By Tejaswini
Bodh Gaya: An eight-kilometre “Gyan Yatra” (journey to enlightenment) was held in Bodh Gaya on Wednesday morning, a day ahead of the start of the three-day annual Bodh Mahotsav, which will be inaugurated on Thursday evening at the Kalachakra ground.
Around 1,000 people took part in the yatra, including nearly 300 Buddhist monks and nuns from monasteries in Bodh Gaya, young lamas, domestic and international tourists, schoolchildren, local residents and district administration officials. The procession began at the Dungeshwari Hills and concluded at the Mahabodhi Mahavihara, a UNESCO world heritage site.
The yatra halted at Sujata Garh, the site associated with Sujata, who, according to Buddhist tradition, offered kheer to the Buddha before his enlightenment. Participants then continued towards the Mahabodhi Temple complex.
The district administration, in coordination with the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC), arranged six buses to transport participants to Dungeshwari Hills. Two buses departed from the BTMC office, two from the Magadh University campus, and one each from the Mahabodhi Meditation Centre and the Burmese Vihara. The buses left Bodh Gaya at around 6am.
The yatra was flagged off near the Mahakala cave at Dungeshwari by additional district magistrate (departmental inquiry) Ravishankar Sharma and probationary IAS officer Suraj Kumar. Speaking at the start of the procession, Sharma said the event was aimed at promoting Bodh Gaya as a global centre of peace and Buddhist heritage.
The three-day Bodh Mahotsav will be inaugurated on Thursday evening at the Kalachakra ground, located about 200 metres north-west of the Mahabodhi Temple. Union micro, small and medium enterprises minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, Bihar assembly speaker Prem Kumar, and deputy chief ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha are scheduled to attend the opening.
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