BODH GAYA, a village in British India, in the Gaya dis trict of Behar and Orissa, situated 6m. south of the town of Gaya. It is one of the holiest places in the Buddhist world, for it was here that, under a pipa/ tree (Ficus religiosa), Prince Gautama or Sakya Muni obtained enlightenment, i.e., became free from the circle of re-births and became the Buddha. In the 3rd century B.C. the emperor Asoka erected a temple here; part of the stone railing enclosing this temple and the vajrasan or diamond throne marking the spot where Buddha sat are still extant. Asoka's temple, having become ruinous, was replaced by another temple, identified with that now standing, which was restored in the II th century A.D. and again by the British Government in 1882. The main tower rises to a height of i7o feet. In the courtyard round it are ranged a great number of stone stupas which devout Bud dhist pilgrims left as memorials of their visit to the shrine. A pipa/ tree of no great age outside the temple is believed to be a lineal descendant of the sacred Bodhi tree under which Buddha sat, for the life of the tree was perpetuated, when it began to die, by dropping a seed in a f ork or hollow.
See R. Mitra, Buddha Gaya (1878) Sir A. Cunningham, Mahabodhi (1892).