Bhubaneswar, Aug. 12: The state government is keen to offer tourists a profound spiritual and cultural experience when they visit the various Buddhist sites in Odisha. However, a lot of work on developing infrastructure facilities still needs to be done to tap the tourism potential of the famous Buddhist sites.
The tooth relic, widely believed to be of Lord Buddha, that was recovered from a monastery in Lalitgiri way back in 1985 and has since been lying unattended in the Archaeological Survey of India’s strong room in Bhubaneswar has ignited a debate on the kind of initiatives the government has taken to develop Buddhist sites.
“For the past five years the Odisha government has taken a few initiatives and done a bit, but it is still too less to attract tourists from abroad, especially those coming from the South East Asian nations. “There should be more initiative to develop the Buddhist sites with proper landscaping, gardening, construction of proper shelters and rest rooms, especially in Jajpur district,” said a leading historian on condition of anonymity.
“More than 30 years ago, I once accompanied the kin of a Bollywood actor with two other senior officials of the culture department to Ratnagiri and Lalitgiri. We travelled on two rickshaws and when we reached the river, there was no boat. Though things have changed and we have built a road and a bridge between the two sites in the past 30 years, infrastructure development is still not on par with international expectations,” said the historian.
Many Buddhist sites in Jajpur district lack rain shelters. Quality eating joints are also scarce. Just recently a private group came up with a multi-cuisine restaurant, with options for ethnic Odia food, at Ratnagiri, where travellers can also rest at night. But this model needs to be replicated in other places of tourist interest, especially those places related to Buddhism.
The state government has listed Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri and Udayagiri in Jajpur as major Buddhist sites.
According to history, two merchants from Utkal, Tapasu and Bhalika, became the first disciples of Lord Buddha and Tathagata had given them a handful of eight strands of hair in return to the rice and honey cake they offered to him. So, there might be more relics that could be excavated from these sites.
Debasish Mohapatra, chief operating officer of a travel and tourism company, feels though the relic was discovered in 1985, the state could not get enough mileage from its presence as it always remained under security cover. Had it been displayed for the public, it could have attracted many tourists from other nations.
“The state government should conduct more research on the various Buddhist sites through serious excavations and even by establishing the links with other Buddhist nations and neighbouring states such as Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. We also need to establish links with other nations while developing our Buddhist sites. There should be enough reference materials on display boards or with the display items at nearby museums,” said B.K. Rath, former superintending state archaeologist.
On the “synchronisation of culture” at the Buddhist sites, Rath said: “We have to think about their food choices as perhaps outside India Buddhists take non-vegetarian food. We should also think about their evening recreation and leisure and after that we could hope for visits by many more people from the South-East Asian nations. There should be an integrated approach at Buddhist sites to attract major followers as tourists.”
Tour adviser Mohapatra said: “For the time being, better communication and tour packages linked to Bhubaneswar (with Dhauli in mind) must be developed. Later, the independent sites in the district and other parts of the state can be developed as isolated tourist destinations. Odisha tourism can even rope in more private players as its partners in this effort.”
