The Mahabodhi Temple is located at Bodh Gaya (about 60 miles from Patna), the location where Gautama Siddhartha attained unsurpassed and supreme Enlightenment. Next to the temple is the holy Bodhi tree.

History

About 250 years after the Enlightenment, Buddhist Emperor Ashoka visited Bodh Gaya with the intention of establishing a monastery, shrine, and erecting the diamond throne (called the Vajrasana), the Seat of Enlightenment. He is considered the founder of the Mahabodhi Temple.

During the 12th century AD, Bodh Gaya and the nearby regions were invaded by Muslim armies. Afterward, the Mahabodhi Temple fell into disrepair and was largely abandoned. During the 16th century, a Hindu monastery was established near Bodh Gaya. Over the following centuries, the monastery's abbot or mahant became the area's primary landholder and claimed ownership of the Mahabodhi Temple grounds.

In the 1880s, the new British government began to restore Mahabodhi Bodhi under the direction of Alexander Cunningham . A short time later, in 1891, the Sri Lankan Buddhist leader Anagarika Dharmapala started a campaign to return control of the temple to Buddhists, over the objections of the mahant. The campaign was partially successful in 1949, when control passed to a temple management committee. The committee has nine members, a majority of whom, including the chairman, must by law be Hindus.

Current status

In 2002, the Mahabodhi Temple became a UNESCO World Heritage Site specifically nominated for the international World heritage program.

The temple's head monk, as of September 2004, is Bhikkhu Bodhipala. The members of the temple management committee, as of 2002, are:

1. Brijesh Mehrotra (chairman ex-officio)
2. Kalicharan Singh Yadav (secretary)
3. Ramrup Singh
4. Mangala Subba
5. Ven. Bhante Nagarjun Surai Sasai
6. Ven. Bhante Jñaneshvar
7. Kamla Sinha
8. Mahanth Shri Sudarshan Giri
9. Nadayal Dorje

Kalicharan Singh Yadav was reappointed as secretary in 2004, despite controversies relating to personal legal problems.