became fully liberated. Location Dhamek Stupa is located to the east of Dharmarajika Stupa at the archaeological site of Sarnath. Sarnath is located to the northeast of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India. Description Dhamek Stupa is the most massive structure in Sarnath. In its current shape, the stupa is a solid cylinder of bricks and stone reaching a height of 43.6 meters and having a diameter of 28 meters. The basement seems to have survived from Ashoka's structure, while the stone facing displays delicate floral carvings characteristic of the Gupta era. The wall is covered with exquisitely carved figures of humans and bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parinirvana Stupa
The Parinirvana Stupa or Mahaparinirvana Temple is a Buddhist temple in Kushinagar, India which is said to be the place of death of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. Alexander Cunningham gains the most attention for his work in the area, because he conclusively proved that Gautama Buddha had died in the area. The present temple was built by the Indian Government in 1956 as part of the commemoration of the 2,500th year of the Mahaparinivana or 2500 BE (Buddhist Era). Inside this temple, there is a Reclining Buddha image lying on its right side with the head to the north. The statue is 6.1 m long and rests on a stone couch. History After 45 years of missionary activities, the Buddha, severely stricken with illness, finally reached to Kushinagar, where he ordained his last disciple and uttered his last words to the ''sangha'' and attained Parinirvana in 487 BCE. Maurya king Ashoka reportedly visited Kushinagar in 260 BCE where he built several ''caityas'', ''stupas'' to honor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the north-west, Chhattisgarh to the north, Odisha to the north-east, Tamil Nadu to the south, Karnataka to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east. It has the second longest coastline in India after Gujarat, of about . Andhra State was the first state to be formed on a linguistic basis in India on 1 October 1953. On 1 November 1956, Andhra State was merged with the Telugu-speaking areas (ten districts) of the Hyderabad State to form United Andhra Pradesh. ln 2014 these merged areas of Hyderabad State are bifurcated from United Andhra Pradesh to form new state Telangana . Present form of Andhra similar to Andhra state.but some mandalas like Bhadrachalam still with Telangana. Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Kurnool is People Capital of And ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guntur
Guntur () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Guntur is spread across 168.49 km square and is the third-largest city in the state. It is situated to the west of the Bay of Bengal, on the Eastern Coastal Plains. The city is the heartland of the state, located in the centre of Andhra Pradesh and making it a central part connecting different regions. It serves as a major hub for exports chilli, cotton and tobacco and has the largest chili market yard in Asia. It is a major transportation, education and commercial hub for the state. Guntur city is a municipal corporation and also the headquarters of Guntur East and Guntur West mandals in Guntur revenue division. The city region is a major part of Amaravati Metropolitan Region. census of India the city is the third most populous in the state with a population of 743,354. It is classified as a ''Y-grade'' city as per the Seventh Central Pay Commission. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nagarjunakonda
Nagarjunakonda (IAST: Nāgārjunikoṇḍa, meaning Nagarjuna Hill) is a historical town, now an island located near Nagarjuna Sagar in Palnadu district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, near the state border with Telangana. It is one of India's richest Buddhist sites, and now lies almost entirely under the lake created by the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam. With the construction of the dam, the archaeological relics at Nagarjunakonda were submerged, and had to be excavated and transferred to higher land, which has become an island. The site was once the location of a large Buddhist monastic university complex, attracting students from as far as China, Gandhara, Bengal and Sri Lanka. There are ruins of several Mahayana Buddhist and Hindu shrines. It is 160 km west of another important historic site, the Amaravati Stupa. The sculptures found at Nagarjunakonda are now mostly removed to various museums in India and abroad. They represent the second most important group in the dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahayana
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing branches of Buddhism (the other being ''Theravāda'' and Vajrayana).Harvey (2013), p. 189. Mahāyāna accepts the main scriptures and teachings of early Buddhism but also recognizes various doctrines and texts that are not accepted by Theravada Buddhism as original. These include the Mahāyāna Sūtras and their emphasis on the ''bodhisattva'' path and ''Prajñāpāramitā''. ''Vajrayāna'' or Mantra traditions are a subset of Mahāyāna, which make use of numerous tantric methods considered to be faster and more powerful at achieving Buddhahood by Vajrayānists. "Mahāyāna" also refers to the path of the bodhisattva striving to become a fully awakened Buddha (''samyaksaṃbuddha'') for the benefit of all sentient beings, and is thus als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thotlakonda
Thotlakonda Buddhist Complex is situated on a hill near Bheemunipatnam about from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, India. The hill is about above sea level and overlooks the sea. The Telugu name ''Toṭlakoṇḍa'' derived from the presence of a number of rock-cut cisterns hewn into the bedrock of the hillock. In 2019, the stupa was partially damaged due to monsoons, but it was restored by 2021 at the cost of Rs 42 lakh. Thotlakonda was well within the influence of ancient Kalinga, which was an important source of dissemination of Buddhism to Sri Lanka and various parts of Southeast Asia. Also, it is one of the Ports of entry for all the Visitors coming from high Seas to visit all Buddhist prominent places located closely around 83.3 degrees Meridian East. It provides an insight into the process of transoceanic diffusion of Indic culture, especially Buddhism. A hill on the sea coast with salubrious climate was an ideal attraction for the Buddhist monks to build a monastery ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Nagarjunakonda")
