Nepal: Restoration work on Hiranyavarna Mahavihar, Digi Chhen begins
New Delhi: Work on the sixth cultural heritage restoration project, funded by India, began on Thursday at Lalitpur in Nepal with the local community’s prayers and New Delhi’s grants.
The people performed a Chhema Puja, seeking forgiveness, at the Hiranyavarna Mahavihar’, also known as the Golden Temple, and ‘Digi Chhen’, at Lalitpur.
The site is located in the monument zone of Patan Darbar Square in Lalitpur, which is one of Patan’s most prominent Buddhist monasteries and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The puja was attended by officials from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, the Central Level Project Implementation Unit of the Nepalese government, and INTACH Kathmandu, the embassy said.
The Mahavihar is being rebuilt at a cost of Nepali rupees 181 million.
It is one of 28 cultural heritage projects in Nepal funded by a USD 50 million grant from India for post-earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation of cultural heritage monuments.
In the Lalitpur district, seven cultural heritage projects are being renovated, with work on five of them now underway.
(Venkatesh Iyer)
