VISHNU PADAM in Gaya ,india

Gaya is sanctified in the Jain, Hindu, and Buddhist religions.

This temple is located along the Falgu River, marked by a footprint of Lord Vishnu known as Dharmasila, incised into a block of basalt. Atop the structure is a 50-kilo gold flag, donated by a devotee, Gayapal Panda Bal Govind Sen.

The Brahma mythy Brahmans were the traditional priest of the temple in ancient time.

Now the Brahamkalpit Brahman who are known as Gayawal Tirth Purohit or Panda are the priests.

Several legendary saints as Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramakrishna have visited this shrine.

Gaya district is mentioned in the great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It is the place where Rama, with Sita and Lakshmana, came to offer pind-daan for their father, Dasharath, and continues to be a major Hindu pilgrimage site for the pind-daan ritual.

Bodh Gaya, where Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment, and is one of the four holy sites of Buddhism. The Mahabodhi Temple complex at Bodh Gaya is a World Heritage site.

In the Early Vedic period (beginning with the entrance of the Vedic religion into South Asia about 1500 BCE), several kingdoms existed in the plains of Bihar. North of the Ganges was Videha, one of the kings of which was the father of Princess Sita, the wife of Lord Rama and the heroine of the Ramayana, one of the two great Hindu epic poems of India.

During the same period, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Magadha was Rajagriha (now Rajgir), about 45 miles (70 km) southeast of Patna; to the east was the kingdom of Anga, with its capital at Campa (near Bhagalpur).

A new kingdom later arose insouthern Videha, with its capital at Vaishali. By about 700 BCE, the kingdoms of Vaishali and Videha were replaced by a confederacy of the Vrijji—said to be the first republican state known in history.

It was in Magadha, in the 6th century BCE, that the Buddha developed his religion and that Mahavira, who was born at Vaishali, promulgated and reformed the religion of Jainism.

I think as Sri Lankans we too need to gain an understanding of such historical information.

Personally, I'm very excited to go to India and visit places like this.I hope you who wrote this article felt the same way.