By Nirmala George, Associated Press, October 8, 2006

Bodh Gaya, India -- The road to Bodh Gaya, one of Buddhism's holiest sites, had been long and strenuous.

Four hours of jolting along potholed roads had taken their toll. My back was sore, and I was more in need of spinal therapy than the spiritual therapy that had brought me to Bihar, a poverty-wracked state infamous for its appalling crime and lawlessness.

But my all-too-human aches fled when I entered the sprawling silence of the Mahabodhi Temple complex and let the serenity of the centuries-old shrine wash over me.

There, under the canopy of an ancient peepul tree, where the rustling of leaves mingled with the quiet, rhythmic chanting of mantras and the clicking of prayer beads, sat a group of saffron-robed Buddhist monks engrossed in prayer.

The elaborately carved Mahabodhi Temple, Buddhism's holiest shrine and a popular destination for nirvana seekers, marks the site where the prince-turned-hermit-turned-spiritual-leader, Gautama Siddhartha, attained enlightenment some 2,500 years ago after intense meditation.

From then on, he was known as the Buddha, or "Enlightened One."

Today, there are an estimated 360 million Buddhists around the globe.

Bihar is a checkerboard of Buddhist holy sites. A few hours' drive from Bodh Gaya is the town of Rajgir, where the Buddha taught and prayed. Nearby is Nalanda, one of the world's earliest universities, which flourished in the fifth century B.C.

For years, those tourists were largely people who grew up Buddhist, often in Japan, Thailand or Sri Lanka. But increasingly, Buddhism's appeal has spread to the West, where the Buddha's teachings about nonviolence and spiritualism have been melded with beliefs ranging from Judaism to atheism.

But Bihar isn't ready-made for wealthy tourists.

While India's economic boom has spurred economic development in many regions, Bihar has lagged badly. Tourists are advised to return to their hotels before dark and to stick to government-licensed taxis and buses.

So, while there are glass-walled shopping malls outside New Delhi and high-end spa resorts in India's southern backwaters, much of Bihar struggles with barely paved roads, on-and-off electricity and rampant crime.

Not that Bihar isn't trying. While the state doesn't track religious tourists, officials say the Buddhist trail is increasingly hot. Since 2002, when the Mahabodhi Temple was named a World Heritage site, Bodh Gaya has seen a steady rise in visitors. As India's torrid summer gives way to the monsoon rains and cooler weather in October, they come flocking.

Tourism authorities are trying to cash in with an ambitious tourist campaign, "Come to India: Walk with the Buddha." As part of that, roads are being repaved, museums are being refurbished and public restrooms being built or repaired.

Security around the shrines and monasteries has also been stepped up to ensure that pilgrims are not hounded too much by touts and beggars. Still, most sites have their share of children holding out stick-thin arms and trinket vendors periodically shooed away by security guards.

A yearlong celebration of the 2,550th anniversary of the Buddha's parinirvana, called the Parinirvana, began in May, but plans to gradually upgrade facilities will unfold over 25 years.

The detailed blueprint includes numerous luxury and budget hotels around the Buddhist circuit. It also includes a world-class 18-hole golf course in Bodh Gaya and luxurious spas, said Manoj Srivastava, who heads Bihar's state-run tourism development corporation.

And despite it all -- despite the bad roads, the beggars and the trinket-vendors selling plastic Buddha statues, key chains with imprints of the Buddha's feet and kitschy bead necklaces -- spiritualism is everywhere here.

A hush descends on visitors when they visit the Mahabodhi Temple, which rises from a gently sloping hollow. White-robed nuns sit cross-legged at the foot of the enormous carved and gilded Buddha statue, reading holy verses in a deep sonorous hum.

The temple and the adjoining Mahabodhi tree, under the shade of which Buddha attained enlightenment, has long been a pilgrimage destination.

Bodh Gaya is also home to dozens of monasteries built and maintained by various Buddhist countries. Thailand's monastery, with its gilded Buddha statues, brilliantly colored wall paintings and rich silken wall hangings offers a contrast to the more simplistic lines of the Japanese temple, or the Himalayan architectural style of the Tibetan monastery, with its carved dragons, pennants and archways.

If you go

GETTING THERE: You can fly directly to Gaya from New Delhi and Calcutta, as well as from Bangkok, Thailand, and Colombo, Sri Lanka. From the Gaya airport, take a taxi to Bodh Gaya, 7 miles away, where hotels and monasteries abound.

ACCOMMODATIONS: Hotels in Bodh Gaya are cheap by Western standards, but while there are clean, efficient places to stay, real luxury is still a few years away. Rates from $54 to as low as $4 a night.

WHEN TO GO: Between October and March.