Lucknow, Jan 15 The Sankissa village in Uttar Pradesh's Farrukhabad district, one of the most ancient Buddhist sites in the world, will soon be developed as a centre for Buddhist pilgrimage.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to develop Sankissa on the lines of Kushinagar, Sarnath, Kapilvastu and Kaushambhi.
A government spokesman said: "It is a matter of pride that Uttar Pradesh is a home to several important places related to Lord Buddha and these are being developed under the Buddhist circuit."
The Chief Minister has asked the officials to chalk out the action plan on this and draw a route map from Sarnath to Gautam Buddha Nagar, adding Sankissa village as sixth Buddhist destination in the state.
He wants that people from across the world should visit Sankissa, Kapilvastu, Shravasti, Kushinagar, Sarnath and Kaushambhi and see the ancient stupas and learn about the thoughts of Lord Buddha.
Adityanath also said that once Sankissa is developed as a tourist place, employment opportunities will increase and the system of road, electricity, and water will be better.
Also, the hotel and market business will bloom.
Sankissa, earlier known Sankasia, Sankassa and Sankasya, is an ancient city.
It came into prominence at the time of Gautama Buddha.
According to a Buddhist source, it was 30 leagues from Savatthi.
After Gautama Buddha's 'Mahaparinirvana', King Ashoka developed this place and installed one of his famous Pillars here.
He also built a stupa and a temple commemorating the visit of the Buddha.
This temple exists even today and the ruins of the stupa are also present as a temple of Vishari Devi. It is said that the name Visahari Devi is given to the mother of the Buddha.
Currently, Sankissa has ruins of old monasteries and Buddhist monuments.
It is rarely visited by pilgrims since it lacks facilities for travel.
Sankissa is now identified with Sankisa Basantapura on the north bank of the Ikkhumati river (Kalinadi), between Kampil and Kannauj in Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh state of India.
It may be mentioned that Alexander Cunningham has described Sankissa village in his book "The Ancient Geography of India".
There is immense reverence for Sankissa among the followers of Lord Buddha settled across the globe. These devotees of Lord Buddha have built temples and stupas here.
The Burma temple built here in Sankissa is built by Buddhist followers of Myanmar.
In this temple, the figures of the soles of both feet of Buddha have been made.
( With inputs from IANS )
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