Kushinagar

Kushinagar ; कुशीनगर
State :	India
State :	Uttar Pradesh
District :	Kushinagar
Location :	26 ° 44 ' N , 83 ° 53' E Coordinates: 26 ° 44 ' N , 83 ° 53' E
Height :	79 m
Residents :	22,214 (2011)
	Kushinagar - Parinirvana Temple and Stupa

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Kushinagar ( Hindi : कुशीनगर , Kuśīnagar [ ˈkʊʃiːnʌɡʌr ]), formerly Kusinara ( Pali : Kusinārā ) is a city with approx. 22,000 inhabitants in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh .

location

Kushinagar is located in the northeast of Uttar Pradesh, near the border with Nepal in the Kushinagar district , around 53 km (driving distance) east of Gorakhpur and around 227 km northeast of Varanasi . The national highway NH 28 runs through Kushinagar , the nearest train stations are in Deoria (35 km south) and Gorakhpur.

history

There are many remnants of the town's former importance as the center of the Malla Empire and metropolis of the Maurya Empire . In the 5th century AD, however, the importance of Kushinagar declined, and over the centuries the place was forgotten. It was not rediscovered and repopulated until the 19th century.

Buddhism

The place is especially important as one of the four most important pilgrimage sites of Buddhism , as tradition says that Buddha died here or, according to Buddhist understanding , reached Parinirvana . The location of Kushinagar as the place where the Buddha died is, however, controversial among historians and archaeologists.

Attractions

In Kushinagar there are the remains of several old stupas and monasteries, as well as modern temples and monasteries that were donated by Buddhists from Southeast and East Asia. The Paranirvana stupa dates from the reign of the Gupta ruler Kumaragupta I (414–455). It was excavated by the British in 1867 and restored by Burmese Buddhists in 1927 . The adjoining Paranirvana Temple houses a modern, approximately six meter long gold-plated statue of the resting Buddha. All around are the ruins of four monasteries.