Where Kushinagar Lies
Present-day Kushinagar is a small town in the Kushinagar district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, not far from the border with Bihar and a moderate distance from the border with Nepal. The ground is flat and fertile, part of the broad plain that the Buddha is traditionally said to have walked in the final months of his life. Fields of wheat, rice and sugarcane, small ponds, mango groves and scattered villages are the common sights.
This kind of landscape belongs to the Middle Ganges plain, a region whose rivers and rainfall pattern shaped ancient kingdoms, trade and, according to tradition, the movements of wandering teachers. The nearby Himalayan foothills lie to the north. The region has a warm monsoonal climate with a hot season, heavy summer rain and a cooler, sometimes foggy winter, as described in the guide to Terai climate and seasons, which covers the neighbouring lowlands of Nepal.
The Sal Grove Tradition
The Pali texts describe the Buddha lying down between a pair of sal trees in a grove belonging to the Mallas of Kusinara, where the trees are said to have burst into flower out of season. The sal (Shorea robusta) is a large hardwood tree common in the plains and foothills of the region. Many monasteries and parks in the area plant sal trees to recall the scene.
How much of the landscape that the texts describe can be matched to the modern ground is uncertain. The grove of tradition, the grove of the Mallas, is not a place that can be pinpointed with confidence. Visitors are better served by thinking of the sal trees as an element of devotional memory, one that influences how the area is planted and presented today. Our article on the Buddha’s last journey follows the text of the account and does not need to be repeated here.
An Ancient Republic and a Small Town
According to the early texts, Kusinara was one of the towns of the Mallas, a people who are described as governing themselves through an assembly rather than under a single king. It is described there as a relatively small and unimportant place, which is part of why a famous teacher’s choosing to pass away there surprises some of the people in the account. Whether the town was as modest as the texts suggest, or whether the descriptions have a literary purpose, is a matter for textual scholars.
Later history is clearer in outline. Archaeological evidence suggests the site was a place of monasteries and shrines for many centuries, and Chinese pilgrim monks who visited India in the early centuries CE describe a region that by their time already showed signs of decline. Eventually the area fell out of Buddhist use, and the ruins were forgotten under mounds and vegetation. The story of their rediscovery belongs to the nineteenth century, when colonial-era surveys and excavations began to recover the site; the question of how the location was identified is explored in a separate article.
How the Modern Town Grew
The present-day pattern of Kushinagar reflects a century and a half of change:
- In the later nineteenth century, excavations uncovered the main ruins and the reclining image.
- In the twentieth century, restoration and construction at the central shrine, including a new temple building, helped to re-establish it as a place of pilgrimage. Preparations for the observances marking 2,500 years since the parinirvana, according to a traditional reckoning, added further attention in the 1950s.
- In recent decades, monasteries, guest houses and visitor facilities have been built by Buddhist communities and by public bodies. This has made the town something of a living map of different national Buddhist styles.
The result is a modest settlement in which Buddhist institutions are prominent, alongside ordinary local life: markets, schools, farms and temples of other faiths. Visitors may notice that not everything in the town is Buddhist, and that is part of the ordinary texture of the region.
Walking the Landscape
Because the town is spread out and the land is flat, many people use bicycles, local transport or walking to move between sites. The roads between shrines pass through fields and small settlements. Early morning can be a pleasant time; the middle of a summer day can be harsh, so read the guidance on heat on pilgrimage and the monsoon travel considerations if you plan to travel during those seasons.
Weather, road conditions and facilities change from year to year, so look for current information from official sources.
Reading a Landscape With Care
Pilgrimage landscapes combine layers of memory. In Kushinagar, the layers include a textual landscape of sal trees and the Mallas, an archaeological landscape of brick foundations and mounds, and a modern landscape of gardens and monasteries. These layers do not always line up neatly. Where traditional accounts and scholarly findings differ, it is best to hold both loosely and not to insist on a single answer.
For many visitors, this is not a drawback. The openness of the plain, the large trees and the sound of birds and temple bells are enough to suggest why the place has been honoured. Visitors of any background can walk the grounds respectfully, remove their shoes at shrines, dress modestly and keep to quiet voices, following local guidance.