Butwal, Apr. 11: The number of people wearing robes similar to that of Bhikshus and soliciting money from tourists in and around Lumbini is growing.

Ram Naresh Giri is one of those who puts on saffron robes to present himself as a monk and asks people for money.

He always plays a one-string instrument and locals call him “ektarananda”.

Earlier, he used to pull a rickshaw at Taulihawa bazaar of Kapilbastu district.

Always inebriated and playing on his musical instrument, he concedes that he boozes and is non-vegetarian.

He says, “ I have lost the habit of working for a living. I make sufficient money from begging.”

And there is “Cyclananda” who is to be seen at the bus stop in front of the Lumbini temple when the buses arrive.

He flies a Buddhist flag on his bicycle, comes daily from Paderiya 4 km south of Lumbini and goes about collecting money.

According to the local people, his previous name was Karunanidhi. He came to Lumbini from India two years back and presented himself as an “Aghori Baba.”

He used to consume hemp, liquor, fish and meat and even smack and give these out to others as Prasad. When the tourists complained, the district administration office removed from Lumbini.

After disappearing for five months, he reappeared as a Bhikchu in saffron with shaved head. Cyclananda forces tourists to give him money. He stays put, begging bowl in hand, before the tourists until they give him money.

He too has been prohibited from entering the premises of the Mayadevi temple.

As buddhists demanded that a Bhikchu should officiate at the Mayadevi temple, Chandra Bhushan, son of the temple priest, became a Buddhist and changed his name to Vivekananda, it is learnt.

Vivekananda, who hails from India, puts on his monk’s robes in the daytime and changes into other clothing in the evening. He has a wife and children at home.

Vivekananda says, “the high standard monks here sell items given to them by foreign visitors to the local shops, but we are not even allowed to beg. What kind of justice is this?”

Bhikshu Maitri of the International Buddhists Centre at Lumbini says that most of the fake monks had approached him requesting to be ordained as monks, but he had declined.

Vice-chairman of the Lumbini Development Trust Gajendra Kumar Lama says that such people impersonating as monks should be brought under  control.

But no action has been taken so far as no complaint has been made, he added.