Ulaanbaatar: Vice President Hamid Ansari today unveiled a stone statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Mangolian capital.
Ansari unveiled the statue at Pethub Monastery which was founded by former Indian ambassador Kushok Bakula Rinpoche.
Pethub Monastery, seen as symbol of India-Mongolia cultural and spiritual ties, was inaugurated in August, 1999 by Indian Vice President Krishan Kant.
Rinpoche named his monastery as 'Pethub', which in Tibetan means a model or exemplary. The name is drawn from the main monastery in Ladakh which is also known as Spituk Monastery and is over 800 years old.
He founded the monastery after feeling an urgent need to revive Buddhism in the country and for establishing it, Rinpoche chose a tract of land in the city so that it becomes more accessible to the people.
Last year, Prime Minster Narendra Modi also visited a monastery in the Mongolian capital and handed over a Bodhi tree sapling to its chief abbott.
(With PTI inputs)
