Patna: The Griddhakuta hills of Rajgir in Nalanda district on Thursday reverberated with sutras chanted by Mahayana sect Buddhist monks for over three hours.

The event was organised by the Light of the Buddha Dhamma Foundation International and International Buddhist Confederation (IBC). Around 250 monks from Japan, China, South Korea and Vietnam attended the event to revive ancient Buddhist traditions and make Griddhakuta Hills a living heritage site.

Sutra-chanting began at 2pm and continued till 5.30pm. The monks congregated at the Vulture's Peak of Griddhakuta Hills, where the Buddha delivered his Mahayana teachings. Chinese monk Xuanzang, who visited this place in the 7th Century AD, had seen a stupa at Vulture's Peak where Buddha delivered the sutras.

IBC, a global Buddhist umbrella body, was conceived to facilitate creation of Buddhist heritage by reviving ancient traditions.

Mahayana Chanting is part of this plan and will now be an annual feature. "IBC is working towards developing an annual calendar of events for lesser known Buddhist sites like Pragbodhi, Buddhavana and Raghopur," IBC consultant Deepak Anand told The Telegraph.

"It is a great achievement we could bring Mahayana followers from different countries under one umbrella," Anand said.

In the coming two days, monks will begin chanting sutras from 9am till 6pm. The concluding function is on December 17 in the ruins of the ancient Nalanda University.

After the Buddha's demise, Buddhism got divided into 18 nikayas (factions).

Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar became major Theravada countries while China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam developed as major Mahayana centres.

China has sent the highest number of 150 monks for the ongoing event.