Lumbini, May 16 (RSS): India's Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has offered worship at the Mayadevi Temple here. He arrived in Lumbini
today morning on an official visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Sher
Bahadur Deuba.
Along with the Indian PM, Prime
Minister Deuba and his spouse Dr Arzu Rana Deuba also offered worship and
prayers.
The Buddhist monks chanted the
hymns in praise of Buddha as the prime ministers of the two countries paid
homage at the Temple.
The Indian dignitary
circumambulated the holy pond as well as lighted a butter lamp at the Ashoka
Pillar on the premises of the Mayadevi Temple.
The two prime ministers also on the
occasion watered the Bodhi Brikshya tree close to the Ashoka Pillar.
Prior to this, Minister for
Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale and Lumbini Development
Trust (LDT) vice-chair Bhikkhu Maitreya Shakya Putta welcomed the Indian prime
minister and his Nepali counterpart to the temple premises.
Also today, the prime ministers of
India and Nepal jointly laid the foundation stone for the India International
Buddhist Culture and Heritage Centre to be constructed on a plot of land at the
local International Buddhist Monastic Zone provided by the Government of Nepal and unveiled the stone inscription kept there.