Word: kushinagar
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...sacred tree at Bodh Gaya is holy ground, but pilgrims also went to see Sarnath, where the Buddha preached his first sermon; Rajgir, where he came to meditate during the monsoons; Vaishali, where the beautiful courtesan Amrapali made him a gift of a mango grove; and Kushinagar, where, lying on a bed under two trees, he died. Buddhism withered in India in the Middle Ages; the great temples and monasteries were destroyed by invaders and the pilgrims stopped coming. In the 19th century, pilgrims from Burma and Sri Lanka rediscovered the trail, renovated and rebuilt ruined monasteries and temples...
Bodh Gaya has benefited the most, but the pilgrim business, like a magic wand, is transforming places all along the Buddhist circuit. Kushinagar, in Uttar Pradesh, appears at first glance to be another no-hope town: many of the sugar mills that employed the townspeople have recently closed, and unemployment is rampant. Yet the town is seeing a real estate boom, roads are markedly better than anywhere around and children go to well-maintained schools. Kushinagar is where the Buddha died, and pilgrims come to see the gilded statue that commemorates the spot where the Buddha attained nirvana as well...
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