It was excavated by Carlleyle in the year 1876. Nirvana Chaitya is located just behind the Main Parinirvana Temple. It is placed on a large brick pedestal with stone-posts at the corners. It represents the "Dying Buddha" reclining on his right side with his face towards the west. The statue is 6.10 metres long and is made of monolith red sandstone. The reclining Nirvana statue of the Buddha is inside the Parinirvana Stupa. The Parinirvana Temple with the Parinirvana Stupa, Kushinagar Archaeological evidence from the 3rd century BCE suggests that the Kushinagara site was an ancient pilgrimage site. The site has since then become an important pilgrimage site for Buddhists. Carlleyle unearthed the 1,500-year-old Buddha image. The British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham rediscovered Kushinagara in the late 19th century, and his colleague A. This site was abandoned by Buddhist monks around 1200 CE, who fled to escape the invading Muslim army, after which the site decayed during the Islamic rule in India that followed. The Hindu rulers of the Gupta Empire (fourth to seventh century) helped greatly enlarge the Nirvana stupa and Kushinagar site, building a temple with reclining Buddha. Īshoka built a stupa and pilgrimage site to mark Buddha's parinirvana in Kushinagara. Modern scholarship, based on archaeological evidence, believes that the Buddha died in Kushinagar, close to the modern Kasia (Uttar Pradesh). It is believed that during his last day he walked into the groves of trees near the city and rejoiced at the blossoms of sala trees ( Shorea robusta) before laying himself to rest. However, according to the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, the Buddha made his journey to Kushinagar, died there, and this is where he was cremated. In 1896, Waddell suggested that the site of the death and parinirvana of Gautama Buddha was in the region of Rampurva. Location of Gautama Buddha's death and parinirvana On, it came into being as a new district of Uttar Pradesh. He conducted archaeological campaigns in 1904–1905, 1905-19–1907, uncovering a wealth of Buddhist materials.Ĭhandra Swami, a Burmese monk, came to India in 1903 and made Mahaparinirvana Temple into a living shrine.Īfter independence, Kushinagar remained part of the district of Deoria. Excavations continued in the early twentieth century under J. Carlleyle who exposed the main stupa and also discovered a 6.10 meters long statue of reclining Buddha in 1876. Modern Kushinagar came into prominence in the 19th century with archaeological excavations carried out by Alexander Cunningham, the first Archeological Surveyor of India and later followed by C.L. History Ĭonjectural reconstruction of the main gate of Kusinagara circa 500 BCE adapted from this relief at Sanchi The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 1,117 (5.03%) and 531 (2.39%) respectively. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Kushinagar was 78.4%, of which male literacy rate was 84.5% and female literacy rate was 71.9%. The total number of literates in Kushinagar was 15,150, which constituted 68.2% of the population with male literacy of 73.3% and female literacy of 62.7%. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 2,897. Demographics Īccording to 2011 Indian Census, Kushinagar had a total population of 22,214, of which 11,502 were males and 10,712 were females. The naming of Kushwati is believed to be due to abundance of Kush grass found in this region. 4 Location of Gautama Buddha's death and parinirvanaĪccording to Buddhist tradition Kushavati was named prior to the king Kush.
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