BV - May 2015 Yr 2 Issue 6 E

Worship. But the Anglo-Burmese War and
several foreign interventions did not allow
completion of the project. In year 1890-92,
Edwin Arnold, author of the Buddha
Romance :The Light of Asia, appealed to the
British-Indian Government to hand over the
temple to the Buddhists, and even went to
Japan to plead for diplomatic support to this
demand. However, the court case was
ultimately lost. Subsequently, the
negotiations dragged on, involving Swami
Vivekananda (1901) and Hindu Mahasabha
leader Bhai Parmanand (1935) among
others.
In 1922, the Indian National Congress had
appointed a committee headed by Dr
Rajendra Prasad to examine the issue related
to the management of the Bodh Gaya Temple,
who had recommended a joint management
of the Temple by both the Hindus and the
Buddhists as a compromise proposal which
gives both Hindus and Buddhists the right to
worship and an equal representation in the
management committee.
After independence, in order to take care of
management of Bodh Gaya Temple and its
properties, the Legislature of the State of
Bihar enacted the Bodh Gaya Temple Act
(BGT Act), 1949, which came into force on
July 6, 1949. It was just after the
independence of India and Buddhism was not
having significant presence in India due
historical reasons. The BGT Act was amended
by the Adaptation of Law Order, 1950, dated
February 8, 1955. Since then, this Act has
been governing the cultural, spiritual and
financial affairs of one of the most sacred
shrines of world without passing the
Constitutional scrutiny of secularism, nondiscrimination
and the fundamental right of
freedom of religion.
The most important governing section under
BGT Act is Section 3, which empowers the
State Government to constitute a ninemember
temple management committee,
consisting of a Chairman, and four Buddhists
and four Hindus, including the Mahanth of
Bodh Gaya. It imposes the condition that the
Mahanth must be a Hindu. In the event that
the Mahanth is unable to fulfill his duties,
only another Hindu member can replace him.
The act gives hereditary membership to
Saivite Mahant and his successors in Bodh
Gaya Temple Management Committee. It is
very painful to note that the Mahabodhi
Temple has been under virtual control of
Hindus for centuries now.
In July 2013, the Bihar Government has
amended the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949,
allowing for a non-Hindu to head the temple
committee. As per Section 3 (3) of the Act, the
District Magistrate (DM) is the ex-officio
chairman of the temple committee and has to
be a Hindu. If the DM is a non-Hindu, the Act
requires the government to nominate a Hindu
as Chairman of the committee for the period
during which the DM is a non-Hindu. As per
the Bodh Gaya Temple (Amendment) Bill,
2013, it is provided now that a Non-Hindu
can be a chairman of the committee on
pretext that the DM is a representative of the
government’s secular credentials. Practically,
it is very rare to have Buddhist DM in Bihar
State and therefore Bodh Gaya Temple
(Amendment) Bill, 2013, becomes just a
political gimmick and does not make any
change in the management of the temple. The
Buddhist, over six decades, has been
demanding to amend the Bodh Gaya Temple
Act of 1949, allowing Buddhist to be majority
on the committee so that the management of
the temple can be with the Buddhist in
similar lines with other shrines in the
country which are managed and controlled by
the members of the respective religion. A
petition seeking transfer of exclusive rights to
the Buddhist from the State Government has
been admitted by Supreme Court in 2012,
which is still pending. State Government of
Bihar has always taken a stand that there is
no need to alter it as long as the temple
management is properly handled by the
committee comprising four members each of
Hindu and Buddhist communities.
Of Course the Buddhist from all over the
world knows that the temple is not managed
as it should have been and it is of utmost
importance to have complete control with the
Buddhist so that it can be managed in
● Year – 2 ● Issue – 6 ● May 2015 ● Buddhist Voice ● www.buddhistvoice.com ● Email: indian.buddhistvoice@gmail.com 4