Mahabodhi Temple
Encyclopedia
The Mahabodhi Temple (Literally: "Great Awakening Temple") is a Buddhist
temple in Bodh Gaya, the location where Siddhartha Gautama
, the Buddha
, attained enlightenment. Bodh Gaya (located in Gaya district
) is located about 96 km (60 mi) from Patna
, Bihar
state, India
. Next to the temple, to its western side, is the holy Bodhi tree
. In the Pali
Canon, the site is called Bodhimanda
, and the monastery there the Bodhimanda Vihara. The tallest tower is 55 metres (180 ft) tall.
. According to the Jataka
s, it forms the navel of the earth, and no other place can support the weight of the Buddha's attainment
According to Buddhist mythology, if no Bodhi tree grows at the site, the ground around the Bodhi tree is devoid of all plants for a distance of one royal karīsa
and nothing can travel in the air immediately above it, not even Sakka.
Buddhist mythology also states that when the world is destroyed at the end of a kalpa, the Bodhimanda is the last spot to disappear and is the first to appear when the world emerges into existence again. The myth also claims that a lotus will bloom there, and if a Buddha is born during that the new kalpa, the lotus flowers in accordance with the number of Buddhas expected to arise. According to legend, in the case of Gautama Buddha
, a Bodhi tree sprang up on the day he was born.
, near the city of Gaya
, India. There he sat in meditation under a peepul tree (Ficus religiosa or Sacred Fig
), which later became known as the Bodhi tree. According to Buddhist scriptures, after three days and three nights, Siddharta attained enlightenment
and the answers that he had sought. Mahabodhi Temple was built to mark that location.
The Buddha then spent the succeeding seven weeks at seven different spots in the vicinity meditating and considering his experience. Several specific places at the current Mahabodhi Temple relate to the traditions surrounding these seven weeks:
It is one of the earliest Buddhist temples built entirely in brick that is still standing in India, from the late Gupta period.
Buddhism declined when the dynasties patronizing it declined, following White Hun and the early Arab
Islamic invasions such as that of Muhammad bin Qasim
. A strong revival occurred under the Pala Empire
in the northeast of the subcontinent (where the temple is situated). Mahayana Buddhism flourished under the Palas between the 8th and the 12th century. However, after the defeat of the Palas by the Hindu Sena dynasty
, Buddhism's position again began to erode and became nearly extinct in India
. During the 12th century CE, Bodh Gaya and the nearby regions were invaded by Muslim
Turk
armies. During this period, the Mahabodhi Temple fell into disrepair and was largely abandoned. Over the following centuries, the monastery's abbot or mahant
became the area's primary landholder and claimed ownership of the Mahabodhi Temple grounds.
In the 1880s, the then-British government of India began to restore Mahabodhi Temple under the direction of Sir Alexander Cunningham
. A short time later, in 1891, the Sri Lanka
n Buddhist leader Anagarika Dharmapala
started a campaign to return control of the temple to Buddhists, over the objections of the mahant. The campaign was partially successful in 1949, when control passed from the Hindu mahant to the state government of Bihar, which established a temple management committee. The committee has nine members, a majority of whom, including the chairman, must by law be Hindus. Mahabodhi's first head monk under the management committee was Anagarika Munindra
, a Bengal
i man who had been an active member of the Maha Bodhi Society
.
".
Mahabodhi Temple's central tower rises 55 metres (180 ft), and were heavily renovated in the 19th century. The central tower is surrounded by four smaller towers, constructed in the same style.
The Mahabodhi Temple is surrounded on all four sides by stone railings, about two metres high. The railings reveal two distinct types, both in style as well as the materials used. The older ones, made of sandstone
, date to about 150 BCE, and the others, constructed from unpolished coarse granite
, are believed to be of the Gupta period (300–600 CE). The older railings have scenes such as Lakshmi
, the Hindu
goddess of wealth, being bathed by elephants; and Surya
, the Hindu sun god, riding a chariot drawn by four horses. The newer railings have figures of stupas (reliquary shrines) and garuda
s (eagles). Images of lotus flowers also appear commonly.
Mahabodhi Temple is claimed as property of state government of Bihar, part of India. Under the terms of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949, the state government makes itself responsible for the protection, management, and monitoring of temple and its properties. The Act also has provisions for a Temple Management Committee, and an advisory board.
The Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee is the executive body for management of the Mahabodhi Temple and certain adjoining areas. The TMC functions under the supervision, direction, and control of the state government of Bihar. By law, the Committee must consist of four Buddhist and four Hindu representatives, including the head of Sankaracharya Math monastery as an ex-officio Hindu member. The Committee is chaired by the Gaya district magistrate, but if the Gaya district magistrate is not Hindu, the Act requires the government to appoint a Hindu chairman. The Committee serves for a term of three years. The Advisory Board consists of the governor of Bihar and twenty to twenty-five other members, half of them from foreign Buddhist countries.
In June 2002, the Mahabodhi Temple became a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
, specifically nominated for the international World heritage program. All finds of religious artifacts in the area are legally protected under the Treasure Trove Act of 1878. The temple's head monk, as of September , was Bhikkhu Bodhipala. Bodhipala resigned in 2007. Kalicharan Singh Yadav served as secretary until 2007. As of 2008, district magistrate Jitendra Srivastava was the Committee's chairman. According to the Temple Management Committee's website, the chief priest is Bhikkhu Chalinda.
Following the expiration of the Committee's term in September 2007, the government of Bihar delayed the appointment of a new Committee. The district magistrate has served as administrator for the temple pending the appointment of a new Committee. Eventually, on May 16, 2008 the government announced the appointment of a new Temple Management Committee.
There have been several controversies regarding the temple involving both the management and care of the temple, and claims made by Hindus and Buddhists regarding ownership or rights of access to the temple.
In August 2005, individuals associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) were stopped by police while attempting to enter the Mahabodhi Temple to make an offering of blessed water to a pedestal or broken pillar within the temple complex. BJP officials claimed that a pedestal within the temple may be part of a Shiva
linga, and that Hindus should be permitted access to the temple to make offerings to the pedestal. Buddhist monks associated with the temple claim that this represents an attempt by Hindu nationalist elements to assert control over the temple, and to establish the primacy of Hinduism by advancing the claim that the Buddha was an incarnation of the god Vishnu
. They also claim that the structure which some Hindus have identified as a lingam is actually the broken base of a statue of the Buddha.
In 2006, it was alleged that a branch of the bodhi tree had been removed and sold to wealthy buyers in Thailand with the cooperation of senior members of the temple's management committee. Former temple secretary Kalicharan Yadav has denied this claim, contending that the branch was removed much earlier as part of a needed pruning effort recommended by botanists working with the temple. Government officials denied the claim that the tree had been recently cut or harmed, providing pictures of the tree from previous years and organizing an outing led by the Bihar home secretary to examine the alleged damage to the tree.
Arup Brahmachari, a Hindu monk, has called for investigations into the financial records of the temple, and the personal finances of individuals involved in running and managing the temple, alleging corruption among senior management. Bhante Pragyadeep, treasurer of the Buddhist Monks Association of India, has also called for investigations into the temple's finances and the use of money donated to the temple.
In September 2007, the three-year term of the Temple Management Committee ended. Rather than immediately appointing a new committee, the government of Bihar opted to appoint the Gaya District Magistrate, a former member of the Temple Committee, as sole administrator responsible for the temple. As of March 2008, a new Committee has not been appointed to administer the temple, prompting criticism of the government by both Hindu and Buddhist leaders, with some Buddhists asserting that the government's delay was an attempt to exclude Buddhists from involvement in the administration of the temple.
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
temple in Bodh Gaya, the location where Siddhartha Gautama
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
, the Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
, attained enlightenment. Bodh Gaya (located in Gaya district
Gaya District
Gaya is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India. The district is having a common boundary with the Jharkhand state in the south. Gaya city is its largest city and the district headquarters.-History:...
) is located about 96 km (60 mi) from Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...
, Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
state, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Next to the temple, to its western side, is the holy Bodhi tree
Bodhi tree
The Bodhi Tree, also known as Bo , was a large and very old Sacred Fig tree located in Bodh Gaya , under which Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism later known as Gautama Buddha, is said to have achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi...
. In the Pali
Páli
- External links :* *...
Canon, the site is called Bodhimanda
Bodhimaṇḍa
Bodhimaṇḍa is a term used in Buddhism meaning the "position of awakening." According to Haribhadra, it is "a place used as a seat, where the essence of enlightenment is present." Although spelled similarly, a bodhimaṇḍa is not synonymous with a bodhimaṇḍala, which is a "circle of...
, and the monastery there the Bodhimanda Vihara. The tallest tower is 55 metres (180 ft) tall.
Buddhist legends concerning the site of the Mahabodhi Temple
The site of the Bodhi tree at Bodhigaya is, according to the Buddhist commentarial scriptures, the same for all BuddhasBuddhahood
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
. According to the Jataka
Jataka
The Jātakas refer to a voluminous body of literature native to India concerning the previous births of the Buddha....
s, it forms the navel of the earth, and no other place can support the weight of the Buddha's attainment
According to Buddhist mythology, if no Bodhi tree grows at the site, the ground around the Bodhi tree is devoid of all plants for a distance of one royal karīsa
Karisa
Karisa is a settlement in Kenya's Central Province....
and nothing can travel in the air immediately above it, not even Sakka.
Buddhist mythology also states that when the world is destroyed at the end of a kalpa, the Bodhimanda is the last spot to disappear and is the first to appear when the world emerges into existence again. The myth also claims that a lotus will bloom there, and if a Buddha is born during that the new kalpa, the lotus flowers in accordance with the number of Buddhas expected to arise. According to legend, in the case of Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
, a Bodhi tree sprang up on the day he was born.
Rise of Buddhism
Traditional accounts say that, around 530 BC, Siddhartha Gautama, a young Indian Prince who saw the suffering of the world and wanted to end it, reached the sylvan banks of Falgu RiverFalgu River
The Falgu River which flows past Gaya, India in the Indian state of Bihar, is a sacred river for Hindus.-Course:...
, near the city of Gaya
Gaya, India
Gaya is the second largest city of Bihar, India, and it is also the headquarters of Gaya District.Gaya is 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital city of Bihar. Situated on the banks of Falgu River , it is a place sanctified by both the Hindu and the Buddhist religions...
, India. There he sat in meditation under a peepul tree (Ficus religiosa or Sacred Fig
Sacred Fig
The Sacred Fig, Ficus religiosa, or Bo-Tree , Peepal is a species of banyan fig native to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, southwest China and Indochina...
), which later became known as the Bodhi tree. According to Buddhist scriptures, after three days and three nights, Siddharta attained enlightenment
Bodhi
Bodhi is both a Pāli and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English with the word "enlightenment", but which means awakened. In Buddhism it is the knowledge possessed by a Buddha into the nature of things...
and the answers that he had sought. Mahabodhi Temple was built to mark that location.
The Buddha then spent the succeeding seven weeks at seven different spots in the vicinity meditating and considering his experience. Several specific places at the current Mahabodhi Temple relate to the traditions surrounding these seven weeks:
- The first week was spent under the Bodhi tree.
- During the second week, the Buddha remained standing and stared, uninterrupted, at the Bodhi tree. This spot is marked by the Animeshlocha Stupa, that is, the unblinking stupaStupaA stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship....
or shrine, which is located on the north-east of the Mahabodhi Temple complex. There stands a statue of Buddha with his eyes fixed towards the Bodhi tree. - The Buddha is said to have walked back and forth between the location of the Animeshlocha Stupa and the Bodhi tree. According to legend, lotus flowers sprung up along this route, it is now called Ratnachakarma or the jewel walk.
Construction
In approximately 250 BCE, about 200 years after the Buddha attained Enlightenment, Buddhist Emperor Asoka visited Bodh Gaya with the intention of establishing a monastery and shrine. As part of the temple, he built the diamond throne (called the Vajrasana), attempting to mark the exact spot of the Buddha's enlightenment, was established. Asoka is considered the founder of the Mahabodhi Temple. The present temple dates from the 5th–6th century, although in the words of one scholar it isIt is one of the earliest Buddhist temples built entirely in brick that is still standing in India, from the late Gupta period.
Decline
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
Islamic invasions such as that of Muhammad bin Qasim
Muhammad bin Qasim
Muhammad bin Qasim Al-Thaqafi was a Umayyad general who, at the age of 17, began the conquest of the Sindh and Punjab regions along the Indus River for the Umayyad Caliphate. He was born in the city of Taif...
. A strong revival occurred under the Pala Empire
Pala Empire
The Pāla Empire was one of the major middle kingdoms of India existed from 750–1174 CE. It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, all the rulers bearing names ending with the suffix Pala , which means protector. The Palas were often described...
in the northeast of the subcontinent (where the temple is situated). Mahayana Buddhism flourished under the Palas between the 8th and the 12th century. However, after the defeat of the Palas by the Hindu Sena dynasty
Sena dynasty
The Sena Empire was a Hindu dynasty that ruled from Bengal through the 11th and 12th centuries. At its peak the empire covered much of the north-eastern region in the Indian Subcontinent. They were called Brahma-Kshatriyas, as evidenced through their surname, which is derived from the Sanskrit,...
, Buddhism's position again began to erode and became nearly extinct in India
Decline of Buddhism in India
The decline of Buddhism in India, the land of its birth, occurred for a variety of reasons, and happened even as it continued to flourish beyond the frontiers of India. Buddhism was established in the area of ancient Magadha and Kosala by Gautama Buddha in the 6th century BCE, in what is now modern...
. During the 12th century CE, Bodh Gaya and the nearby regions were invaded by Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Turk
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
armies. During this period, the Mahabodhi Temple fell into disrepair and was largely abandoned. Over the following centuries, the monastery's abbot or mahant
Mahant
A mahant is a religious superior, in particular the chief priest of a temple or the head of a monastery. The Hindi word mahant is from Prakrit mahanta-, from Sanskrit mahat "great". The priest, pundit, gyani, or pastor of any well-known religious place would be a mahant...
became the area's primary landholder and claimed ownership of the Mahabodhi Temple grounds.
Restoration
Alexander Cunningham
Sir Alexander Cunningham KCIE CSI was a British archaeologist and army engineer, known as the father of the Archaeological Survey of India...
. A short time later, in 1891, the Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n Buddhist leader Anagarika Dharmapala
Anagarika Dharmapala
Anagarika Dharmapala was a leading figure of Buddhism in the twentieth century. He was one of the founding contributors of Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalism and Protestant Buddhism...
started a campaign to return control of the temple to Buddhists, over the objections of the mahant. The campaign was partially successful in 1949, when control passed from the Hindu mahant to the state government of Bihar, which established a temple management committee. The committee has nine members, a majority of whom, including the chairman, must by law be Hindus. Mahabodhi's first head monk under the management committee was Anagarika Munindra
Anagarika Munindra
Anagarika Shri Munindra , also called Munindraji by his disciples, was a Bengali vipassana meditation teacher, who taught many notable teachers including Dipa Ma, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and Surya Das. Anagarika simply means a practicing Buddhist who leads a homeless life without...
, a Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
i man who had been an active member of the Maha Bodhi Society
Maha Bodhi Society
The Maha Bodhi Society is a South Asian Buddhist society founded by the Sri Lankan Buddhist leader Anagarika Dharmapala. The organization's self-stated initial efforts were for the resuscitation of Buddhism in India, and restoring the ancient Buddhist shrines at Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and...
.
Architectural style
Mahabodhi Temple is constructed of brick and is one of the oldest brick structures to have survived in eastern India. It is considered to be a fine example of Indian brickwork, and was highly influential in the development of later architectural traditions. According UNESCO, "the present temple is one of the earliest and most imposing structures built entirely in brick from Gupta periodGupta Empire
The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed approximately from 320 to 550 CE and covered much of the Indian Subcontinent. Founded by Maharaja Sri-Gupta, the dynasty was the model of a classical civilization. The peace and prosperity created under leadership of Guptas enabled the...
".
Mahabodhi Temple's central tower rises 55 metres (180 ft), and were heavily renovated in the 19th century. The central tower is surrounded by four smaller towers, constructed in the same style.
The Mahabodhi Temple is surrounded on all four sides by stone railings, about two metres high. The railings reveal two distinct types, both in style as well as the materials used. The older ones, made of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, date to about 150 BCE, and the others, constructed from unpolished coarse granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, are believed to be of the Gupta period (300–600 CE). The older railings have scenes such as Lakshmi
Lakshmi
Lakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
, the Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
goddess of wealth, being bathed by elephants; and Surya
Surya
Surya Suraya or Phra Athit is the chief solar deity in Hinduism, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar . The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has hair and arms of gold...
, the Hindu sun god, riding a chariot drawn by four horses. The newer railings have figures of stupas (reliquary shrines) and garuda
Garuda
The Garuda is a large mythical bird or bird-like creature that appears in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology.From an Indian perspective, Garuda is the Hindu name for the constellation Aquila and...
s (eagles). Images of lotus flowers also appear commonly.
Current status and management
Mahabodhi Temple is claimed as property of state government of Bihar, part of India. Under the terms of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949, the state government makes itself responsible for the protection, management, and monitoring of temple and its properties. The Act also has provisions for a Temple Management Committee, and an advisory board.
The Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee is the executive body for management of the Mahabodhi Temple and certain adjoining areas. The TMC functions under the supervision, direction, and control of the state government of Bihar. By law, the Committee must consist of four Buddhist and four Hindu representatives, including the head of Sankaracharya Math monastery as an ex-officio Hindu member. The Committee is chaired by the Gaya district magistrate, but if the Gaya district magistrate is not Hindu, the Act requires the government to appoint a Hindu chairman. The Committee serves for a term of three years. The Advisory Board consists of the governor of Bihar and twenty to twenty-five other members, half of them from foreign Buddhist countries.
In June 2002, the Mahabodhi Temple became a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
, specifically nominated for the international World heritage program. All finds of religious artifacts in the area are legally protected under the Treasure Trove Act of 1878. The temple's head monk, as of September , was Bhikkhu Bodhipala. Bodhipala resigned in 2007. Kalicharan Singh Yadav served as secretary until 2007. As of 2008, district magistrate Jitendra Srivastava was the Committee's chairman. According to the Temple Management Committee's website, the chief priest is Bhikkhu Chalinda.
Following the expiration of the Committee's term in September 2007, the government of Bihar delayed the appointment of a new Committee. The district magistrate has served as administrator for the temple pending the appointment of a new Committee. Eventually, on May 16, 2008 the government announced the appointment of a new Temple Management Committee.
Controversies and disputes
There have been several controversies regarding the temple involving both the management and care of the temple, and claims made by Hindus and Buddhists regarding ownership or rights of access to the temple.
In August 2005, individuals associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
(BJP) were stopped by police while attempting to enter the Mahabodhi Temple to make an offering of blessed water to a pedestal or broken pillar within the temple complex. BJP officials claimed that a pedestal within the temple may be part of a Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
linga, and that Hindus should be permitted access to the temple to make offerings to the pedestal. Buddhist monks associated with the temple claim that this represents an attempt by Hindu nationalist elements to assert control over the temple, and to establish the primacy of Hinduism by advancing the claim that the Buddha was an incarnation of the god Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
. They also claim that the structure which some Hindus have identified as a lingam is actually the broken base of a statue of the Buddha.
In 2006, it was alleged that a branch of the bodhi tree had been removed and sold to wealthy buyers in Thailand with the cooperation of senior members of the temple's management committee. Former temple secretary Kalicharan Yadav has denied this claim, contending that the branch was removed much earlier as part of a needed pruning effort recommended by botanists working with the temple. Government officials denied the claim that the tree had been recently cut or harmed, providing pictures of the tree from previous years and organizing an outing led by the Bihar home secretary to examine the alleged damage to the tree.
Arup Brahmachari, a Hindu monk, has called for investigations into the financial records of the temple, and the personal finances of individuals involved in running and managing the temple, alleging corruption among senior management. Bhante Pragyadeep, treasurer of the Buddhist Monks Association of India, has also called for investigations into the temple's finances and the use of money donated to the temple.
In September 2007, the three-year term of the Temple Management Committee ended. Rather than immediately appointing a new committee, the government of Bihar opted to appoint the Gaya District Magistrate, a former member of the Temple Committee, as sole administrator responsible for the temple. As of March 2008, a new Committee has not been appointed to administer the temple, prompting criticism of the government by both Hindu and Buddhist leaders, with some Buddhists asserting that the government's delay was an attempt to exclude Buddhists from involvement in the administration of the temple.
See also
- Mahabodhi Temple, BaganMahabodhi Temple, BaganThe Mahabodhi Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Bagan, Burma. It was built in the mid-13th century during the reign of King Htilominlo, and is modelled after the Mahabodhi Temple, which is located in Bihar, India. The temple is built in an architectural style typical during the Gupta period,...
, Burma - Wat Chet YotWat Chet YotWat Chet Yot is a Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. It is a centre of pilgrimage for those born in the year of the snake.-Location:...
, Chiang MaiChiang MaiChiang Mai sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. It is the capital of Chiang Mai Province , a former capital of the Kingdom of Lanna and was the tributary Kingdom of Chiang Mai from 1774 until 1939. It is...
, Thailand
Sources
- Horner, I.B.Isaline Blew HornerDr. I.B. Horner was a leading scholar of Pali literature, late president of the Pali Text Society and recipient of the Order of the British Empire .-Cambridge years:...
(trans.) (1975; reprinted 2000). The Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon (Part III): 'Chronicle of Buddhas' (Buddhavamsa) and 'Basket of Conduct' (Cariyapitaka). Oxford: Pali Text SocietyPali Text SocietyThe Pali Text Society was founded in 1881 by T.W. Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pali texts".Pali is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism is preserved...
. ISBN 0-86013-072-X.