Little Vishnu Found in Pokhara ! ‘Little Buddha’ missing, Nepal finds ‘Little Vishnu’ By Sudeshna Sarkar DH News Service Kathmandu: As scores of volunteers and policemen began searching the dense forest of Char Koshe Jadi in southern Nepal to locate their enigmatic ‘Little Buddha’, missing from his usual meditation site since Saturday morning, icon-hungry believers in central Nepal began building up the myth of a new ‘Little Vishnu”, hailing as divine a 14-year-old boy with severe dwarfism. As scores of volunteers and policemen began searching the dense forest of Char Koshe Jadi in southern Nepal to locate their enigmatic ‘Little Buddha’, missing from his usual meditation site since Saturday morning, icon-hungry believers in central Nepal began building up the myth of a new ‘Little Vishnu”, hailing as divine a 14-year-old boy with severe dwarfism. Till Sunday afternoon, searchers in Bara district had found no signs of Ram Bahadur Bomjan, the 16-year-old boy from Ratanpuri who made global headlines last year after he was reported to have begun meditation, like the Buddha, under a peepul tree, living without food and water for over 10 months. Believers claimed the school dropout was either the reincarnation of the Buddha or a holy Buddhist monk and had supernatural powers, including surviving snakebites twice. However, sceptics were unconvinced as the boy remained hidden from spectators from dusk to dawn when his “priests” screened him off. A team of government officials who had visited the site for a scientific investigation was not allowed by the committee to touch the boy, monitor his heart beat or take blood samples. Bomjan’s mother Maya was reported to be praying for the restoration of her son while a volunteer was reported as saying he had seen the gaunt, long-haired boy wander off on his own on early Saturday morning. The search continued even as a committee ruled out their icon’s abduction by Maoists, saying he could have gone deeper into the forest for solitude. However, even before the dust raised by the search had settled, devotees found a new icon in Pokhara city in western Nepal. Khagendra Thapa Magar, a 14-year-old boy who measures only 20 inches and weighs 4 kg, is being acclaimed as Baman Avatar, another reincarnation of Vishnu who assumed the form of a dwarf to humble a mighty king, according to mythology. The little boy’s parents, residents of Baglung district, brought him to the popular tourist town to put him up as an exhibit at the Pokhara Shopping Complex, charging curious visitors an admission fee, which they said would be used to get treatment for Khagendra. The boy has a speech impediment but is otherwise healthy and mentally alert, his parents said. The family’s arrival in Pokhara coincided with the arrival of late winter rains, bringing joy to farmers who had been fearing another drought. Some people attributed the rain to Khagendra and the legend of the ‘Little Vishnu’ began to take root. Within 48 hours, 50,000 people had queued up to catch a glimpse of the new marvel