Feature
Know significance and auspicious timings of Lord Buddha festival
The most sacred Buddhist festival Buddha Purnima also known as Buddha Jayanti is a day which celebrates birthday of Lord Buddha. It will be the 2,581st birth anniversary of Lord Buddha.
This is observed to pay tribute to his enlightenment and death. As indicated in scriptures he is the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Buddhists Lumbini a part of Nepal now is birth place of Lord Buddha.
With name Siddhartha Gautama, he was born as a prince into a royal family sometime in the 5th or 6th century BC. Although he left his family at the age of 29 and began seek for englightment after experience of human suffering outside his palace.
In state of Bihar, he was enlightened at Bodhgaya and mostly lived and taught in eastern India and passed away at the age of 80 at Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh.
Buddha Jayanti is held on a full moon in late April or May each year. In 2019, Buddha Jayanti falls on May 18 in India.
Read about auspicious time for celebration of Lord Buddha festival:
Auspicious timing:
Purnima Starting time: 18th May 2019 morning 04:10 am
Purnima end time: 19th May 2019 morning 02:41pm
Where is the Festival Celebrated?
At the various Buddhist sites across India, particularly at Bodhgaya and Sarnath (near Varanasi, where Buddha gave his first sermon), and Kushinagar. Festival is also celebrated in Buddha Jayanti Park, Delhi and are widespread in Buddhist regions such as Sikkim, Ladak, Arunachal Pradesh, and north Bengal (Kalimpong, Darjeeling, and Kurseong) as well.
How is the Festival Celebrated?
Activities include prayer meets, sermons and religious discourses, recitation of Buddhist scriptures, group meditation, processions, and worship of the statue of Buddha.
Temple with festive look decorated with colorful flags and flowers. Special prayers are organized under the Bodhi Tree (the tree under which Lord Buddha attained enlightenment).
A large fair takes place in Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh.
The National Museum in Delhi also brings mortal remains of Buddha (what are believed to be some of his bones and ashes) out for public viewing on Buddha Jayanti.
In Sikkim, the festival is celebrated as Saga Dawa. In Gangtok, a procession of monks carries the holy book from Tsuklakhang Palace Monastery around town.
It’s accompanied by the blowing of horns, beating of drums, and burning of incense.
What Rituals were Performed During the Festival?
Many Buddhists visit temples on Buddha Jayanti to listen to monks give talks and recite ancient verses.
The statue is placed in a basin filled with water and decorated with flowers. Visitors to the temple pour water over the statue and are worshiped by offerings of incense, flowers, candles and fruit. This symbolizes a pure and new beginning.
The usual dress is pure white. Non-vegetarian food is normally avoided. Kheer, sweet rice porridge is also commonly served to recall the story of Sujata, a maiden who offered the Buddha a bowl of milk porridge.
Buddha Jayanti is an extremely peaceful and uplifting occasion.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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