Kathin Chibar Dan celebrated in Khagrachhari, 84,000 lamps lit at Yongd Buddhist Bihar

The Buddhist festival of Kathin Chibar Dan has been celebrated in Khagrachhari with religious solemnity and a range of rituals. A day-long programme was held on Friday at Yongd Buddhist Bihar in the town for the occasion.

Several thousand Buddhists from different upazilas of the district took part. The programme began in the morning with the taking of the Panchashil.

Buddha statue donation, Ashtaparishkar donation, Sanghadan, Kathin Chibar Dan, Kalpataru donation and Pindadan were among the rituals observed. Religious sermons began at noon.

A central attraction was the Kathin Chibar Dan itself. Under Buddhist tradition, within just 24 hours cotton is turned into thread, the thread woven into cloth, and robes for monks are made from it. The robes are then donated to the monastic community.

At 7:30pm, 84,000 lamps were lit and sky lanterns released at Yongd Buddhist Bihar. The chief guest was MP Wadud Bhuiyan, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs ministry.

Earlier, Wadud Bhuiyan visited Dharmapur Aryaban Bihar in Sadar upazila and Kalyanpur Central Maitri Buddhist Bihar in the town.

Also present at the lantern ceremony were Zila Parishad chairman Mrasa Thowai Marma, BNP general secretary and Zila Parishad member M N Absar, Yongd Buddhist Bihar management committee president Thoihlpru Chowdhury, the bihar's principal Bhaddanta Khemasara Mahasthabir and general secretary H M Prafulla, among others.

Kathin Chibar Dan was held at the same time at various Buddhist bihars across the district, including Yongd, Dharmapur Aryaban and Kalyanpur Central Maitri. The festival will continue for a month.