INDIA REDOUBLES EFFORTS FOR BUDDHIST TOURISM PROMOTION
Englishman Army John Smith was in a hunting expedition in 1819 in the verdant forest of the Deccan plateau in Maharashtra, India. He was tracking a tiger when he made a sudden discovery- Ajanta rock-cut temples covered under foliage in the district called ‘Aurangabad’ ofmaharashtra State in India.
It appeared that there was just one cave hewn into the huge rock, but it turned out to be 29 caves cut into the boulder finally. Upon discovery, according to historians, Smith entered the cave where he stumbled upon flaming a grass torch to find paintings and the Buddha statues faded by tome. Accidental discovery finally opened the door to enter India’s glorious history of Buddhism. Born in Lumbini of the present day Nepal as Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha attained enlightenment in India. His main religious and spiritual work concentrated particularly in northern and central India, particularly covering the states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra. Enough and more archaeological evidence have been found to confirm the Buddha’s activities in this terrain.
The marvelous rock-cut temples or caves speak volumes about the ancient Buddhist heritage of India related to the Buddha’s activities. Found on the walls of these vaulted and colonnaded rock-cut chambers are ancient paintings, sculptures and murals depicting Buddhist literature with a particular emphasis on the Jataka tales.these rock–cut chambers had been abandoned for more than 1000 years.
In 1983, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to historians, these caves were abandoned in the fifth century AD. What is hewn from the solid rock are a line of caves that serve as Chaitya Grihas and Vihares. Historians believe that the Buddhist monks had used them during their months of retreat.
The walls of the rock temples are adorned with the images of the Buddha, the princes and princesses, of animals, palaces, silks, and jewellery with richness in art.
The Indian government has now embarked on an ambitious mission to showcase its Buddhist heritage to the world both for spiritual purposes and tourism promotion targeting well over 500 million Buddhists living in countries such as Sri Lanka, Japan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and so on.
It conducted its sixth edition of the International Buddhist Conclave between August 23 and 26 covering New Delhi, Aurangabad, Bodhgaya and Varanasi. India invited delegates from 30 different countries in the world for this mega event that displayed Indian hospitality in its greatest form. Aircraft with delegates on board were given symbolic water salute. They disembarked from their aircraft to the petal strewn aerobridge that is to promote tourism to the Buddhist sites spread across India. In this exercise, India projects itself as the land of enlightenment and sees Buddhism as the greatest gift of that country to the Buddhist world. Indian President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the conclave and gave a speech outlining how Buddhism asserted its peaceful expansion across the sub-continent through the ancient Silk Road. In his view, it is the early basis of globalization. Today five Indian states are involved in the development of Buddhist circuit: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh.
Ajanta Caves are well featured along the circuit. In fact, it is established that ancient artists who worked on Sigiriya paintings in Sri Lanka and Mogoa Grottoes in Dunhuang, China have drawn on from Ajanta paintings.
In India, there are more than 1500 such cave temples. Amazingly, around 900 of them are Buddhist. Our travel guide Ram Pitambare who is a history scholar, said these paintings in Ajanta bear resemblance to Greek art, a phenomena of Greko-indian culture that spread from the 4th century BC in India through the expeditions of Alexander the Great.
India leaves no stone unturned in its pursuit of attracting tourists to these Buddhist sites including Bodhgaya, Nalanda and Kushinagar and so on. To make it even more attractive to tourists, the airports in the areas with Buddhist sites are echoed with the music and even Pali stanzas are played at the airports in places like Aurangabad and Gaya, considered the gateways to heritage sites.
Higher Education Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and State
Minister of Tourism Promotion Ranjith Aluvihare attended the event representing Sri Lanka. Minister Aluvihare said he was inspired by the event, and would organize a similar conclave in Sri Lanka next year.
“Sri Lanka has great potential to do it,” he said.