INDIA'S PARTNERSHIP WITH NEPAL IN IT'S SPIRITUAL TOURISM
1.Context
A group of 108 Buddhist pilgrims from South Korea has embarked on a 1,167-km walk to trace Lord Buddha’s footsteps in India. The walk, which began on February 9, is to be completed in 43 days.
2.India's Buddhism Outreach to the world
- The Buddhist Circuit in India seeks to help tourists and pilgrims experience first-hand the teachings of Lord Buddha and trace the footsteps of Buddha
- The main sites covered under the circuit, which was conceived in 2016, span the life of Buddha from his birth to his Parinirvana, and comprise Bodh Gaya, Vaishali, Rajgir and Kushinagar in Bihar, Sarnath and Shravasti in UP, along with Kapilavastu and Lumbini in Nepal.
- The Buddhist circuit gets a special push from the government because there is a feeling that while Buddhism originated in India and seven of the eight main Buddhist pilgrimage sites are in India, our country gets not even one per cent of Buddhist pilgrims in the world
3.Reaching out to Nepal to counter
- Prime Minister Narednra Modi travelled to Lumbini to lay the foundation stone for a Buddhist cultural centre to coincide with Buddha Purnima
- Almost a decade ago, China had offered to build Lumbini as a world peace centre at a cost of $ 3 billion, besides holding talks on bringing China’s railway right up to Lumbini
- Modi’s visit and his laying the foundation stone for the Buddhist Culture Centre estimated to cost Rs 1 billion and to take three years marked India’s first major attempt to develop strong linkages with Nepal’s Buddhist heritage sites
- In an address to the Constituent Assembly of Nepal in 2014, PM Modi acknowledged the birth of the Buddha in that country, reassuring Nepali sentiment that India would not try to appropriate it
- The Buddhist Circuit is being projected as India’s first trans-national tourist circuit, starting from Lumbini and concluding at Kushinagar. An international airport was recently inaugurated at Kushinagar
4.Nepal's Hindu piligrimage sites
- Not only Buddhism, India’s international push for Hinduism is also incomplete without Nepal
- In the Ramayana Circuit announced by India in 2016, a visit to Janakpur in Nepal believed to be Sita’s birthplace was included.
- India has been building on faith as a bridge to lift its ties with Nepal
- Two Shaligram stones symbolising Lord Vishnu reached Ayodhya last week after a long journey from Janakpur
- The stones are expected to be used for the construction of idols of Ram and Janaki at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya
Source:indianexpress
