Bodhgaya is not, and never has been, only a Buddhist site. Hindus have been visiting Bodhgaya since at least the Buddha's own lifetime. It was one of the important stops along Sraddha(श्राद्ध) routes as testified by Agni Purana and Mahabharata that mentions the Mahabodhi Taru as a place to pay obeisance in the course of a Sraddha. It could be surmised that it was this significance of Gaya as the penultimate destination for Sraddha, for overcoming the fetters of death, that drew Sakyamuni to the place.
Beginning in the fifteenth century and extending into the twentieth, the site has been maintained by Saivite priests who trace their lineage to 1590, when Gosain Ghamandi Giri established a monastery at Bodh Gaya.
At the very center of sacred site of Bodhgaya stands the Buddha image. In popular cosmology this multivalent sacred space represents iconographic open-endedness, intermingled and blurred, drawn from a shared iconographic vocabulary. A single image is viewed and treated as representing or embodying two very different figures that are the Buddha to Buddhist pilgrims and Visnu to Hindu pilgrims. This is what bestows this ancient pilgrimage complex an aura and mystique that is unique and having a universal appeal.
Beginning in the fifteenth century and extending into the twentieth, the site has been maintained by Saivite priests who trace their lineage to 1590, when Gosain Ghamandi Giri established a monastery at Bodh Gaya.
At the very center of sacred site of Bodhgaya stands the Buddha image. In popular cosmology this multivalent sacred space represents iconographic open-endedness, intermingled and blurred, drawn from a shared iconographic vocabulary. A single image is viewed and treated as representing or embodying two very different figures that are the Buddha to Buddhist pilgrims and Visnu to Hindu pilgrims. This is what bestows this ancient pilgrimage complex an aura and mystique that is unique and having a universal appeal.
Temple management:
THE BODH GAYA TEMPLE ACT, 1949
The temple is managed, on behalf of the Bihar government, by a nine-member committee headed by the district magistrate.
As per the Act, only a Hindu can head the managing committee.
The Act also specifies that if the district magistrate happens to be a non-Hindu, the state government has to nominate a Hindu to head the committee.
According to the Act, the panel should comprise four Buddhists and four Hindus for a three-year period, with the Gaya district magistrate as its ex-officio chairman and the mahant (presiding priest) of the Sankaracharya Math (the Shaivite monastery at Bodh Gaya) as the ex-officio Hindu member.
The temple is managed, on behalf of the Bihar government, by a nine-member committee headed by the district magistrate.
As per the Act, only a Hindu can head the managing committee.
The Act also specifies that if the district magistrate happens to be a non-Hindu, the state government has to nominate a Hindu to head the committee.
According to the Act, the panel should comprise four Buddhists and four Hindus for a three-year period, with the Gaya district magistrate as its ex-officio chairman and the mahant (presiding priest) of the Sankaracharya Math (the Shaivite monastery at Bodh Gaya) as the ex-officio Hindu member.
Conflict:
But as per the current trends of alienating of Sampradaya originated from Sanatana Tradition from its roots prominent Buddhist figures(one of them is Bhante Anand - President of Akhil Bharatiya Bhikkhu Mahasangh) argue, "We are Buddhists, we have nothing to do with Hinduism. The birth place of Buddhism is controlled by other people. Hinduvta forces are doing everything to keep Bodh Gaya's temple out of the control of Buddhists. If such a situation continues, we will be forced to register a complaint with the UN high commissioner for refugees." Now, Bihar government is facing international pressure as well because of Buddhist presence in many eastern countries.
1. https://www.rediff.com/…/why-are-hindus-contro…/20170725.htm
2. http://deshkalindia.com/festival/history_and_context.pdf
3. https://www.bodhgayatemple.com/images/pdf/temple_act.pdf1
#SaveOurTemples
But as per the current trends of alienating of Sampradaya originated from Sanatana Tradition from its roots prominent Buddhist figures(one of them is Bhante Anand - President of Akhil Bharatiya Bhikkhu Mahasangh) argue, "We are Buddhists, we have nothing to do with Hinduism. The birth place of Buddhism is controlled by other people. Hinduvta forces are doing everything to keep Bodh Gaya's temple out of the control of Buddhists. If such a situation continues, we will be forced to register a complaint with the UN high commissioner for refugees." Now, Bihar government is facing international pressure as well because of Buddhist presence in many eastern countries.
1. https://www.rediff.com/…/why-are-hindus-contro…/20170725.htm
2. http://deshkalindia.com/festival/history_and_context.pdf
3. https://www.bodhgayatemple.com/images/pdf/temple_act.pdf1
#SaveOurTemples
