Summary:
New Delhi, Oct 19 (PTI) Protocols reserved for state guests will be followed to welcome Buddha relics from Sri Lanka during Prime Minister Narendra Modi"s October 20 visit to Kushinagar to inaugurate an international airport, Culture Ministry sources said on Tuesday.A seat will be assigned for the relics on a SriLankan Airlines flight, an official said.
A team of 123 Sri Lankan delegates, including a 12-member Holy Relic entourage led by the current mahanayaka of the Waskaduwa Temple, will accompany the relics.The delegation will also comprise anunayakas (deputy heads) of all four Nikatas (orders) -- Asgiriya, Amarapura, Ramanya, Malwatta -- of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, as well as five ministers of the country"s government led by cabinet minister Namal Rajapakshe."The relics will have a separate seat on a SriLankan Airlines flight.
The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath) will receive the relics.
All protocol associated with state guest will be followed.
The relics will be welcomed by "Mahayana monks at the venue," the official said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday inaugurate the Kushinagar International Airport, which is an endeavour to connect Buddhist pilgrimage sites around the world and launch various development projects there during his visit to poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. The PMO said he will also participate in an event marking Abhidhamma Day at the Mahaparinirvana Temple in Kushinagar before attending a public function to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various development projects.The inauguration of the Kushinagar International Airport will be marked by the landing of the inaugural flight at the airport from Colombo, Sri Lanka, carrying the Sri Lankan delegation."The highlight of the event is the Exposition of Holy Buddha Relic being brought from Waskaduwa Sri Subuddhi Rajvihara Temple, Sri Lanka, by the Mahanayake of the temple.
They will also be opened to the public for veneration,” the official said.In 1898, archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India excavated a large mound in the estate of British landowner William Claxton Peppe in Piprahwa, in Uttar Pradesh"s Sidharthnagar district which is just 160 km from Kushinagar."They found a big stone box containing some caskets.