Travelogues  
A Western Pilgrim in India – 5

A large bell cast with Tibetan characters covering its surface hangs at the foot of the steps to the left, and beyond this is a row of three pink concrete shrine rooms which contain statues of the Buddha and his mother Queen Maya. But these are considered Hindu shrines, remnants of the old Saivite compound. As I entered I was greeted by a Brahmin who pointed to the statues, named them and said, "After the Buddha attained enlightenment, the first thing he did was offer flowers to the Devi who had instructed him to sit beneath the tree." At this, he picks up a freshly cut blossom and touches it to his head and places it before the shapely form of the Buddha's mother. Then he pushes the tray of flowers towards me, indicating that I am to do the same. "You may offer flowers to the Buddha and his mother." So I take one and place it before the Buddha. The priest offers me a ceremonial scarf, saying, "Here, offer this kata to Mayadevi." So I did. Then he whispers, "A small donation would be appropriate." I reached in my pocket and was about to drop some rupees in a rusty locked box that was chained to the floor when he came up behind me and said, "NO! Do not put it in there!" Then, hurriedly composing himself and adjusting his robe, he attempted a smile and added, "You can just leave it on the Buddha's lap....." 

I dropped the coins in the box, looked up at the angry priest for a second and left the room. 

Kali yuga... 

The Mahabodhi Stupa from the eastern side. 
The pink buildings at the foot of the stupa are Hindu shrines.

When the degenerate age of this aeon arrives, 
people are their own deceivers, their own bad counsel, 
the makers of their own stupidity, lying to and fooling themselves. 
How sad that these people have human forms but possess no more sense than an ox!
-Padmasambhava

I do another few circles around the stupa as someone recites prayers over a PA system. A group of monks from southern India is wrapping a monk's robe around the trunk of the Bo Tree, while others are busy sweeping. A young Tibetan has set up on the north side of the stupa with a cloth and stick contraption before him to catch the bejewelled rice from his mandala practice. He seems to be enjoying himself. A few monks and a westerner are going at it on the prostration boards. I pass the little stupa where you burn a little snippet of your hair and sit down on a concrete slab which seems to host an image of Ganesh and figures from the Ramayana in dark stone. I am soon joined by a young man in a denim jacket named Amir. He speaks good English and is very polite and friendly. Originally from Lucknow, Amir is a school teacher who lives in Calcutta and is here in Bodhgaya on pilgrimage. As he goes on, I realize that I am talking to a very intelligent, radical Muslim. He began to educate me about the caste system, Brahmanism, Indira Gandhi and the action against the Sikh radicals in the Golden Temple, all the way back to the days of Gandhi, Nehru and Jinna. I listened to him for about an hour and enjoyed his company. As he spoke, I began to feel that in many ways, we were both outsiders. The Hindus are a very old tribe. I laughed when he warned me about the Brahmin priest on the east side of the compound and told him we'd already met. As we parted, he gave me his address and urged me to study the writings of Ambedkar. I immediately head over to the Mahabodhi bookstore and ask a rather large monk if he has anything by Ambedkar. He smiles and points me to a small publication entitled "The Annihilation of Caste". I buy it and walk over to The Green Onion, looking through it while waiting to be served a bowl of tuk-pa. 

Ambedkar was born among "untouchables" in 1891. After attending Columbia University in New York through the patronage of a maharaj, he practiced law in Bombay where he became active in nationalist politics as a champion of the Harijans and was elected to public office. After independence from Britain, he became Minister of Law in India's first post - independence government. Ambedkar drafted the national constitution, adopted in 1949, which provided the legal framework for the abolition of many oppressive features of Indian society and gained rights for India's 60,000,000 untouchables. He resigned from the government over differences with Nehru in 1951. In October 1956, Ambedkar converted to Buddhism and led 400,000 Untouchables to do the same. More mass conversions happened in the subsequent months. 

"On the other hand we can say that generally speaking History bears out the proposition that political revolutions have always been preceded by social and religious revolutions. The religious Reformation started by Luther was the precursor of the political emancipation of the European people. In England Puritanism led to the establishment of political liberty. Puritanism founded the new world. It was Puritanism which won the war of American Independence and Puritanism was a religious movement. The same is true of the Muslim Empire. Before the Arabs became a political power they had undergone a thorough religious revolution started by the Prophet Mohammad. Even Indian History supports the same conclusion. The political revolution led by Chandragupta was preceded by the religious and social revolution of Buddha. The political revolution led by Shivaji was preceded by the religious and social revolution led by Guru Nanak. It is unnecessary to add more illustrations. These will suffice to show that the emancipation of the mind and the soul is a necessary preliminary for the political expansion of the people." 
-Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

After a quick dinner, I bought a few dzi beads, traded my mini-calculator for some of the best Tibetan incense ever, and bought a few postcards before heading back toward the center of the universe. 

– Shiloh
February 2000

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About the Author:
Originally from New York, Shiloh is 44, and father of six. He has worked as a farmer, carpenter, mason, and chimney sweep as well as implementing agricultural and nutritional development programs among the rural poor in both Guatemala and Jamaica. Since 1989, he has been a student of the Tibetan Rinpoche Khenpo Palden Sherab. Currently, Shiloh lives and teaches in a small Vajrayana community in the hills of Tennessee.

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