The unveiling and consecration of the Great Buddha Statue took place on November 18, 1989. The consecration ceremony was graced with the presence of His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, who blessed the 25-meter statue, the first great Buddha ever built in the history of India.

The Statue is now a symbol of the holy place Bodhgaya, next to Mahabohdi Temple which is a World Heritage site, and enjoys constant visits of pilgrims from all over the world. It is nicknamed "the 80-foot (25-meter) Buddha Statue."

This footage is part of the professionally-shot stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and Digital Betacam. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... rupindang [at] gmail [dot] com and [email protected]. bodh gaya