BODH GAYA : THE MAHAKUMBHA OF THE TIBETAN BUDDHISTS CONCLUDES AMONGST CONTROVERSIES.

Report and Photographs : Bhaskar Mukherjee

More than two thousand five hundred years ago Siddhartha attained enlightened at Bodh Gaya on the banks of the Phalgu river and became known as the Buddha Gautama. Now that sacred land, has been ravaged by those who call themselves the followers of the Buddha -- it has now turned into the land of hypocrites and Dob - Dobs or the 'Tibetan monk mafiosi'.

Tibetan Lamas and their followers began to arrive at Bodh Gaya in large numbers last December. They were followed by tens of thousands of Tibetan devotees. Thousands of foreigners also gathered there either to visit or to study, contemplate and meditate upon the Buddha's Teachings. Many also had other aims to fulfill. Amongst the spiritual leaders of the Tibetan Vajrayana order was Ugen Trinlay Dorje alias Apo Gaga, the claimant to the throne of the 17th Karmapa. He reached Bodh Gaya amidst tight security from Sarnath, Varanasi .

Ugen Trinlay Dorje, the claimant to the throne of the 17th Karmapa, had reached McLeod Ganj in Himachal Pradesh on January 5th 2000 having claimed to have fled from his monastery in China , reaching India as the climax of a journey shrouded in mystery. His version of this journey from Tsurphu monastery in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, China through Nepal within ten days having supposedly trekked across the hazardous and frozen terrain in the dead of winter, negotiating frozen passes at high altitudes, successfully eluding the ever watchful eyes of the Chinese Govt -- a feat the most intrepid could be proud of.

On August 2nd, 1994 the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs with Warning Circular No 28/94 ordered that Tai Situ Rinpoche alias Tai Situ, the mentor of Ugen Trinlay Dorje, should not be granted a visa for entry into India due to his anti-Indian and pro-Chinese activities. K. Shreedhar Rao, the then Chief Secretary of Sikkim, had also sent a report to the Cabinet Secretary, Govt. of India, T. S. R. Subramaniam on 25.5.1997 against Tai Situ the person who had first proposed the name of Ugen Trinlay Dorje as the 17th Karmapa. In the Chief Secretary's report it was also mentioned that in future Tai Situ Rinpoche would bring Ugen Trinlay Dorje, the claimant to the throne of the 17th Karmapa, to be formally installed in Rumtek Monastery of Sikkim . This is the headquarters of the 16th Karmapa who had fled Tsurphu Monastery in Tibet in 1958 and been settled in Rumtek in Sikkim . His assessment proved to be correct! That Tai Situ the mentor of Ugen Trinlay Dorje has been conspiring against India with the help of the Chinese is also an indisputable fact.

In spite of the Chief Secretary of Sikkim, K. Shreedhar Rao's report on Tai Situ's anti-Indian activities and CBI enquiry No. PE-3 (5) 94-DLI regarding the fraudulent purchase of hundreds of acres of land in Haryana for the establishment of an Indo-Chinese Friendship Centre and various other anti Indian activities, the govt of India on 4-8-98 permitted Tai Situ Rinpoche to re-enter India . This was all due to the political patronage of the NDA Govt at the centre and in accordance with the enlightened wishes of the Dalai Lama. In spite of protests from all the intelligence agencies in India , the Under Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India, Subhash Mehtani, under inordinate pressure from politicians, through Deletion Circular # 3/98 permitted Tai Situ to return to India . However on 5-8-98 through Look Out Circular # 10/98, the Govt of India decided to debar Tai Situ from visiting the States of Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim , Assam , Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Subsequently Situ's visit to the District of Darjeeling in West Bengal was also banned. This order too wa signed by Subhash Mehtani, Under Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India.

Amazingly, the following year Tai Situ visited Darjeeling to attend the last rites of Lama Gyaltsen, at Sonada Monastery under the pretext that he was his close cousin. Currently Tai Situ is staying in the Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh under the patronage of Tendzin Gyatso, the 14th and the present Dalai Lama. Tai Situ travels twice a week from his Sherab Ling Monastery of the Karma Kagyu tradition to Gyuto Monastery close to Dharamsala where his protégé is staying in order to impart 'religious instruction' to Ugen Trinlay Dorje, claimant to the throne of the XVIIth Karmapa. Gyuto Monastery incidentally belongs to the Gelugpa sect which boasts of extended animosity towards the Karma Kagyu tradition for three and a half centuries.

Ugen Trinlay Dorje in March 2001 had first visited Bodh Gaya and had created a massive controversy when he had visited the Vajrasana at the Mahabodhi Temple wearing leather boots. This, in spite of the fact that at the main entrance of the Mahabodhi Temple hoardings boldly proclaim both in English and Tibetan that shoes are not allowed inside. A fine of Rs 100.00 is payable by those who violate this order of the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee. Ugen's visit to the Mahabodhi Temple sanctum sanctorum with his boots on was protested by Bhante Anand, National General Secretary, Akhil Bhartiya Bhikshu Mahasangh and Ex-member Bodh Gaya Mahabodhi Temple Management Committee. As a result, subsequently in December 2001 Ugen visited the sanctum sanctorum barefooted.

He was then in Bodh Gaya to perform what is termed the 'World Peace Prayer' organised by the Karma Kagyu Monlam Sangha patronised by Tai Situ Rinpoche. During both his visits to Bodh Gaya Ugen Trinlay Dorje, not permitted to stay at the Vajrayana Karma Kagyu Buddhist Monastery, had to stay at the Mahayana Guest House run by the local Gelugpa monastery.

On 7th January 2002, 500 activists of Maoist Communist Center, MCC, a banned Naxalite organisation, blew up the main building of Khajwati Math at Bodh Gaya with dynamite sticks injuring many. On 10th January 2002 near Bodh Gaya in Dhongeshwari a Korean engineer Seong Bong working for the Sujata Academy Project for the welfare of locals, was gunned down by a disgruntled local worker. Rev T. K. Lochen Tulku Rinpoche, the Buddhist member of the National Commission for Minorities visited Bodh Gaya at the end of the month to investigate the matter.

Early January 2002 was also graced by the visit of the XIIth Gyalwang Drugchen Rinpoche, Head of the Drugpa Kargyud tradition. He was accompanied by hundreds of Buddhists from France and many Tibetan devotees. Over a period of ten days Drugchen Rinpoche gave extensive teachings on Buddhism which were translated into French as well. However, in spite of his extreme importance, neither the Central nor the Bihar Govt had provided him with any security cover!

At this time the Kagyupa Vajrayana Buddhist Monastery in Bodh Gaya, under the leadership of Bairi Khyentse Rinpoche, organised a week long puja. Shamar Rinpoche, the guardian and mentor of Trinaly Thaye Dorje, yet another claimant to the throne of the XVIIth Karmapa, was the patron of this week long puja. This puja was also attended by the seven year old son of Bairi Khyentse Rinpoche -- Dhragpa Senge, the 4th incarnation of Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche and 4th in seniority of the Karma Kagyu order. This puja had concluded with a day long colourful Lama Dance under the guidance of Lung Tog Dawa Lama who had participated in the entire puja with many others from Dharma Chakra Centre, better known as Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim.

On 11th January, 2002 Penor Rinpoche the Supreme Head of the Nyingmapa Order, the oldest form of Buddhism in Tibet, reached Bodh Gaya and took up residence at the Kagyupa Vajrayana Buddhist Monastery with Bairi Khyentse Rinpoche. Penor Rinpoche was there to attend the 13th Nyingmapa Monlam Chenmo, the annual Great Nyingmapa Prayer Congregation, held 14 - 23 January 2002. As always, the Great Nyingmapa Monlam was organised around the Mahabodhi Temple attended by thousands of monks and Lamas from around 600 monasteries throughout the world. The young incarnation of the late Rajaguru of Bhutan, Dhilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, also attended briefly. Amongst other principal Lamas, Thrulshig Rinpoche from Nepal also graced the occasion.

During the 13th Great Nyingma Monlam, Wangmo Gelek and her two sisters, daughters of Tarthang Rinpoche in the US, distributed 55,000 copies of the religious books of the Nyingmapa tradition in Tibetan. These had been printed and published by Dharma Publications based in Berkeley, California, USA, as a part of an ongoing and highly ambitious program for the preservation of ancient scriptures. Tarthang Rinpoche has been continually distributing them for a decade now. Surprisingly however, various TV channels on 21-1-2002 & 22-1-2002 telecast the 13th Great Nyingmapa Monlam as the Kalachakra Puja slated to have been orgainsed by the XIVth Dalai Lama. Kunsang Lama, Secretary of Penor Rinpoche, admitted that this happenned due to the weak PR of the organisers of the Nyingma Monlam. Kunsang Lama however, further added that the following year the XIVth Great Nyingmapa Prayer Congregation would be held as per schedule in Jan 2003 in Bodh Gaya wihtin the premises of the Mahabodhi Temple in accordance with tradition.

Tendzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, Chief Spiritual Leader of the Gelugpa order of Tibetan Buddhism, reached Bodh Gaya on 9th January 2002. From there he visited Rajgir where he stayed at the Hokki Centaur Hotel. He visited the Gridhakuta Parwat or Vulture's Peak, later visiting the university ruins of Nalanda. This was his fifth visit. From there he went to Patna and stayed in Maurya Hotel where all of a sudden he fell sick. Dr. S. N. Mishra, Director, Indira Gandhi Institute of Cardiology, advised him to take complete rest as he was suffering from high blood pressure. The Dalai Lama was also called upon by Vinod Chandra Pandey, Governor of Bihar, Chief Minister Rabri Devi and various other dignitaries.

In January 2002 a daily English Newspaper published from Patna reported that Bajrang Dal activists of Gaya were planning a protest demonstration against the Dalai Lama for having favoured total autonomy for the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Thereafter on 13th January 2002, Bhante Anand, National General Secretary, Akhil Bhartiya Bhikshu Mahasangha and ex-member Bodh Gaya Mahabodhi Temple Management Committee in a press conference held in Gaya stated that if the management of the Mahabodhi Temple was not handed over to Buddhists, he would start a movement for its return to Buddhists. In this press conference Bhante Anand also asserted that the Dalai Lama flush with copious American funding is running a parallel government in India.

Anand said that the Dalai Lama is trying to make Sikkim into a separate country where he and his Gelugpa followers would live with the help of Tai Situ Rinpoche and Ugen Trinlay Dorje, claimant to the throne of the XVIIth Karmapa. According to Anand and enquiry needs to be conducted by the Govt of India against the Dalai Lama, Ugen Trinlay Dorje and Tai Situ Rinpoche for their anti Indian acitivities. Bhante Anand claimed that Dalai Lama is receiving money from the USA for the support of Ugen Trinlay Dorje, the Chinese Karmapa. He further warned that the XIVth Dalai Lama will one day emerge as a human bomb for our country.

Anand also challenged the Dalai Lama that if he is an avatar then why has he been unable to liberate his country Tibet from the Chinese. Anand further says that all the supporters of violence had surrendered before the Buddha. The Dalai Lama however, who claims of himself as being the chief spiritual and temporal head of Tibet, has not even been able to convince the Chairman of China to grant freedom or even autonomy to his country. Anand also said that Dalai Lama is not a true Buddhist because had he been so he would have joined cause with fellow Buddhists for the liberation of the Mahabodhi Temple.

During the visit of the Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji to India the second week of January 2002, the Dalai Lama and his Gelugpa supporters tried to sour the relationship between the two countries. Supporters of the Dalai Lama wearing bands stating 'Free Tibet' were moving freely around the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya as if they were on a political mission at a place of pilgrimage. During this period Dalai Lama's supporters from Sikkim were also wearing and selling T-shirts in support of their demand for Tibet's freedom. These T-shirts were sold for Rs. 200 - 250. The question thus arises as to whether Bodh Gaya should be used as a venue for such political activities.

His supporters from Sikkim had also come to Bodh Gaya with a play called 'The Brave Hearts' which depicted the Chinese Red Army beating the supporters of Dalai Lama in Tibet. This play was organised by the Tibetan Youth Congress of Sikkim and performed daily at the Sikkim Govt Guest House. This play had first been performed in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, in 2000 and afterwards in Dharamsala before the Dalai Lama. It became exceedingly popular amongst westerners. This play was recorded by a number of foreign TV channels. This is a blatant misuse of religion for political propaganda against the Chinese by the Dalai Lama and his supporters.

The Dalai Lama and his supporters always try to prove that Tibet was invaded by Chinese Red Army and the Chinese had killed millions of Tibetans having destroyed thousands of their monasteries. However they never tell their own people or for that matter the world, that the Great Fifth Dalai Lama with the help of Goshir Khan, a cruel and belligerent Mongolian warlord, had waged a bloody war in Tibet, destroying more than 200 Buddhist monasteries of the Nyingmapa, Sakyapa and the Kagyupa traditions. Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, the 5th Dalai Lama, had tens of thousands of unarmed monks slaughtered so as to proclaim the supremacy of the Gelugpa tradition.

Thus, with the help from his Mongolian devotee, the 5th Dalai Lama had ascended to the throne of Tibet in 1642 A.D., defeating the King of Tsang. The manner in which the 5th Dalai Lama wrested power is no different from the manner in which the Chinese captured Tibet. The current political situation is a direct outcome of the bad governance of the Dalai Lama and his Govt of Tibet, the Gelugpa monk mafiosi and his blindly devoted followers.

The aborted Kalachakra Puja, 21 - 31 January 2002, was utilised as the venue from where the Dalai Lama tried to sour relations between India and China. Interestingly the District Magistrate of Gaya, Brajesh Malhotra, inaugurated a photo exhibition on the eve of the Kalachakra Puja showing Chinese atrocities. Should the Dalai Lama and his Gelugpa followers want to protest against Chinese occupation, they should perform 'The Brave Hearts' with Richard Gere, Pierce Brosnan and other devotees of the Dalai Lama playing lead roles or even make a blockbuster movie in the USA where they are assured of massive funding, publicity and immense sympathy and support.

Bodh Gaya as of November 2001 had turned into a mini Lhasa or mini Tibet. Almost every Buddhist monastery had been converted into a hotel bursting at its seams with more than four times its capacity. Many from India and abroad, including Tibetans and westerners, were even camping in their gardens as also in other localities designated by the local administration. Legalities require that the stay of any foreigner staying in a hotel, guest house or region is to be reported to the nearest police station by the host within twenty four hours of the person's arrival. But even the District Magistrate of Gaya had absolutely no information concerning the flux of foreign nationals through Bodh Gaya. Hotels and guest houses, where the normal room tariff is normally less than Rs. 300.00 were charging upto Rs. 3000.00 for a single day per person, in spite of which it was extremely difficult to get accommodation in Bodh Gaya.

A few years ago a Canadian lady had been arrested from a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery for illegally staying for years without a visa. The lady had reached Bodh Gaya via Nepal. It is said that a number of westerners come to Bodh Gaya and stay in Tibetan monasteries controlled by the Dalai Lama without proper travel documents and move out through Nepal. If such an event would have taken place in a hotel owned by an Indian, the proprietor and staff of that hotel would have landed behind bars. But none from the Dalai Lama's monastery from where the Canadian lady had been arrested, was even questioned by the concerned authorities. Such is the magic of the Dharma practised by the Dalai Lama and his followers.

During the Dalai Lama's visit to Bodh Gaya in January 1999 the local police had arrested three suspected Chinese nationals. A Chinese electronic media team was then visiting Bodh Gaya for doing a coverage on the Dalai Lama. The Chinese TV crew had contacted the Dalai Lama's Department of Information and International Relations of the so-called Govt of Tibet in exile for an interview with the Dalai Lama but were refused permission. During that time in Bodh Gaya many people did watch Chinese TV programs. Even last winter too, many continued to watch Chinese TV programs in different Buddhist monasteries in Bodh Gaya.

The Gelugpa followers of the Dalai Lama had captured 80% of the business in Bodh Gaya winter of 01-02. They were seen running around three dozen restaurants there, as also over a hundred fifty shops and stalls selling Indian woolen garments, imported clothes, mostly duplicate, smuggled electronic goods, posters of the XIVth Dalai Lama and Ugen Trinlay Dorje, rosaries, books, Tibetan medicines, thangka paintings, Tibetan carpets, audio-video cassettes and cd-s, mostly pirated, Tibetan incense sticks etc, none of which had the MRP written on them.

Our special correspondent had purchased a Tibetan incense stick packet from a Gelugpa owned shop in Bodh Gaya. The name of the incense stick was printed as 'Tara Healing Incense'. This had Re. No. 916/96, printed on it and that it had been manufactured and supplied by Dr. (Mrs.) Dhadon Jamling of Tashi Choeling Monastery, Jogi Bara Road, McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala 176219, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India with her phone, fax and e-mail address. The MRP or Maximum Retail Price was missing. As such this incense packet was being sold at different prices in different stalls and stores. The minimum rate for Indians was Rs 15 while foreigners were required to pay Rs. 50 or more.

In the whole of Bodh Gaya, especially near the Mahabodhi Temple, the Gelugpa followers of Dalai Lama had shamelessly put up a few dozen of banners in English and Tibetan and were seen collecting money for various causes. A Gelugpa cultural group called 'Ako Pema' had become the craze for the Tibetans as also for Westerners. Every evening they would put on a cultural show lasting about three hours watched by about five thousand people after buying tickets. Interestingly even in this cultural show in the background of the stage there was a huge painting of the Potala Palace of Lhasa the traditional residence of the Dalai Lamas. In addition to the painting of the Potala Palace there were paintings of the present Dalai Lama and of the young Gyaltsen Chokyi Nyima who had been recognised by the XIVth Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchan Lama. Currently Gyaltsen Chokyi Nyima is under arrest by the Chinese Government and traceless.

On 18th January 2002 in Mahabodhi Temple a Bhutanese Lama was seen chasing a few Tibetan Lamas with a dagger. Upon being overpowered by the police and others he alleged to have been intimated a number of Tibetan Lamas who had been earlier eve teasing his sister.

The Fourth Buddha Mahotsava was held in Bodh Gaya from 21st to 22nd January 2002. Rabri Devi the Chief Minister of Bihar was supposed to inaugurate it which she did not as her husband and ex-chief minister of Bihar Laloo Prasad was in jail. Just after the inauguration of the Mahotsav there was a commotion when the news came in that Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), a banned outfit of naxalites, had killed five persons in Barasimha village in Gaya. Most officials were supposed to have rushed to the place of the occurence. The main attraction of the 4th Buddha Mahotsav was the four postal stamps released by the Department of Posts. The stamp of a denomination of Rs. 15 depicts the Mahabodhi Temple; the 2nd of Rs. 4 shows the Griddhakuta Hill of Rajagir. The 3rd of Rs. 8 depicts the Mahaparinirvana Temple of Kushinagar, whilst the 4th stamp of Rs. 4 shows the Dhameka stupa of Sarnath, Varanasi.

The other public attraction of this Mahotsav was the famous Ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas. Pankaj's troupe met an accident en route to Bodh Gaya from Patna. Fortunately none was injured. Dr. Surendra Yadav, minister in the Bihar Government was so much impressed by Pankaj and his group that he presented a diamond ring to Pankaj and gave one thousand dollars to his musicians. On the first day of the Buddha Mahotsav a souvenir was published and released by the Bihar Tourism Department. However, this was not distributed amongst the media for reasons unknown.

On 22nd January 2002, the 2nd day of the Buddha Mahotsav, there were many cultural programmes. On the second night Bihar's well known theater and film actress Noor Fatima had a serious difference of opinion with Dr. Surendra Yadav. Afterwards Noor Fatima said that Dr. Surendra Yadav and Dr. Shankar Prasad chairman of Bihar Sangeet Natak Accademy had humiliated the artistes. Subsequently Noor Fatima resigned as a member of Sangeet Natak Academy sending her resignation to the Chief Minister of Bihar Rabri Devi, President, Rashtriya Janta Dal Laloo Prasad and to the Ministry of Art and Culture. After Noor Fatima's resignation Dr. Shankar Prasad Yadav said that Noor Fatima had lost her mental balance. The Gaya Lok Sabha MP Ramji Manjhi of BJP said that the 4th Buddha Mahotsava was actually a Mahotsava of the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

The much awaited Kalachakra Initiation of January 2002 never materialised. The 14th Dalai Lama Tendzin Gyatso, attended the Kalachakra on the 24th January 2002 for half an hour, a half hour ahead of schedule. He announced the cancellation of the Kalachakra due to his poor health. It was also announced that the next Kalachakra is to be organised at Bodh Gaya Feburary 2003.

The midway cancellation of the 27th Kalachakra of the 14th Dalai Lama even after an expenditure of many crores of public money remains a mystery. It is said that the Intelligence Bureau had come to know of a plot of the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), a banned Naxalite organisation, to assassinate the Dalai Lama. On the other hand the Dalai Lama's supporters claimed that the Kalachakra was canceled due to his ill health. It was also reported that some Bajrang Dal activists were planing to organise protest demonstrations against him over his reported view of favouring total autonomy for the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir. On 23rd and on 24th January 2002 a number of senior Bajrang Dal leaders had reached Gaya.

Bhante Anand, National General Secretary, Akhil Bhartiya Bhikshu Mahasang and ex-member of Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee had also warned Dalai Lama that he with his followers could disrupt Kalachakra if his supporters would continue to violate the ban on shoes in the Mahabodhi Temple.

It is also said that Dalai Lama was forced to stop the Kalachakra Puja midway as he had tried his best to organise demonstrations in Delhi, Bodh Gaya and elsewhere in India during the visit of the Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji to India. This had embarrassed his host country tremendously. The 14th Dalai Lama's asylum in India has been a highly sensitive issue in Indo-Chinese relations.

It is interesting to note that for hundreds of year the Dalai Lamas and the Karmapas have never sat together during a Kalachakra Initiation. This was the first time ever in Tibetan history where the Dalai Lama was slated to perform this initiation with a claimant to the throne of the Karmapa -- Ugen Trinlay Dorje at his side. Tibetan history with its sectarian polarisations is exceedingly complex and few non-Tibetans have even the faintest idea concerning its dynamics. Most have been bedazzled by the projected image of the Dalai Lama being an Apostle of Peace and Tibetans as a simple people who merely want their country back. History points in a totally different direction!

Many Tibetan Lamas in Bodh Gaya were heard saying that wherever Ugen Trinlay Dorje goes some mishap invariably occurs and that this Kalachakra was canceled due to his presence. Just before he first entered India surreptitiously in January 2000, the Dalai Lama had met with a car accident near Varanasi. His subsequent visit to Bodh Gaya in March 2001 had also resulted in a controversy when he entered the sanctum sanctorum wearing leather boots. In September 2001 Ugen visited Leh in Ladakh. There he was not welcomed at the Hemis Monastery of the Drugpa Kargyud tradition, the most important monastery in the region. Even another Karma Kagyu school in Leh did not welcome him. On September 4th 2001 several thousand people came to a public initiation to be given by Ugen. A strong wind with red dust blew with such a force that everybody including Ugen had to run away. The wind blew for the entire day and Ugen could not continue the initiation. Locals emphasised that this happened as the protector deities of Ladakh did not welcome Ugen Trinlay Dorje.

During Ugen's procession at Tagtse Monastery in Ladakh a gust of strong wind broke the ceremonial Umbrella held over Ugen's head. The golden jewel at its top fell off and rolled on the ground. Tibetan Buddhists claim this to be a very bad omen. Thereafter Ugen tried to visit Tai Situ's Mahe Monastery in the north but the Indian Government did not allow him to visit there. It is therefore that the visit of Ugen Trinlay Dorje is considered to be a bad omen.

On 26th January 2002 the Dalai Lama was taken to Lilawati Hispital in Mumbai by air from Patna at government expense. One is left wondering as to who the Dalai Lama might be that the govt bends over backwards to accommodate him at every instance. He is provided security at govt expense, he leads a regal life at govt expense, he runs a purported Govt of Tibet in exile from Dharamshala, HP. He is accountable to none and responsible to none! He pays no taxes, flies the national flag of erstwhile free Tibet! The question must now be asked as to whether the Dalai Lama has emerged as the King of India and Tibet!

Doctors who attended him in Gaya had stated that he had a swelling in his stomach. However preliminary examinations in Lilawati Hospital negated this diagnosis. A few days later he was discharged as being fit, having enjoyed the best of modern medical attention at public expense. Clearly this was a rouge as the Dalai Lama has his own highly competent Tibetan ayurvaidik doctors who are able to diagnose much better than allopathic doctors merely by reading the pulse and checking the person's urine.

Even subsequently Bodh Gaya continued to remain engulfed in controversies. On Jan 30 the electricity supply to a dozen Buddhist monasteries out of thirty six, was suspended as they had not paid their utility bills for about a year. The following day all the monasteries decided to shut down. The Minister for Energy of the Govt of Bihar, Shakil Ahmad Khan ordered the restoration of power to these monasteries Feb 1 with the rider that the defaulting monasteries will pay their bills by Feb 12.

In this way the 'Mahakumbha' of the Tibetan Buddhists remained thoroughly embroiled in controversies last winter.

Photo captions:

People praying before the main statue of the Buddha at Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya.

Ugen Trinlay Dorje, claimant to the throne of the XVIIth Karmapa, performing Kagyu Monlam Puja under the Bodhi Tree behind the Mahabodhi Temple, Bodh Gaya.

XIIth Gyalwang Drugchen Rinpoche, Head of the Drugpa Kargyud Order of Tibetan Buddhism.

Seven year old Dragpa Senge, the 4th. Incarnation of Jamgon Kongrtul Rinpoche, 4th in command of the Karma Kagyu order of Tibetan Buddhism seated on his throne at Kagyupa Vajrayana Buddhist Monastery, Bodh Gaya.

Lama Dances being performed by the Lamas at Kagyupa Vajrayana Buddhist Monastery at Bodh Gaya during the puja.

During the XIIIth Nyingma Monlam, Penor Rinpoche, the Supreme Head of the Nyingma Order of Tibetan Buddhism and the young incarnation of Dhilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, the Rajaguru of Bhutan, blessing devotees.

Dressed in traditional, colourful Tibetan attire, the Ako Pema group dances wins over the audience in Bodh Gaya.

The present and the XIVth Dalai Lama, Head of the Gelugpa Order of Tibetan Buddhism.

Photographs of the play Bravehearts showing the Chinese beating Tibetans were on display in Bodh Gaya.

During the IVth Buddha Mahotsava in Bodh Gaya, four postage stamps were released on Buddhist Sites of India.

Same photo captions are written behind the colour photographs.

BHASKAR MUKHERJEE, PHOTO JOURNALIST,
HOUSE NO. 325, PATALIPUTRA COLONY, PATNA 800013 Bihar. Phone # Residence (0612) 26-0264.