The Buddhists will celebrate their second largest religious festival Prabarana Purnima across the country tomorrow (May 22) with due solemnity and traditional enthusiasm.

The festival is also known as Ashwini Purnima that marks conclusion of the three-month-long seclusion of the monks inside their monasteries for self edification and atonement of their defilement.

The Purnima follows a month-long preaching of sermons by the Buddhist monks for the welfare of every beings and the whole humankind through a month-long yellow robes offering ceremony that begins on the day after the Purnima.

According to the legend, Buddha once clipped some strands of hair from his head and said that if he was qualified to attain supreme wisdom and enlightenment, the hairs would not fall down but go up instead, in the long run which they did.

To mark this event, the Buddhists will release candle-lit air balloons made of coloured paper (fanush) and set free to flow towards the autumnal sky in the evening which is the chief attraction of the festival.

Special prayers will also be held in all monasteries seeking peace and prosperity of the nation as well as global peace.

Members of the law enforcement agencies have been deployed in and around all temples in the city and districts for smooth celebration of the festival.

BDST: 2052 HRS, MAY 21, 2024
MSK