WEB DESK / AGENCIES
Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Monday kicked off a major religious controversy by claiming that the real Ayodhya, the birth place of lord Ram lies in his country and not in India.
“Lord Ram is Nepali, not Indian,” he reportedly said at an event in Kathmandu
According to Nepalese media reports, Oli said that Ram’s birthplace of Ayodhya is not located in Uttar Pradesh but near the Balmiki Ashram in Thori in southern Nepal.
Speaking at an event on the birth anniversary of Nepalese poet Bhanubhakta at the Prime Minister’s House, Oli said that Nepal “has become a victim of cultural encroachment and its history has been manipulated”.
Bhanubhakta was born in 1814 in Tanhu of western Nepal and is credited for translating Valmiki’s Ramayan into Nepali language. He died in 1868.
“Although the real Ayodhya lies at Thori in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed the Indian site as the birthplace of Lord Ram,” Oli said.
“We also believe that deity Sita got married to Prince Ram of India. Actually, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj,” he said, adding that the marriage between the bride and the bridegroom at such a distance was not possible at the time when there was no communication and transportation system.
“The place called Thori, near Birgunj is the real Ayodhya, where Lord Ram was born. In India there is great dispute on Ayodhya. But, there is no dispute in our Ayodhya,” Oli was quoted as saying by his press advisor Surya Thapa.
“Valmiki Ashram is also in Nepal and the holy place where King Dasharath had executed the rites to get the son is in Ridi, which is in Nepal,” he said. As Dasharath was the ruler of Nepal, it is natural that his son Ram was also born in Nepal, Oli argued. Therefore, real Ayodhya lies in Nepal, he claimed.
Many scientific inventions and knowledge originated in Nepal, but unfortunately such a rich tradition could not continue later, Oli said.
His statement has come at the time when India and Nepal are indulged in sour ties after over Nepal’s new map. The tensions between the two Asian neighbours started brewing after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.