Sujata Stupa

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}

{{Use Indian English|date=December 2022}}

{{Infobox religious building

| building_name = Sujata Stupa

| image = Sujata Garh.JPG

| alt =

| caption = General view of Sujata Stupa today.

| map_type = India#India Bihar

|relief=yes

| map_size = 250

| location = Bakraur, Bodh Gaya, India

| coordinates = {{coord|24.6976432|85.0044857|display=inline, title}}

| religious_affiliation = Buddhism

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| state = Bihar

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| sector = Gaya

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| consecration_year = 2nd century BCE

| status = Stupa ruins

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Sujata Stupa, also Sujata Kuti stupa or Sujata Garh, is a Buddhist stupa located in the village of Senanigrama (Bakraur) slightly east of Bodh Gaya in the state of Bihar, India. It lies directly across the Phalgu River from the town of Bodh Gaya, where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. It is a walk of about 20 minutes, from Bodh Gaya to Sujata Stupa. It was initially built in the 2nd century BCE as confirmed by finds of Dark Grey polished wares and a punch-marked coin in the monastery nearby.

The stupa was dedicated to the milkmaid Sujata, from the village of Bakraur, who is said to have fed Gautama Buddha milk and rice at this spot as he was sitting under a Banyan tree, thereby ending his seven years of fasting and asceticism, and allowing him to attain illumination through the Middle Way.{{cite book |last1=Prasoon|first1=Shrikant |title=Knowing Buddha : [life and teachings] |date=2007 |publisher=Hindoology Books|location=[Delhi] |isbn=9788122309638 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Us9wbjmvXfgC&pg=PT32}}{{cite book |last1=Planet |first1=Lonely |last2=Blasi |first2=Abigail |title=Lonely Planet India |date=2017 |publisher=Lonely Planet |isbn=9781787011991 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yLU7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1251 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Dwivedi |first1=Sunita |last2=Lama |first2=Dalai (foreword) |authorlink2=14th Dalai Lama |title=Buddhist heritage sites of India|date=2006 |publisher=Rupa & Co. |location=New Delhi |isbn=8129107384}}

File:Ashoka pillar Bodh Gaya.jpg, originally located in front of Sujata Stupa, was brought to Bodh Gaya in 1956.{{cite book |last1=Geary |first1=David |title=The Rebirth of Bodh Gaya: Buddhism and the Making of a World Heritage Site |date=2017 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=9780295742380 |page=209 Note 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=meA5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA209 |language=en}}]]

File:085 Sujata offers Rice (9189374231).jpg offers Milk-Rice to the Buddha (art of Ayutthaya).]]

The stupa was originally adorned with a pillar of Ashoka, which was quarried in part for building material in the 1800s, then placed at the Gol Pather intersection of Gaya, and finally moved to Bodh Gaya in 1956.{{cite book |last1=O'malley |first1=L. S. S. |title=Bengal District Gazetteer : Gaya |date=2007 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |isbn=9788172681371 |pages=200–201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BCzSKEDwd5oC&pg=PA201 |language=en}}

The stupa was an integral part of the original landscape at Bodh Gaya, and it was reinforced and enlarged several times over the centuries.{{cite book |last1=Geary |first1=David |last2=Sayers |first2=Matthew R. |last3=Amar |first3=Abhishek Singh |title=Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on a Contested Buddhist Site: Bodh Gaya Jataka |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136320675 |pages=35–36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f56437oiblUC&pg=PA35|language=en}}

The Archaeological Survey of India made excavations in 1973-74 and 2001-06.[http://ttnotes.com/sujata-stupa.html#gal_post_8310_sujata-stupa-bodhgaya-4.jpg ASI notice] A plaque found in the excavation has an inscription from the 8th-9th century CE that reads "Devapala Rajasya Sujata Griha", Devapala being interpreted as the 9th century Pala dynasty king, hence meaning "Sujata House, of King Devapala".{{cite book |last1=Parishad |first1=Bihar Purāvid |title=The Journal of the Bihar Purävid Parishad |date=1977 |publisher=Bihar Puravid Parishad. |page=136 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BeC1AAAAIAAJ |language=en}} This suggests that the last phase of construction of the stupa dates to Devapala in the 9th century CE, to commemorate the house where Sujata lived.

Before the discovery of this inscription, it was thought that this stupa had been dedicated to "Gandha-hasti", the "Perfumed elephant", and was therefore named "Gandha-hasti stupa". This interpretation was based on a description made by the 7th-century Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang (in 大唐西域記: Buddhist Records of the Western World){{cite book |title=大唐西域記: Buddhist Records of the Western World |date=1994 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=9788120811072 |page=138 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X27HtHUsLSkC&pg=RA1-PA138 |language=en}} who recounted that when he crossed the river (Niranjana) and went to Bakraur, he encountered a stupa and a stone column at the place where Gandha-hasti used to dwell (referring to the place where the Buddha, in a previous life, was reborn as the offspring of a Perfumed elephant).{{cite book |last1=O'malley |first1=L. S. S. |title=Bengal District Gazetteer : Gaya |date=2007 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |isbn=9788172681371 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BCzSKEDwd5oC&pg=PA21 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Pāṇḍeya |first1=Jagadīśvara |title=On the Footprints of the Buddha |date=1996 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5IKAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}