Parinirvana Stupa is a Buddhist temple in Kushinagar, India which is said to be the death place of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. The present temple was built by the Indian Government in 1956 as part of the commemoration of the 2,500th year of the Mahaparinivana or 2500 BE (Buddhist Era). Inside this temple, there is Reclinging Buddha image lying on its right side with the head to the north. The statue is 6.1 m long and rests on a stone couch.
After 45 years of missionary activities Buddha, severely stricken with illness finally reached to Kushinagar, where he ordained his last disciple and uttered his last words to sangha and attained Parinirvana in 487 BCE. Maurya king Ashoka reportedly visited Kushinagar in 260 BCE where he built several caityas, stupas to honor the Buddha's place of Nirvana. Kushinagar buddhist sites was steadily expanded during Kushan empire (c. 50-241 CE), while Kushinagar witnessed golden age during Gupta empire(c. 320-647 CE) when Parinirvana stupa was largely expanded and Parinirvana Temple was reconstructed along with huge reclining Buddha statue.
We came from Lumbini in the afternoon, the traffic is a nightmare. You can't drive on the road because someone or something is coming from everywhere... cyclists, motorcyclists... cows... we try to drive on the highway and a big truck comes towards us... it's not the only case because this is regular... just like it's completely normal for a cow to lie in the middle of the highway... In India, everything is normal, this is how it is. We arrived in Kushinagar late in the evening so we slept in a hotel and visited the park early in the morning when it's not yet hot..
We were already at the park at 6:30 in the morning. I spent a lot of time in India but I always admired the foggy Indian mornings, it's a fantastic experience to walk in the park in the early morning and see how the veil-like fog dissolves in the air with the rising sun. Groups arrived at the park regularly, led by monks chanting. We mostly met Thai and Taiwanese groups.
