Just About Everything

Buddhist Stupa at Kesariya, Bihar India From Madubani, we set off for Muzaffarpur, we needed to halt at a place for the night. We still had Kesariya and Vaishali on our list. I was very interested in kesariya because the Buddhist stupa in Kesariya is suppossed to be the largest in the world! We started off very early the next day, around 5 am. Kesariya is around 82 kms from Muzaffarpur, it took us around 2 and a half hours to reach Kesariya. The first view was almost like a hillock; after we got a little closer, I relaized that we were looking at the largest Buddhist stupa in the world! It is quite something. The stupa was excavated in 1998 by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and dates back to 200 AD to 750 AD.Certainly worth a visit, especially if you happen to be in that area. Kesariya stupa Side view of the stupa

View of the Mahabodhi temple complex In continuation with my Bihar trip , after reaching our hotel at around 10.30 pm, a hot bath and hot and delicious stuffed parathas for dinner revived us completely. We were eager to visit the Mahabodhi temple, and the other beautiful Buddhist temples in Bodh Gaya.We checked out of the hotel at around 7.30 am in morning. Our packed agenda did not allow for much relaxation. There was so much to see and just 24 little hours! We wanted to make the most of every precious hour. Our plan was to tour Bodh Gaya, then Gaya, followed by Rajgir and Nalanda, all in one day! A bit about the history of Mahabodhi temple : In the 6th century, Prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment at this spot. Emperor Ashoka set up a throne of sandstone to represent the spot. A sandstone railing was constructed around it in the 3rd century BC.The present Mahabodhi temple was constructed in 6th century AD. There have been several restorations after that. There has...