Dungeshwari Cave Temples

Dungeshwari Cave Temples, also known as Mahakala caves or Sujata Sthan, is situated 12 km northeast of Bodhgaya in the State of Bihar in India. There are three caves containing Buddhist shrines, where the Buddha is believed to have meditated before descending to Bodhgaya.

Dungeshwari Caves are ancient caves. Three main caves contain several shrines for Buddhists and one for Hindus.

It is believed that when Buddha was doing his self-mortification, he became frail, feeble and starved. When he rested under a Banayan tree, a doomed village woman named Sujata offered him food. Buddha accepted her offerings and consumed the food, his explicit approval presented him with a divine truth that neither extreme self indulgence nor self-abasement is the right way to attain enlightenment. Buddha attained the knowledge that folow the middle path was required to attain the supreme nirvana.