Buddhist monks maintain placards throughout a protest, demanding the repeal of the Bodh Gaya Temple Administration Act, 1949, in Thane, Maharashtra on March 25
| Photograph Credit score: PTI

The story to this point: Starting February, almost 100 Buddhist monks beneath the All India Buddhist Discussion board (AIBF) have been protesting, first on the Bodh Gaya’s Mahabodhi Temple or Mahavihara, and later a bit down the highway, demanding a repeal of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act (BTA), 1949. The AIBF has help from outstanding Buddhist our bodies, and has submitted a memorandum to the Bihar authorities. The Bodh Gaya is without doubt one of the 4 sacred websites of Buddhism; the opposite three being Buddha’s birthplace Lumbini, Sarnath the place he gave his first sermon and Kusinagar the place he attained parinirvana.

Have there been protests earlier than?

In November 2023, Buddhist monks held a rally in Gaya and submitted a memorandum to the Central and State governments. Because it didn’t have the specified impact, the monks scaled up the protest and held a rally in Patna final 12 months to press for repealing the Act. Again in 2012, monks had filed a writ petition earlier than the Supreme Courtroom to repeal the Act. The petition is but to be heard.

What’s the Act?

The BTA established an eight-member administration committee having equal variety of Buddhists and Hindus. The Act made the native district Justice of the Peace an ex-officio chairperson of the committee. Because the district Justice of the Peace hailed from the bulk group, it translated to a Hindu majority on the committee, one thing which was resented by Buddhist our bodies. Ever since then, varied Buddhist our bodies have been elevating their voice intermittently for gaining autonomy over the Bodh Gaya temple, which they name the Bodh Gaya Mahavihara.

What do the annals say?

Famous poet Edwin Arnold in his well-known poem, ‘The Mild of Asia’ talks about Gautam Siddharth’s enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree. Bodh Gaya was then described because the Mecca of Buddhism, and in some ways popularised Buddhism within the West. Nonetheless, Bodh Gaya’s declare to fame goes a lot additional again in time. Within the third century, Mauryan Emperor Ashoka worshipped the Bodhi tree and constructed the temple there. From the time of Ashoka to the Palas, the Bodhi temple continued to be a Buddhist place of worship and a web site of pilgrimage. Chinese language traveller Hiuen Tsang visited it in 629 AD in the course of the reign of Harshavardhana. By the way, Hiuen Tsang known as it a Buddhist web site, and is alleged to have discovered solely Buddhist relics right here save for a statue of Avaloktishvara.

Issues modified with the invasion of Bakhtiyar Khilji within the thirteenth century. The invasion ended the Pala rule, and thus started the decline of Buddhism. Throughout Akbar’s reign, in 1590, a Hindu monk established the Bodh Gaya mutt. With this the temple lapsed into the palms of the Hindu group. Following Independence, the Bihar Meeting handed the BTA in 1949 and management of the temple was transferred from the Hindu head to the brand new administration committee.

How has the federal government intervened?

The BTA was handed by the Bihar authorities to resolve a festering dispute between the Buddhist and Hindu heads of the Mahabodhi temple for management over the identical. The Buddhist aspect was sad on the stipulation that the district Justice of the Peace, who was the ex-officio chairman, may solely assume management if he was from the Hindu group. It modified in 2013 after the State authorities amended the rule and inserted a provision for the ex-officio chairman to be of any religion.

Within the early Nineteen Nineties, then Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav, drafted the Bodh Gaya Mahvihara Invoice to interchange the BTA. It was supposed handy over the administration of the temple to the Buddhist group. The Invoice prohibited idol immersions close to the temple and Hindu marriages contained in the temple. Nonetheless, the Invoice went into chilly storage.