Mahabodhi Temple in
Bodh Gaya – Management Issue - A Layman’s Thoughts
Bodh Gaya is the site where Gautama the Buddha attained enlightenment and is considered one of the most sacred places for Buddhists throughout the world. At the site, a shrine was built by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BC and the current structure
dates back to the Gupta period of the 6th century. The temple was restored in the 1880s and a Hindu monastery (Bodh Gaya Math) was established by the Hindus (Mahant Ghamandi Giri) in 16th century. Ever since, Hindus continue to control the temple.
With this historical background drawn from the social media,
I come to the recent happenings and the current position on the management,
control and up keep of the most important shrine of Buddhists which has already
been adopted as Heritage site by the UNESCO. After independence, the Bodh Gaya
Temple is managed and controlled under the provisions of Bodh Gaya
Temple Act of 1949. Accordingly,
the BGTA of 1949 established a Committee to manage the temple, comprising four
Buddhists and four Hindus, with the District Magistrate as the Ex-officio Chairman.
Buddhist stakeholders feel the Hindu majority on the committee, especially the
Hindu Chairman, is unfair and want greater control over the temple's management
in line with the shrines of other faiths; particularly that of minorities. CM
Lalu Prasad Yadav’s government in Bihar tried to repeal/amend the 1949 act with
a view to bring about reform and streamline management of the temple but could
not succeed.
Buddhists of both India and abroad have been demanding the control of the temple in accordance with the laws of the land and religious morality with regard to the running and upkeep of the historical site pertaining to Buddhism. On the other hand, vested interests are negating the demand of Buddhists and are fighting tooth and nail to
retain the control of the shrine. While, the matter is sub-judice in the courts, Buddhist stakeholders headed by All India Buddhist Forum have come to the streets with public protests demanding repeal of the 1949 act. India has an estimated 8.4 million Buddhist citizens, according to the country’s last census in 2011. They argue that in recent years, Hindu Priests who enjoy backing of the corridors of power both in Patna ad Delhi, have been performing Hindu rituals that defy the spirit of Buddhism. The protesters point out that the Buddha was opposed to Vedic rituals. All religions in India “take care and manage their own religious sites. The AIBF has support from prominent Buddhist bodies, and has submitted a memorandum to the Bihar government. The Bodh Gaya is one of the four sacred sites of Buddhism; the other three being Buddha’s birthplace Lumbini, Sarnath where he gave his first sermon and Kusinagar where he attained Parinirvana. There is a complete standoff between the Hindu Priests and Buddhist Bhikhus on one side and the protesters and the administration on the other. In the late 19th century, visiting Sri Lankan and Japanese Buddhist monks founded the Maha Bodhi Society to lead a movement to reclaim the site.
As regards the historical background, according to UNESCO,
the shrine was largely abandoned between the 13th and 18th centuries, before
the British began renovations. But the shrine’s website hosted by the Hindu
Management states that a Hindu Priest, Ghamandi Giri, turned up at the temple
in 1590 and began living there. He started conducting rituals and established
the Bodh Gaya Math, a Hindu monastery. Since then, the temple has been
controlled by descendants of Giri. In 1903, these efforts led the then-viceroy
of India, Lord Curzon, to try to negotiate a deal between the Hindu and Buddhist
sides, but he failed. Later, both sides started mobilizing political support
and eventually India gained independence from British rule in 1947, Bihar
government pushed through the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949. The law transferred
the temple’s management from the head of the Bodh Gaya Math to the 8 member
committee, which is now headed by a ninth member, the district magistrate — the
top bureaucrat in charge of the district.
Swami Vivekananda Giri, the Hindu priest who currently looks
after the Bodh Gaya Math, is unfazed by the protests, describing the agitations
as “politically motivated” — with an eye on Bihar’s state legislature elections
later this year. He added, “Our Math’s teachings treat Lord Buddha as the ninth
reincarnation of [Hindu] Lord Vishnu and we consider Buddhists our brothers,”
Giri told Al Jazeera. “For years, we have hosted Buddhist devotees, from other
countries as well, and never disallowed them from praying on the premises.” Giri
said that the Hindu side has been “generous in allowing four seats to Buddhists
in the management committee”. He further said, “If you repeal the Act, then the
temple will solely belong to the Hindu side because we owned it before the Act
and the independence [of India],” Giri said, taking a dig at the protesters.
“When the Buddhists abandoned it after the invasion of Muslim rulers, we
preserved and took care of the temple. Yet we never treated Buddhist visitors
as ‘others’.”
I am no authority on the subject. My immediate motivation to write on the issue emanated from my informal and friendly association with some of the neo-Buddhists and followers of Babasaheb Ambedkar in and around Jalandhar. These friends belonging to several Buddha Viharas and Ambedkarite outfits are actively
involved in the agitation to free the Maha Boddhi Temple from the allegedly illegal and immoral control of the Hindu Priests. The demand of Buddhists seems to be genuine and valid; prima facie, keeping with the laws of the land providing religious freedom to minorities and upkeep of their religious places. Why Buddhists are being deprived of their rightful claims on the holy shrine in Bodh-Gaya? The arguments given by the head priest of the Bodh Gaya Math appears fallacious and capricious. It is total hypocrisy to term Gautama the Buddha as the 9th incarnation (Avtar) of Vishnu. Why Hindu rituals should be performed in the Buddhist Vihara? Will they allow others to do the same in the Hindu Temples? The Hindu side tended to take shelter under the Places of Worship Act of 1991 which aimed to maintain the religious character of places of worship as of 1947. It further complicated the issue. Why these double standard? On one side the Hindu zealots demand to repeal the 1991 act to pursue and carry forward their agenda to claim and gain control of various Masjids and Churches and on the other hand reject the demand of Buddhists to hand them over the control of Maha Bodhi Temple – good example of the old mischievous dictum - ‘Heads I win and Tails you lose’. It seems that it is total high-handedness of the hard-core Hindus. Buddhists are the rightful owners of Maha-Bodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya.
'इक़बाल ' बड़ा उपदेशक है - मन बातों में मोह लेता है
गुफ़्तार का ये ग़ाज़ी तो बना किरदार का ग़ाज़ी बन न सका
('Iqbal' is a good preacher,
fascinates the heart in moments
He did become hero in talk, but one
in deeds he could not be.)