Nepal-India Day 6: Kushinagar

Dateline: 26 November 2025. The distance from the Tulip Inn Hotel in Shravasti to the Mahāparinibbāna Vihar in Kushinagar is only about 250 kilometres, but distance in northern India is misleading and never measured merely in kilometres. It took us close to eight hours in the coach we had hired for our travels, a full day shaped as much by patience as by movement. For long stretches, the road was a straightforward two-lane national highway, paved and reasonably well maintained, with short sections widened near larger towns. On paper, it looked manageable within six hours but in reality, this was farming country, with agriculture setting its own tempo. Tractors moved unhurriedly from field to field, motorcycles weaved around them, slow trucks lumbered along with improbable loads, and now and then livestock wandered across the road, unbothered by horns. Added the occasional rough patches left unrepaired and the inevitable congestion in market towns where the road narrowed due to life spilling onto it, the journey became less a drive than a steady, patient passage eastwards.

By the time we reached Kushinagar, it was around five o’clock and the sun had already set below the horizon. The coach stopped at the Mahāparinibbāna Vihar. This was not just another pilgrimage site on our itinerary but the place where the Buddha’s long journey came to its final rest. Kushinagar, known in ancient times as Kusinārā, was once the capital of the Malla republic. It was here, between twin sala trees, that the Buddha lay down at the age of 80 and entered Mahāparinibbāna, the final release beyond rebirth. It was also here that his body was cremated, before the relics were divided and enshrined across the subcontinent. These are facts one may already know, but arriving at dusk gives them a different weight.

The approach to the Mahāparinibbāna Vihar was marked by a light haze hanging low in the air, and as daylight faded into the blue hour, the entire site took on an unmistakably ethereal quality. One expected the atmosphere here to be sombre by nature, but what struck me was not heaviness so much as quiet gravity. As the light drained from the sky, the Mahāparinibbāna Vihar began to glow softly, its roof lights forming a gentle halo rather than a glare. Unlike the warmth of Jetavana’s red brick and earthen tones, everything here was an off-white: the temple walls and the bell-shaped Nirvana Stupa directly behind the main temple building. India’s ever-present haze tinted that whiteness faintly yellow with softening edges and blurring boundaries. 

As evening deepened, sound fell away. Where Jetavana carried a sense of movement and life, Kushinagar at dusk settled into stillness. The haze muffled the outside world, enclosing the temple grounds in a cocoon of calm. We all sensed it Our voices dropped, our footsteps slowed. Having arrived, there was now no sense for urgency.

Inside the Mahāparinibbāna Vihar, there were still other visitors along with the resident monks. At the centre lay the reclining Buddha, a six-metre-long image. aligned north-south and facing west, depicting not sleep but the moment of final passing. The statue, originally carved during the Gupta period and restored over centuries, was austere rather than dramatic. The Buddha lay on his right side, head resting on his hand, expression composed, eyes gently closed. The image was already draped in yellow cloth when we entered, a layer perhaps offered by pilgrims before us.

We made our obeisance, circumambulated the statue clockwise, and then settled down around it. The bhantes led us through some short chanting, their voices steady and echoing softly within the hall. After that, our group unfolded two large pieces of yellow cloth of our own and carefully draped them over the image, adding to the earlier layer. The monks then entered the inner perimeter to present robes while we remained watching.

Outside, we had hoped to organise another chanting session but the guards soon approached to inform us that it was getting late and the grounds would be closing. Even so, as we walked out, we were still able to pass by the Nirvana Stupa that marked the Buddha’s cremation site.

From there, we proceeded to The Imperial Kushinagar for the night, thereby completing the second of four essential sites in our itinerary. 

Next:

Nepal-India Day 7: Vaishali 

Previous: 
Nepal-India Day 6: Shravasti

Nepal-India Day 5: Lumbini to Shravasti

Nepal-India Days 3 and 4: The sala tree 
Nepal-India Days 3 and 4: Lumbini and Kapilvastu 

Nepal-India Days 1 and 2: Kathmandu and Nagarkot