जगहें

Mahabodhi Temple, Bodh Gayaतीर्थयूनेस्कोGaya

The site of the Buddha's enlightenment, with a descendant of the bodhi tree, a temple whose core is Gupta-period, and the Vajrasana slab attributed to Ashoka. A UNESCO World Heritage site, and the single most international place in India — with Thai, Japanese, Bhutanese, Tibetan, Burmese, Sri Lankan, Vietnamese and Chinese monasteries around it.

सबसे अच्छा समय: November–February.

Nalanda Mahaviharaविरासतयूनेस्कोNalanda

The excavated ruins of a monastic university that operated for around seven centuries, with viharas, temples and a scale of brick construction that makes the description "university" credible on sight. A UNESCO World Heritage site since 2016.

RajgirविरासतNalanda

Ringed by five hills and the walls of the old Magadhan capital. Griddhakuta, where the Buddha taught; the Saptaparni cave, where the first Buddhist council was held after his death; hot springs still in daily use; and the Jain temples on the ridges above.

Barabar and Nagarjuni CavesविरासतJehanabad

The oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India, cut in the third century BCE and dedicated by Ashoka and his grandson to the Ajivika ascetics. The granite interiors are polished to a mirror finish that has never been satisfactorily explained, and they carry an echo that E. M. Forster used as the pivot of A Passage to India.

Vishnupad Temple and the Phalgu ghatsतीर्थGaya

The centre of the Gaya pind daan rites, built around a footprint in rock, with the dry bed of the Phalgu beside it. During Pitru Paksha the riverbed itself becomes the ritual ground.

Pawapuriतीर्थNalanda

Where Mahavira died and was cremated. The Jal Mandir stands in the middle of a lotus tank said to have been formed where earth was taken for his funeral, reached by a long stone causeway.

Bihar Sharif and the Bari Dargahतीर्थNalanda

The shrine of Makhdum Sharfuddin Yahya Maneri, the fourteenth-century Firdausi Sufi whose letters are a classic of Indian Sufi writing. The urs fills the town, and the khanqah has functioned continuously for seven centuries.

Maner SharifविरासतPatna

Two tombs by the Sone confluence — the Chhoti Dargah of Shah Daulat, completed in 1616, is among the finest Mughal-period buildings in eastern India, with a carved stone ceiling worth the trip on its own.

Takht Sri Harmandir Ji, Patna Sahibतीर्थPatna

One of the five takhts of Sikhism, at the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh in 1666. The gurdwara holds relics of the Guru and draws pilgrims from Punjab and the diaspora year-round.

Kumhrar and Agam KuanविरासतPatna

What is left of Pataliputra — the excavated remains of an eighty-pillared Mauryan hall, wooden palisades preserved in the water table, and a deep well associated in tradition with Ashoka.

Bihar Museum and Patna MuseumविरासतPatna

Between them they hold the Didarganj Yakshi, a third-century BCE sandstone figure with the Mauryan polish intact, and the best collection of the region's Buddhist and Hindu sculpture.

Deo Sun Templeतीर्थAurangabad

A stone sun temple with an unusual east-facing orientation, and the site of the largest Chhath gathering in Bihar — several lakh people at one tank over two days.

Telhara and GhosrawanविरासतNalanda

Excavated monastic sites in the Nalanda hinterland, less visited and less reconstructed — brick viharas and stupas standing in fields.

Rajgir hot springs and Ghora Katoraप्रकृतिNalanda

Sulphur springs on Vaibhara hill used continuously since at least the Buddha's lifetime, and a hill-ringed lake with a Buddha statue, reached on foot or by tonga.