Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on a Contested Buddhist Site: Bodh Gaya Jataka

225 Pages·2012·4.65 MB·English

by  David Geary, Matthew R. Sayers, Abhishek Singh Amar

Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on
a Contested Buddhist Site
Bodh Gaya, in the north Indian state of Bihar, has long been recognized as the
place where the Buddha achieved enlightenment. This book brings together the
recent work of twelve scholars from a variety of disciplines—anthropology, art
history, history, and religion—to highlight their various findings and perspectives
on different facets of Bodh Gaya’s past and present.
Through an engaging and critical overview of the place of Buddha’s enlighten-
ment, the book discusses the dynamic and contested nature of this site, and looks at
the tensions with the ongoing efforts to define the place according to particular histo-
ries or identities. It addresses many aspects of Bodh Gaya, from speculation about
why the Buddha chose to sit beneath a tree in Bodh Gaya, to the contemporary strug-
gles over tourism development, education and non-government organizations, to
bring to the foreground the site’s longevity, reinvention and current complexity as a
UNESCO World Heritage monument. The book is a useful contribution for students
and scholars of Buddhism and South Asian Studies.
David Geary is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Oxford.
His research interests include religion, diaspora and transnationalism, inter-
national development and the politics of World Heritage in South Asia.
Matthew R. Sayers teaches religion at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania,
USA. His research focuses on the rituals of ancestor worship in the transition
from Vedic to Classical expressions of Indian religiosity, focusing particularly on
the ritual of śrāddha.
Abhishek Singh Amar works in the Department of Religious Studies at
Hamilton College, USA. His research interests include archaeological history of
Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions in pre-modern India.
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Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on a Contested Buddhist Site
Bodh Gaya Jataka
Edited by David Geary, Matthew R. Sayers, and Abhishek Singh Amar
Cross-disciplinary Perspectives
on a Contested Buddhist Site
Bodh Gaya Jataka
Edited by David Geary, Matthew R.
Sayers, and Abhishek Singh Amar
First published 2012
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2012 David Geary, Matthew R. Sayers and Abhishek Singh Amar
The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Cross-disciplinary perspectives on a contested Buddhist site :
Bodhgaya jataka / [edited by] David Geary, Matthew R. Sayers,
Abhishek Singh Amar.
p. cm. – (Routledge South Asian religion series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Sacred space–Social aspects–India–Buddh Gaya. 2. Buddha Gaya
Temple. I. Geary, David, 1976– II. Sayers, Matthew R. III. Amar,
Abhishek Singh.
DS486.B9C76 2012
954'.123–dc23
2011044410
ISBN: 978-0-415-68452-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-12035-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton
Contents
List of illustrations vii
Contributors viii
Acknowledgments xi
List of abbreviations xii
Introduction
The multiple lives of Bodh Gaya: defining views and
changing perspectives 1
DAVID GEARY, MATTHEW R. SAYERS, AND ABHISHEK SINGH AMAR
PART I
Empowering the landscape of the Buddha 11
1 Gaya–Bodh Gaya: the origins of a pilgrimage complex 13
MATTHEW R. SAYERS
2 Sacred Bodh Gaya: the Buddhakṣetra of Gotama Buddha 29
ABHISHEK SINGH AMAR
3 The changing landscape at Bodh Gaya 43
JANICE LEOSHKO
4 Bodh Gaya and the issue of originality in art 61
FREDERICK M. ASHER
PART II
Monumental conjectures: rebirths and retellings 77
5 Established usage and absolute freedom of religion at
Bodh Gaya: 1861–1915 79
ALAN TREVITHICK
vi Contents
6 Queen Victoria beneath the Bodhi Tree: Anagarika
Dharmapala as anti-imperialist and Victorian 94
NOEL SALMOND
7 Bodh Gaya in the 1950s: Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahant Giri,
and Anagarika Munindra 110
C. ROBERT PRYOR
8 “Why cause unnecessary confusion?”: re-inscribing the
Mahabodhi Temple’s holy places 119
TARA N. DOYLE
PART III
Universal dreams and local departures 139
9 World Heritage in the shadow of zamindari 141
DAVID GEARY
10 Maitreya, or the love of Buddhism: the non-event of
Bodh Gaya’s giant statue 153
JESSICA MARIE FALCONE
11 Universal education and social transformation in
Bodh Gaya 172
KORY GOLDBERG
12 NGOs, corruption, and reciprocity in the land of
Buddha’s enlightenment 189
JASON RODRIGUEZ
Index 202
Illustrations
Figures
2.1 Sacred sites in and around Bodh Gaya 31
3.1 View of Dalai Lama at Bodh Gaya, 1980 44
3.2 View of the Vajrāsana next to Mahabodhi Temple and
Bodhi Tree, Bodh Gaya, 2005 45
3.3 View of Yunshu’s stele, originally erected at Bodh Gaya, dated
1021 ce 51
3.4 Detail of Yunshu’s stele, showing three figures at the top 52
3.5 Sculpture of Mārîcî, c. ninth century 53
3.6 Seated Buddha flanked by Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya, from
Bodh Gaya, c. ninth century 55
3.7 Relief depicting Sūrya on railing pillar, Bodh Gaya, c.50 bce 57
4.1 Mahabodhi Temple from east 62
4.2 Buddha image in sanctum of Mahabodhi Temple 64
4.3 Model of the Mahabodhi Temple. Indian, Pāla period,
tenth–eleventh century 65
4.4 Stone replica of the Mahabodhi Temple 66
4.5 Stone replica of the Mahabodhi Temple 67
4.6 Terracotta plaque depicting Buddha image in the Mahabodhi
Temple 69
4.7 Terracotta plaque depicting Buddha image in the Mahabodhi
Temple 70
4.8 Terracotta plaque depicting Buddha image in the Mahabodhi
Temple 71
4.9 Mahabodhi Temple, Bagan. Originally constructed 1215,
reconstructed after 1975 earthquake 73
4.10 Wat Ched Yot, Chiang Mai, Thailand, constructed 1477 74
8.1 Ajapala Tree and Pillar 120
8.2 Muchalinda statue 130
Table
1.1 Reference to different types of śrāddha in the Gṛhyasūtras 15
Contributors
Abhishek Singh Amar is currently working as a Visiting Assistant Professor at
the Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, where he teaches South Asian Religions.
His current research focuses on the history of interactions between Buddhism
and Hinduism in Early Medieval India. His doctoral dissertation, entitled
“Contextualising the Navel of the Earth: Emergence, Sustenance and Religious
transformation of Buddhism in the Bodh Gaya region (circa 300 bce–1200
ce),” explores the history of Buddhism in the South Bihar region and how
Buddhism sustained itself at Bodh Gaya from its emergence as a monastic site
in the third century bce to the twelfth century ce.
Frederick Asher is a specialist in South Asian art. His current research considers
the architecture of contested religious space and the issue of copying/
originality in Indian art. Recent scholarship has focused on contested religious
space, issues related to art as commodity, particularly looking at patterns of
trade as they relate to works of art in India, and the site of Bodh Gaya. He also
has examined present-day artists working in traditional modes both because
they are interesting in themselves and because they offer models for pre-
modern modes of artistic production; they further offer the opportunity to
think about the role of the artist in art history that has focused primarily on
the product. He has just completed a term as Editor-in-Chief of caa.reviews,
the electronic journal of the College Art Association, and a term as Chair
of the Board of Trustees of the American Institute of Indian Studies. He is
currently President of the National Committee for the History of Art, and
South Asia editor for Archives of Asian Art.
Tara N. Doyle is a senior lecturer in the Religion Department at Emory
University, Atlanta, where she teaches classes on contemporary Hinduism and
Buddhism and serves as director of Emory’s Tibetan Studies Program in
Dharamsala, India. Her research interests and articles focus on contested
South Asian religious sites (especially Bodh Gaya), ex-untouchable Buddhist
converts, Tibetan activism in exile, and Socially Engaged Buddhism. Before
coming to Emory, Doyle was the founding co-director of the Antioch Buddhist
Studies Program in Bodh Gaya.
Contributors ix
Jessica Marie Falcone received her PhD in Anthropology from Cornell
University in 2010. Later that year, Dr. Falcone joined the faculty of Kansas
State University as an Assistant Professor of Anthropology. She is currently
revising her dissertation, “Waiting for Maitreya: Of Gifting Statues, Hopeful
Presents, and the Future Tense in FPMT’s Transnational Tibetan Buddhism,”
for publication. She serves on the board of the American Anthropological
Association’s Society for Humanistic Anthropology.
David Geary received his PhD in Anthropology from the University of British
Columbia in 2009. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the
University of Oxford on a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). At the Institute for Social and Cultural
Anthropology his research focuses on religion, diaspora and transnationalism,
international development and the politics of World Heritage in South Asia.
This program involves a comparative study of other monumental Buddhist
sites such as Lumbini and the revival of Nalanda University. He is also
completing a book manuscript based on his doctoral research entitled
“Destination Enlightenment: From the Hermitage of Shakyamuni Buddha to
World Heritage.”
Kory Goldberg recently completed his doctorate in religious studies at the
Université du Québec à Montréal. He currently teaches courses on education,
religion, ethics, and the environment in the Humanities department at
Champlain College in St-Lambert, QC. He has published articles on Buddhist
pilgrimage in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. He co-authored
with his wife, Michelle Décary, Along the Path: The Meditator’s Companion
to the Buddha’s Land (Onalaska, WA: Pariyatti Press 2009).
Janice Leoshko is an Associate Professor in the departments of Asian Studies
and Art History at the University of Texas at Austin. Before joining UT she
was the associate curator in the department of Indian art at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art. Issues in Buddhist and Jain art form the major focus
of her research, and publications include Sacred Traces: British Explorations
of Buddhism in the Nineteenth Century. Leoshko also serves as the American
Chair for the Center of Art and Archaeology in Gurgaon, India which is part of
the American Institute of Indian Studies.
C. Robert Pryor is Professor of Buddhist Studies at Antioch University and
Director of the Buddhist Studies in India Program with Antioch Education
Abroad. He designed this program held each fall in Bodh Gaya, and since
1979 has been program director. In 1987 he founded Insight Travel, offering
pilgrimages to Buddhist and Hindu sites in northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and
Tibet. He served as consultant for the BBC documentary, In the Footsteps of
the Buddha, and collaborated on the book Living This Life Fully: Stories and
Teachings of Munindra. His interests include: South Asian cultures, pilgrimage,
the history of Indian Buddhism, meditation and Buddhism in the West.