At the age of 29, Siddharta Gautama, Prince of Kapilavastu, abandoned his material life to seek after the truth of existence.
After wandering as a hermit, he reached Bodhgaya where he attained ‘enlightenment’.
When Gautama left his kingdom, he shaved his head, clothed himself in humble garments, and in his hermitage undertook severe austerities including food starvation.
Buddha is believed to have stayed in the caves of Dungeshwari for 6 years of his austerities.
Gautama put an end to his six years of austerities by accepting kheer from a young girl named Sujata.
One day as he sat under a peepal tree (the Bodhi tree), he resolved not to get up from his place until he had found the enlightenment.
He remained in meditation for 49 days without moving, and on a full moon night at the age of 35, he became the ‘Buddha’, ‘the one who knows'.
In the second week of his meditation, he stared at the Bodhi tree without blinking.
The third week, Buddha practiced a walking meditation, back and forth from the Bodhi tree to the Animisa Ceti temple. Lotus flowers bloomed at every step of the Buddha.
Bodh Gaya has one of the largest Buddha statues in a sitting position.