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Kushinagar
Kuśinagara / कुशीनगर
Also known as: Kusinara, Kasia
Religions: Buddhism | Place Type: Pilgrimage site | Region: Asia
Overview
Kushinagar is a Buddhist pilgrimage town in Uttar Pradesh, India. Buddhist tradition holds that the Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, died here at the age of about eighty and attained Parinirvana, the final release from the cycle of rebirth. It is one of the four principal pilgrimage sites of Buddhism. Pilgrims worship at the Mahaparinirvana Temple, which houses a statue of the reclining Buddha, and at the town's monasteries.
Present
The archaeological remains at Kushinagar, including the Mahaparinirvana Temple, the Nirvana Stupa, and the Ramabhar Stupa, are maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India, the government body responsible for the country's protected monuments. The Mahaparinirvana Temple houses a reclining statue of the Buddha and is the main focus of worship. Pilgrims make offerings, drape the statue in cloth, and circumambulate (walk around in veneration) the stupas. Buddhist communities from countries including Thailand, Myanmar, Japan, China, Sri Lanka, and South Korea maintain monasteries and temples in the town. Pilgrims gather in the largest numbers for Buddha Purnima, the annual celebration of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and death, held on a full moon that usually falls in April or May.
Religious Significance
Kushinagar is regarded by Buddhists as the place where the Buddha died and attained Mahaparinirvana, the final and complete release from the cycle of death and rebirth that Buddhists hold a fully enlightened being enters at death. Buddhist tradition holds that the Buddha, at the age of about eighty, traveled to Kushinagar, then a town called Kushinara, lay down between two sal trees, gave his final teaching to his followers, and died. Tradition further holds that his body was cremated at the place now marked by the Ramabhar Stupa, and that his relics were divided into eight portions and distributed among the rulers of the region, who enshrined them in stupas (dome-shaped Buddhist shrines). Kushinagar is one of the four principal pilgrimage sites of Buddhism, together with Lumbini (the Buddha's birthplace), Bodh Gaya (his enlightenment), and Sarnath (his first teaching). Buddhist tradition holds that the Buddha himself named these four places as the sites his followers should visit.
History & Structure
Kushinagar is identified with the ancient town of Kushinara, a capital of the Malla people, who ruled the region during the Buddha's lifetime. Stupas and monasteries were built at the site from the 3rd century BCE onward, including during the reign of the Indian emperor Ashoka, a ruler who adopted Buddhism and promoted it across his empire. The site flourished under the Gupta Empire in the 4th to 6th centuries CE and later fell into ruin. Excavations in the 19th century uncovered the remains, including a reclining statue of the Buddha carved from a single block of sandstone in the 5th century CE. The statue is 6.1 meters long and depicts the Buddha lying on his right side at the moment of his death. The present Mahaparinirvana Temple was built by the Government of India in 1956 to house the statue, as part of commemorations marking 2,500 years of the Buddhist era. Behind the temple is the restored Nirvana Stupa. The Ramabhar Stupa, a large brick mound about 1.5 kilometers to the east, marks the site of the Buddha's cremation.