Klik hier om meer te weten over Bodhgaya in het Nederlands

Bodhgaya, being the place where the historical Buddha (6th century BC) attained enlightenment, is one of the four major Buddhist pilgrimage places in the world (the others being Lumbini, the place of the Buddha’s birth, Sarnath, the place where the Buddha held his first public sermon, the celebrated dhammacakkappavattinasuttam, and Kushinagar, the place of the Buddha’s mahaparinibbana).

Today, the area around the main temple (mahabodhi mahamandir) is dotted with monasteries, representing buddhist monastic orders from all over the world. To the tourist, Bodhgaya shines like a fairy-tale world of brilliant colours, breathtaking monuments and friendly smiling people. But to a majority of its population, to live in the surrounding area means nothing short of a nightmare. The caste system, a form of enduring apartheid not equalled by any system in the world, keeps thousands away from any chance for social mobility – and political chaos in Bihar has further enslaved millions of Dalits (Outcastes) and Scheduled Castses Communities over the last few decades.

Few may be the tourists and travellers who look beyond the splendour of the temples and monasteries, but at least some of Bodhgaya’s thousands of visitors do just this. By joining Francis Laleman and the Anand/Jeevan Deep team, you could be among this select few.

Read more

Since 2002, Peter Friedlander (Professor at the Asian Studies Program, La Trobe University, Australia), has been keeping a Bodhgaya News Letter on the web, covering a variety of aspects relating to the development of both the Bodhgaya temple site and its surrounding communities, reserving a special page for the social development organisations which are active in the area.

Also, for those wanting to know more about development issues in Bihar in general, a dedicated web portal has been set up, providing links to a myriad of web sites and web articles on the subject.