At the same time, the Bodh Gaya site has only been partially handed over to the Buddhists—with Brahmins still playing a key role in the management
Illustration/Devdutt Pattanaik
Across India today, there is a movement to identify Hindu shrines that were broken by Muslims and replaced by mosques and dargahs. This is being done in the name of social justice—historical wrongs are being made right. However, the same enthusiasm is not seen when it comes to the Buddhist and Jain demands for the restoration of sites that have been appropriated by Brahmins.
Take the case of Bodh Gaya in Bihar. Around 500 years ago, when the Babri Masjid was being built, Hindu ascetic groups took over the Bodh Gaya shrine and made it their hermitage. In the 20th century, we see the breaking of the Babri Masjid and the building of the Ram temple. At the same time, the Bodh Gaya site has only been partially handed over to the Buddhists—with Brahmins still playing a key role in the management.
In many parts of Maharashtra, Buddhist caves are referred to as Pandav Leni or Pandav’s caves. There, we find many goddesses who are worshipped locally as Hindu goddesses, but who are in all probability Tantrik Buddhist goddesses like Aparajita, shown in Nalanda as crushing a Ganesha-like elephant-head god. Similarly, there are many Hindu temples where one finds a deity with another deity on top of the head. Many interpret this as the image of Shiva carrying Ganga on his head, when in fact it is probably the image of a yakshi like Ambika carrying a Jain Tirthankara on her head, or the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara carrying the Buddha Amitabha on his head.
Jains have argued that many Hindu deities atop hills are actually Jain shrines, as Jain temples are typically located on hilltops. Hindus insist that Badrinath is a site of Vishnu worship and Girnar a site of Datta worship, while Jains claim that Girnar is sacred to Neminatha and Badrinath to Adinath. Most of the images in Hindu temples are covered with flowers, sandalwood paste, and gold masks, making identification of the original idol very difficult. If one visits the Ambabai Temple in Kolhapur, one finds images of Jain Tirthankaras in the pavilions outside. Though a royal goddess, the goddess is uncharacteristically vegetarian, making many challenge the Brahmin claims to her shrine.
There is another argument that these are local tribal folk deities that predate the arrival of Buddhism and the construction of Buddhist caves. They became guardian goddesses of Buddhist shrines, and after Buddhism lost its prominence, the goddess continued to be worshipped by the local people. Therefore, these tribal goddesses belong to the local communities and have nothing to do with either Buddhism or Jainism.
In all probability, across India there were many folk gods and goddesses who became the yakshas and yakshis of Buddhism and Jainism—guardians of monasteries, viharas, and temples. These very yakshas and yakshis were equated by Brahmins as forms of Shakti and Shree, who marry Shiva and Vishnu.
Jain sites meanwhile ask the secular state to impose a complete ban on non-vegetarian food in their holy cities, in the name of their faith, with no concern for the food habits of tribal communities who have always lived in those hilly forests. To argue that all Indian gods were “originally” vegetarian is the most curious form of religious bigotry, peculiar to India.
The author writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times. Reach him at devdutt.pattanaik@mid-day.com
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