The Maha Bodhi Temple

The Maha Bodhi Temple, How was it in the past, How is it not, Who took hold of, How was it taken to? How the structure, When was it built, Where the tree, How did Buddha meditate underneath And got enlightenment, Who to say it about? Who made the temple And how With what materials, How the masons at work Planned and worked With what engineering and skill? Who worshipped when, Who had it been in the charge of, The Brahmins for so long When history went it otherwise And Buddhism was on the decline Here in India? But what we see it today Was resurrected and renovated And restored, The brick temple And the temple handed over to The Buddhist society. But behind it is a history to look behind That of the Guptas, the Sungas So sculptural and architectural, Historical and archaeological With the stucco and railings of own. But what about the visitors, The pilgrims who visited the site In the past, Who from where, which country The bhikshus we knew it not, Had we been so backward?