India, the birth place of the Buddha and Buddhism has many sacred shrines. The four places :Lumbini, Buddha Gaya, Saranath and Kusinagar, where the four principal events of Buddha's life, viz. Birth, Enlightenment, first preaching and Mahaparnirvana, took place are looked upon with greatest sanctity. There are four more place which were also intimately associated with the Buddha: Srasvasti, Sankasya, Rajagriha and Vaisali. These eight places have all along been considered as the eight holy places. 

In addition to these sacred spots, some of the other centres of Buddhism in ancient India were: Amaravati, Nagarjunakonda in Andra Pradesh, Nalanda in Bihar, Junagadh, Valabhi in Gujarat, Sanchi, Bharhut in Madhya Pradesh, Ajanta-Ellora in Maharashtra, Dhaulgiri in Orissa, Kannauj, Kausambi, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Jagaddala  Somapuri in West Bengal.

With the downfall of Buddhism, These shrines were either destroyed and plundered or just ignored and neglected. Some of the ancient shrines were restored and developed as religious and tourist centres.