Drum – 22 August 2019

T

HE Mahabodhi Temple (“Great Awakening Temple”) in Bodh Gaya, India, is one of the four holiest sites in Buddhism – the other three being Lumbini,

where

the

Buddha

was

born;

Sarnath,

where

he

delivered

his

first

teaching;

and

K

ushinagar,

where

he

died.

The

temple

was

built

near

the

de-

scendant

of

the

fig

tree

under

which

Prince

Siddhartha

Gautama

sat

and

meditated.

After

seven

weeks

he

reached

nirvana

(enlightenment)

and

became

th

e

Buddha

(“enlightened

one”),

the

founder

of

Buddhism.

The

temple

was

declared

a

Unesco

World

Heritage

Site

in

2002. 
      

THE MAHABODHI TEMPLEIn part four of our series on religious sites, we visit the Mahabodhi Temple in India. It was built on the site Buddhists believe the Buddha reached enlightenment

COMPILED BY

COLIN HENDRICKS

INFOGRAPHIC:

MICHAEL DE LUCCHI

HOLY SITES:

PART 4

OF 5

NOW YOU

KNOW

In 2007 a former head monk

at the temple, Bhikkhu

Bodhipala, had to quit after he was accused of cutting

off a br

anch of the holy

Bodhi tree to sell to a rich

Buddhist.

SHOES OFFTemperatures in Bodh Gaya vary between

25 and 45

degrees

Celsius. As a result, the floor of the temple can get quite hot but it’s forbidden for visitors to wear shoes inside. Tourist can bring along a pair of old socks to wear. Water is offered at the temple but it’s better to buy bottled water to take with you.

CENTRAL TOWERThe temple has a

55m

central

tower (“sikhara”) sur-rounded by four smaller towers. An entrance takes you into a small hall leading to two shrines with statues of the Buddha.

ARCHITECTUREThe temple is one of the region’s oldest brick structures that’s still standing. It looks like a tall, thin stepped pyramid without a tip. Instead it has a stupa on top – a domed structure often found in Buddhist architecture.

Average man

24,3m

1,7m

GREAT BUDDHA STATUEThe statue of the meditating Buddha outside the temple is 24,3m tall. Started in 1982, it’smade of red granite and sand-stone blocks and took seven years

to

complete. About 120 000 stone masons helped build it.

The four smaller towers look the same as the central tower.

The original temple was built in the third century BC by the Indian Emperor Ashoka the Great. The cur-rent building dates from the fifth to sixth century

and a lot of it was restored in the 19th century.

60 | 22 AUGUST 2019 http://www.drum.co.za