Great Buddha Statue, Bodh Gaya
Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India
Nearby attractions
Bodh Gaya Archaeological Museum
Bodh Gaya, Bihar
The museum of Mahabodhi's finds — Pala sculpture, railing pillars and images that once adorned the great temple, near the Bodhi Tree complex.
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.
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.
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.