A slew of programmes have been organised across the country to celebrate the birthday of Lord Buddha on Vaishakh Purnima today.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi conveyed his greetings to the people on the occasion on Twitter. This post has a video showing the PM visiting different places connected with Lord Buddha.

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In the Capital, the Union Ministry of Culture along with International Buddhist Confederation, and the Himalayan Buddhist Culture Association will be observing this special day which is also called Vaisakh Purnima at the National Museum. A gathering of monks conducted puja at the Museum premises.

At Leh, the staff and students of the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies will take part in the grand celebrations being organized by Ladakh Buddhist Association and Ladakh Gonpa Association. The event is being organised at Leh’s Polo Ground and will see students perform invocation prayer or mangalacharan.

Also on display will be two tableaus, prepared by students of CIBS, depicting the birth and delivery of the First Sermon of Buddha.

At Sarnath, the Buddha Jayanti Samaroh was observed in the morning and it was followed by the release of the 63rd edition of “DHIH”, the research magazine by Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies.

At Nalanda, an ancient major centre of learning of Buddhist studies, traditional puja will be performed at the Buddha Temple by the monk-students of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara. A one-day national seminar on the topic, ‘Buddhism and Bihar” will follow this.

The Central Institute of Himalayan Culture Studies at Arunachal Pradesh’s Dahung has organised a debate competition while the Gentse Garden Rabgye Ling Monastery will hold a World Peace Prayer by its monk-students. Meanwhile, Tawang Monastery will hold a speech-cum-lecture competition on the topic, “Buddha’s Preaching, Peace and Tranquillity”.

Himachal Pradesh’s Library of Tibetan Works & Archives situated at Dharamshala is holding an Animal Consciousness Conference from May 1 and this will end today.