MANDALAY: In the first-ever visit by an Indian head of state to this central Myanmar town, the President, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, offered to develop linkages in traditional medicine between Myanmar and India.

A proponent of traditional medicine which should be welded with biotechnology, the President, speaking at the University of Traditional Medicine, pointed out that most of the herbs being used in Myanmar were common with those found in India's northeastern States. Therefore, both countries should join hands to counter the common problems they faced in making traditional medicine acceptable to the world.

The President told the faculty and students why both countries would have to standardise the medicines and make them fit in the Intellectual Property Rights regime. The President also told them how biotechnology should be harnessed to further improve the efficacy of traditional medicines and make them acceptable on a mass scale.

Visit to pagodas

The President also paid homage at two imposing pagodas in the city that have stood the test of time. At the Maha Muni pagoda, the President pasted gold leaves at the base of Buddha's statue in line with the tradition of gilding gold to the bronze statue.

According to legend, the Buddha himself consecrated the statue near the Bay of the Andamans. However, the king's successors lost it to the son of the King of Mandalay. And when centuries later, King Thibaw donated a huge quantity of gold to adorn the image, he was sent into exile within a year by the British.

Mr. Kalam also visited the Kutho Daw pagoda which hosts rows of 729 small temples, each hosting a stone slab on which are inscribed the entire Tripitaka or the whole of the Buddhist scriptures. These inscriptions have been described as the world's biggest book.

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