Buddhism played vital role for the socio-economic dev of State: Jora

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Valedictory function of 9th annual session of ISBS

Minister for Tourism and Culture, Mr. Nawang Rigzin Jora has said that Buddhism has played a vital role for the promotion of Socio-economic development of the State of J&K. He said that preserving the rich cultural heritage and age old manuscripts of Buddhism is the need of the hour as this religion has contributed a lot for transformation of our society and has been the leading religion propagating peaceful co-existence on earth . Mr. Jora was addressing at the valedictory function of the 9th Annual Session of Indian Society for Budhist Studies (ISBS) conference organized by Department of Saniskrit, University of Kashmir here today.

The theme of the conference was “Role of Kashmir in Development of Buddhism”.

The Minister said that Kashmir having multicultural civilization has been the home of world famous religions of Hinduism, Budism and Jainism. He said that these religions have produced renowned personalities, intellectuals, scholars and historians which have contributed a lot for shaping the civilizations of various parts of world. He said that Buddhism spread to other areas like Ladakh, Tibet and China from Kashmir as it has been one of the ancestral places of this religion.

Mr. Jora said that history can’t be ignored as everybody from Mughals to Britishers has contributed towards enriching the cultural ethos of the State.

Vice Chancellor, University of Kashmir, Prof. Riyaz Punjabi, Chairman Indian Council for Philosophical research, New Delhi, Prof. R. Krishna Rao, Member Secretary, Indian Council for Philosophical Research, Prof. Goda Vari Mishra, Convener, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, Mr. Saleem Beigh and Ex-Director General Tourism also addressed the gathering on the occasion and highlighted the significant role played by Budism in the history of the State. On the occasion, various research scholars read out their papers on the theme.