It lies directly across the Phalgu River from the town of Bodh Gaya, where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.

It was initially built in the 2nd century BCE as confirmed by finds of Dark Grey polished wares and a punch-marked coin in the monastery nearby.

[1] The stupa was dedicated to the milkmaid Sujata, from the village of Bakraur, who is said to have fed Gautama Buddha milk and rice at this spot as he was sitting under a Banyan tree, thereby ending his seven years of fasting and asceticism, and allowing him to attain illumination through the Middle Way.

[8][7] This suggests that the last phase of construction of the stupa dates to Devapala in the 9th century CE, to commemorate the house where Sujata lived.

This interpretation was based on a description made by the 7th-century Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang (in 大唐西域記: Buddhist Records of the Western World)[9] who recounted that when he crossed the river (Niranjana) and went to Bakraur, he encountered a stupa and a stone column at the place where Gandha-hasti used to dwell (referring to the place where the Buddha, in a previous life, was reborn as the offspring of a Perfumed elephant).