Deepak Anand, an Indian scholar and coordinator of the Mahaprajapati Gautami Great Renunciation Trail program, said that the journey will begin at 10 am on Wednesday from Tilaurakot, the capital of the Shakya dynasty and where Prince Siddhartha spent his 29 years of youth.
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One hundred nuns from 13 countries, including Nepal and India, are traveling on the Mahaprajapati Gautami Great Renunciation Trail. Tourism entrepreneurs from Nepal and India have taken the initiative to develop it as a new tourism product and attract spiritual tourists.
Following the path of Mahaprajapati Gautami, the queen of the Shakya dynasty king Suddhodana, who went to Vaishali, India, to become a nun along with 500 Shakya women, a hundred women have now started traveling on this route.
The journey will begin at 10 am on Wednesday from Tilaurakot, the capital of the Shakya dynasty and where Prince Siddhartha spent his 29 years of youth, said Deepak Anand, an Indian scholar and coordinator of the Mahaprajapati Gautami Great Renunciation Trail program. Some women are starting the journey in Tilaurakot by becoming nuns.
The team will return to Sunauli via Tilaurakot, Nigrodharam, Lumbini, Ramgram and Thadighat (Susta) and enter India from there. The journey will end in Vaishali via Valmikinagar, Nandangadh, Lauria Areraj, Kesariya in India. The 300-kilometer journey is being completed in a week. The trip will involve nuns from 13 countries including Nepal, India, Thailand, America, Canada, Vietnam, Singapore and Australia. Coordinator Anand said that the nuns will walk 5/7 km daily and then travel by bus to complete the trip in a week. 65 nuns from Nepal and India and 35 from other countries are participating in this trip. The trip will conclude on Poush 8. 
‘We studied the Mahaprajapati Gautami Great Renunciation Trail at length with Nepal’s tourism expert Bikram Pandekaji,’ said Coordinator Anand, ‘After that, we decided to organize a program to add a new dimension for peace lovers.’
The journey of Mahaprajapati Gautami on this route in the sixth century BC is considered historic, said Lumbini Development Fund Goodwill Ambassador Bikram Pandekaji. ‘I studied and researched for a long time to revive that journey,’ he said, ‘I feel that now that I am able to organize this program, a new chapter in peace tourism has begun.’
The Light of Buddha Foundation International, India, in collaboration with United Theravada Bhikshuni Sangha International, Nava Nalanda Mahavihar, Deemed University Nalanda, and Nepal’s Buddha Circuits.com organized the program. It is expected that the success of this trip will contribute greatly to the promotion of tourism in the two countries.
After the death of King Suddhodana, Mahamaya Prajapati Gautami also wanted to become a bhikshuni. However, her son Buddha refused to make her a bhikshuni. Then, Mahamaya again requested her to become a bhikshuni through Buddha’s chief disciple Ananda. After that, 500 Shakya women traveled from Tilaurakot to Vaishali and joined the Bhikshuni Sangha, said Rajan Basnet, Information Officer of Lumbini Development Fund.
