Author: Alan TrevithickPublisher: Motilal BanarsidassYear: 2006Language: EnglishPages: 259ISBN/UPC (if available): 8120831071
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.
PrefaceAcknowledgementsTranscription of Non-English WordsAbbreviationsIntroduction Approaching Bodh GayaCHAPTER ONEHindu Bodh GayaCHAPTER TWOA Buddhist Temple In British IndiaCHAPTER THREEAnagarika Dharmapala At Bodh GayaCHAPTER FOURBuddhist Flag at Bodha GayaCHAPTER FIVE The Great CaseCHAPTER SIXLord Curzon At Bodh GayaCHAPTER SEVENThe Viceregal CommissionCHAPTER EIGHTA Japanese VisitorCHAPTER NINEOur Hindu BrothersCHAPTER TENConclusion: Circles Around the TempleAppendix The Life History of Anagarika DharmapalaBibliographyIndex