| Apparently, it
was the eating of a poisonous mushroom that was the cause of his death. The great Buddha
is said to have attained his Mahaparinirvana repeating to his followers that everything
passes and has to come to an end some time or the other hand that one must work out his
own salvation. The four prominent places in
connection with Buddha's biography are Lumbini, the modern Rumminidai in the Nepal Terai,
where he was born, Bodh Gaya or Buddha Gaya, where he obtained his spiritual
enlightenment, Sarnath, six miles north of Benaras, where he preached his first sermon,
and Kusinagar in Gorakhpur district, where he passed away.
Buddha is said to have enjoined that a visit to these four places is one of the
obligations of a devout Buddhist. It may be mentioned here that, but for the efforts of
the, Archaeological Department in the course of the last one century, these four places
with their great relics may not have been available to its. |
