ABSTRACT
The mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya is the most revered pilgrimage site of pilgrimage for Buddhists all over the world, as it is believed to be the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment and spent seven weeks in meditation after achieving perfect wisdom. Railings, perhaps wooden, surrounded the whole temple, which could have been used for protection of the temple or just as a demarcation of sacred and profane spaces. Beyond the railings, there was a stone pillar with an elephant and a column very similar to one that is known to have been erected by Asoka. A terracotta plaque believed to depict the Mahabodhi Temple, as it existed in the second-fourth century ce, which was found at Kumrahar near Patna, is another artefact that portrays, though not very accurately, the development of its architecture. According to J. C. Huntington, the pyramidal temple is believed to have replaced the earlier small shrine under the Bodhi tree.
