DALITS / BCS / MUSLIMS MARCH TO GAYA ON OCT.22
We congratulate the Bhante Nagarjun Surai Susai and his Budhists followers for starting a yatra from Bombay on Sept. 27 to take over the Bodh Gaya temple from the control of the Brahmin priests who had forcibly and illegally usurped this historic place as early as the 16th century.
We also congratulate Lalloo Prasad Yadav, the popular Chief Minister of Bihar, for helping the Buddhists to oust the tress passers by amending the law and setting up an all-Buddhist managing committee – an action which no govt. in Bihar had the courage to do or the will to do.
We want Lalloo himself to lead this yatra in Bihar because that one single act he will be not only waging a dharm yudha (war against injustice) but more than that he will be uniting the two powerful original inhabitants, namely Scheduled Castes (20%) and the Backward Castes (35%) who because of the machinations of the brahminical social order (BSO) are not only kept divided but also engaged in an unending warfare. This has been BSO’s main preoccupation ever since the Aryan invasion and the Dravidian downfall.
Forcible occupation: Bhante Arya Nagarjun Surai Sasai has said that the Brahmin priests managing the Mahabodhi Vihar in Bodh Gaya were destroying the original art and concepts of Buddhism with the help of strong political support from their jatwals. We are separately publishing the Bhante’s communication on this illegal encroachment.
Buddhists hurt: Bhante Surai Sasai, who arrived at Aurangabad on Oct.1 along with his fellow monks on a 4,500 – km Godh Gaya mukti jyoti yatra en route to Gaya, said that the mahants of Bodh Gaya continued to “desecrate” the image of Lord Buddha by dressing the Lord in a red cloth or other fancy garments and dotting his bow with lime or clay which hurt the sentiments of Buddhists around the world.
All these practices undertaken by the existing management were against the Buddhist culture and Dhamma.
Premadasa concern: The Bhante, the Japanese monk said he had already made several representations to the President, Prime Minister, Bihar Chief Minister and others urging them to look into the matter.
Buddhists throughout the world including the Lankan President, Premadasa, who just visited Bodh Gaya, were waiting for the Indian govt. decision in the matter. They felt that the holy place should be given an independent law of administration just as that of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee.
The Bhante had discussions with Lalloo Prasad Yadav who had assured him that a Bill would soon be introduced in the Assembly to see how the management could be handed back to Buddhist monks. Even the funds of the Bodhi Gaya temple were being used by the mahants.
Human chain: The 4,500 – km yatra started from the Chaitya choomi at Dadar in Bombay on Sept. 27 has already travelled through Pune, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Buldhana, Akola, Amravati and then pass through some of the cities of MP and UP. The yatra would then move from Delhi and reach Bodh Gaya on Oct. 22 and a human chain would be formed around the Mahavihar Bodh temple despite the presence of armed forces. Over 1,000 Buddhist monks from the country and abroad would participate in the demonstration.
Temple destroyed: The amount of destruction brought about by the Brahmin priests can be imagined from the fact that the original pipal tree under which Lord Buddha attained enlightenment was cut down by these nazi fanatics. The problem is a legacy of the period in the 16th centaur when a Brahmin priest took control of the Bodh Gaya temple and his successors defied all subsequent attempts to hand over the shrine to Buddhists as demanded by countries like Burma, Sri Lanka and Japan. In view of the authority exercised by the Mahant, the observance of Hindu rituals has become commonplace, much to the annoyance of the Buddhists. A shiva lingam had also mysteriously appeared in the temple, much as the idol of Ram appeared in the Babri Masjid in 1949.
Lalloo’s support: In that same year, the control of the Hindus over the Mahabodhi temple was marginally reduced by a Bihar govt. legislation under which four Hindus and four Buddhists became members of the temple management committee, but since the local district magistrate, who is usually a Hindu, was made exofficio chairman, the Hindus automatically enjoyed a majority. It is the Lalloo Prasad Yadav govt’s eminently sensible move to amend the law and set up an all- Buddhist committee which has again brought the matter to the forefront. It is not impossible that the delay in enacting the legislation has persuaded the Buddhists to take to the streets over their century-old demand first voiced in 1891 by Angarika Dharmapal, a Sri Lankan monk.
Not only the BSO has annexed the historic Bodh Gaya Temple but almost all the country’s ancient rock temples, now under the possession of the Brahmin priests, were once Buddhist temples. Aryans never had the habit of building rock temples which was a pure Buddhist innovation.
Adi – Shankara’s work: It was the Adi – Shankara, the dwarf Namboodiri from the southern Kerala, who launched a massive campaign to destroy Buddhism by first destroying Buddhist temples, Buddhist libraries and also literal killing of Buddhism (Violence in Hinduism: Prof. K.S. Bhagvan, DSA ). Archeologists and historians have since proved that Puri Jagannath temple, Tirupati, Sabarimalai and many other rock temples were Buddhists (K.K. Chaware: “How Buddhism disappeared from Maharashtra” and V. Prabhakaran’s “Kerala’s Buddhist past”. DV, April 1, 1992, p.7).
Babri Masjid: Lalloo should, therefore, lead the yatra inside Bihar to liberate Bodh Gaya from the BSO custody. The very shock of losing Bodh Gaya will unnerve the cowardly Hindu nazis and force them to run away from the Babri Masjid. The “national” toilet papers may black-out the yatra. Doesn’t matter. Once the SCs/BCs and Muslims come to know the Truth through Lalloo’s brave action to establish Truth, the Truth itself will liberate them and millions will follow him. There will be a bloodless revolution.
Aryan garbages: If the Hindu nazis can launch a violent yatra to legalise their illegally annexed Babri Masjid, why not we lead a non-violent yatra to recover our own historically-proved ownership of our Buddhist temple? When Lalloo begins such a yatra, Muslims in millions will also support him. And this yatra itself will prove a historic broomstick to sweep the Aryan garbage.
Such a gesture will also rekindle the half-finished job of Babasaheb of taking the Dalits back to their original religion and will bring millions of BCs also into the Buddhist fold and the BSO will get a shock of its life.
Hopes in Bihar: We have the highest hopes in Bihar. Of all the cowbelt States, we feel Bihar has the greatest revolutionary potentials. Bihar was the theatre of the Buddha and also Mahavira. Biharies are perhaps India’s most revolutionary people. Will Lalloo complete the task started by Buddha, and half-finished by Babasaheb?
