Buddha weeps: Mahabodhi is dying

With the warm weather returning, the tree’s bracing for a fresh wave of attack from millibugs, eating its vitals and setting in decay. And the one big factor that’s been helping the millibugs have their way is the Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC)’s failure to keep away people and food from the tree.

Incense sticks and candles have been asphyxiating the leaves and the offerings of sweets, yoghurt, milk and ghee attracting ants in thousands. Despite being told last year by Patna’s Agriculture Research Institute to take urgent steps to preserve the tree — one remedy was to apply a lime-copper sulphate coat on the trunk and main branch — pilgrims were allowed access as late as January this year.

During the Kalchakra festival, the Dalai Lama led a three-hour prayer under the tree and thousands of monks were served food and tea while decoration lamps hung from its branches.

The tree — it’s the fourth descendent of the original tree — has been quarantined on the recommendations of the scientific committee that concluded it was severely infected with millibugs.

‘‘Somebody has to climb and spray the leaves with pesticide. We told the committee. Let’s see if the steps have been taken,’’ says A K Singh, regional director of the Patna institute, who led a team in October last year and submitted a report to the BTMC.

During winter, says Singh, the infection subsides but spreads again as day temperatures go up. The millibugs creep into the bark, the younger lot feeding on tender twigs. Their secretion allows fungal growth. But it’s the offerings and the practice of tying cloth strips to the tree that has it gasping for breath.

While they claim to have taken steps recommended by Singh’s team, the BTMC admits it’s difficult to keep pilgrims away. Over 2,000 pilgrims visit the temple every day. ‘‘We have sprayed pesticide, quarantined the tree and all offerings are made outside the enclosure. The mud around the roots was dug out and medicine put. We are not letting people in but there’s a lot of pressure on us because pilgrims want to sit near the tree,’’ says BTMC general secretary Kalicharan Yadav.

‘‘This is a tree which has given peace to the Buddhist world. We will not let it die,’’ say priest in-charge Bhikku Bodhipala. But these steps may be too late to save the tree. There’s already talk of preparing for the worst: getting hold of cuttings from a 2,500-year-old tree in Sri Lanka, believed to be the offspring of the original Mahabodhi, to keep alive a centuries-old belief and practice.