Sankasya is located in Uttar Pradesh. To arrive at this holy place a pilgrim will be required to cover a distance of 47 kilometers from Farrukhabad. Sankasya is more popularly known as Sankisa. Sankasya is the present day Basantpur village which is located in the Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh. According to legends, Gautama Buddha went up to Tusita Heaven, spent three months there with his mother to teach her Abhidhamma and then came back to earth. He descended upon the village of Sankassya. This is the reason why Sankasya is considered a holy place. Buddha taught the summary of Abhidharma teachings to Sariputtra(Buddha`s disciple) here. The Chinese travelers Fa-hien and Hiuen Tsang visited Sankasya and had left interesting accounts of the place in their travelogues.
This legend is very popular from ancient times and is often found to be depicted in Buddhist art. However Buddhist texts like Tripikaka do not mention such stories. However stories like these are famous with the devotees and as a result Sankasya has become one of the major tourist attractions in India.
To mark this place as an important Buddhist religious site emperor Ashoka had built a pillar at this place. When Hiuen Tsang came to Sankassa while touring India he witnessed Ashokan pillar but today a pilgrim will only find it in rumbles. Even today a large number of tourists visit Sankassa to see the site where Buddha performed a miracle.
The remaining of the site is a large pavilion that is surrounded by an iron fence. It consists of an elephant with a missing head. Near this a large mound with a Hindu temple is located on it. This is said to be the ruins of the Stupa. There are two temples located nearby which can offer accommodation to the travelers.
The Ashoka pillar surmounted by an elephant to mark the exact spot where Buddha had descended. The Vishradevi temple built similar to that of Buddhist temples. The standing image of Buddha flanked by Brahma and Indra is a very interesting.
Other Buddhist Piligrimage Centre in India are
| Don | Hajipur Cave | Kesariya | Kusinara | Pragbodhi | Vikramshila | DahuliGiri |
| Ghosrawan | Indasala Cave | Kosambi | Lauria Nandangarh | Sankasya | Lumbini | Saranath |
