A few weeks ago, I traveled to Bodh Gaya, India. This small town is located in northeastern India and has been a destination that I have wanted to experience, for many years– probably since high school in the mid-1990’s. What is so special about this place? It is considered Mecca for Buddhists all over the world. It is the place where Siddhartha Guatama attained enlightenment and became Buddha. Siddhartha was born in Nepal during the 6th century B.C. He was born into a wealthy family and lived a sheltered life, per his father’s wishes. It wasn’t until he was an adult, married with a son, that he left the grounds of the palace in which he had lived all his life, for the very first time. He saw sickness, death, and old age. He had no idea this had existed in the world. Shortly after this experience, left his family on a quest to find a solution for the suffering he had seen and had heard about.

Siddhartha would eventually travel to what is known now as Bodh Gaya. This place is located in the northeastern region of India. There are several places in which Siddhartha spents weeks/months/years meditating, seeking enlightenment. But only one place would be the actual spot in which this happened, and this was underneath the Bodhi Tree. The Bodhi Tree was a large fig tree, and although the original tree was destroyed by the jealous wife of a previous ruler of the area (read more about that here), the one that stands today is from seedlings of the Bodhi Tree in Sri Lanka, which is said to have come from the original Bodhi Tree or perhaps one very close to it.

I am posting my photos from this trip. I was only able to enjoy about 36 hours of my trip until I became very ill with an ear infection. I spent the rest of my time in Bodh Gaya in bed at the guesthouse I was staying at.

I wasn’t able to photograph the Bodhi Tree inside the Mahabodhi Temple due to the sacred nature of the place. They only allowed real cameras inside, not cell phones, and I had left my cameras back in Bangalore. But there are photos of the Dungeshwari Cave Temple, and the banyan tree (Sujata Mandir), where Sujata found Siddhartha. Also, I visitited the stupa and temple that is dedicated to Sujata, the woman who fed Siddhartha, ending the fast that was keeping him from enlightenment. After his encounter with Sujata, Siddhartha was nourished and went on to discover the Bodhi Tree.