Buddhist Vihar turns into a lush garden in Assam’s Margherita

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 24, 2024

Margherita Buddha Vihar has turned into a grand garden blooming more than thousands of varieties of flowers, orchids, fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants at the initiative of a 58-year-old monk.

Established in 1975, the Buddhist Monastery is situarted just three kilometres off Margherita railway Station in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district.

Ven Gyanowada Bhikkhu, the head monk of Buddha Vihar, said that since 20 years of age he had a keen interest towards plantation.

It was the same age when he was ordained as a monk. In 2002, when he had come to Margherita Buddha Vihar, he planted more than 100 varieties of orchids, 100 varieties of flowery fruits such as banana, Jackfruit, Jamun, litchi, guava, tamarind, custard apple, chikoo, kaji nemu, dragon fruit  and more than 100 varieties of medicinal plants.

Many people living within the state come to visit the plantation. Not only people from neighbouring states such as Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya also visit the monastery.

Moreover, people from other parts of the country such as Bihar, West Bengal, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Sikkim etc had also visited the monastery.

Ven Bhikkhu further said that the founder of Buddhism, Gautam Buddha was a great environmentalist and he had always preached his teachings stressing on the role of Mother Nature.

He highlighted the teachings of Gautam Buddha who used to say that we human beings are part of Mother Nature so we should protect and conserve trees and plant new ones in our surroundings.

One additional and important information as shared by Ven Gyanowada Bhikkhu was that he said those students who are pursuing PhD in Botany can come to the Margherita Buddha Vihar and see the plantations which will be very helpful for them during their course of study.