Voice of Intellectual Man- An International Journal

Anthropologists have presented interesting ethnographic accounts of the lives of Buddhists, be it of the Buddhist monastics or the lay Buddhist communities. In a transnational world, pilgrims and tourists transcend their geographical and ideological boundaries to reach Bodh Gaya, India, to assemble their diverse cultures, technologies, traditions, knowledge, religious beliefs, and philosophical orientations and contribute to the making of Buddhism at Bodh Gaya in a unique sense and in the process, they discover their own Buddhist identity. The present paper aims to examine the distinctive nature of a ‘Buddhist identity’, its building process and checks for the underlying claims of authenticity that go in support for or contradict the notion of being or becoming a Buddhist. In the process of construction of Buddhist identities, different languages are being learned, networks are being established, old Buddhist traditions are being replaced with new traditions, gender is being ‘left beyond’, and new political claims and rights are put forward in the hope of acknowledgment and acceptance of Buddhist identities amidst contesting claims. The present research article explores the realm of competing claims, scrutinizes the performative aspects of Buddhist identities, shedding light on how these identities are not only created but also enacted and contested. The article unfolds Buddhist identities which are inter-woven with other identities and explores their intricate interplay in a world marked by diversity, change, and contested claims.