Yangon: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday offered floral tributes at the memorial of India's last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar here.
Singh, accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, offered 'fateha' (prayer) at the 'mazaar' of the former ruler, who died here five years after he was exiled to Yangon following his defeat in the 1857 war of independence.
Till few years back, there was no authentic information on where exactly the original tomb of the last Mughal emperor lay. The tomb was discovered during a restoration exercise in 1991.
The tombs of his queen Zeenat Mahal, who died in 1886, and his grandchild are next to that of the Mughal ruler.
The Prime Minister also visited the legendary and spectacular 2,500 years-old Shwedagon Pagoda, which enshrines strands of Buddha's hair and other holy relics and is one of the most sacred and impressive Buddhist sites here, and offered prayers.
The Pagoda is covered with hundreds of gold plates and the top of the stupa is encrusted with 4,531 diamonds, the largest of which is a 72 carat diamond.
Singh also offered a 16-foot replica of the Sarnath Buddha on behalf of the people of India.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 20:00