After renouncing his home life the event known as “Great Going Forth” (Mahabhiniskramana) in the Buddhist phraseology, Siddhartha Gautama began to lead a life of mendicancy, asceticism, and meditation.
Siddhartha learnt the technique of ecstatic mediation (samapatti) from a sage named Alara Kalama (first teacher of Gautama Buddha).
During the period he practised most rigorous self-mortification. For six years, he tortured himself and his penances were so severe until he was nothing but a walking skeleton.
One day, Siddhartha realized the futility of fasts and penances and began to beg food. Sujata, the daughter of a farmer, brought him a large bowl of rice boiled in milk. After forty nine days, he became Enlightened- a Buddha at Bodh Gaya.
12 Km from Bodh Gaya in the district of Gaya is located Pragbodhi hill where the Buddha had penanced in a cave for six years before he went to Bodh Gaya to gain Enlightenment. Pragbodhi, meaning ‘Prior to Enlightenment’, is now known as Dhungeswara hill.
There are Buddhist stupas in the hills. The Chinese traveller and monk Chinese scholar and traveler Huen Tsang who visited these stupas in the seventh century has referred to their dedication by the Mauryan emperor Asoka to mark the footsteps of Siddhartha Gautama.
Centuries of neglect, these stūpas are in a deplorable condition and need protection and conservation.
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