For pilgrimage planning, four locations provide a useful framework: Lumbini for birth, Bodh Gaya for awakening, Sarnath for the first teaching and Kushinagar for Mahaparinirvana. These associations are central to Buddhist pilgrimage traditions and are also represented in heritage interpretation.
Other places enrich the story. Rajgir and Shravasti, for example, are associated with important periods of the Buddha’s teaching career, while Vaishali and other ancient centres help explain the wider geography of early Buddhism.
A pilgrimage route therefore works best as a network rather than a single straight line.
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