PM Modi to visit Lumbini in Nepal on Buddha Jayanti

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Kathmandu: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, in Nepal on Buddha Jayanti.</p>
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The visit of the Prime Minister to Nepal comes less than a month after his Nepali counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba visited India.</p>
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"Prime Minister Modi will be coming to Nepal on May 16 on Buddha Jayanti but this time Lumbini only. Preparations are already underway," a source told ANI.</p>
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Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is expected to be present at Lumbini during PM Modi's visit.</p>
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"Only visit to Lumbini is on the agenda. There won't be bilateral talks or other engagements. The visit will be for less than a day," the source said.</p>
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According to an official aware of the visit, PM Modi will take part in a lamp-lighting ceremony at the Maya Devi Temple which is also the birthplace of Gautam Buddha.</p>
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PM Modi will fly to Kushinagar International Airport from Delhi and then take a chopper to Lumbini.</p>
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This would be PM Modi's first visit to Nepal after his re-election in 2019. He had visited Nepal four times during his previous tenure.</p>
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During the last visit to Nepal in May 2018, PM Modi had toured Janakpur and Muktinath, religious and cultural sites in Nepal.</p>
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The Maya Devi temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Archaeological excavations have revealed that the structural ruins belong to different phases of the temple's construction and restoration over the centuries. Emperor Asoka built a platform using the burnt bricks to safeguard the Marker Stone and the Nativity Tree under which Prince Siddhartha was born.</p>
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The Maya Devi Temple was re-discovered in 1896 by General Khadga Shamsher and Dr. Anton Fuhrer. Keshar Shumsher excavated the mound of early Maya Devi Temple and reconstructed it in 1939. The present-day Maya Devi Temple was rebuilt in 2003 by Lumbini Development Trust.</p>
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The structural ruins inside Maya Devi Temple are from 6th century BC to 15th century AD. It consists of 15 box chambers arranged in 5 rows in east-west and 3 rows in a north-south direction as well as a circumambulatory path surrounded by an outer wall.</p>
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The archaeological excavation undertaken by the Department of Archaeology, Lumbini Development Trust and Durham University (UK) during 2010-2013 AD uncovered a timber shrine dating back to the 6th century BC. During the excavation a pre-Mauryan brick structure, each brick measuring 49x36x7 cm in size and 20kg in weight from underneath the present visible layers of ruins was also uncovered.</p>
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