What treasures lie beneath Bodh Gaya's Mahabodhi temple?

A geospatial analysis utilising satellite images and ground surveys has found evidence of the presence of "huge architectural wealth" buried in the Mahabodhi temple complex and its surroundings in Bihar’s Bodh Gaya, officials said on Saturday, 13 July.

The study has been carried out by the Bihar Heritage Development Society (BHDS), a wing of the art, culture and youth Department, in collaboration with Cardiff University of the United Kingdom.

The Mahabodhi temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of the four holy areas related to the life of Lord Gautam Buddha. Bodh Gaya is the place where Lord Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment.

“The study has unearthed evidence of the presence of archaeological treasure beneath the soil of the UNESCO World Heritage site and its surrounding areas…It’s a huge architectural wealth that needs further excavation," art, culture and youth department additional chief secretary Harjot Kaur Bamhrah told PTI.

The UK-based varsity and BHDS are cooperating in the project, 'Archaeology on the footsteps of the Chinese traveller Xuanzang'. Xuanzang, also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a Chinese Buddhist, monk scholar, traveller and translator.

Bengaluru-based National Institute of Advanced Studies faculty member M.B. Rajni, one of the project members, studied satellite images of the Mahabodhi temple and its surroundings and tried to correlate the findings with the description of 'Xuanzang’, she said.

The present Mahabodhi temple complex at Bodh Gaya comprises the 50-metre grand temple, the Vajrasana, the sacred Bodhi tree, and six other sacred sites linked to Buddha's enlightenment, surrounded by numerous ancient stupas, well maintained and protected by inner, middle and outer circular boundaries.

“The BHDS in association with Cardiff University has been working on the multidisciplinary project on the archaeological trail of the travel of 7th-century Chinese translator monk, Xuanzang, in Bihar. The satellite images from the last several years show an alignment of structures to the north of the temple, buried underground," said Bamhrah.

Significantly, the images show the shift of the river Niranjana from east to west. "Let us remember that the Mahabodhi temple is west of the river, and the Sujata Stupa and several other archaeological remains are located east of the river. The monuments and other archaeological remains in the east of the river are now regarded to be independent of the Mahabodhi temple.

"But the latest finding shows that both the temple and the Sujata stupa along with other archaeological remains stood on the same river bank in the past," she said, adding that this is really "very significant".

“Thus, there is a strong possibility that the monuments and other archaeological remains, now east of the river, were a part of the Mahabodhi complex," the official said. The BHDS plans to start "research to delimit the boundaries of the Mahabodhi complex in the light of these findings", she said.

"Fresh ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey, followed by excavations, will be undertaken to unravel the buried archaeological features shown by satellite images," she added.

Elaborating on the findings, BHDS executive director Bijoy Kumar Choudhary told PTI, “Our fresh study has revealed several findings that include to the north of the temple premises, a square monastery complex enclosed by a wall with a surrounding moat and an extended settlement to its north”.

Xuanzang travelled from China to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures during the reign of King Harshavardhan. He is best known for his journey to India from 629 to 645 CE and his efforts to bring over 657 Indian texts into China. His writings had a significant impact on the development of Buddhism in China.

Xuanzang's travelogue of India helped Alexander Cunningham in 1860s and 1870s to identify famous sites such as Nalanda and Vaishali.

“The square wall of the monastery complex is of special interest as it had been excavated by Cunningham in the 19th century, but no further excavations have been conducted. However, this area has great potential for systematic excavation.

"Upon analysing satellite imagery, we identified two concentric squares…an outer square enclosing 4.9 acres and an inner one enclosing 2.5 acres. Between the outer and inner squares, there is a gap of about 15 metres and in the south and 20 meters in the east and the west. The southern boundary of the outer square is approximately 300 feet from the wall of the Mahabodhi temple complex," says the report of Rajni.

"Although traces of the monastery are no longer visible on the ground, satellite imagery revealed that the squares overlap significantly with Samanvay Ashram," Rajni told PTI.

In particular, the well that Cunningham observed at the Centre of the monastery’s pillared court might be one of the two wells located within the Ashram to the south of the statue of Dwarkoji Sunderani, she said.

"The Ashram’s southern boundary, marked by a compound wall on a raised ridge, aligns with the southern boundary of the outer square, thus suggesting the buried remnants of an earlier wall," Rajni added.