Enlightening Exposures in Gaya, Bihar

My professional and leisure travels this past year have inadvertently taken me through three of Buddhism’s four most significant sites from Lumbini, Nepal, where Siddhartha Gautama was born and became witness to the three tragedies of mortal life, to Sarnath, where Buddha gave his first sermon after enlightenment. During my trip to Bihar earlier this month, I was taken to Bodh Gaya, where Buddha ostensibly gained enlightenment under the neem tree that continues to draw pilgrims and devotees aspiring for the same. Interestingly, it was the high poverty levels characterizing the areas surrounding these holy sites that ultimately incited my visits, and admittedly, I can’t help wondering what the correlation is between the two, if any.

After spending a night in Patna, Bihar’s capital, we traveled to the district of Gaya to conduct field visits as part of the area identification process for the pilot program discussed in the last entry. We engaged in discussions primarily with the women of some of the poorest villages in Gaya, where mainstream microfinance has very little or no reach. Government schemes targeting these individuals are often politicized and tend to benefit those with links to the local elite, including acquiring Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards which qualify individuals for such assistance. Our meetings were conducted in vacant school houses or under a community tree in the sweltering and harsh +120˚ heat of India in villages deprived of running water, electricity, and basic infrastructure.

Female members of an 'extreme poor' village in Gaya

Children observing the village meeting on poverty

As the women relayed what they considered to be the biggest challenges for generating more reliable incomes, I noticed the young girls just outside the classroom rolling the mounds of scented black clay-like substance into agarbatti or incense sticks. I learned that Bihar is one of India’s largest producers of the product, and middlemen from the supply chain provide rural women enough of the raw materials for roughly 10,000 sticks to be handed over in exchange for only wage labor at the end of each week. They, then, sell the near finished or packaged product at a much higher price than the input cost and reap a handsome profit. Income generation through exactly such means keeps these women and their households in extreme poverty because they don’t benefit from the profits of at least reselling the value-added near finished product back to the middleman or directly in the market. Rather, they are exploited for their labor and paid atrociously low wages. Some women have taken loans to purchase the raw materials themselves and take better control of their income generating potential, but how many women can profitably become agarbatti producers without saturating the market? Our answer is diversifying income streams.

Female SHG members gather in Bela block of Gaya district, Bihar

Children playing among the agarbatti production

SHG members share their challenges with us

After several days of such intense exposures, the visit to Bodh Gaya served as a convenient reprieve. The tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment still stands behind a newly constructed temple to commemorate the auspicious site. Pilgrims and tourists from all over the world, but predominantly from East and South Asia, were numerous. I was reminded that even with a thriving albeit relatively small tourism industry that clearly attracted high revenues in the form of donations, charity, and fees, without a commitment from the state government and private sector, that wealth would never be seen by most Biharis.

Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya

Mini stupas surrounding the temple grounds

At the rear of the temple under the tree where it all happened

Front of the Mahabodhi Temple




Buddhist statues in the naves of the temple

Bihar, surprisingly, has a wealth of historically and religiously significant sites, including Nalanda, the ancient Buddhist center of higher learning from 427 to 1197 CE. Its library was one of the eastern world’s greatest treasures and attracted scholars from China, Greece, and Persia. Ostensibly, the library’s collection was so immense that it burned for three months after it was set on fire at its downfall.

Sariputta Stupa at Nalanda University


Back of the Sariputta Stupa


Another view of the temples srrounding the stupa

As we prepare the launch of our pilot program, I’m gearing up for another set of field visits in this once forlorn part of India. Stay tuned for updates.