28 August 2014

2500th Buddha Jayanti - 24.5.1956

India commemorated the 2500th Buddha Jayanti with the two impressive stamps on the First Day Cover. A folder was also issued by the Postal Department as shown. It has two pages with the commemorative stamp on each page. I got them cancelled with the special cancellation also.

Vesākha, Wesak or Vesak, also known as Buddha Purnima and Buddha Day, is a holiday observed traditionally by Buddhists on different days inNepal, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and vthe South East Asian countries of Philippines,Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia, and other places all over the world. Sometimes informally called”Buddha’s Birthday”, it actually commemorates the birth, enlightenment (nirvana), and death (Parinirvana) of Gautam Buddha   in the Theravada or southern tradition.

The exact date of Vesak is based on the Asian lunisolar calendar and is primarily celebrated in Vaisaka month of the Buddhist Calendar and the Hindu calendar, and hence the name Vesak. In India and Nepal, which is considered the birth-country of Buddha, it is celebrated on the full moon day of theVaisakha month of the Hindu calendar, and is traditionally called Buddha Purnima, Purnima meaning the full moon day in Sanskrit. In Theravada countries following the Buddhist calendar, it falls on a full moon Uposatha day, typically in the 5th or 6th lunar month. In China and Korea, it is celebrated on the eighth day of the fourth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. The date varies from year to year in the Western Gregorian calendar, but usually falls in April or May. In leap years it may be celebrated in June.

The name of the observance is derived from the Pali term vesākha or Sanskrit vaiśākha, which is the name of the lunar month in the Hindu calendar falling in April–May (seeVaisakha). In Mahayana Buddhist traditions, the holiday is known by its Sanskrit name (Vaiśākha) and derived variants of it. 

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