Shillong, May 16: The Buddhist faithful on Monday celebrated the Buddha Purnima in Buddha Temple at Polo, Shillong.

Due to the pandemic, the celebration was celebrated after a gap of two years, where a large number of devotees turned up to offer prayers. In the morning, a special prayer for ‘World Peace’ was organised by the Monks of the temple.

A good number of devotees also turned up at the Lumparing Tibetan Buddha Temple in Shillong to offer prayers.

Speaking to reporters, Shillong Buddha Temple Secretary Arup Barua said that although Buddha Purnima is an annual celebration, but this year the relevance and importance of Buddha Purnima is different because now the whole world is slowly recovering from the Covid pandemic. And during this Covid pandemic, the world learnt the importance of the words of Lord Buddha, in which he gave the message of humanity and non-violence. After that the world is again facing the brunt of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

In view of this, the importance of Lord Buddha’s message of non-violence increases and on the auspicious occasion of Buddha Purnima, people are praying to God for world peace, he said.