As a symbol of gratitude His Holiness the Dalai Lama presented a statue of Lord Buddha to the people and Government of India. The statue was installed under a canopy set in a garden designed to be public monument. The location chosen was a public park situated on the Delhi Ridge, a spur of the ancient Aravali mountain range, which once formed the western edge of New Delhi. The canopy design embodies a cluster of Buddhist symbols. The iconography was carefully chosen by the Tibetan Lamas including the Dalai Lama.
The construction of the canopy was entrusted to a team of Rajasthani stone masons who belong to a community of traditional temple builders. The architect’s role became one of mediating between the esoteric knowledge of the Lamas and the constructional expertise of the stone masons as practiced for many centuries.
The statue and canopy are set on a large rock which forms an island within a system of water channels running through the park. The island is treated as the sacred enclosure while the garden around the waterway is landscaped for the day-today recreation of the general public.
After the statue had been consecrated it was necessary to indicate its location on a map of New Delhi. It was only then discovered that the statue coincidentally extends the ceremonial axis planned by Lutyens between the Viceroys House and the War memorial. Today the House (now the residence of the President of India) sits on this axis with the War Memorial at one end and at the other end the Buddha Memorial with its message of universal peace.
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- Between the Earth and the Sky - an Architectural Journey In Portfolio of Works, MN Ashish Ganju. London, 1998.