Bihar , whose name derives from the ancient word "vihara" which means monastery, is in fact a land of great spirituality, dotted with temples and shrines, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and Muslims.
According to legend, the first great empires in India rose and fell in this region, created the first universities in the world, the river Ganges flows and enriches its wide plains before disposing in the Bengal delta. But more notable is that Bihar is one of the most closely related to the life of Buddha whose steps can be taken through a tour of several cities in the state.
Let's begin in Patna the capital. Formerly called Pataliputra, Azimabad Kusumpur and is considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, mentioned by travelers and Mauryan Megasthenes Fa-Hien and shopping district of East in the nineteenth century. Patna Buddha preached in the last years of his life.
Here we visit Jadu Garh, Patna Museum, whose jewel is the Didarganj Yakshi, a terracotta urn, it is said, contains the ashes of Buddha. In addition there are over 57,000 objects to see. Vaishali , 40 km from Patna, is home to Khuda Baksh Oriental Library, with Muslims and other rare manuscripts from the University of Cordoba in Spain .
Here are the ruins of the Second Buddhist Council. We will continue to travel to Nalanda, 90 km south of Patna. His name is connected with the transmission of spiritual knowledge. Monastic university flourished here between the ages VI to XI. It says that contained nine million books and 2,000 teachers who taught housed 10,000 students from all over the Buddhist world.
Buddha taught here and one of its outstanding students was Hieun Tsang, the seventh-century Chinese traveler. 12 km from here, archaeological excavations revealed temples, monasteries, conference rooms and the palace Rajgir, the site of the first Buddhist Council.
Rajgir contains many episodes in the life of Buddha spent here five years after he attained enlightenment, and gave most of his sermons on the hill Gridhrakuta. The last leg of our journey is Bodhgaya, Mahabodhi temple exactly where the Buddha attained enlightenment.
It is very easy to reach Patna by air or land in your rental India. His Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport is connected directly to the main airports in the states that receive international flights. On the express train can take New Delhi - Howrah or other important lines arriving via other cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Varanasi and many more. If you arrive by car, should know that Patna is connected by road with major cities across the national highways 30, 31 and 19.