The country's tallest standing statue of Lord Buddha has been inaugurated at the Sarnath Thai temple in Varanasi.<br />Former prime minister of Thailand Surayud Chunalot inaugurated the 80-feet-tall statue the ceremony was also attended by Thailand's chief priest Fra Suthi.<br /><br />"The statue symbolises Indo-Thai ties," Chunalot said, adding that priests from India went to Thailand to spread the teachings of Buddhism.<br />The statue has been constructed with an estimated cost of Rs2 crore and consists of 815 stones.<br />The project took 14 years to complete and was conceived after Taliban authorities in Afghanistan destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhist statues.
