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A relook at the History of Bodh Gaya and a stock of the times before 1880
About 2600 years ago, a prince had left his royal palace to wander around in solitude in the forests. He left his family behind and wandered around in the forests of Bihar looking for a solution to the problems of human existence and suffering. Years passed around in the wandering, and his craving for the truth brought him to the banks of the Neranjara river (a branch of the river Falgu, also called Nilanjana) in the forests near the ancient town of Gaya.
The site lay deep within the forest with no structures around at that time. Some visitors from the nearby villages at times visited the forest for paying obeisance to the forest deities, one of whom was Sujata, who almost saved the life of the wanderer ascetic prince with the offering of a precious bowl of milk. It was here that he attained enlightenment about the truth.
He founded the middle path to salvation that would forever serve as a guide to mankind. The place later came to be called as Bodh Gaya. It was here at Bodh Gaya that the Buddha every day bathed in the river and did walking meditation along the riverbanks and along the small forest paths his own steps had created. He sat in meditation on the shore beside the flowing river or beneath the Pipal (Bodhi) tree where hundreds of birds chirped among its branches.
To be continued....