About BTMC
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ABOUT BTMC
The Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC) is an
autonomous body constituted by the Government of Bihar under the provisions of
Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949 to manage and maintain Mahabodhi Temple
Complex, a World Heritage Property since 2002.
The committee has nine members, a majority of whom, including the chairman, must by law be Hindus. Mahabodhi’s first head monk under the management committee was Anagarika Munindra, a Bengali man who had been an active member of the Maha Bodhi Society. In 2013, the Bihar government amended the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949, allowing for a non-Hindu to head the temple committee. Also in 2013, one thousand Indian Buddhists protested at the Mahabodhi Temple site to demand that control over it be given to Buddhists. These Buddhists included such leaders as Bhante Anand (president of the Akhil Bharatiya Bhikkhu Mahasangh, an influential body of monks), as well as the president of the Bodh Gaya Mukti Andolan Samiti. Additionally, Japanese-born Surai Sasai emerged as an important Buddhist leader in India as both he and Bhante Anand became two of the most well-known leaders of this campaign to free the temple from Hindu control.
The committee has nine members, a majority of whom, including the chairman, must by law be Hindus. Mahabodhi’s first head monk under the management committee was Anagarika Munindra, a Bengali man who had been an active member of the Maha Bodhi Society. In 2013, the Bihar government amended the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949, allowing for a non-Hindu to head the temple committee. Also in 2013, one thousand Indian Buddhists protested at the Mahabodhi Temple site to demand that control over it be given to Buddhists. These Buddhists included such leaders as Bhante Anand (president of the Akhil Bharatiya Bhikkhu Mahasangh, an influential body of monks), as well as the president of the Bodh Gaya Mukti Andolan Samiti. Additionally, Japanese-born Surai Sasai emerged as an important Buddhist leader in India as both he and Bhante Anand became two of the most well-known leaders of this campaign to free the temple from Hindu control.
