PATNA, INDIA, March 28, 2008: Buddhist monks are upset with the Bihar government for “deliberately” delaying the formation of a panel for running the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya, Buddhism’s holiest shrine, and want control to be vested with Buddhists. The Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee (BGTMC) has been without a head for more than six months. Monks say this is hampering the day-to-day functioning of the 1,500-year-old temple at Bodh Gaya, located about 110 km from here where the Buddha attained enlightenment 2,550 years ago.
Bhadant Anand, president of the Bodhgaya Mahabodhi Vihar All-India Action Committee, says the delay is a “conspiracy” by the government to keep the management under the control of non-Buddhists. “We fail to understand why non-Buddhists have the control over the holiest shrine of Buddhists. We have decided to take up the issue by lobbying support to demand Buddhist control over the management,” Anand told IANS. Anand has been leading a pressure group of Buddhist monks for over a decade and a half favoring an amendment to the Mahabodhi Temple Management Act 1949 so that management can be handed over to Buddhists.
According to the Mahabodhi Temple Management Act 1949, the panel should comprise four Buddhists and the same number of Hindu members for a three-year period with the Gaya district magistrate as its ex-officio chairman and the Mahanth (presiding priest) of Sankaracharya Math (Saivite monastery, Bodh Gaya) as ex-officio Hindu member. The state government nominates a Hindu as chairman for the period when the district magistrate is a non-Hindu.
The BTMC has over 75 staff, including 35 daily wagers, who clean and look after the temple. The Mahabodhi Temple, declared a World Heritage Site in 2002 by Unesco, is visited annually by thousands of tourists, especially from Buddhist countries.