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GAYA, INDIA, May 27, 2002: Minor skirmishes on Sunday between Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists on the one hand and new Buddhists on the other marred the Buddha Purnima or birthday celebrations, the most important event of the Buddhist calendar. According to the Buddhist belief, it was on this day that rarest of the rare coincidences in the life of Buddha took place. Besides being born on the day, Buddha attained enlightenment and final salvation on this very day. Trouble started in the morning when a group of VHP-Bajrang Dal activists took out a procession at Bodh Gaya, the seat of Buddha’s enlightenment. Those taking part in the procession also carried a banner proclaiming Buddha as the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. New Buddhists from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and some other states, who have gathered at Bodh Gaya in a sizeable number, objected to Buddha being portrayed as a Vishnu avatar (incarnation). Alert police officials immediately swung into action and effectively separated the two groups in the confrontation mode. The incident caused tension. Police vigil was further tightened after the incident. By “new Buddhists,” this report may refer to recently converted dalits or low-caste Hindus to Buddhism, but the reference is not made clear.

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