Gaya

Gaya, chief town of a district in Bengal, 57 miles S. of Patna by rail. It is a place of the greatest sanctity, from its associations with the founder of Buddhism, and is annually visited by about 100,000 Hindu pilgrims, who pray for the souls of their ancestors at the forty-five sacred shrines within and without the walls. In Gaya proper the Brahmans reside; adjoining is Sahibganj, the trading and official quarter. Six miles south is the village of Buddha-Gaya, the home of Buddha, with a famous temple and pipal tree (see BUDDHISM, p. 517). Joint pop. (1891) 80,383.—Gaya is also the name of the wine suburb of Oporto (q.v.).