| Gaya | |
| — city — | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Bihar |
| District(s) | Gaya |
| Divisional Commissioner | Vivek Kumar Singh (IAS) |
| Population | 394,560 (2001[update]) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Website | gaya.bih.nic.in |
Gaya (Hindi: गया) is the second largest city of Bihar, India, and it is also the headquarters of Gaya District.
Gaya is 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital city of Bihar. Situated on the banks of Falgu River (Niranjana, as mentioned in Ramayana), it is a place sanctified by the Hindu, the Buddhist and the Jain religions. It is surrounded by small rocky hills (Mangla-Gauri, Shringa-Sthan, Ram-Shila and Brahmayoni) by three sides and the river flowing on the fourth (eastern) side. The city has a mix of natural surroundings, age old buildings and narrow bylanes.
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Gaya derives its name from the mythological demon Gayasur (which literally means Gaya the demon), demon (asur, a Sanskrit word) and Gaya. Lord Vishnu killed Gayasur, the holy demon by using the pressure of his foot over him. This incident transformed Gayasur into the series of rocky hills that make up the landscape of the Gaya city. Gaya was so holy that he had the power to absolve the sins of those who touched him or looked at him; after his death many people have flocked to Gaya to perform Shraddha sacrifices on his body to absolve the sins of their ancestors. Gods and goddesses had promised to live on Gayasur's body after he died, and the hilltop protuberances of Gaya are surmounted by temples to various gods and goddesses. These hilltop temples at Rama Shila, Mangla Gauri, Shringa Sthan and Brahmayoni are part of the pilgrimage circuit, and grand staircases have been built up to most of them. In Vishnu Pad Temple, Guruji Shri Vishnukant Mishra Ji is the main "priest" of this temple and Shri Shashikant Mishra is the eldest son of Guruji.
| Pilgrimage to Buddha's Holy Sites |
| The Four Main Sites |
|---|
| Lumbini · Bodh Gaya Sarnath · Kushinagar |
| Four Additional Sites |
| Sravasti · Rajgir Sankissa · Vaishali |
| Other Sites |
| Patna · Gaya · Kosambi Kapilavastu · Devadaha Kesariya · Pava Nalanda · Varanasi |
| Later Sites |
| Sanchi · Mathura Ellora · Ajanta · Vikramshila Ratnagiri · Udayagiri · Lalitgiri Bharhut · Barabar Caves |
Sacred places in Gaya correspond to physical features, most of which occur naturally. Ghats and temples line the banks of the sacred Falgu River. Trees such as pipal trees and Akshayavat, the undying banyan, are especially sacred. The Mangla Gauri shrine is marked by two rounded stones that symbolize the breasts of the mythological Sati, the first wife of Lord Shiva. The most popular temple today is Vishnupad Temple, a place along the Falgu River, marked by a footprint of Vishnu incised into a block of basalt, that marks the act of Lord Vishnu subduing Gayasur by placing his foot on Gayasur's chest. Brahmins have been the traditional priests at Vishnupad Mandir in Gaya as Gayawal Pandas and in the adjoining districts like Hazaribagh.[1] The present day temple was rebuilt by Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar, the ruler of Indore, in the 18th century. Buddhist tradition regards the footstep in the Vishnupad Temple as a footstep of Buddha (who is regarded as an Avatar of Vishnu by Hindus).
Gaya is significant to Hindus from the point of view of salvation to the souls of ancestors (a ritual called pinda daan). According to Ramayana, when Lord Rama came to Gaya along with Sita for pitripaksha (or to perform pindadanam), Sita cursed the Falgu River following some disobedience on the part of the river. Ramayana states that on account of this curse, Falgu River lost its water, and the river is simply a vast stretch of sand dunes. At the same time Sita blessed a banyan tree to be immortal. This tree is known as Akshyavat. Akshyavat is combination of two words Akshya (which never decay) and Vat (Banyan tree). Once a year banyan trees shed leaves, but this particular tree never sheds its leaves which keeps it green even in times of drought.
For Buddhists, Gaya is an important pilgrimage place because it was at Brahmayoni hill that Buddha preached the Fire Sermon (Adittapariyaya Sutta) to a thousand former fire-worshipping ascetics, who all became enlightened while listening to this discourse. At that time, the hill was called Gayasisa.
The largest mosque in Bihar. It is situated in heart of the Gaya city. It is approx 200 yrs. old. It's also famous for Shabina (special worship on 27th night of Ramadan) and Tabligh etc.
Bitho Sharif (10 km from main city) situated on Gaya-Patna route, is one of the notable pilgrimage place. The great Sufi saint of Chishtia-Ashrafi order Hazrat Makhdoom Syed Shah Durwesh Ashraf settled here in around Ninth Century Hijri and established Khanqah-e-Ashrafia. A large number of Muslims and people from other faith, from all over the world visit the Dargah of this great Sufi Saint. Urs of Hazrat Makhdoom Durwesh Ashraf is celebrated every year from 10th-12th of Islamic month of Shabaan.Prof. Syed Shah Shahid Hussain Ashraf is the present Sajjada Nashin of Khanquah Durweshiya Ashrafia Chishtia,Dargah Bitho Sharif.[2]
The tomb of Hazrat is situated on the bank of Phalgu river.
Baitul Anwar, situated at Gewal Bigha, a famous Khanqah of Ahl-e-Sunnat founded by Shah Noorul Huda; his successor Siraj-e-Millat Allama Sirajul Huda has been a famous religious personality in Bihar.
Documented history of Gaya dates back to the enlightenment of Gautam Buddha. About 11 km from Gaya town is Bodh Gaya, the place where Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment. Since then the places around Gaya (Rajgir, Nalanda, Vaishali, Patliputra) had been the citadel of knowledge for the ancient world. These centers of knowledge further flourished under the rule of dynasties like the Mauryans who ruled from Patliputra (modern Patna) and covered the area beyond the boundaries of the Indian subcontinent. During this period, Gaya was a part of the Magadh region.
The town of Gaya, in about 1810 AD, consisted of two parts : one the residence of the priests, which properly was called Gaya ; and the other the residence of lawyers and tradesmen, which was originally called Elahabad, but later on,as developed by a renowned collector “Saheb”- Mr.Thomas Law, it was called Sahebgunj.It is the birthplace of eminent nationalist Bihar Vibhuti Dr Anugrah Narain Sinha;Bihar's first deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister.The last great ruler of Magadha was maharaja of Tekari. Great nationalist and leader of Kisan Andolan, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati established an ashram at Neyamatpur, Gaya (Bihar) which later became the centre of freedom struggle in Bihar. His close associate was Vir Keshwar Singh of Parihas. All the prominent leaders of Indian National Congress visited there frequently to meet Pandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) Sharma, the leader of Kisan Andolan who resided in the ashram set up by Swamiji. Pandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) Sharma became the undisputed leader of peasants in the Gaya district and second in command to the legendary freedom fighter and peasant leader Swami Sahajanand Saraswati.[3] Gaya has also immensely contributed in the Indian Independence Movement. During the independence movement, the All India session of the Congress was held under the presidency of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das in 1922, which was attended by great illumanaries and prominent leaders of the Indian Independence Movement, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Rajendra Prasad,Dr Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Nehru and Sri Krishna Sinha.
Gaya is located at .[4] It has an average elevation of 111 metres (364 ft).
As of 2001[update] India census,[5] Gaya had a population of 394560. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Gaya has an average literacy rate of 68%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 74%, and female literacy is 60%. In Gaya, 14% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Gaya is well connected to the rest of India and the world by roadways, railways and airways.
Air: The nearest airport is Gaya Airport 9 km and Patna Airport 135 km. Indian Airlines, Indigo, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines connect Patna to Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, Ranchi, Lucknow and various other cities.
Rail: The nearest railway station is Gaya (5 km).
Road: Bodhgaya is well connected by road to Gaya (17 km), Nalanda (101 km), Rajgir (78 km), Patna (135 km), Varanasi (252 km), Calcutta (495 km)
Local Transport: City Bus, Taxis, Tongas, Auto Rickshaws, Cycle Rickshaws are available.
Bus : Regular direct bus services are available from Gaya, Patna, Nalanda, Rajgir, Varanasi,Ranchi,Tata(Jamshedpur),Kolkatta,Dhanbad. Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation and Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (Book online ticket: http://gauravluxury.com/) run buses to connect Gaya from Patna, Ranchi,Jamshedpur and other major cities.
The Grand Trunk Road (NH-2, which has undergone a revival under The Golden Quadrilateral project) is about 30 km from Gaya. Thus, Gaya is well connected to Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Rourkela, Hazaribag, Kolkata, Budaun, Bareilly, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Delhi, Amritsar, and to the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Peshawar. The highway connecting Gaya to Patna, Gaya to Nawada, Rajgir and Bihar Sharif are well maintained.
Gaya is the second most important and largest railway station in Bihar after Patna. It is a junction and is connected to all the four metropolis New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai through Important Broad Gauge Routes (direct trains). Now it is also directly connected to Guwahati (N-E India) and Chennai (South India). There is a direct train, Mahabodhi Express from New Delhi to Gaya daily. It takes around 15 hours to reach Gaya from New Delhi by train.
It has been announced in the 2009–2010 Railway Budget that Gaya Jn would be developed as a World Class Railway Station in Public Private Partnership mode along with 49 other stations throughout the nation.[6] As a matter of fact Gaya Junction was also included in the list of 22 stations across the country to be developed as World Class along with Patna Jn during the tenure of Lalu Prasad as the Railway minister but nothing significant occurred in this regard. Also it has not even developed as a Model station till date in spite of its announcement since a decade.
There are direct trains from Gaya to other important stations in India like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi, Bokaro, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kota, Kanpur, Allahabad, Agra, Bareilly, Mathura, Jabalpur, Bhopal, Indore, Nagpur, Puri, Ahmedabad, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Dehradun, Kalka, Jammu, Gwalior, etc. There are also two other broad gauge train lines from Gaya, one to Patna and the other to Kiul.
Gaya Airport is the only international airport in Bihar and Jharkhand taken together. It is an international airport connected to Colombo, Sri Lanka through two airline operators; Bangkok, Thailand; Singapore, and Paro, Bhutan. It is said to be being developed as a stand-by to the Kolkata airport. Gaya Airport is served by Indian Airlines for domestic flights and Sri Lankan Airlines, Mihin Lanka, Drukair, Jet airways and Indian Airlines for international flights. Thai Airways flies non stop between Bangkok and Gaya. The distance of Gaya airport to National Heritage site "Bodh Gaya" is about 5 Kilometers.
The staple food of Gaya is common to the rest of Bihar and Jharkhand. The other special preparations found in Gaya are typically traditional Bihari food. The most popular of them include sattu, litti, pittha, pua, marua-ka-roti, bari-dal, sattu-ka-roti, baigan-bharta, sukhaota, etc.
Gaya has been the origin of several sweet delicacies popular in the whole of Bihar, Jharkhand and the rest of India. Tilkut, Kesaria Peda, Lai, Anarsa of Ramana road and tekari road are the most popular sweets that bear the trademark of Gaya.
Tilkut being the most popular of them is prepared using til or sesame seeds (Sesamum Indicum) and jaggery or sugar. It is a seasonal (winter) sweet and only the karigars (workers) from Gaya are believed to impart the real taste of Tilkut. One can find Tilkuts carrying the label "Ramna, Gaya" and "Tekari road, Gaya"even in far flung places like Kolkata and Delhi. Ramna and Tekari Road are the areas in the city where every other house is a Tilkut factory.
Kesaria peda is yet another delicious sweet prepared from khoya (solid milk cream) and kesar (saffron). The Chowk area of the city specializes in Kesaria Peda production.
There are several varieties of Lai available in Bihar, including Lai from Gaya. The main component of this Lai is Ram dana seeds. These ram danas are processed and mixed with koya and sugar to give rise to a disk shaped sweet.
Anarsa is also based on khoya, but is deep fried and processed with sugar. Anarsa comes in two shapes 'thin disk' and 'spherical'. The sweet is finally embedded with til (sesame) toppings.
These sweets are dry and hence easily packagable, preserved, and transported, unlike the Bengali sweets which are soaked in sugar syrups. There is a tradition among the residents to gift the visitors with these sweets when they depart, as a token of love.
Beside this in Gaya one should must try roadside eateries like Aloo ka Chaloo & Chaat. Aloo ka Chaloo is made up of boiled potatoes sprinkled with red chilly powder and jeera powder, salt and tamarind water. One can easily find such joints outside schools and colleges as it is favourite of kids and teenagers.
The people of Gaya are fond of spicy-sour traditional snacks. There are certain snacks that are found only in Gaya. The most popular among them are Samosa Chat, Alu-Kachalu and Sabudana-Badam Bhoonja,aalu chaat.
Sabudana-Badam Bhoonja is a dry snack that is unique to the Gaya city. It is a mixture of fried sabudana (sago) and fried badam (groundnut or moongfali is called badam or sometime chiniya-badam in Bihar) along with salt (both white and black), chilly powder and jeera (cumin seeds) powder. The mobile bhoonja vendors shouting humorous slogans can be found in every bylane of the Gaya city during the twilight hours. Chanajor garam is one of the most spicy snacks made up of black gram and traditional(typical)masala,being served with lemon juice and typical powder.
There have great educationist and scholars like Ahmad Mohammad of Nazerath Academy. His contributions are immense in the field of sociolgy and anthropolgy.He is currently visiting faculty at Amity university,Noida.He has attended various seminars in India and abroad.He is from Nagmatia colony.bvMost of the government-run schools in Gaya (notably Zila School, Haridas Seminary – also knowns as Town School, Theosophical Model School, Gaya High School, Anugrah Kanya Vidayalaya, Mahaveer School, Qasmi High School and Hadi Hashmi School, Government Girls High School) are affiliated to Bihar School Examination Board. There are two Central Schools (Kendriya Vidyalaya) affiliated with the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, New Delhi. Most of the private schools are affiliated to ICSE and CBSE boards.The major ones being Creane Memorial school, Banshi Dhar Shishu Niketan, Nazareth Academy, D.A.V Public School Medical Road, Gyan Bharti Public school, D.A.V Public School Cantonment Area, D.A.V. Public School Gaya-Nawada Road, Shatabdi Public School (Katari Hill Road), Greenfield Public School, Sir Syed Memorial School Karma Bhadeya, Elegant Public School, Iqra Public School Formerly Iqra Academy (New Karimganj)Nagmatia Affiliated to CBSE Delhi,MDA Public School (Bitho Sharif) and many more. Creane memorial School is established with a vision of providing quality education to students. The school is affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) . Creane Memorial High School is dedicated to provide world class educational facilities to the students and offers education from classes Nursery - Class Xll . To ensure the complete development of the children, Creane Memorial High School encourages the students to take part in various co-curricular activities held in school such as music, dance, arts and sports. The campus of Creane Memorial High School is well equipped with the modern infrastructural facilities such as spacious ventilated class rooms with the latest teaching aids, rich library, state-of-the-art computer labs, science labs and play ground. Nazareth Academy is one of the oldest schools, which is managed by a US based congregation called 'Sisters of Charity of Nazareth'. The government-run public schools lack many facilities, but are the only options for the poor who cannot afford the fees in private schools.Gyan Niketan NGO Non Government Organization charitable school is a single school in north side of Bodhgaya who provides free education to 200 students surrounded by more than five villages.
The only university at Gaya is Magadh University (largest university of Bihar) located near Bodhgaya established by educationist and the then Education Minister S N Sinha. Gaya has several colleges with graduate and post-graduate courses offered in sciences, arts, commerce, management and Computer Applications. The well known ones include Gaya College (NAAC accredited with Grade-A), Anugrah Memorial College, Jagjivan College, Mirza Ghalib College. Gautam Buddha Mahila College (GBM College) is exclusively meant for women.
Anugraha Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital (ANMMCH)[7] is the medical college in Gaya. Gaya has an Industrial Training Institute for vocational education located on Bodhgaya Road
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