Image: bodhgaya pillar

Railing pillar from the site where the Buddha attained enlightenment in Bodhgaya, India. The site was originally housed in an open pavilion and surrounded by a railing to mark the path of ritual circumambulation. This is from the earliest surviving railing and dates from the 1st cent BC or 1st cent AD. The site is now marked by the Mahabodhi Temple, the most important pilgrimage destination in Buddhism.

This pillar is made of sandstone, is octagonal in shape and has holes to receive the horizontal cross-bars. It is decorated on two faces with relief medallions. On this side, the upper relief depicts three worshippers standing before the sacred Bodhi Tree and the lower relief has a turbaned head set in a lotus medallion.