By IANS,
Agra : Nearly 300 Buddhist monks from Thailand, Poland, England, Ireland and Germany, walking across India for world peace and welfare, have reached the Taj city.
They were given a warm reception by the local Buddhist community here Thursday and a colourful tented township has come up at the Budh Vihar, near the Agra Fort.
“This Budh Vihar is special and unique as B.R. Ambedkar visited it some months before his death in the 1950s,” said Netra Pal Singh, a member of the committee looking after the foreign guests.
The footmarch began from Delhi Monday. After spending three days in Agra, the monks will move ahead and visit all the Buddhist shrines in India.
On the way they are giving sermons and interacting with the locals, volunteer Desh Deepak Tiwari said.
Bhante Lu Sanong, a monk from Thailand, said though India was the birthplace of Buddhism, there were few adherents of the faith unlike in his country where the main religion is Buddhism.
The monks live in their own small individual tents and cook their own food.
“They believe world peace and human welfare would be easier to achieve by facing inconveniences and hardships,” Tiwari said.