Lakhisarai: Chief minister Nitish Kumar is scheduled to visit the excavation site at Jainagar Lali Pahari in Lakhisarai - the site of the oldest Buddhist nunnery - on Buddha Purnima on April 30.

A joint venture excavation between Visva-Bharati University and Bihar Virasat Vikash Parisad recently identified the monastery at Lali Pahari as a nunnery - where Buddhist nuns lived in the Pala period - and inscriptions hinted that it was built in the honour of Vijayasribhadra, an elderly Buddhist nun.

"Mallika Devi, the wife of king Suraj Pala of the Pala dynasty was its patron," said professor Anil Kumar, head of the department of ancient Indian history culture and archaeology, Visva-Bharati, who has been heading the excavation.

According to the professor, all important findings such as the dancing Avaloketsvara, dancing Manjusree (different forms of Buddha), Votive Stupas, different devices used for conducting tantric rituals, terracotta plucks, broken idols including those of Buddha, seal and selling, makarpranal (gargoyle- a drainage system), pottery and other items excavated from Lali Pahari will be displayed in a makeshift museum for Nitish Kumar.

Outgoing district magistrate Amit Kumar said the makeshift museum was ready near the excavated site for the chief minister's visit. "We will soon shift all the items to a government building in Lakhisarai temporarily till a permanent museum is built here," he said.

Security has been tightened in Lakhisarai for Nitish Kumar's visit," said Sushil M. Singh Khopde, inspector-general of police, Bhagalpur police zone.