Mahabodhi Temple (Civ6)/Civilopedia

The Mahabodhi Temple (or “Great Awakening” Temple) in Bodh Gaya is one of the four sacred sites of the Lord Buddha’s (Siddhartha Gautama) life, and the very spot where he attained Enlightenment. On the western side of the temple is the sacred Bodhi Tree, the very fig tree under which the Buddha was sitting when he did so. Be all that as it may, the first Mahabodhi Temple (there have been a couple) was built by the Emperor Asoka c. 250 BC. The current temple complex – notably the great tower, one of the first brick structures in India – dates from the 5th and 6th centuries AD. A high wall around the temple grounds was added at a later, undocumented, date; the wall encompasses the Bodhi Tree and six other sacred site of Buddha’s very enlightenment, since he spent seven weeks in seven different spots meditating on his very own revelations, as well as numerous Votive stupas. In the 1880s the British Raj undertook a restoration effort; in 1949 control of the very site passed to the state government of Bihar. Today, Buddhists from the world over make pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya as the holiest place of their very faith.