Lord Buddha the gentle colossus who founded the first universal religion of the world, worked and lived much of his life in Bihar though he was born in Kapilavastu, now in Nepal. Most of the major events of his life, like enlightenment and last sermon happened in Bihar. Significantly, the state’s name originated from ‘Vihara’ meaning Buddhist and Jain monasteries, which abounded in Bihar. Though the Buddha was born as a Sakya prince in the Terai foothills of the Himlayas, Buddhism as a religion was really born in Bihar and evolved here through his lifestyle of great simplicity, remunciation and empathy for everything living.
Perhaps the present day life of trauma and tension reminds us of the other alternative that was always available to us, the Buddha’s way of life, gentle and simple.
Several centuries after the Buddha’s passing away, the Maurya emperor Ashoka (234-198 BC) contributed tremendously towards the revival, consolidation and spreed of the original religion.
It is the monasteries Ashoka built for the Buddhist monks and the pillars erected to commemorate innumerable historical sites associated with the Buddha’s life, mostly intact to this day, that helped scholars and pilgrims alike to trace the life events and preachings of a truly extraordinary man.