The very first elaborate account of the holy city of Gaya (then Gaya-kshetra) is in the concluding section of the Vayu-Purana (Hindu Religious text, dedicated to the wind God, Vayu), which comprises a total of eight chapters (Source : Barua, Benimadhat; Gaya and Buddha Gaya, Volume -1, 2014). In the Vayu-purana, “Brahma is said to have declared that the entire tract of Gaya was 5 krosas (a distance of two miles) [2] in extent; that Gaya proper representing the inner zone of the tract of Gaya was 2 and half krosas in extent; and that Gayasira determining the extension of the ancient town of Gaya and representing the innermost zone of the tract of Gaya was 1 krosa in extent.”
Benimadhat Barua in Gaya and Buddha Gaya, Volume – 1, 2014, mentions, “It is certain that, according to description in the Gayamahatmya, Gaya-kshetra extended towards the north as far, at least, as the Preta, Pretasila or Pretakuta hill, and extended towards the south as far, at least, as the sacred Bodhi-tree (Mahabcdhitaru, Bodhi-druma) at Bodh-Gaya.” The author further concludes that, “If the Gayasira (present day Brahmayoni) hill and its…show more content… May you, the Devas, rest on it too, and call this place after me the sacred Kshetra of Gaya, 1 extending over five krosas, of which one krosa would be covered by my head. Therein should abide, for the good of mankind, all the sacred pools on earth, where persons, by bathing and offering of oblations of water, and funeral cakes may attain high merit for themselves, and translate their ancestors, blessed with all that is desirable and salvation, to the region of Brahma. As long as Vishnu in his triple form shall be adored by the learned, so long should this be renowned on earth as the sacred place of Gayasura, and resort to it should rinse men of even the sin of killing