Nepal has long been irked by the common misconception that Buddha was from India, even though his accepted birthplace, Lumbini, is across the border.
The Nepalese are so outraged about the Indian appropriation of Buddha, some cable operators blocked Zee TV in the country last year for misidentifying the Enlightened One‘s birthplace. To correct the record, the country has issued special Rs 100 currency notes proclaiming, “Lumbini: The Birthplace of Lord Buddha.” The controversy has even led a musician named Dhiraj Rai to record an overwrought pop song on the subject.
So for many residents of the mountain-kingdom, the highest point of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s two-day state visit to their country came during his address to parliament on Sunday, when he referred to Nepal as “the birthplace of Lord Buddha”.
Though the Indian prime minister’s speech to lawmakers included the announcement of a $1 billion line of credit to Nepal and suggested how energy cooperation could be enhanced, the country’s Telegraph Weekly reported the address under the headline, “Indian PM Modi admits Lord Buddha was born in Nepal.”
The Khatmandu Post added more details. “Nepali lawmakers gave a thunderous applause when he mentioned that Buddha was born in Nepal – an issue that rouses deep passion in the country when various quarters of India claim that the former was born in India,” it wrote. “He uttered the word Buddha five times.”
Many Nepalese Twitter users expressed their delight at Modi’s statement.
via Scroll.in – News. Politics. Culture..
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