Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Sri Lanka on May 11-12 to attend the International Vesak Day festival, which commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha. His trip is part of India’s attempt to leverage its cultural soft power as the birthplace of Buddhism to reaffirm its influence in its Buddhist majority island neighbor at a time when China is using its economic influence to make inroads in Sri Lanka. At the center of Beijing’s efforts is its financing of mega-development projects under its signature One Belt, One Road infrastructure initiative , such as a controversial deepwater port project in the southern Sri Lankan city of Hambantota.