That is a side topic and different from the news issue of the Hunger strike. Hunger strike thread is not about discussing theories or history of how various groups came to believe whatever they believe. Maybe it deserves its own thread but we can subsume other tangential topics in the thread already crated.
Please keep the Hunger strike thread about the news regarding it. If you want to discuss theories about it, open up a new thread.
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тАЬThe Buddhist monks have been on a hunger strike since February 12, and their condition is deteriorating each passing day.тАЭ
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From Bodh Gaya to Mumbai, protests to тАШfreeтАЩ Buddhist temple gather steam
An agitation demanding the end of тАШBrahmin controlтАЩ over the Mahabodhi temple has struck a chord in Maharashtra and other states.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/1jfj6nr/all_buddhist_should_come_together_in_india_to/
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Thank you @LucasOliveira
This article offers a wealth of information and wonderfully tackles many of the points brought up in this thread. ItтАЩs exciting to see the incredible momentum this movement is building across India as a whole, not just within the localised area.
Thank you for sharing this!
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Protests Intensify for Buddhist Control of Mahabodhi Temple In Bodh Gaya
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"Indian Buddhists and Jains call themselves Hindus when it suits them, and vice versa Hindus claim to have become Buddhists "
Any evidence of this ?
Petition filed in Supreme Court seeking liberation of Mahabodhi Mahavihar
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Deja vu. Twelve years on and another Supreme Court petition. Having spent time in Bodh Gaya I wont be surprised if this matter is unresolved and the thread still active in another twelve years at least. Unless thereтАЩs a mass boycott of foreign Buddhist pilgrims to India. Tourist money talks. IтАЩm in.
Hopefully no monks starve in the meantime.
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Peace. An update for anyone still interested:
The original text in Hindi:
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Greetings, All:
My guru-ji sent this.
Please, if someone with better Hindi can translate to give more insight, but the main thrust would appear to be something to the effect of the protest spilling over internationally and now having the attention and support of the international Buddhist community, which has always been the goal. Brahmanist elements in the govтАЩt have no real motivation to acquiesce to a rag-tag band of low-caste monks; however, the pressure of international scrutiny and the risk to the crores of rupees pouring into the coffers in good faith every year from donations from abroad and the secondary and tertiary revenue generated from the constant flow of international pilgrims are different matters altogether.
Jai Bhim!
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DonтАЩt want to sound pessimistic, but Buddhists since the time of Anagarika Dhammapala have been campaigning for the freedom of this Vihara from Brahmanical control. Even when India was politically dominated by the so called liberal/secular political parties, not much happened. Unless International Buddhist organisations explicitly condemn the Brahmanical takeover and desecration of the Vihara and exhort the government to do the right thing, I doubt anything substantial will be done. Now if it were a Hindu temple controlled by Muslims, things would have went differently.
Hypocrisy at its finestтАж
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The governing board itself is split evenly between Hindus (4) and Buddhists (4). But the person overseeing the board is or must be Hindu (?). My questions are:
What are the main issues?
Why the governing board should be entirely Buddhists?
Do you know of any particular reasons why the Indian government ensured that a majority of the governance of Mahabodhi Temple must be Hindu?
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What to expect , it is everywhere in every corner even in buddhist temples , buddhist forums .
In a majority hindu country , nothing unusual if they have the say . Buddhists themselves for over 2 thousand years didnt really bother .
Indian Minister of State Pledges to Lead Rally Calling for Full Buddhist Control of Mahabodhi Temple
Calling for the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya to be placed wholly under Buddhist administration, Indian junior minister Ramdas Athawale on Tuesday pledged to lead a major protest rally in Mumbai in October demanding a revision of the templeтАЩs managing committee, currently shared between Hindu and Buddhist members.
Ramdas Athawale, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment and Republican Party of India chairman.
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Good news.
But, he belongs to Scheduled Caste/Tribe (or Dalit) in India, and his religion is Buddhism.
https://starsunfolded.com/ramdas-athawale/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheduled тАж led_Tribes
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The thing is Buddhists are not supposed to have a caste. I wonder if he still identifies with a caste though. But it might lead to legal issues, if he is legally Buddhist.
Historically, which denomination do the Buddhist members of the governing board belong to? In my initial research, I found that the most prevalent Buddhist denominations in India are those followed by the Ambedkarite Buddhists (which became popular among the Scheduled Castes), Theravada, and Vajrayana. However, I havenтАЩt found reliable sources to support this view.
I think the label тАЬDalitтАЭ or тАЬScheduled CasteтАЭ is imposed on these people, and it is a hereditary status dependent on ancestry, not on religious choice. It seems to me that people from Scheduled Castes (or their descendants) do not stop facing discrimination just because they change their religion. When an Indian Buddhist identifies as тАЬDalitтАЭ or тАЬScheduled Caste,тАЭ it is not meant to endorse the caste system. Rather, itтАЩs an acknowledgment that the label is being imposed upon them, regardless of their religion.
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I agree with this. Forget about changing religion, even if they leave the country, their imposed lables canтАЩt be escaped especially if there are Hindus around. As Dr. Ambedkar said, Hindus take their caste wherever they go.
ItтАЩs now becoming a menace in Anglophone countries that have a growing Hindu population.
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If this is correct, then Hinduism is a caste religion.
This strikes me as harsh speech. There is a large Hindu presence where I live and I canтАЩt imagine saying this to them, as if thereтАЩs a total disregard on their part for human decency. The comment also seems off-topic.