Kashmir tourism department restore Buddhist sites to promote pilgrimage tourism

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Baramulla (Jammu and Kashmir), India -- In a bid to attract more Buddhist pilgrims, the tourism department in Jammu and Kashmir has decided set to restore Buddhist sites in the state.

<< Ancient ruins at Parihaspora

The department has already sent a plan to the Archaeological Survey of India proposing to install basic facilities at these sites.

Places like Parihaspora, Harwan and Kanispura-Ushkura, which still have ruins of Buddhist monasteries, are planned to be included in department's pilgrimage tourism initiative.

Director of Jammu and Kashmir Tourism, Talat Parvez, said on Sunday that they would develop the whole circuit of tourism.

"There are many such ancient places and monuments where we want to promote tourism. We have done a documentation, which we will bring forward in the shape of a coffee table book in the next season. This coffee table book will become a source of promotion and such places will become prominent. We are also promoting circuit tourism," said Parvez.

Besides their historical importance, these sites hold a lot of significance and emotional attachment to Buddhists the world over.

Once these sites are developed, they will give a boost to local infrastructure and generate employment for locals.

Historians said that the Buddhist monastery in Parihaspora town, which is located at a distance of 26 kilometres from Srinagar, is one of the famed sites and if the provincial government pays attention and give it facelift then tourists will visit the place in large numbers.

"People do no come here in Kashmir to look only to the scenic beauty. They also would like to see the old heritage and how the civilization has developed here. So, if we see this is one of the biggest civilizations, which was here and this was the central place at one point of time. Now nobody recognises this place, it is all in shambles. So, the need of the hour is not just to preserve them, not just to put fence around them but to also bring people here to look, so that they will themselves see and develop the area around the vicinity," said a historian, Professor Mohammad Sultan.

Tourism is one of the biggest means of earning for the people of the Kashmir Valley. It was hit hard by the separatist agitations, which had adversely affected the turnout of tourists.

Meanwhile, Kashmir of northern Jammu and Kashmir state was once a top Asian tourism destination, popular among honeymooners, skiers, trekkers and anglers, and attracting about a million tourists a year until 1989, when a simmering anger against New Delhi's rule burst into a violent rebellion. And the numbers of visitors shrunk to only a few thousand a year.

However, with peace being restored in the province, the influx of tourists has increased.

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Dalai Lama to visit Kashmir excavation site

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Dharamsala, India -- The excavation of a site in Jammu and Kashmir that is believed to be linked with an ancient Buddhist monastery has attracted the attention of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

His private office based in this Himachal Pradesh town on Monday said he will visit Ambran, located along the banks of Chenab river in Akhnoor area, some 30 km from Jammu, Wednesday.

"His Holiness will visit Ambran for a day to see the relics discovered there. He will later deliver a public talk," Tenzin Taklha, joint secretary at the Dalai Lama's office, told IANS.

Before reaching Ambran, the Nobel laureate will open a photo exhibition in Jammu town by Akshat and Vijay Kranti, a father-son duo from Delhi, on the ongoing excavation and relics discovered there.

Ambran is the latest finding of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It's believed that the site is most probably a Buddhist monastery that was active for about 900 years between the second century BC and seventh century AD, a period belonging to the pre-Kushan, Kushan, and post-Kushan Gupta eras.

The most significant findings for the site include stupas, a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, made of high quality baked bricks and surrounded by stone pathways, meditation cells and rooms.

A three-layer casket set of copper, silver and gold containing bone relics and ornaments is another major highlight of the findings.

Nearly 100,000 Tibetans live in exile in different parts of India.

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Kashmir solution thru talks: Dalai Lama

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Islamabad, Pakistan -- The patron Buddhists spiritual elder Dalai Lama predicted that the solution to Kashmir dispute would come via “talks” and “understanding”, recalling that Ambaran was the ancient Buddhist site and diverse religions co-existed in Kashmir for centuries.

Dalai Lama’s maiden visit to occupied Jammu Wednesday had sprung many surprises at a crucial time when three countries – Pakistan, China and India – hosting the Kashmir dispute together, are moving simultaneously towards trade and travel rapprochement in the region, a move looking rare against the bloodiest of battles fought in the past.

The Lama, reports say, evaded any direct question regarding Tibet advising media to ask political queries from the politicians only. The major events he went through his day-long visit to occupied Jammu area Akhnoor were opening of a photo exhibition, address to the youth and media interaction.

This elderly Lama had self-exiled himself to India around 1959 and since then is a guest there. The fact that he did not show any high sounding tone towards China despite sharp media pointers is in itself a healthy message. The late Kushuk Bakaula, Dalai Lama’s disciple, remained member of Srinagar assembly for over a decade representing his Ladakhi Buddhist community. Bakaula had under Nehru influence tabled in mid-fifties a strange resolution for economic integration of occupied Kashmir and Ladakh with the east Punjab.

Kashmir circles have welcomed Dalai Lama’s advice over Kashmir issue to settle it through talks and enlarging understanding.

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