JOIN USWhile Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been promoting Buddhist religious sites for some time now, the state government is planning to set up the world’s tallest stupa to attract tourists from all over the world at the global level.
With a budget of Rs 100 crore, the stupa will come up at Mori near Shamlaji in north Gujarat. According to Gujarat Pavitra Yatradham Vikash Board Director Anil Patel, officials from the board have toured important Buddhist sites before zeroing in on an architect to design the project. The stupa, which will be set up on an 80-acre plot, is being designed by an Ahmedabad-based architect and the preliminary design will be submitted by August.
Now, the tallest stupa is in Thailand and stands at 125 feet. An archeological survey in 1959 discovered a third century Buddhist monastery. The excavation had also unearthed a casket containing Buddha’s relics.
In 2010, an international Buddhist heritage seminar was organised at Vadodara, which was attended by the Dalai Lama. Modi had announced a centre for religious studies at M S University in Vadodara, apart from his resolve to construct Buddha’s temple in the state.
“This will not just be a place of worship or a revenue generation exercise to attract tourists, but will be developed as a centre of research on Buddhist philosophy,” he had said.