Buddhists from Sri Lanka distributed items of daily needs to monks in the holy town of Bodh Gaya in Bihar this week.
Bodhgaya is regarded as a holy spot since Lord Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment under a tree and it still exists although in a pitiable state, even after thousands of years.
Around 75 Buddhist monks were given blankets, books and other essential commodities by the monks from Sri Lanka.
"We are giving away essential items to Buddhist monks in the Budh Gyan Ashram," said a monk from Sri Lanka, Bhante Kushalchit.
Buddha was born a prince of the Sakya clan at Lumbini in Nepal over 2,600 years ago. He left his wife and child at the age of 29 in search of divine knowledge and enlightenment and attained it beneath a Banyan tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, after years of meditation.
There are several important Buddhist religious places - Bodh Gaya in Bihar, where Lord Buddha attained salvation; Sarnath, Kushinagar, where Lord Buddha breathed his last; Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, an ancient seat of Buddhist learning, and several monasteries in Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
India, in the recent past, has been promoting Buddhist tourism, and particularly targeting South East Asian countries, China and Japan, which have a sizeable Buddhist population.
