There are a number of Buddhist centres and pilgrimage sites in India. Most of them owe their origin to ancient India.
Four primary sites of Buddhist pilgrimage
The four primary sites of pilgrimage in Buddhism are : 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).
Must read: Four primary sites of Buddhist pilgrimage
Other prominent historic Buddhist sites by state
ANDHRA PRADESH
Nagarjunakonda
It is situated in Guntur district . Seat of Mahayana
Thotlakonda and Bojjannakonda
They are situated in Visakhapatnam.
Dharanikota
Amravati stupa
Amaravati and Dharanikota, both formed part of ancient Dhanyakataka, the capital of later Satavahanas.
Amravati was birthplace of one of the previous births of Buddha.
Famous for Amravati stupa.
Dhanyakataka was a preaching site of Buddha.
Under the Satavahavas,the Dhanyakataka (Amaravati) region became the most important stronghold of Mahayana Buddhism.
Bavikonda Buddhist Complex
Belum Caves
Thotlakonda
Undavalli Caves
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
Tawang Monastery, located at a height of 3400 metres in the north eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, is one of the largest monasteries in India.
BIHAR
Rajgir
The picturesque town of Rajgir, with its hills, gardens, caves, is 80 kms from Bodhgaya, and 100 kms from Bihar’s capital city of Patna.
Formerly known as Rajagaha, Rajgir was the first capital of Magadha, ruled by King Bimbisara who was one of the most prominent supporters of the Buddha.
Buddha used this city as his monsoon retreat, and preached his Dharma.
In Rajgir, the Buddha preached his sermons from the striking – looking Gridhakuta Hill or Vulture Peak, which had a unique rock formation, like a vulture’s beak.
There are also the grand Pippala Caves and the seven Sataparni Caves, where the first Buddhist Council was said to have been held, after the Buddha’s Mahaparinirvana.
Vaishali
Five years after his enlightenment at Bodhgaya, the Buddha came to Vaishali, famed as one of the first ‘republican’ states in the world.
It was in Vaishali, that women were ordained into the Sangha for the first time. These included the Buddha’s foster mother Mahaprajapati Gautami.
This town is also noted for the famous courtesan, Amrapali, who joined the Sangha.
Japanese Temple and the Vishwa Shanti Stupa (World Peace Pagoda), both built by the Japanese are situated here.
A hundred years after Buddha’s Parinirvana, Vaishali was chosen as the venue for the Second Buddhist Council.
Nalanda
The world-renowned university-town was the first residential educational institution in the world.
It was a supreme centre of learning, between the 5th and the 12th century.
It is a World Heritage Site.
The Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang and his disciple Hwui Li, both studied at this great institution.
Many reputed Indian scholars emanated from this University, like Nagarjuna, Aryabhatta.
Both Buddha and the Jain Guru Mahavira visited the Nalanda Village.
The Sariputra Stupa was built by Empereor Ashoka, in memory of Sariputra ( one of Buddha’s most learned disciples).
The university was destroyed by the Khalji Muslim invaders in the 12 century.
HARYANA
Sonipat
Kamashpura Aastha Pugdal Pagoda (Kumashpur) in Sonipat city, the place where Buddha gave Mahasatipatthana sutta).
Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra Stupa on the banks of sacred Brahma Sarovar in Kurukshetra city.
Topra
Topra between Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar, has museum park housing several replica of Ashoka’s edicts including largest Ashoka Chakra in the world
HIMACHAL PRADESH
Dharamshala
Namgyal Monastery
Rewalsar
Bon Monastery
Guru Ghantal Monastery
Kardang Monastery
Tayul Gompa
Kye Monastery
Nako
Tabo Gompa
LADAKH
There are the gompas, placed stunningly in the precipes of the mountains.The largest and best-known is the 17 century Hemis Gompa. It has an excellent library and the largest thangka painting in the world. Tourists flock here, during the annual Hemis Festival in June-July.
The Aichi Monastery is called the ‘Jewel’ of the Ladakh Buddhist sites.
MADHYA PRADESH
Sanchi
Sanchi, located in the state of Madhya Pradesh, is a World Heritage site and is best-known for a spectacular stupa, which is considered the most complete example of the early Buddhist architecture.
The vast brick stupa dates from the 3rd century BC, but its carved gates and railings were probably executed two centuries later.
Buddha is not represented in figures, but in symbols, as was the tradition in the early period of Buddhism.
Infact, the four magnificient Toranas (Gateways) of the stupa are intricately carved with stories of the Buddha’s life, through a series of symbols – the lotus represents his birth, the tree, his enlightenment, the wheel, his sermon, the stupa, his nirvana.
Numerous ‘Jataka’ tales centering around Buddha’s earlier incarnations are engraved here.
Bagh Caves
The Bagh Caves are a group of nine rock-cut monuments, situated among the southern slopes of the Vindhyas in Bagh town of Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh.
The Bagh Caves were quarried in the 5th-6th century AD, in the very late stages of Buddhism in India, and long after most of the Indian Buddhist Caves had been built, many of them since the 2nd or 1st centuries BCE.
MAHARASHTRA
Ajanta caves
They are in the Aurangabad District of Maharashtra.
Ajanta Caves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The caves at Ajanta are excavated out of a vertical cliff above the left bank of the river Waghora in the hills of Ajanta. They are thirty in number, including the unfinished ones, of which five (caves 9, 10, 19, 26 and 29) are chaityagrihas (sanctuary) and the rest, sangharamas or viharas (monastery).
The excavation activity was carried out in two different phases separated by an interval of about four centuries. The first phase coincides with the rule of the Satavahana dynasty from about the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE, while the second phase corresponds to the Basim branch of the Vakataka dynasty with their Asmaka and Rishika feudatories in the 5th to 6th centuries CE.
Cave No 1 is one of the most spectacular, with its gorgeous images of the Bodhisattvas of Padmapani and Vajrapani .
Cave 16 is striking, with many Jataka tales from the Buddha’s life.
Cave 17 has the greatest number of wall-paintings, which includes a row of eight Buddhas.
Ellora caves
Ellora Caves are a multi-religious rock-cut cave complex with inscriptions dating from the period 6th century CE onwards, located in the Aurangabad District of Maharashtra.
There are over 100 caves at the site, all excavated from the basalt cliffs in the Charanandri Hills,34 of which are open to public. These consist of 17 Hindu (caves 13–29), 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves.
Because of their exceptional architecture of ancient India, the Ellora Caves were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983.
All of the Ellora monuments were built during the Satavahana period.
Cave 21 is also called Rameshwar temple.
Cave 16 is also known as the Kailasa temple.
Cave 15 is called the Dashavatara temple.
Caves 1–12 contain the Buddhist monuments. Notable among the Buddhist caves is Cave 10, a chaitya worship hall called the ‘Vishvakarma cave’, built around 650 CE.
Caves 30–34 contain the Jain monuments.
Cave 30 is called the Chhota Kailasha, or the little Kailasha, due to the similarity of the carvings to those in the Kailasha temple.
ODISHA
An amazing range of Buddhist artefacts have been unearthed at a trio of places, 100 kms from Bhubaneshwar – Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri and Udaigiri. They have been named the Buddhist Triangle or the
Diamond Triangle.
Ratnagiri
Ratnagiri is the oldest Buddhist site of the 1st century BC. The famed Chinese traveller Huien Tsang wrote that he saw nearly 100 monasteries here.
Udayagiri
Udayagiri is located in a unique U-shaped valley surrounded by hills. It reveals the remains of an extensive monastery complex, studded with amazing Buddha images.
Lalitgiri
Lalitgiri is also located among picturesque hills, with the pretty Kelu river flowing in front.
The capital city of Odisha, Bhubaneshwar, is where Emperor Ashoka fought the famous Kalinga war, after which he converted to Buddhism in 262 BC. He erected his first Ashokan Edict at the spot where the war was fought. It’s a picturesque spot in Dhauli, 8 kms from Bhubaneshwar, with the pretty Dhaulagiri hills all around and the River Daya flowing in front. It’s the earliest example of rock sculpture in India, and portrays an elephant coming out of a monolith of stone, almost like a baby coming out of a womb.
SIKKIM
Rumtek Monastery
Pemayangtse Monastery
Enchey Monastery
Phensang Monastery
Phodang Monastery
Tashiding Monastery
Lachen Monastery
Labrang Monastery
UTTAR PRADESH
Sravasti
Sravasti is 150 kms from Lucknow, the capital-city of Uttar Pradesh, and was the capital of the
ancient kingdom of Kosala,and thebiggest town in the Gangetic plains during the Buddha’s time.
At Sravasti, the Buddha stayed in the Jetvana Vihara of the lush Jetvana Gardens , which attract many Buddhist pilgrims today, for its beauty and peace.
The Buddha stayed in Anandakuti and Gandhakuti, whose ruins still remain, and are sacred to the Buddhist pilgrims.
The lush Anand Bodhi tree, planted by Buddha’s favourite disciple, Anand, is very attractive.
Sankisa
Sankisa is situated in the state of Uttar Pradesh, on the banks of the Kali river, 47 Kms from Farrukhabad.
This is the place where the Buddha descended along with the gods, Indra and Brahma, after giving a discourse to his mother Maya Devi in heaven.
It became well-known, after Emperor Ashoka erected a pillar with an elephant capital, here.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
QUES. In which one of the following regions was Dhanyakataka, which flourished as a prominent Buddhist centre under the Mahasanghikas, located? UPSC 2023
(a) Andhra
(b) Gandhara
(c) Kalinga
(d) Magadha
(a)
