PM offers prayers at Buddhist temple in Kushinagar
LUCKNOW : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday evening offered prayers at Mahaparinirvana temple in Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh on Buddha Purnima. He visited both --Lumbini (in Nepal), the birthplace and Mahaparinirvan temple (in Kushinagar), the place where Lord Buddha attained ‘nirvana’, on the same day.
Modi landed at the Kushinagar international airport around 9am and reached Lumbini on a helicopter. He, along with his Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba, laid the foundation stone of a technologically-advanced India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage in Lumbini.
Around 5pm, the PM returned to Kushinagar airport and went to the Mahaparinirvana temple in Kushinagar where he prayed at the reclining Lord Buddha statue. He lit a candle, draped the idol in a yellow sheet, and did a parikrama (perambulation) of the idol in the presence of priests. “Prayed at the Mahaparinirvana Stupa in Kushinagar. Our government is making numerous efforts to boost infrastructure in Kushinagar so that more tourists and pilgrims can come here,” wrote Modi in a tweet soon after the visit. The PM spent about 20 minutes at the stupa and then left for Lucknow.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi greeted citizens of the country on the occasion in a tweet and said, “On Buddha Purnima, we recall the principles of Lord Buddha and reiterate our commitment to fulfil them. The thoughts of Lord Buddha can make our planet more peaceful, harmonious and sustainable.”
In October 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the Kushinagar international airport in Uttar Pradesh. The airport is aimed at boosting tourism in the Buddhist circuit.
Back then, PM Modi, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, civil aviation ,inister Jyotiraditya Scindia, UP governor Anandiben Patel, notable monks from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, Cambodia, and ambassadors attended the inauguration ceremony.