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| Maha Bodhi Temple, Bodhgaya |
The state of Bihar occupies its
own unique position within India. Lying in the ecologically abundant and
ancient expanse of the Indo Gangetic plains the region has been a cradle of
ancient Indian civilization, endowed with an immensely rich history and
prehistory. The region was the setting for and birthplace of the two greatest
Indian religions, Buddhism and Jainism.
In particular, the cultural and
long enduring historical significance of Bodh Gaya as an ancient site is well
known. From the early accounts of the Chinese pilgrims Faxian and Xuanzang to
the recent musings of various New Age seekers, from Asvaghosa to Edwin Arnold,
Bodhgaya has been a favorite topic. It was a hot spot of Indian archaeology
after Alexander Cunningham made the famous excavation of Mahabodhi temple
complex and commissioned its restoration by J D Beglar in the last quarter of
the nineteenth century.
The spiritual resonance of the
place as the site of Enlightenment for Sakyamuni
Lord Goutama Buddha, makes the Mahabodhi temple most important pilgrimage place
for Buddhists from all over the world. As the sacred power centre of the
Buddhist world it is regarded as the 'navel of the earth ' in Buddhist
cosmology.
The Mahabodhi Temple Complex is
the first temple built by Emperor Asoka in the 3rd century B.C., and the
present temple dates from the 5th–6th centuries. It is one of the earliest
Buddhist temples built entirely in brick, still standing, from the late Gupta
period. The present Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya comprises the 50 m
high grand Temple, the Vajrasana, sacred Bodhi Tree and seven sacred sites of the
Buddha's enlightenment.
The highlight of pilgrimage for
all Buddhists is to stand beneath the bodhi tree at Bodhgaya, where the
historical Buddha had attained enlightenment. This spot is marked by a stone
seat, the vajrasana or 'diamond seat'. The Buddhist cultural heritage has a
long and special history that dates back to more than 2,500 years and unites
most of South, South-East and East Asia.
The Mahabodhi Temple complex at
Bodhgaya was designated a UNESCO World Heritage monument on 27 June 2002.
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 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. Gaya and Bodh Gaya share a lot of correspondence in terms of monuments, sculptures
and art that has features of Brahamanical imagery drawing on both Shaivaism and
Vaishnavism. Moreover some Buddhist
images have been given Hindu identities, chief among which is Avalokiteshvara
who is worshipped as Rama, or the nine Buddha images that are presented as
Panadavas with Krishna, Draupadi, Kunti and Abhimanyu. Or Mara with an arrow
identified with Kamdev, the god of desire, whose arrow shook the vow of Sambhu
(Siva).
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. This long Shaivite management at Bodh
Gaya has seen assimilation and adaptation of Buddhist symbols like the votive stupas as Shiv lingams.
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.
Bodh Gaya represents the shared
cultural heritage of Hindus and Buddhists. As of now the complex is managed by
Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee that acts according to the Bodhgaya Temple
Act, 1949.
Deshkal
Society:
Since
1995 Deshkal Society has been striving for compassionate understanding of
marginal communities particularly in South Bihar located in the ecological
region of middle Gangetic plain. In a society that ostracizes these communities
and them as impure lower order bonded by drudgeries of grueling labour, Deshkal
Society has been engaging with them in a quest to lessen their suffering and
facilitate well-integrates being in their lives. The interventions of Deshkal with
these marginal communities aim to enable dignity, equity, and justice through
improving access to quality elementary education, entitlements for habitats, secure
livelihoods and dignified existence.
Deshkal has come to understand
that for these communities culture is not luxury or an expression of leisure
alone. Rather it is a dynamic resource for negotiating everyday realties of
dominant development. The culture of the region is endowed with traditions and cultural practices of communities
like Musahars who constitute core laboring processes of paddy cultivation in
the Indo Gangetic river plains.
Historically
bestowed with ingenuous and intimate relation with nature, their life histories
are a living testimony to deep veneration of nature for regeneration of all life.
Their intangible cultural expressions encoded in myths, songs, legends,
proverbs, ballads, stories relate to worshipping nature, ancestors and many
folk deities. These performances punctuate sowing and harvesting of paddy, propitiate
and venerate nature as life giving force, reinforce bonds with ancestors, derive
guidance and protection from them and are living representations of collective
assertion.
It would not be very
inappropriate to surmise that the living cultural practices of these labouring
communities in contemporary times do have a historical affinity to animism and
tribal ethos that dominated the region in the Buddha’s time. This popular
culture of subalterns adds another dimension to the historical heritage of Bodhgaya
and situates the region as endowed with a variety of tangible and intangible heritage.
Bodh Gaya Dialogues:
The Bodh Gaya dialogues seek to
facilitate civil society action to generate processes for conserving,
disseminating and sustaining the rich and multiple cultural heritage of Bodh
Gaya and Gaya region in South Bihar. By focusing on interconnections of diverse
cultures of Buddhism, Hinduism and popular culture of Musahar community, the proposed
initiative in discussing, sharing and disseminating aims to build processes for
sustainable heritage development with participation of a range of stakeholders.
Invoking the age old Buddhist
tradition of dialogues as a way of comprehending and experiencing reality the Bodh
Gaya dialogues represent a quest for sustainable development that is inclusive
and ecologically sustainable. It is a humble attempt to engage with the paradox
of rich cultural heritage and the challenges of modern development in the
region. The defining ideal of this pursuit for holistic union of external and
internal well- being draws on the deep wisdom of Buddhist philosophy relating
to real human finitude and release from its endemic suffering. To further this
pursuit for cessation of suffering it is a call for compassionate engagement to
overcome entrenched inequalities plaguing communities living in the ‘navel of
the earth’.
Objectives:
- Facilitate appreciation and safeguarding of multiple tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Bodhgaya region.
- Engage with Bodhgaya as a World Heritage Buddhist pilgrimage for promoting responsible tourism and livelihood opportunities for marginal communities.
- Foster debate and initiatives for sustainable development of South Bihar region.
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