Madhya Pradesh to fund Sita temple construction

The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is willing to fund the construction of a temple of Sita in Sri Lanka.

At the foundation laying ceremony for a University of Buddhist and Indic Studies in Sanchi on Friday, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan offered to finance the temple construction at Divurumpola, 210 km from Colombo, where Sita underwent the "Agni Pariksha" (fire test) and came out unscathed thereby proving her purity and chastity. The offer was made in the presence of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"I visited Sri Lanka two years ago and went sightseeing to various places connected to the Ramayana. I visited the Ashok Vatika where Sita stayed and the place where she bathed," Chief Minister Chouhan said, addressing a gathering of religious scholars.

"I also travelled to the site where she underwent the "Agni Pariksha". I appeal to the Government of Sri Lanka to construct a Temple of Sita on that place." The Chief Minister announced an immediate sanction of Rs. 1 crore for the temple construction.

"Sri Lanka will not have to bother about arranging the funds for the temple. The Government of Madhya Pradesh will collect enough funds from the villages and send it over for the Temple of Sita in Sri Lanka," he added.

The Chief Minister also declared that his government would include Bodh Gaya under the State's Teerth Darshan Yojana which sends senior citizens from economically weaker families on pilgrimage free of cost. He also said that the State would give subsidies to pilgrims who wish to visit the 50 sites allied with Ramayana in Sri Lanka.

Explaining why his government initiated the setting-up of the Sanchi University for Buddhism and Indic Studies, Chief Minister Chouhan said: "This is the first Buddhist University of India. Though a Buddhist University has also been established in Lumbini in Nepal in 2004 and a Theravad Buddhist University exists in Myanmar too, but a need has been felt for a Buddhist University in the country where Buddhism originated and flourished. Madhya Pradesh has made a humble effort to fulfil that need."

Chouhan informed that the University will have five principal branches including a school of Buddhist philosophy, school of Sanatan Dharma and Indic studies, school of international Buddhist studies, school of comparative religion and a school of language, literature and the arts.

He also said that State would encourage exchange-students programs with Asian countries for mutual understanding and relations between Asian cultures.