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Founded by Anagarika Dhammapala, the Maha Bodhi Society is a South Asian Buddhist society. The organization's initial efforts were to restore various Buddhist shrines that had been neglected under Hindu administration, and to open to the public various Buddhist sites and temples that had been destroyed in various periods of Muslim invasion.
Origins
In 1891 Anagarika Dharmapala was on a pilgramage to The Mahabodhi Temple, the location where Siddhartha Gautama - the Buddha - attained enlightenment.
The Mahabodhi Temple is located in Bodh Gaya, India. The Mahabodhi Temple was almost completely destroyed by the invading muslim forces. General Ikhtiar Uddin Muhammad Bin Bakhtiyar Khilji invaded Magadha and destroyed the great Buddhist shrines at Nalanda. The Buddhism of Magadha suffered a tremendous decline under Khilji.
Anagarika Dharmapala had experienced a shock to find the temple in the hands of a Saivite priest, the Buddha image transformed into a Hindu icon and Buddhists barred from worship as a result of which he began he began an agitation movement.
The Mahabodhi society at Colombo was founded in 1891 but it offices were soon moved to Calcutta the following year in 1892. One of it's primary aims being the restoration of the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, the chief of the four ancient Holy sites to Buddhist control. To accomplish this Dharmapala initiated a lawsuit against the Brahmin priests who had held control of the site for centuries. After a protracted struggle this was successful with the partial restoration of the site to the management of the Maha Bodhi Society in 1949.
Sarnath
Main article: SarnathQutb ud Din Aibak sent his general Muhammad Khilji to Bihar. Buddhism was the main religion in Bihar. Khilji considered Buddhism as idolatory and put many monks to sword. The invasion also resulted in destruction of Buddhist santuaries at Sarnath. Many monuments of ancient India were irretrievably destroyed by the iconoclastic invading forces. In 1931, the Mulaghandakuti Vihara was erected at Sarnath.
Kushinara
Main article: KushinagarThe site of the Buddha's parinibbana (physical death) at Kushinagar has once again become a major attraction for Burmese Buddhists, as it was for many centuries previously. Mahabodhi Movement in 1890s held the Muslim Rule in India responsible for the decay of Buddhism in India. Anagarika Dharmapala did not hesitate to lay the chief blame for the decline of Buddhism in India at the door of Muslim fanaticism.
Maha Bodhi Society branches have been established in several countries, most significantly in India and Sri Lanka. A United States branch was founded by Dr. Paul Carus.
The Maha Bodhi Society has a robust tradition of publications, spanning from Pali translations into modern Indian vernacular languages (such as Hindi) to scholarly texts and new editions of Pali works typeset in Devanagari to appeal to a Hindi-educated Indian audience. They have also published books and pamphlets in local/regional languages and dialects, sometimes in partnership with other presses.
As of 2003, the Maha Bodhi Society of India's general secretary is Dombagoda Rewatha Thero. On September 27, 2004, B. K. Modi was elected president; he was previously vice-president. Modi was, until recently, an office-holder in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
There is also a Maha Bodhi Society of Bangalore, founded by Acharya Buddharakkhita in 1956, which is not a part of or tied to the Maha Bodhi Society of India or Sri Lanka.
References
- The Maha-Bodhi By Maha Bodhi Society, Calcutta (page 205)
- The Maha-Bodhi By Maha Bodhi Society, Calcutta (page 205)
- The Maha-Bodhi By Maha Bodhi Society, Calcutta (page 8)
- The Maha-Bodhi By Maha Bodhi Society, Calcutta (page 205)
- Sean O'Reilly, James O'Reilly, Pilgrimage: Adventures of the Spirit, Travelers' Tales, 2000,ISBN 1885211562 pg 81-82
- ^ Arnold Wright, Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon: its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources, "Angarika Dharmapala", Asian Educational Services, 1999, ISBN 812061335X pg.119
- ^ C. J. Bleeker, G. Widengren, Historia Religionum, Volume 2 Religions of the Present: Handbook for the History of Religions, Brill Academic Publishers, 1971, ISBN 9004025987 pg. 453
- Islam at War: A History By Mark W. Walton, George F. Nafziger, Laurent W. Mbanda (page 226)
- A Close View of Encounter between British Burma and British Bengal
- The Maha-Bodhi By Maha Bodhi Society, Calcutta (page 205)
- The Maha-Bodhi By Maha Bodhi Society, Calcutta (page 58)
- The Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi: And Other Essays, Philosophical and Sociological By Ardeshir Ruttonji Wadia (page 483)