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Buddhism and the Global Bazaar in Bodh Gaya, Bihar

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Buddhism and the Global Bazaar in Bodh Gaya, Bihar DESTINATION ENLIGHTENMENT: BUDDHISM AND THE GLOBAL BAZAAR IN BODH GAYA, BIHAR by David Geary B.A., Simon Fraser University, 1999 M.A., Carleton University, 2003 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Anthropology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2009 © David Geary, 2009 ABSTRACT This dissertation is a historical ethnography that examines the social transformation of Bodh Gaya into a World Heritage site. On June 26, 2002, the Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya was formally inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As a place of cultural heritage and a monument of “outstanding universal value” this inclusion has reinforced the ancient significance of Bodh Gaya as the place of Buddha's enlightenment. In this dissertation, I take this recent event as a framing device for my historical and ethnographic analysis that details the varying ways in which Bodh Gaya is constructed out of a particular set of social relations. How do different groups attach meaning to Bodh Gaya's space and negotiate the multiple claims and memories embedded in place? How is Bodh Gaya socially constructed as a global site of memory and how do contests over its spatiality im- plicate divergent histories, narratives and events? In order to delineate the various historical and spatial meanings that place holds for different groups I examine a set of interrelated transnational processes that are the focus of this dissertation: 1) the emergence of Buddhist monasteries, temples and/or guest houses tied to international pilgrimage; 2) the role of tourism and pilgrimage as a source of economic livelihood for local residents; and 3) the role of state tourism development and urban planning. Based on my analysis of these social constituencies I argue that World Heritage sites, like the Mahabodhi Temple Complex, are important global spaces of convergence where history, memory, narratives and groups are entangled through UNESCO's universal claims. It is for these reasons that it is important to look beyond the universal abstraction and examine the ways in which spaces of global memory are laden with social and cultural meaning that is activated, reproduced and contested through a range of social practices. In this way, World Heritage is not only about the production of authoritative pasts but it is also about creating new meanings and forging new global public spheres across cultural, national and religious difference. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract....................................................................................................................................................ii Table of Contests....................................................................................................................................iii List of Figures .........................................................................................................................................v List of Abbreviations............................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgments................................................................................................................................viii Dedication...............................................................................................................................................ix 1 Introduction: From Hermitage to World Heritage: Buddhism and the Global Bazaar...............................1 1.1 Locating World Heritage and Global Spaces of Universal Value.....................................3 1.1.1 Bodh Gaya as a Multilocal Place...........................................................................6 1.1.2 Bodh Gaya as a Site of Memory............................................................................8 1.1.3 Bodh Gaya as a Site of Global Connection.........................................................10 1.2 Ethnographic Setting: Bodh Gaya's Annual Cycle..........................................................13 1.3 Fieldwork Background and Methodology.......................................................................19 1.4 Overview of Chapters......................................................................................................22 2 Chapter Two: The Light of Asia: A Contested Site of Religious Faith.........................................................25 2.1 Recovering the Past: Convergences among the British Raj, Burmese Missions and the Giri Sect................................................................................27 2.2 Reclaiming the Past: Sir Edwin Arnold, Dharmapala and the Mahabodhi Society........34 2.3 Recasting the Past: Indian National Congress, Jawaharlal Nehru and the Bodh Gaya Temple Act......................................................................................47 2.4 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................55 3 Chapter Three: The Navel of the Earth: Buddhist Pilgrimage and Transnational Religious Networks...................................................................................................................56 3.1 Buddhism and the Nation-State: Pilgrimage and the Return of the Religious Diaspora....................................................................................57 3.1.1 Thailand and Southeast Asian Buddhism............................................................61 3.1.2 Burmese, Vipassana and Western Meditation Instructors...................................62 3.1.3 Mahabodhi Society of India.................................................................................67 3.1.4 Tibetan Refugees and Himalayan Buddhists.......................................................71 3.1.5 Japanese Buddhism..............................................................................................78 3.1.6 East Asian Mahayana Buddhism.........................................................................81 3.1.7 Indian Buddhism..................................................................................................84 3.2 Buddhism and Jungle Raj: Where the Middle way meets the Crooked path..................85 3.2.1 Dacoity and the making of Spiritual Gated Communities...................................87 3.2.2 Commercial and Religious Entanglements..........................................................91 3.2.3 Acquiring Land the Crooked Way.......................................................................96 3.3 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................98 iii 4 Chapter Four: Servitude Revisited: Tourism and the Public Life of the Global Bazaar...........................100 4.1 Bonded Histories and Labor Servitude..........................................................................101 4.1.1 The Bodh Gaya Math and the Consolidation of Power.....................................101 4.1.2 Agrarian Reform and Land Gift Movements.....................................................106 4.1.3 The Bodh Gaya Land Struggle..........................................................................108 4.2 “God is Guest”: Tourism in the Global Bazaar.............................................................116 4.2.1 Bodh Gaya's Global Bazaar...............................................................................117 4.2.2 Tibetan Merchants and the Restaurants.............................................................121 4.2.3 Hoteliers and Japanese Brides...........................................................................130 4.2.4 Touts, 'Friendly Guides' and the Informal Economy of Tourism......................138 4.3 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................145 5 Chapter Five: Genealogies of a Master Plan: Branding Buddhism and Tourism Development in Bihar......................................................................................148 5.1 A Landscape Suitable for Striving: The Master Plan and its Displacements................149 5.1.1 2500th Buddha Jayanti........................................................................................149 5.1.2 Draft Master Plan of 1966.................................................................................150 5.1.3 The Revised Master Plan and Relocation of Taradih Village...........................159 5.2 Branding Bihar: Tourism Development and the Buddhist Circuit................................165 5.2.1 National Park Services and the SPA Tourism Development Plan....................167 5.2.2 OECF and the Japanese Market Survey............................................................171 5.2.3 Destination Enlightenment: Buddhism in a Neoliberal era...............................174 5.3 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................181 6 Chapter Six: Managing Universal Value: The Conditioned Genesis of a World Heritage Site.............183 6.1 “Capturing the Centre”: A Contested Site of Religious Memory Revisited.................184 6.1.1 Ambedkar Buddhists.........................................................................................186 6.1.2 Mahabodhi Society of India...............................................................................191
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