Thai PM visits Mahabodhi Temple at Both Gaya in Bihar

Bodh Gaya (Bihar), Dec. 20 (ANI): Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is in India to attend the India-ASEAN Special Commemorative Summit, visited the sacred Buddhist Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya in Bihar.

Thai and Indian delegates and temple authorities accompanied Yingluck during his visit.

Yingluck also prayed before the sacred tree, the ancient pipal tree, said to be a descendent of the one Buddha sat under for three days and nights in the sixth century BC, before finding the answers he sought under a full moon.

Buddhist scriptures describe it as the "Navel of the Earth", and 100,000 pilgrims and tourists visit every year, packing the town of Bodh Gaya in Bihar, 110 kilometres from the main city, Patna.

Yingluck later left for the New Delhi to attend the summit on the 20th anniversary of India-ASEAN relations. (ANI)