Lumbini/New Delhi, May 16 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with his Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba, performed the shilanyas ceremony on Monday for construction of the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage in the Lumbini Monastic Zone, in Lumbini, Nepal. The Centre will be constructed by the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), New Delhi, on a plot allocated to IBC by the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT), under an agreement between IBC and LDT signed in March 2022. After the shilanyas ceremony, which was performed by monks belonging to three major Buddhist traditions, Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana, the two Prime Ministers also unveiled a model of the Centre. The two PMs also offered gifts to the monks. Once completed, the Centre will be a world-class facility welcoming pilgrims and tourists from all over the world to enjoy the essence of spiritual aspects of Buddhism. It will be a modern building, NetZero compliant in terms of energy, water and waste handling, and will house prayer halls, meditation centers, library, exhibition hall, cafeteria, offices and other amenities, an official statement said. Earlier, Prime Minister Modi visited the Mayadevi Temple in Lumbini, as the first stop of his one-day visit to Lumbini. Prime Minister Modi was accompanied by the Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba and his spouse Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba. The Leaders paid their respects at the Marker Stone inside the temple premises, which pinpoints the exact birth spot of Lord Buddha. They attended the pooja conducted as per Buddhist rituals. Maya Devi was the mother of Gautama Buddha. The visit comes on the auspicious occasion of 2566th Buddha Jayanti.
