Monks and Monlam in Bodhgaya

The diagonal NH 56 brought us from Lucknow to Varanasi, where we rejoined the Grand Trunk Road crossing from Uttar Pradesh into Bihar en route to our next destination, the dusty little town of Bodh Gaya where the Buddha had attained enlightenment many centuries ago. Arriving into the single main street, our car gingerly made its way through hundreds of ochre clad monks silently shuffling back to their monasteries in the mystical twilight of the setting sun. As we walked from hotel to hotel in search of a room, we quickly realised that we had landed during the silver jubilee celebrations of the Kagyu Monlam, where thousands of monks from all over the world were participating in prayers and ceremonies for a period of ten days in the hallowed grounds of the Mahabodhi temple. A night trip to the temple complex serendipitously allowed us to sit in a special prayer ritual in the main sanctum  and an early morning start the next day witnessed elaborate chanting ceremonies followed by the magical ritual of an alms procession by the monks. As it was the last day of the monlam, a prayer for world peace was held in the evening, an ethereal experience to sit under the bodhi tree surrounded by thousands of chanting monks...the energy and tranquility of which made our Bodh Gaya experience a special one to remember...