People belonging to Tai Budhist community celebrated Ka?hina Chivara festivals with monks, nuns, faculty and students of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (Deemed University) and community of Nalanda with two-day colourful programmes on Thursday and Friday.
As a part of the festival celebration, a national seminar on Buddhist Ecology and Vassavasa was also organised.
The event is a step towards the plan of the Central government to revive Buddhism in India.
The remarkable part of this great national event is the role played by the cultural troop consisting of 36 boys and girls from Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh and Doomdooma of Upper Assam.
Organised by Dipankar Lama, a faculty member of Tibetan Studies, who originally hails from Sikim, the event started with a procession carrying pitesha, a holy symbol of fortune, accompanied by Arunachali drummers, dancers, singers, and devotees.
Another attraction of the event was the cheevar (robe) making. Divided into seven groups, the 28 weavers from Arunachal Pradesh weaved the cloth within 24 hours, almost in one sitting.
As it is robe offering ceremony, the organiser said that the group from Arunachal Pradesh would offer it to the monks residing in Nava Nalanda Mahavira early in the morning.
Again, in the national seminar, several dignitaries including Vishwajit Kumar of the university shared his thoughts on Buddhist ecology where Ramala Sarma of Assam’s Nowgong College was an invited speaker.