Nitish Kumar launches construction work for Rs 315cr Buddha Museum in Bihar

PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday launched construction work for a Rs 315 crore- Buddha Samyak Darshan museum and a memorial stupa near Vaishali historical place in Vaishali district, about 60 km north from the state capital.

The proposed museum and memorial stupa will be built in an area of 72 acres.

Addressing a function jointly organised by the state’s building construction department (BCD) and art, culture and youth department near Vaishali historical site, Nitish said he had started his ‘Pravas Yatra’ in December 2009 and as part of that ‘yatra’ had stayed at Vaishali village for four days in January 2010.

“During the four-day stay, I found the opportunity to visit different location of historical importance near Vaishali. Later, the state government decided to acquire 72 acres of land to build the museum and stupa. Stones will be used in the construction of the museum and stupa,” Nitish said.

CM also pointed out that Vaishali is a historical place, which gave the first democracy to the world. “Lord Buddha and Lord Mahavira were closely related to this land. For the first time, women were given an entry in the Sangh formed by the followers of Lord Buddha during his lifetime in Vaishali. Thus, Vaishali has also remained a land associated with the empowerment of women,” Nitish said.

Highlighting the religious and historic importance of Vaishali, CM said after ‘Mahaparinirvana’ of Lord Buddha, his mortal remains were distributed among eight republics of that era. One of the eighth portions of his mortal remains was kept at a mud stupa at Vaishali by then Lichchhavi king of Vaishali republic.

“Those mortal remains of Lord Buddha were later recovered during an archaeological excavation in between 19958-60. The mortal remains are now been kept safely at the Patna Museum while the mud stupa has been protected as an archaeological site,” Nitish said.

The BCD has fixed a timeline of two-and-a-half years for completing the construction work of the museum and stupa. But the CM said he would be happy if the construction work is completed before the fixed timeline.

CM further expressed his dismay over poor upkeep of ‘Abhishek Pushkarni’, an ancient water body, which, as per the historians, was used for coronation of elected members of Vaishali republic.

“The system of administration in Vaishali republic was based on election. In those period, the elected persons had to take a holy bath in ‘Abhishek Pushkarni’ before assuming his/ her office, instead of taking oath,” CM said adding that he has constituted a team of officials from the water resources department and art, culture and youth department to find out the reasons behind vanishing of water from ‘Abhishek Pushkarni’ and to also suggest ways for arranging clean and safe water throughout the year in the historic water body.

CM said that officials have also been suggested to install solar pumps at all four corners of the ‘Abhishek Pushkarni’ after one meter-deep de-silting of the water body. He also asked officers to connect the water body through a pipe from Hajipur distributary of the Gandak canal system for easy availability of water.

CM also asked for widening of approach road upto the upcoming museum and connecting the place with the nearby highways so that Buddhist visiting Bodh Gaya could easily reach Vaishali through the upcoming Bakhtiarpur-Tajpur bridge over river Ganga.