PARASI, DECEMBER 3

National Assembly Chairperson Ganesh Prasad Timilsina made onsite inspection of antique Buddhist pilgrimage sites – Ramgram Stupa and Panditpur.

Timilsina observed the Stupa located at Ramgram Municipality and Panditpur area in ward 18 of Ramgram, Nawalparasi (Bardaghat-Susta-West) today.

It is to be noted that Ramgram Stupa remains the only intact and original site containing relics of Gautam Buddha. Panditpur is renowned as the capital of antique Koliya republic and possibly the maternal home of Lord Buddha.

Saying that the two archaeologically important areas are lagging behind in development, Timilasina expressed special interest in the development of the antique territory.

On the occasion, Ramgram Municipality Mayor Narendra Gupta shed light on the initiatives taken for the development of both archaeologically important area.

According to Lumbini Development Trust, the Koliya Kingdom, of the then eight states, had constructed a stupa keeping the cremated remains of Shakya King Buddha after Buddha’s Mahaparinirvana. It is also narrated that Buddha’s cremated remains were divided and distributed among the princes of states. Each of the princes had built a stupa at or near the capital city within which the respective portion of the ashes were enshrined.

Some 300 years later, Emperor Ashoka opened seven of these stupas and removed the Buddha relics (his goal was to redistribute the relics among 84,000 stupas he planned to construct throughout the Maurya Empire).

According to legend, the Serpent King guarded the Ramgram stupa and prevented Ashoka from unearthing the relic. Rampgram Stupa was discovered in 1899 and LDT has been designated for its conservation.