Maya plans big Buddha Purnima festivities

[1]

UP chief minister Mayawati is gearing up to promote and propagate the Buddhist faith in a big way. For the first time, Ms Mayawati will be celebrating Buddha Purnima, which falls on May 27, in a big way.

Buddha Purnima, which marks the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha and also the day of his enlightenment, is held on the full moon night of the Hindi month of Baisakh and the biggest congregation of Buddhists is witnessed on this day at Bodh Gaya in Bihar.
A grand function is being planned at the newly constructed “Bauddh Vihar Shanti Upvan” that has quadrilateral statutes of Lord Buddha, flanked by similar statues of late Kanshi Ram and Ms Mayawati.
“The function will be marked by a ‘subdued grandeur’. Buddhist monks will hold a prayer meeting in the presence of the chief minister and sermons of Lord Buddha will also be recited. All the Buddha statues in the state capital will be illuminated and bedecked with flowers,” said a senior party functionary. In 2006, Ms Mayawati had declared that she would follow the Buddhist path and all the post-death rituals of late Kanshi Ram were carried out according to Buddhist traditions. She had said that B.R. Ambedkar had converted to Buddhism which was devoid of the caste system and treated everyone equally and with respect.
If party sources are to be believed, Ms Mayawati deliberately decided to keep the celebrations on a low key on May 13, when she completed three years in office, merely because she wanted to concentrate on the Buddha Purnima celebrations.
A senior Buddhist monk in the state capital, meanwhile, said, “We have been asked to plan out the function and follow the Buddhist traditions on the occasion. This is probably the first time that any chief minister is organising a Buddhist function on a magnificent scale. This will surely help in attracting attention towards Buddhism and may even encourage people to adopt the faith.”
According to sources, the chief minister also plans release a booklet highlighting the various aspects of Buddhism, why Ambedkar chose to adopt the faith and why Kanshi Ram and she also decided to follow Buddhist principles. The booklet will also explain Ms Mayawati’s own tryst with Buddhism and is designed for mass circulation among dalits. This, incidentally, is the first time that the she will be publicly participating in a religious and spiritual function. She has, all along, shunned being identified with any religion and had, earlier, even made some disparaging remarks about Hindu gods.