When
Prince Gautama Siddhartha, achieved his divine attainment or raised
his status from a Bodhisattva to a Buddha, the ordinary Peepal (Ficus
religiosa ) tree, under which he sat for those four weeks, also
changed its status and became a Bodhi or the tree of supreme
knowledge. It is therefore no wonder that in the Buddhist world, this
Bodhi tree is considered as one of the most revered symbol of high
religious importance. The original Bodhi tree was destroyed during
course of time. The place, where this Peepal or Bodhi tree stood
once, was known by the names such as Uruvela, Sambodhi, Vajrasana or
Mahabodhi. The present name for this place, Bodh-Gaya, did not come
into use until the 18th century CE. The Buddhist Vihara here at this
place was known historically as Bodhimanda-vihāra. Now it is called
the Mahabodhi Temple. Bodhi-Gaya is located about 110 Km from Patna,
capital of Bihar state of India.
It is
believed that 250 years after the Enlightenment of the Buddha,
Emperor Asoka of India had visited Bodh Gaya. He is believed to be
the founder of the original Mahabodhi temple. Emperor Asoka had asked
his son Mahindra, who had become a monk, to visit Sri Lanka along
with his sister Sanghamitra on a proselytizing mission to promote the
Buddhist religion. Mahindra and Sanghamitra had carried over to Sri
Lanka, a sapling of the original Bodhi tree, under which Prince
Gautama Siddharth had achieved divine attainment. When the original
Bodhi tree in India was destroyed, a sapling of the Bodhi tree in Sri
Lanka was brought back to India and planted at Bodh Gaya. A fifth
generation tree of this very tree, is what visitors see here today.
I have
tried to narrate this slice of ancient history just to highlight the
importance and great reverence, the Mahabodhi temple has in the minds
of Buddhists and the Buddhist world. For most of them, Mahabodhi
temple symbolizes the Buddha himself. The original Mahabodhi temple
built by Emperor Ashoka, no longer stands now, but was rebuilt by
another ruler in 5th century CE. This new temple is an
exquisite 50-meter (160-foot) high structure and is considered bt
many as an architectural marvel built of bricks. UNESCO has declared
it as a world heritage site not only because of temple's religious
and historical significance but because of it's profound influence on
architecture in India. Temple's sculpted stone balustrades are
considered as outstanding early examples of sculptural reliefs in
stone.
The
Bodhi tree inside the temple complex, standing in place of the
original tree, which actually is a fifth-generation peepul tree as
mentioned above, stands about 24 meters high and is known to be 115
years old. Hundreds of thousands of Buddhist pilgrims visit Mahabodhi
temple. They come from Japan, China, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, and several other countries. The recent visitors include
many VIP's such as the Dalai Lama of Tibet; the former military
dictator of Myanmar, General Than Shwe; and President Mahinda
Rajapaksha of Sri Lanka.
Realizing
the significance of the temple to Buddhist world, an attempt was made
by some, so far unknown, terrorists, to plant several explosive
devices in the temple campus on 7/7/2013. Nine low intensity bombs
went off within a span of fifteen minutes, on early Sunday morning,
inside the Mahabodhi temple complex. Four explosions occurred inside
the temple complex, three others happened in a nearby monastery and
an eighth exploded near a statue of Buddha. Two other bombs were
defused.
Fortunately,
there were no fatalities and the blasts only caused some injuries to
a couple of monks; one from Nepal and another from Myanmar, though
there were about 200 people present in the temple premises, when the
blasts took place. According to a person present, the temple was
engulfed in black smoke. And there was a great panic near the temple
for the first time ever.
The
reasons for the panic are easy to understand. Mahabodhi temple
epitomizes everything that Buddhism stands for. Traditionally there
never was any elaborate security cover for the temple with temple
gate just manned by mere two armed security personnel. Some private
guards have been employed by the temple management to handle the
light security requirements inside the temple. There are few metal
detectors and close circuit cameras installed near the gate too. All
the CCTV cameras in the Mahabodhi temple premises, have been fully
functional.
Though
no terrorist organization has made a claim, the needle of suspicion
is towards an Islamic militant group, Indian Mujahideen because
about 9 months ago, The Delhi Police Special Cell had, on the basis
of revelations made by alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorist Sayed
Maqbool, shared the inputs with Government of Bihar state, where
this temple is located, that this banned outfit planned to target
the Buddhist shrines in Bodh Gaya. However, this warning had gone in
vain as Bihar police did not take up any concrete action plan for
safeguarding the temple.
But
why select MahaBodhi temple? This was the question that quizzed many
people, as really speaking, Mahabodhi temple epitomizes teachings of
peace and tranquility. An Indian newspaper 'The Hindu' reports that
“There have been intelligence inputs that [some Islamist groups]
were planning to target Buddhists and their religious sites with
foreigners in mind, as a retaliation for atrocities being committed
upon Muslims in Myanmar. This follows the ongoing sectarian violence
between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar.” Terrorists had
planned these attacks as a revenge for atrocities being committed
upon Muslims in Myanmar.
What
this means is that echoes of the sectarian violence between Buddhists
and Muslims in Myanmar have now reached the shores of India. All of
the Buddhist revered sites in India now come under this shadow and it
would be necessary for the Government to provide same level of
security at these places too, as is being done at some of the
important Hindu temples like Somanath or Dwarka. What an irony of
fate it is, that the places that epitomize the Buddha himself, have
to be now protected with armed guards, metal detectors and closed
circuit televisions.
09/07/2013
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