Author: Alan Trevithick
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 259
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8120831071
Description
This is the first account of a dispute which spanned the period 1874-1949, over the status of the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, in Bihar.
The temple is conventionally thought by Buddhists to mark the place where Buddha first achieved enlightenment, and by Hindus to be a monument to "Buddha Dev”, a form of the god Vishnu. Therein lay the conflict: was the temple "authentically" either a Buddhist or a Hindu temple? In 1891, a Sinhalese pilgrim named Anagarika Dharmapala through his Mahabodhi Society reclaimed the temple for all of the world's Buddhists.
These are the basic elements of the dispute, and the present account details the course of the administrative, legal and legislative activities which attended it. This work provides a coherent account of events that occurred within a complex, dynamic and shifting series of intercultural frames and spheres of political power. It presents the actors and the traditions and strategies they used to shape the conflict over the status of Bodh Gaya.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Transcription of Non-English Words
Abbreviations
Introduction
Approaching Bodh Gaya
CHAPTER ONE
Hindu Bodh Gaya
CHAPTER TWO
A Buddhist Temple In British India
CHAPTER THREE
Anagarika Dharmapala At Bodh Gaya
CHAPTER FOUR
Buddhist Flag at Bodha Gaya
CHAPTER FIVE
The Great Case
CHAPTER SIX
Lord Curzon At Bodh Gaya
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Viceregal Commission
CHAPTER EIGHT
A Japanese Visitor
CHAPTER NINE
Our Hindu Brothers
CHAPTER TEN
Conclusion: Circles Around the Temple
Appendix
The Life History of Anagarika Dharmapala
Bibliography
Index