Bihar

For a thousand years Bihar was where India's ideas were made. Magadha's capital Pataliputra, under Patna's modern streets, ruled the Mauryan empire; Ashoka's polished sandstone pillars still stand at Kolhua near Vaishali. At Bodh Gaya, pilgrims from Thailand, Bhutan, Japan and Sri Lanka circle the Mahabodhi Temple and sit under a descendant of the Bodhi tree, while monasteries built by each Buddhist nation line the road out of town. Rajgir adds hot springs, the Vulture's Peak where the Buddha preached, and a ropeway to the Vishwa Shanti Stupa; Nalanda's red-brick stupas and monk cells cover fourteen hectares. Older still are the Barabar Caves, granite chambers polished to a mirror finish for Ajivika ascetics in the third century BCE. Patna keeps the domed Golghar granary of 1786, Takht Sri Patna Sahib where Guru Gobind Singh was born, and the Didarganj Yakshi in its museum. Signature journeys follow the Buddhist circuit from Bodh Gaya through Rajgir, Nalanda and Vaishali to Kushinagar.