Kushinagar, (Kushinara of Yore),
is a revered place for Buddhist pilgrims, 55 kms away from
Gorakhpur
. It was here that the Tathagata, the reciter of truth, breathed his last with the
last words, “Behold now, brethren, I exhort you, saying, decay is inherent in
all component thing ! Work out your salvation with diligence !”
A temple
dedicated to the event – the Mahaparinirvana temple today stands amidst a serene
‘sal’ grove …… as if still reminiscing the great demise.The huge statue of the Reclining
Buddha, excavated in 1876 at the temple, is one of the most momentous of all
sights for the devout. It was brought from
Mathura
by a devout monk, Haribala, during the reign of King Kumara Gupta in the 5th
Century A.D.
The whole of Kushinagar, since
the Mahaparinirvana of Gatuam Buddha, was turned into a memorial site with stupas
including the relic stupa-Mukutbandhana and Gupta period Chaitayas and Viharas,
built by the devout kings.
The Chinese travelers Fa Hien, Hieun Tsang and T. Ising
visited Kushinagar during different centuries and recorded a graphic account of
the place which later fell to bad times, due to lack of patronage. Theses
recordings provided the vital clues for excavations done centuries later by Sir
Alexander Cunningham.
The visiting sites of Kushinagar
fall in three categories :
-
The Mahaparinirvana Temple, commemorating the place of
the great decease with a reclining statue of Lord Buddha;
-
Mata Kunwar Shrine
contains a 10th Century blue schist image of Buddha
and
-
Rambhar Stupa,
which is supposedly the spot where Lord Buddha was cremated and his relics divided
into eight equal parts.
A part from this, a
Chinese
Temple
, a
Buddhist
Temple
, a
Tibetan
Temple
and the Indo-Japan-Srilanka Buddhist Centre hold Significant religious value for
pilgrims.
The best time to visit :- The best
time to visit is between October
to March
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By
Air |
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Nearest Airport is at Gorakhpur
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By
Train |
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Nearest Rail Head is at Gorakhpur
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By
Road |
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Kushinagar
is 55 kms away from
Gorakhpur
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