Rythms of Buddham saranam gachhami, Dharmam saranam gachhmi, Sangham saranam gachhami already rent the air at Maniabandha on Friday even before the formal celebration of the 2557th birth anniversary of Gautama Buddha on Saturday.
Maniabandha, a Buddhists-populated gram panchayat of Athagarh sub-division in Cuttack district, is all set to observe the Buddha Jayanti on the Buddha Purnima on Saturday. Residents of Sarakasahi, Suniapatna, Jaripatna, Dhanapalli, Hariharpatna, Asenisahi, Goutamnaga and other villages are busy decorating their Buddha temples with flowers and lights and washing their houses.
The Kalinga Buddha Youth Front, in association with the villagers, will observe the birthday of the lord at the temple at Suniapatna in a grand way, said front president Nilamani Swain. At the newly-constructed Buddha Vihar, several organisations will observe the 3rd Buddha Mahotsav accompanied with different cultural programmes.
In the dawn of the Purnima, different Puja rituals of the lord would be performed in the temples, after which the people will go wandering to different villages and at 8 am worshipped flags will be installed at the poles atop of the temples.
At 11 am, Dharmapada will be read out while in the evening all the lord’s images will be congregated at the Badadeula at Suniapatna for Darshan.
At 7 pm, a mass Trisaran Vandana programme will be performed and at 8 pm a Sankirtan will be organised there. At 9 pm, the villagers will go round their villages followed by holding of cultural shows arranged by the village committees.
The organisers informed that the Buddha Jayanti functions would be held for two days, Saturday and Sunday, while the Buddha Mahotsav would be organised for three days.
local MlA and Minister Debi Prasad Mishra is overseeing the preparations for the functions which many dignitaries are expected to attend.