Bodh Gaya Archaeological Museum
Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India
Nearby attractions
Mahabodhi Temple
Bodh Gaya, Bihar
The navel of the Buddhist world — the 50-m pyramidal temple marks the spot where Siddhartha attained enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree, a living descendant of which still shades meditators from every nation. UNESCO World Heritage and profoundly moving at dawn.
Bodhi Tree & Vajrasana
Bodh Gaya, Bihar
The sacred fig — descendant of the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment — and the polished-sandstone 'diamond throne' Ashoka placed beside it.
Great Buddha Statue, Bodh Gaya
Bodh Gaya, Bihar
An 80-ft sandstone-and-red-granite Buddha in meditation, consecrated by the Dalai Lama in 1989 — serene above landscaped gardens near the Mahabodhi temple.
Monasteries of Bodh Gaya (Thai, Tibetan, Bhutanese)
Bodh Gaya, Bihar
A living Buddhist United Nations — the golden Thai wat, the Tibetan monastery's giant prayer wheel, and the Bhutanese, Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese temples in one town.
Sujata Stupa & Village, Bodh Gaya
Bodh Gaya, Bihar
Across the Falgu river, the great mound marking where the milkmaid Sujata offered the fasting Buddha kheer — the moment he chose the Middle Way.
Dungeshwari Cave Temples (Mahakala Caves)
Bodh Gaya, Bihar
The hillside caves where the Buddha practised six years of severe austerity before enlightenment — a gaunt 'emaciated Buddha' shrine reached by a short climb.
Brahmayoni Hill & Gaya Ghats
Gaya, Bihar
The temple-hill above Gaya climbed by 400-plus steps — the Buddha's Fire Sermon site by tradition, with shrines, a cave and a fine city-and-Falgu panorama.
Vishnupad Temple, Gaya
Gaya, Bihar
The great temple over Vishnu's 40-cm footprint on the Falgu's bank — India's supreme site for pind-daan ancestral rites during the autumn Pitru Paksha.
Pretshila & Ramshila Hills, Gaya
Gaya, Bihar
Two temple-hills of the Gaya pind-daan circuit — Pretshila's Ahalya Bai temple and steep climb, and Ramshila's ridge shrines over the pilgrimage city.