ALLAHABAD:
Uttar Pradesh will soon develop a
Kaushambi Buddha Circuit to bring it on World tourist map as the district has rich archaeological remains of Buddhist period.
The state government will improve connectivity to Kaushambhi and bring it on a par with other places on the Buddhist circuit, including Sarnath, Kushinagar, Shravasti and
Kapilvastu.
A four-member team of World Bank (WB) will submit a master plan in this regard to the state tourism department by June end. “The plan will explore possibilities of developing a ‘Kaushambi Buddha Circuit’ as the district has rich archaeological remains of Buddhist period,” said a tourism department official.
Regional tourism officer, Allahabad, Anupam Srivastava, said: “A four-member World Bank team held a brain-storming session with local stakeholders on April 9, 10 and 11 and is likely to submit a comprehensive report to the department by June end.”
“Once the master plan is submitted by the WB team, the department would take steps to develop the area and boost tourism by encouraging visit by national and international tourists,” he added.
“We also have plans to develop two gram panchayats of Kaushambi — Kausham Khiraj and Kausham Inam — for community participation in a bid to offer better services to the tourists, he informed TOI on Monday.
Srivastava said that the WB team is interacting with local people to compile information on economic as well as cultural activities. “Besides, the team has also been assigned the task of finding local folk art which will be encouraged in due course of time. Focus has been on compiling a complete report on local folk dances, cuisine, singing, dancing, festivals and small scale industries of the area,” he said.
He claimed that the motive behind developing Kaushambi is to attract more and more tourists, specially from other countries.
Tourism department officials said a sizeable number of both national and international tourists frequently visit Sarnath, Kushinagar and Shravasti due to the developed infrastructure and connectivity. However, they skip Kaushambi and Sankisha in Farrukhabad due to poor connectivity, accommodation, security and guidance.
They pointed out that archaeological sites in Kaushambi, located between village panchayats of Kausham Khiraj and Kausham Inam in Manjhanpur tehsil, have major Buddhist attractions like the ruins of Ghoshitaram Vihar, Ashokan Pillar, Shyen Chiti, the ruins of ancient fort, Digambar Jain temple and Pabhosa-Prabhash Giri.
The Ghoshitaram Vihar is mentioned in Buddhist literature. It was built by Ghoshit, a resident and capitalist of
Kaushmbi, to provide residential facility to Lord Buddha and his followers. The vihar began to be called Ghoshitaram on his name.
Lord Buddha came to Kaushambi in the sixth and ninth year after the attainment of his enlightenment, and stayed at the vihar during his visit and delivered several significant religious discourses.
The Buddhist circuit consists of five places — Kapilvastu, Sarnath, Kaushambi Sravasti, Kushinagar and Sankisa.