The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s12.118

c5.s12.118

Uravilva—Buddha-Gayâ, six miles to the south of Gayâ. It was here that Buddha attained Buddhahood at the age of thirty-six in 522 B.C. in the 16th year of the reign of Bimbisâra, below the celebrated Pipal tree (Ficus religiosa) called also the Bodhi tree (Mahâ-Bodha tree of the Agni Purâṇa, ch. 115, v. 37), immediately on the west of the great temple. Fergusson supposes that the great temple was built in the sixth century by Amara Deva (the author of the Amara-kosha), one of the nine gems in the court of Vikramâditya who reigned in Malwa from 515 to 550 A.D. (History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, p. 69). But Dr. Rajendralal Mitra says that the theory about Amara Deva’s having built the temple in the sixth century is founded on Mr. Wilmot’s inscription (Asiatic Researches, vol. 1), which was a myth, and never had any tangible existence. In his opinion the temple was built in the first century B.C. on the site of Aśoka’s vihâra, by two Brahmin brothers whom he supposes to be Śaṅkara and Mudgaragâmin, the founders of the celebrated monastery at Nâlandâ (Buddha-Gaya, pp. 238, 242). The Muchilinda tank, now called Buddha-kuṇḍa, is situated to the south of the temple, but Dr. Rajendralal identifies it with Muchirim to the south-west of the temple. The place where Buddha walked up and down after attaining Buddhahood is marked by a plastered parapet now called Jagamohan (anciently called Caṅkrama: see I-Tsing by Takakusu, p. 114), situated almost immediately to the north side of the temple. The rail to the south of the temple is one of the most ancient sculptured monuments in India, being built at the time of Aśoka. The temple is now in charge of a Hindu Mohant, who resides in a monastery near the great temple, which was built by a Mohant named Mahâdeva in the early part of the eighteenth century. The circular slab of chlorite carved in a complicated mystic pattern, now lying in the front room of the temple of Bâgîśvarî, originally an image of Vajrapâṇi, is supposed to be the Vajrâsana (the diamond throne), on which Buddha sat when he entered into meditation below the Bodhi tree. The temple of Târâ Devî, which is really an image of Padmapâṇi, the son of the Dhyânî Buddha Amitâbha (see Udayapura) is situated close to the great temple (Dr. Mitra’s Buddha-Gaya). Meghavarṇa, the Buddhist king of Ceylon, built a monastery to the north of the Bodhi tree at Buddha-Gaya with the permission of Samudra Gupta about the middle of fourth century A.D. (Smith’s Early History of India, p. 287).