Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s2.t3.8

v1.c7.s2.t3.8

Bodhgaya had become a famous Buddhist pilgrim centre by the time of Asoka whose visit to the city of Sambodhi [Bodhgaya] is recorded. Since Buddha's time, patronised by men and women of both royal and commoner households as well as by monks and seekers of knowledge, it has been at the centre of the Buddhist pilgrimage map. Among famous earliest visitors from abroad, one finds evidence of Sri Lankan monk Culla Tissa and a group of lay pilgrims making their way to Bodhgaya in about 100 BCE. Inscriptions and other material evidences indicate visit and renovation of this place by disciples from Sri Lanka, Myanmar, China, Nepal, Tibet, Sumatra, Vietnam and other Buddhist countries. In 4th century CE, Sri Lankans built the great Mahabodhi Monastery which later grew into a great monastic university for the study of Theravada Buddhism. Buddhaghosa wrote both the Atthasalani and the now lost Nanodaya at this monastery. Other famous names associated with it include Chinese monks Ijing, Jin Hong and Xuan Chao, south Indian monk Dharmapala, who was the author of the *Madyamakacatuhsatika*, Kashmiri scholar Ratnavajra, Tibetan Tsami Lotsawa Sangye Trak, Sri Lankan Anandashri etc. Chinese traveller-monks Faxian and Xuanzang provide the earliest detailed description of the place identifying areas of its sacred sites. The last one to write about the place was Tibetan scholar-monk Dharmasvamin who came there in 1234 CE and found the place deserted with only four monks staying there. A series of attacks by Indo-Turkic rulers since the 12th century led to its fast decay.