Bodh Gaya

Bodh Gaya is not merely a heritage site but also a vibrant city with differential interpretations and histories when it comes to the major religious communities to whom it is culturally important, which range from Buddhists, to Hindus, to Jains. For Heritage as Placemaking, Sasanka Perera and Pooja Kalita will be conducting research at this site in the context of Buddhist pilgrim travel.

Since the rediscovery of Bodh Gaya in the 19th century as the place where the Buddha is believed to have achieved his Enlightenment, Buddhists consider it the ‘Buddhist Jerusalem’, the central point in a global Buddhist pilgrim trail. However, it is not simply a place of faith where Buddhism transcends all ethnocultural differences. Sasanka Perera’s work involves seeing how ‘differences’ remain and are entrenched in Bodh Gaya despite the unity of faith (Buddhism). It also investigates the ways in which travel itself and ‘national’ interests of Buddhist pilgrims and cultural-specific ritual practices impact the process of placemaking, and how matters of ‘nation’ and ‘ethnicity’ comes to define what the place is.

Pooja Kalita works within Bodh Gaya as part of her broader research on placemaking, which take into consideration the intersections of gender, religion, and citizenship in relation to pilgrim travels. Gender particularly forms a crucial lens to look at the intersection of national identities, religious differences, caste markers, class, and racial indicators. An additional concern is how religions such as Buddhism, which is perceived as a close ally of Hinduism, but which also has a rather turbulent history with Brahminical Hinduism, manifests as an important element of ‘Indian’ heritage through such sites.