The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c6.s3.51

c6.s3.51

Gayâ—1. Gayâśirsha. 2. The southern portion of the modern town of Gayâ was the ancient Gayâ. The present temple of Vishnupada was built by Ahalyâbâi, Mahârânî of Indor (1766 to 1795), on the site of an old Buddhist temple; the impression of Vishnu's foot which is worshipped at present was an engraving of Buddha's foot formerly worshipped by the Buddhists. The Brahmayoni hill on the southern side of the town was the Gayâsîsa or Gayâśirsha mountain of the Buddhists On the site of Aśoka's stûpa on the top of the mountain, the Hindus have built a temple of Chandî or Sâvitrî. All the temples in Gayâ, containing impressions of feet, where the oblation ceremony is performed nowadays, as at Râmsilâ hill and other places, were ancient Buddhist temples appropriated by the Hindus after the decay of Buddhism in India. The Sûrya-kunda near the Vishnupada temple an ancient Buddhist tank. Brahma-sara of the Mahâbhârata is one mile to the south-west from the Vishnupada-temple (Gayâ-mâhâtmya). Gayâ proper is called Brahma-Gayâ; six miles south of it is Bodh-Gayâ or Buddha-Gayâ, Rudra-Gayâ is in Kolhâpura, and Lenar in Berar is called Vishnu-Gayâ. An inscription near the Akshaya-Bata (the undecaying Banian tree) in Gayâ shows its existence as a Tîrtha in the tenth century A.D. (Dr. Bloch's Arch. Rep, 1902, in Calc. Gaz., September 17, 1902, p. 1301).