Missing ‘Buddha boy’ found

‘Missing’ for nine months, which led to a variety of speculation, Ram Bomjan popularly known as ‘Buddha boy’, was found in a mediating posture at a jungle in Bara district Monday.



Ram Bahadur Bomjan ‘Buddha boy’ (File Photo)

When local villagers saw the boy at the Bagkhora jungle at around 7:00 in the morning he looked slender than before, was in grimy cloths and had long hair flowing down his shoulder, reports said. Briefly talking to media persons, the ‘Buddha boy’ said he lived on herbs throughout these months while wandered around the jungles in Bara, Parsa and Rautahat districts.

A huge crowd formed in the area soon after the news of the Buddha boy’s re-emergence spread in the nearby villages. His pervious handlers, the members of the Tapaswi Sewa Samiti, are settling up a place for his meditation nearby the Halkhori Lake in Ratanpuri, according to reports.

Meditating for ten months under a pipal tree at Ratanpuri jungle, ostensibly without food or water, Bomjan, had vanished from the crowded site on the night of March 11, 2006. There were controversies about his fasting as well as his spiritual claims.

The17-year-old boy’s saga was reported internationally while national and national and international researchers had also thronged to Ratanpuri.

The management committee had claimed that Bomjan left the area as it became unsuitable for him to meditate because of growing crowd. Some of the members of the committee were even charged with misuse of millions of rupees donated by tens of thousands of devotees who visited the site daily. nepalnews.com mk Dec 25 06