Context:
In a Union Budget speech, the finance minister announced that corridor projects will be built for the Vishnupad Temple and the Mahabodhi Temple in Bihar.
About Vishnupad Temple
- It is located on the banks of the Falgu River and was built in 1787 on the orders of Queen Ahilya bai Holkar of Ahmadnagar.
- The temple is around 100 feet tall and has 44 pillars.
- It is dedicated to Lord Vishu.
- It features a 40-cm-long footprint of Lord Vishnu in a basalt rock. As Lord Vishnu killed demon Gayasur at this place by stamping his foot on his chest and pushed the demon under the earth with his foot, his footprint was retained in a rock.
- Devotees visit the temple during the Pitra Paksha period in the Hindu calendar when people take part in rituals to remember their ancestors.
Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya
- The Mahabodhi Temple complex at Bodh Gaya is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- The temple stands to the east of the Mahabodhi Tree, where Gautam Buddha is believed to have attained nirvana.
- The Mahabodhi temple complex is the first temple built by emperor Asoka in the 3rd century B.C and the present temple dates from the 5th- 6th centuries.
- The temple has a unique shape and a height of 170 feet.
- It is one of the earliest Buddhist temples built entirely in brick.
- At present it comprises the 50 m high grand Temple, the Vajrasana, the sacred Bodhi Tree, and other six sacred sites of Buddha’s enlightenment, surrounded by numerous ancient Votive stupas, well maintained and protected by inner, middle and outer circular boundaries.