Mahabodhi Temple and Bodhi Tree, Bodh Gaya

The Buddha attained enlightenment at this site around the 6th-5th century BCE. Emperor Ashoka built the first temple in the 3rd century BCE. The present structure dates from the Gupta period (5th-6th century CE). After centuries of decline following Turkic conquests, restoration began in the 19th century. UNESCO inscribed the site in 2002.

Prince Siddhartha Gautama was born into a royal family in what is now Nepal. Sheltered from suffering by his father, he nonetheless encountered old age, sickness, and death during excursions from the palace. Recognizing that no wealth or pleasure could protect him from these realities, he renounced his royal life at age 29 to seek the end of suffering.

For six years he practiced extreme asceticism, nearly starving himself, but found this path inadequate. Accepting food from a village girl named Sujata, he recovered his strength and sat beneath a pipal tree on the banks of the Phalgu River near Gaya. There, tradition says, he was assailed by Mara, the tempter, who sent his armies and his daughters to distract Siddhartha from his goal. Siddhartha remained unmoved. He touched the earth, calling it to witness his determination, a gesture still represented in countless Buddha images as the bhumisparsha (earth-touching) mudra.

At dawn on the full moon of Vaisakha—a date now celebrated as Buddha Purnima, usually in May—after forty-nine days of meditation, he achieved enlightenment: complete understanding of the Four Noble Truths and the path leading to the cessation of suffering. He became the Buddha, the Awakened One. He was approximately 35 years old.

He spent the following seven weeks at seven different spots in the vicinity, meditating on his experience. Then he traveled to Sarnath, near Varanasi, to deliver his first teaching to five former companions, setting in motion the wheel of dharma that would spread across Asia and eventually the world.