Ayodhya will be decked out on Tuesday on the eve of Diwali, with South Korean First Lady Kim Jung-sook visiting the temple town as a state guest to attend several events.
Kim and chief minister Yogi Adityanath will jointly lay the foundation stone for a riverbank memorial to first-century Korean queen Heo Hwang-ok, who legend says was a princess of Ayodhya.
The decorations are also meant for the Deepotsav (festival of lamps), a carnival of lights and cultural events that Adityanath has been organising in Ayodhya on Diwali Eve since becoming chief minister last year.
According to legend, an Ayodhya princess had visited Korea in AD 42 and was given the name Heo Hwang-ok after her marriage with King Kim Suro, founder of the Korean kingdom of Karack.
The Kalyan Singh government had in 1991 planned a memorial and a museum in Ayodhya in honour of the Korean queen.
A small monument to her was inaugurated by Song Eun-Bok, the then mayor of the South Korean city of Gimhae, in Ayodhya in the year 2000 when Ram Prakash Gupta was chief minister.
Gimhae, also known as Kimhae, was founded by Kim Suro and is home to the queen’s tomb, believed to have been built with stones brought from Ayodhya.
The Rajnath Singh government had in 2001 decided to develop Ayodhya as a sister city of Gimhae. Kim Cheol, a South Korean minister, had visited Ayodhya in Mach 2015 to discuss the plan with the state and the central government.
Ayodhya will be decked out on Tuesday on the eve of Diwali, with South Korean First Lady Kim Jung-sook visiting the temple town as a state guest to attend several events.
Kim and chief minister Yogi Adityanath will jointly lay the foundation stone for a riverbank memorial to first-century Korean queen Heo Hwang-ok, who legend says was a princess of Ayodhya.
The decorations are also meant for the Deepotsav (festival of lamps), a carnival of lights and cultural events that Adityanath has been organising in Ayodhya on Diwali Eve since becoming chief minister last year.
According to legend, an Ayodhya princess had visited Korea in AD 42 and was given the name Heo Hwang-ok after her marriage with King Kim Suro, founder of the Korean kingdom of Karack.
The Kalyan Singh government had in 1991 planned a memorial and a museum in Ayodhya in honour of the Korean queen.
A small monument to her was inaugurated by Song Eun-Bok, the then mayor of the South Korean city of Gimhae, in Ayodhya in the year 2000 when Ram Prakash Gupta was chief minister.
Gimhae, also known as Kimhae, was founded by Kim Suro and is home to the queen’s tomb, believed to have been built with stones brought from Ayodhya.
The Rajnath Singh government had in 2001 decided to develop Ayodhya as a sister city of Gimhae. Kim Cheol, a South Korean minister, had visited Ayodhya in Mach 2015 to discuss the plan with the state and the central government.
