Sunday, January 10, 2010

Indian Buddhists Protest Hindu Control Over Temple

In India, a group of Buddhists have gone on a hunger strike to protest the governance arrangements of the Mahabodhi Temple, in the holy city of Gaya in the province of Bihar. Pakistan's Daily Times yesterday reported that the strikers, in a makeshift tent just outside the office of the Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee object to a law enacted 60 years ago that sets up an 8-member committee to run the Temple. The committee has 4 Buddhist and 4 Hindu members, and the chairman must be the local district magistrate who must be Hindu. Buddhists argue that this gives Hindus control over a Buddhist holy site.