Uruvilva: From Austerity to the Middle Way
Uruvilva is now in the Nekhor app: the wilderness by the Nairanjana River where the Bodhisattva tested the limits of austerity before turning to the Middle Way.
Uruvilva stretches from the banks of the Nairanjana River through the Dharmaranya, the “Forest of Dharma”, to the ridges of the Dungeshwari Hills. Here the Bodhisattva pushed his body as far as it would go in search of the deathless, and found that extreme penance could not take him there. Pilgrims have followed him into this country for generations.
The hills also hold a Vajrayana story. Tradition tells that the mahasiddha Shavaripa tamed a fierce spirit here and bound him as the Dharma protector Mahakala.
Uruvilva is the last stretch of the search: from these hills the road runs on to Bodh Gaya and the awakening.