Day 5:
-
Morning after breakfast drive down to Bodhgaya. Enroute
Japanese lunch in Rajgir at Hotel Hokke via Nalanda unvesity
ruins. Dinner and overnight in Bodhgaya.Nalanda is the
oldest known University of the world. Although Buddha
visited this place many a times in his life time, the town shot to fame much
later as one of the world''s greatest and best Universities. The excavations
undertaken at the site have unearthed a huge complex of a University
founded and patronized by the Gupta emperors. This university could
accommodate thousands of students and teachers coming from various parts
of the country to attain knowledge and study various aspects, which included
Buddhism, Vedas and Vedic texts, Logic, Grammar, Languages, Theology,
Astronomy, Mathematics and also medicine. The chinese traveler Xuan
Zhuang came here and stayed here as a student and as teacher later.Rajgir
is 12 kms south of Nalanda on the road to Bodhgaya and is located in a
verdant valley surrounded by rocky hills. It is sacred to the memory of
founders of both Buddhism and Jainism. Lord Buddha spent many months of
retreat during the rainy season here and used to meditate and preach on the
Griddhakuta, the hill of the Vultures.An aerial ropeway provides the link with a
hilltop stupa built by the Japanese. On one of the hills is the cave of
Saptparni, the first Buddhist Council was held. The Saptparni cave is also the
source of the Rajgir hot water springs that have curative properties and are
sacred to Hindus.Dinner and overnight in Bodhgaya.
Day 6:
Full day sightseeing of Bodhgaya, ( Breakfast, Lunch &
Dinner at Hotel )Here under the Bodhi tree (Tree of
Awakening). Shakyamuni Gautama attained supreme
knowledge to become Buddha, the "Enl ightened
One", the
propounder of one of the great religions of the world. The tree that stands
todayis believed to have grown from the original Peepal tree under which
Page 4 of 8
© Prakriti Inbound Pvt Ltd.