RUPANDEHI, MAY 15

Preparations for the 2,566th Buddha Jayanti and Lumbini Day have been completed. Buddha Jayanti is celebrated every year on the full moon day of Baisakh Shukla by organising various programmes in Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha.

Member-secretary of Lumbini Development Trust Sanuraja Shakya said preparations for the Buddha Jayanti programme had been completed. Lumbini has been specially decorated this time compared to previous years, as it is being observed after a couple of years due to the coronavirus pandemic An international Buddhist assembly hall and meditation centre in Lumbini is also scheduled to be inaugurated on Buddha Jayanti. The meeting hall with state-of-the-art facilities has been completed in four years. The hall will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

According to Saroj Bhattarai, planning chief of Lumbini Development Trust, the total cost of the meeting hall is around Rs 740 million.

Treasurer of the Trust and coordinator of the publicity sub-committee Dhundi Raj Bhattarai informed that a special programme would be held for four days at Tilaurakot of Devadaha and Kapilvastu on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti. According to him, a special programme will be held at Ramgram of Nawalparasi today on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti and Lumbini Day. A special Buddha Jayanti celebration will be held in Lumbini on May 16. Programme will be held in Tilaurakot of Kapilvastu on May 17 and 18.

As per Buddhist scriptures, Siddhartha Gautama was born on the day of Baisakh Purnima in 623 BC, when Queen Mayadevi, wife of King Suddhodana of Kapilvastu gave birth at Lumbini Garden on her way to her mother's home in Devdaha.

A version of this article appears in the print on May 16, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.