Bihar attractions

The magnificent Unesco World Heritage-listed Mahabodhi Temple, marking the hallowed ground where Buddha attained enlightenment and formulated his philosophy, forms the spiritual heart of Bodhgaya. Topped by a 50m py…

Housed in a majestic colonial-era building, this museum contains a splendid collection of Mauryan and Gupta stone sculptures, some beautiful bronze Buddhist statuary, and a gallery of early-19th-century landscape pa…

This massive, bulbous granary was built by the British army in 1786 and is being restored as of 2018. The idea behind its construction was to avoid a repeat of the terrible 1770 famine – look for the old carved sign…

Undoubtedly, the most sacred fig tree ever to grace the Earth was the Bodhi Tree at Bodhgaya, under which Prince Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism, achieved enlightenment. Buddha was said to have stared unblinking…

Set in a landscaped park, Kolhua comprises a large, hemispherical brick stupa guarded by a lion squatting atop a 2300-year-old Ashoka pillar. The pillar is plain and contains none of the Ashokan edicts usually carve…

Allow an hour or two for wandering the extensive ruins at Nalanda – they’re peaceful and well maintained with a parklike atmosphere of clipped lawns and shrubs. The red-brick ruins consist of 11 monasteries and six …

This peaceful 9-hectare park, inaugurated by the Dalai Lama in 2010, is notable for its massive sandblasted charcoal stupa (₹50), which houses a unique, bulletproof relic chamber, and sapling plantings from both the…

Buddha is thought to have preached the Lotus sutra on this rock outcrop. There are some faint remains of a 1500-year-old stupa, some prayer flags and a small shrine where Buddhist pilgrims come to pray. Get here by …

This impressive museum, one of the largest in south Asia, boasts three history galleries, plus displays on contemporary art and ethnic groups of Bihar. It has poached some of the finer pieces of the Patna Museum, in…

This 80ft-high Japanese-style statue of the Buddha seated in a lotus posture towers above a pleasant garden at the end of Temple St. The impressive monument was unveiled by the Dalai Lama in 1989 and is surrounded b…