So-called Buddha Boy a hit in Nepal

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Hundreds have flocked to the Nepalese village of Ratanpuri to visit the so-called Buddha Boy, the alleged reincarnation of the Lord Buddha, an official says.

Police officer Prakash Sen said the 17-year-old boy, Ram Bahadur Bamjan, spoke to those assembled at a Ratanpuri temple this week in a near festival-like atmosphere, (Britain's) The Independent said Tuesday.

"Hundreds of devotees, including many from neighboring India are trekking the five kilometers (3.1 miles) to see him," Sen said of Monday's assembly. "He spoke to the devotees standing near a temple in the forest."

The Times of London said Bamjan first gained notoriety in 2005 after he allegedly sat on a tree's roots for 10 months without food or water.

Despite such alleged accomplishments, there are some who have doubted the authenticity of the Buddha Boy.

"Meditating without food does not prove that he is reincarnation of Buddha. There is much study needed to be done," Min Bahadur Shakya of the Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods told The Times.