{"id":58205,"date":"2025-08-05T12:21:39","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T06:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=58205"},"modified":"2025-08-05T13:32:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T08:02:43","slug":"mahabodhi-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/mahabodhi-temple\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahabodhi Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Mahabodhi Temple Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court recently agreed to review a petition seeking the repeal of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949, advocating for its replacement with a central law to better manage the Mahabodhi Temple in Bihar.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Mahabodhi Temple<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>one of the four most sacred sites of Buddhism<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, marking the location where <\/span><b>Buddha attained Enlightenment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Bodhi), along with:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Lumbini <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Buddha\u2019s <\/span><b>birthplace<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Sarnath <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Buddha\u2019s<\/span><b> first sermon<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Kushinagar <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Buddha\u2019s <\/span><b>parinirvana)<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Location<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><b>Bodh Gaya, Bihar, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on the banks of the<\/span><b> Niranjana River.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>first temple <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at the site was <\/span><b>constructed by<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the <\/span><b>Mauryan emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BC<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>present temple<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was built in the <\/span><b>5th\u20136th century AD, in the Gupta period.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is<\/span><b> one of the earliest Buddhist temples <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">built <\/span><b>entirely in brick,<\/b> <b>still standing in India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, from the <\/span><b>late Gupta period.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The temple was heavily <\/span><b>restored in the 19th century, by <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Myanmar (<\/span><b>Burmese) Buddhists<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and then by the<\/span><b> British archaeologist Sir Alexander Cunningham.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was declared a <\/span><b>World Heritage site<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by UNESCO in 2002.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Mahabodhi Temple <\/b><b>Architecture<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The temple structure is 180 feet (55 meters) in height. It is dominated by a <\/span><b>pyramid-shaped central tower,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> called a <\/span><b>shikhara<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This tower comprises several<\/span><b> layers of niches, arch motifs, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><b>fine engravings.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Four additional towers, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">each identical to the main tower but smaller in size, <\/span><b>adorn the corners<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the two-story structure.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>shrine <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">inside the temple holds a <\/span><b>yellow sandstone statue of the Buddha encased in glass.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Sacred Bodhi Tree: Believed <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to be a<\/span><b> direct descendant of<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the <\/span><b>original tree under which Buddha attained Enlightenment.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Vajrasana (Diamond Throne)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: A stone slab marking the <\/span><b>exact spot where Buddha meditated <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and attained enlightenment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stone railings surround the temple as well as the Bo tree.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>One of <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the most famous of <\/span><b>Ashoka\u2019s many pillars <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(on which he had engraved his proclamations and his understanding of religious doctrine) stands <\/span><b>at the southeast corner of the temple.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 4.8-hectare complex includes ancient shrines and modern Buddhist structures built by devotees.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/india\/supreme-court-agrees-to-examine-plea-to-repeal-bodh-gaya-temple-law\/articleshow\/123093151.cms?from=mdr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ET<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mahabodhi Temple is one of the four most sacred sites of Buddhism, marking the location where Buddha attained Enlightenment (Bodhi). Read more about Mahabodhi Temple, Location, Architecture, Latest News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":58233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2025,21,22,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-58205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-mahabodhi-temple","9":"tag-prelims-pointers","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}