Kolhua Ananda Buddhist Stupa ,Bihar

Address

Kolhua Ananda Buddhist Stupa Kolhua, Vaishali district, Bihar 844128

Diety

Buddha

Introduction

Kolhua is a famous Buddhist excavation site situated approximately 65 km North-West of Patna. The excavations have revealed the famous Ashokan Pillar having a statue of lion on the top. Emperor Ashoka built The Lion Pillar and Buddhist stupa at Kolhua. It is made of a highly polished single piece of red sandstone, surmounted by a bell shaped capital, 18.3 m high. A life-size figure of a lion is placed on top of the pillar. There is a small tank here known as Ramkund. This pillar beside a brick stupa at Kolhua commemorates Buddha’s last sermon.

Puranic Significance

This is one of the eight relic stupas built over the sacred ashes of Lord Buddha. While originally a mud stupa, it was later encased with bricks and enlarged and is now in a dilapidated condition. Following excavations in 1958, a relic casket of stone filled with ashes, a small conch, two glass beads, a fragment of gold leaf, and a copper punch-marked coin was discovered at the site. The Kalhua Complex in Bihar comprises a brick stupa next to a 2300-year-old Ashoka pillar with a lion capital. Kolhua is the historic site where Lord Buddha preached his last sermon, hinting at his imminent departure from the mortal world.