kushinara

Kushinagar or Kushinara, is about 50 kiometeres from the eastern UP town of Gorakhpur, and is the place where Gautama Buddha, Sakyamuni, attained Parinirwana. sharing some pictures of the place as it is now....

According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha.Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died ofmesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. 

The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.

At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.

While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, , Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.

"He lay down between two Sal tress, turned toward the right, his head resting on his right hand."
that is the position that he is depicted in death. this statue was unearthed by Archibald Carlisle , and the current temple structure erected on the spot to his design. he also found a stone slab with ritual offerings buried below the statue,leading to the conclusion that this was where the Buddha died. it is surrounded by stupas and viharas of the Mala period, some of which has been excavated.

After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers. the place where the relics were distributed by the Brahmin Drona.