Passengers of the Bharat Gaurav Ambedkar Yatra train on Sunday visited Deekshabhoomi, a historic place in Maharashtra's Nagpur where B R Ambedkar had embraced Buddhism, officials said. The special tourist train that is taking passengers to cities associated with the social reformer across the country was on Friday flagged from Delhi marking his 132nd birth anniversary. The train reached Indore and then the birth place of Ambedkar in Mhow on April 15 where the passengers paid tribute to the architect of the Constitution. In Mhow, the passengers gathered in the memorial hall of the Bhim Janmabhoomi and discussed the life, struggles etc. of Babasaheb Ambedkar.
The train reached Nagpur on Sunday morning where the tourists visited Deekshabhoomi and Dragon Palace, the Tourism Ministry said in a statement here. Deekshabhoomi is a historic place where Ambedkar embraced Buddhism with lakhs of his followers in October 1956. The last remains of Babasaheb Ambedkar are kept in the central dome of Deekshbhoomi stupa, the statement said. The visit also coincided with completion of 170 years of the eventful journey of Indian Railways, as it was on April 16, 1853 that the first passenger train service had run between Bombay and Thane.
Dragon Palace at Kamptee town in Nagpur has a pleasant environment for meditation where a Buddha idol made of sandalwood is the centre of attraction. The tourists bid adieu to Nagpur late in the evening and left for the next leg of their journey at Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, the statement said. After Sanchi, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh is the next destination. A visit to Sarnath and Kashi Vishwanath Temple will be a part of the sightseeing. Gaya in Bihar is the next and the last destination, and the train will arrive there on the sixth day of the journey. Tourists will visit the holy site of Bodhgaya -- the Mahabodhi Temple -- and other monasteries. The next day the tourists proceed for sightseeing at Rajgir and Nalanda in Bihar by road. Buddhist sites and the ruins at Nalanda are the key sites. The train will depart from Gaya for New Delhi as the tour will come to an end.
The Bharat Gaurav tourist train tour on Ambedkar Circuit was flagged off by Union Minister of Tourism G Kishan Reddy and Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station on April 14. The special train is taking passengers on an eight-day tour that includes key sites in Maharashtra and Bihar. This Bharat Gaurav tourist train aims to give a glimpse of the life and legacy of Bharat Ratna Babasaheb Ambedkar to all the passengers, Reddy said, adding the train also aims to promote domestic tourism and the spirit of 'Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat'.
