| Fa-Hien has
mentioned that there were four pagodas dedicated to Lord Buddha and at the place of one of
the pagodas Buddha got Enlightenment.This is the theory of
Dr. B.M. Barua and others who have gone deep into the question. The fact is that there
have been additions and alterations to the components of the great Mahabodhi Vihara, both
by the rich and the poor, who had eome to Bodh Gaya to pay their homage to Lord Buddha.
For centuries the temple was
neglected.
Renovation of the temple It must be said that, but for the interest of the British
administrators in the late 19th century, the temple may have not been there in its present
glory. Sir Ashley Eden, the then Lieut.
Governor of Bengal took up the question of the
restoration of the Bodh Gaya temple in 1880.Master-minds like Cunningham, Begar of the
Archaeological Department, Dr. Rajendralal Mitra of Calcutta and others were engaged in
this task and it was due to their efforts that the Bodh Gaya temple was
practicallyrestored to its original shape. That Cunningham and his collaborators were able
to restore the temple to its original shape has been fully corroborated by later finds of
the models of the Mahabodhi Vihara or Bodh Gaya temple at Mrohuang, the ancient capital of
Arakan, an earthen plaque at Kumrahar near Patna and another model at Mathura in North
India. |
