Mahaparinirvana Temple, Kushinagar

The Mahaparinirvana Temple stands on Buddha Marg in Kushinagar, in the east of Uttar Pradesh, near the border with Bihar. Buddhist tradition identifies Kushinagar as the place where the Buddha died, or attained mahaparinirvana, at around the age of eighty, between two sal trees. It is one of the four principal Buddhist pilgrimage sites, together with Lumbini, Bodh Gaya and Sarnath. Ashoka is believed to have marked the site with stupas, and Chinese pilgrims such as Faxian in the 5th century and Xuanzang in the 7th century recorded the site, by then already in decline. It was later forgotten and was rediscovered in the 19th century.

Excavations in the 1860s and 1870s by Alexander Cunningham and A.C.L. Carlleyle uncovered a large stupa and a reclining figure, and the present temple was built in 1956 for the 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha's death, according to the Buddhist reckoning of the time. Inside is a 6.1-metre reclining Buddha statue carved from a single block of monolithic red sandstone and dated to the Gupta period of the 5th century CE. The figure lies on its right side, head to the north, on a long stone couch, with a face that appears to change expression when viewed from different angles. Behind the temple, the Mahaparinirvana Stupa, a large brick mound, is thought to mark the cremation site or the place of the Buddha's passing and has been restored.

The temple is a modern building in a style that recalls the Ajanta caves, set in landscaped grounds with a pond and lawns. Nearby are the Ramabhar Stupa, the traditional site of the Buddha's cremation, a short distance away, as well as monasteries and temples built by Thai, Japanese, Sri Lankan, Burmese and Chinese Buddhist communities. Pilgrims drape the statue with saffron cloth and offer flowers, and the atmosphere is quiet and devotional, with monks chanting. The Archaeological Survey of India manages the site, and the original statue has been conserved after the damage and repair work of earlier periods. Visitors should dress modestly, remove footwear and keep silence in the shrine.