| Binoy Yonzon |
Posted
on 13-Aug-01 11:35 AM
For those of you who may find this article relevant...
Brajesh, of STX - class of 86, who returned to Nepal after graduating from New England College, is now a successful horticulturalist/businessman in Kathmandu.
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Peepal tree handed over to heritage society
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Aug 12 - Brajesh Vaidya of Nepal Biotech Nursery (NBN) today handed over a peepal tree-plant, developed biotechnologically from the old Lumbini tree, to the chairman of Nepal Heritage Society Ukesh Raj Bhuju.
The plant was one among the thousands the NBN developed by tissue-culture technology, treating a small tree plant saved by a Muslim gardener before it was felled down for the conservation of the Mayadevi Temple.
Dr Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha, a botanist and a former programme coordinator of IUCN, the nature conservation unit, provided the tree sample to NBN to develop it into living plants.
"We wanted to develop the plant, associated with the millions of Buddhists around the globe, with the help of the modern technology," said Dr Shrestha.
With IUCN’s technical support, NBN developed the tree in one and a half year. The sample plant was distributed among the representatives of monasteries on the occasion of anniversary of Lord Buddha on 7 May.
Dr Shrestha said Lord Buddha’s life has a deep root in nature and specially in peepal tree for he was enlightened under the same species of tree.
Brajesh Vaidya of NBN said it took the nursery to develop the living organ of the "mother plant" into a tree-plant.
Cultural scholar Satya Mohan Joshi said that among all the trees, peepal tree bears special significance to Nepali culture.
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