Hyderabad:
The state is very rich in its Buddhist heritage in the entire country. The Buddhist settlements in Andhra Pradesh range between the 3rd century B.C. to the 12th century A.D. and nearly 150 Buddhist sites have been identified among which Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda are world famous Buddhist centers.
Holy relics of Lord Buddha were recovered from places like Amaravati, Nagarjunakonda, Bhattiprolu and Bavikonda. The state also has a proud privilege to produce famous Buddhist Philosophers like Acharya Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Bhavaviveka, Dinnaga, Dharmakirthi and Buddharakshita. Buddhism in Andhra Pradesh was responsible for the creation of a large number of stupas, Chaityas, Caves and Sculptures representing Buddhist spirit. A.P. Tourism has identified the enormous potential of Buddhist heritage and taken initiatives to develop Buddhist sites and monuments as tourist attractions.
The A.P. Tourism has taken up developmental activities at the three Buddhist Circuits i.e. Visakhapatnam, Amaravathi & Nagarjunakonda at a cost of Rs.571.93, Rs.400.00 and Rs.175.00 Lakhs respectively. A.P. Tourism has also identified Buddhist Tourism as an important segment of the special interest Tourism because of its tremendous appeal to both domestic and foreign tourists from East and South East Asia, Particularly Japan, China, Thailand, Srilanka and Singapore. Steps are on the anvil for developing Buddhist centers clustered into Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam Buddhist circuits. The Buddhist sites and monuments located at Nagarjunakonda, Amaravati, Chandavaram, Guntupalli, Sankaram, Salihundam, Ramathirtham, Dantapuram, Jaggayyapeta, Vaddamanu, Bhattiprolu, Bavikonda, Thotlakonda, Gantasala and Phanigiri are conserved and preserved and they are attracting huge number of tourists.
A.P. Tourism is bringing up a unique world class Buddhist theme park called Buddhavanam at Nagarjunakonda enroute to Amaravati at a cost of Rs.16.36 crores to create facilities like Entrance arch, information centers, ticketing counter, Museum, tourist amenities, open air theatres, stupas, interpretation centers, landscaping, amphi theatres, bronze statues, restaurant, signages and site development. The Department has taken up projects worth Rs.25.99 crores exclusively for the promotion of Buddhist Tourism by creation of special Buddhist circuits and preservation of Buddhist monuments. A.P Tourism is treading forward in promotion of Buddhist tourism. -02- In our policy we propose to consider areas which have a strong Buddhist heritage as notified tourism areas to encourage investment in these areas. The Government of Andhra Pradesh has a vision of making Andhra Pradesh a destination State of India, given its attractive diversity, natural environments and friendly population.
Andhra Pradesh also has the rare distribution of having hosted the Kalachakara in 2006 which was conducted by his Holiness “The Dalailama”. Hyderabad is also the privileged city to have the biggest monolithic Buddha statue in the World which has been carved out of a single rock. A.P. Tourism is celebrating 2556th Buddha Jayanthi Celebrations on 6th May, 2012 coinciding with Buddha Purnima with the following activities. • Display of Holy relics of Lord Buddha at Buddhist Gallery, State Museum, Public Gardens, Nampally at 10.30 A.M. followed by chanting of Buddhist hymns by monks. • Prayers by Buddhist Monks at Buddha Statue in the evening at 5.30 P.M on Hussain Sagar lake. • Lighting of floating lamps on Hussian Sagar Lake at Buddha Statue. The celebrations will give a fillip to Buddhist tourism and also bring our Buddhist heritage into focus. You are invited and requested to cover the event.
source: http://www.orissadiary.com / Home> Orissa News / Sunday, May 06th, 2012