Mahabodhi Temple
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How it came to be
Bodh Gaya is where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. In the 3rd century BC Emperor Ashoka built the first temple here and installed the Vajrasana, a sandstone platform marking where the Buddha sat in meditation. The Bodhi tree west of the temple is considered a direct descendant of the original.
The present temple dates from the late Gupta period in the 5th to 6th centuries AD and is one of the earliest surviving brick temples in India. The temple was largely neglected from the 13th to the 18th century, though Burmese rulers restored it in the 13th and 19th centuries. In the 1880s the British colonial government began a full restoration under Alexander Cunningham and Joseph David Beglar.
The Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949 moved control from the Hindu mahant to a committee set up by the Bihar state government. The 4.86-hectare property was inscribed in 2002.
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