Buddha Jayanti commemorates the day on which the Buddha was born, attained enlightenment and died. The day falls on the full moon day in the Nepali month of Baishakh. Buddhists throughout the world celebrate the day paying obeisance to the Buddha.[break]
Devotees especially throng Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Rishi Pattan and Kushinagar on this day taking these places as the four major pilgrimage sites for the Buddhists. Lumbini is where the Buddha was born, Bodhgaya is the place where he attained enlightenment, Rishipattan is the place from where he started to make sermons and Kushinagar is the place where he died.
The government first declared Buddha Jayanti as a public holiday on May 22, 1951 and banned animal sacrifices on this day in Lumbini since February 19, 1956.
The United Nations has also been observing the day of Buddha Jayanti as a public holiday at its various bodies since 2002.
Chairman of the Council of Ministers Khil Raj Regmi is scheduled to attend separate congregations to be organized at Anandakuti Vihar at Swayambhu in Kathmandu and at Lumbini today.
It is said so far the largest number of books published are on Buddhism or related to it. Some of the famous among them are ´The Light of Asia (published in 1879)´ by Sir Edwin Arnold, the then editor of The Telegraph, ´Buddha and His Dhamma (published in 1957)´ by Dr BR Ambedkar, then chairman of the constitution drafting committee of India, and ´Siddhartha´ a novel penned by German writer Herman Hesse, who won a Nobel Prize in literature in 1946.
Buddhism is taught as a discipline in world-famous universities as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard etc. Tribhuvan University (TU) has also been providing courses on Buddhism at the Masters Level.
Buddha´s precepts should be internalized as guidelines in subjects like economics, medical science, political science etc. which are needed for social progress rather than taking them as a ´religion´, according to modern view.
It is said that the Buddha gave religious sermons 84 thousand times in his life, which are codified in such scriptures as Vinaya, Sutta, Abhidhamma and Tripitak, among others.
This year marks 108 years of the discovery of what is called the Ashoka Pillar in Lumbini established by then Emperor Ashoka in 249 B.C. It is clearly stated in the Pali language inscriptions on this pillar that the Buddha was born at Lumbini.
The then Commander General Khadga Shumsher Rana saw this pillar while on a hunting trip in the Lumbini area in 1896 and this pillar was studied and officially recognized through joint study carried out with archaeologist Dr. Furer.
The extensive development of Lumbini was initiated with the visit of then UN Secretary General U Thant in 1967.
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