108 South Koreans begin walking pilgrimage: How India is partnering with Nepal in its spiritual tourism outreach

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.

In fact, Indian ministers have admitted at various fora that Southeast Asian nations such as Indonesia and Thailand are getting a major chunk of Buddhism-related tourists while India lags behind, mostly due to a lack of infrastructure and awareness.

“We are going to offer world-class facilities and attract many of these tourists to India, which will also add tremendously to revenue and employment generation,” then Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said in 2016. More than Rs 300 crore has been sanctioned for various sites in the circuit.

Reaching out to Nepal to counter China

In May last year, Prime Minister Narednra Modi travelled to Lumbini to lay the foundation stone for a Buddhist cultural centre to coincide with Buddha Purnima. The PM’s visit came amid China’s evident interest in Lumbini. 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.

Nepal’s Hindu pilgrimage sites

Not just 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. Last year, when the first Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train made its maiden journey on the Ramayana Circuit, it crossed the international border into Nepal, as the Ram Janaki temple in Janakpur was part of the itinerary.

In fact, India has been building on faith as a bridge to lift its ties with Nepal. “Without Nepal, India’s faith is incomplete. Without Nepal, India’s history is incomplete. Without Nepal, India’s dhams (temples) are incomplete. Without Nepal, our Ram is incomplete,” Modi had said when inaugurating the Janakpur-Ayodhya bus service in 2018. It also helps convey a subtle message to the leadership in Nepal that despite their affinity for Beijing, the people of Nepal base their faith on common gods with India.

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. India had also allocated funds for the renovation of the passage around the Pashupatinath Temple and the building of a dharmashala for pilgrims.

PM Modi described the ties between India and Nepal thus: “And the bond built by Sita… is still strong. It is this bond which attracts people from Rameswaram to Pashupatinath, people from Lumbini to Bodhgaya, and I was also attracted by the same bond.”