Asalha Puja: All you want to know about the Buddhist festival

Asalha Puja also known as Asadha Puja or Dhamma Day is an important Buddhist festival. It is being celebrated on July 13 this year. Know all about it.

Asalha Puja also known as Asadha Puja or Dhamma Day is an important Theravada Buddhist festival that falls on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month and celebrates Buddha's first sermon in Deer Park at Sarnath, 10 km away from Varanasi, after his enlightenment. This year Asalha Puja is being observed on July 13.

After spending seven weeks in the bliss of emancipation post his enlightenment, Buddha was in a fix about passing his knowledge to the humans considering it was too deep and profound for a common person's understanding. Brahmā Sahāmpati, a deity from the Brahma world, encouraged and convinced Buddha to spread the knowledge of Dhamma to the humans. Buddha then resolved to teach his supreme knowledge to the world.

Asalha Puja is the day when Buddha chose his first disciple Kondanna who was also ordained as the first Buddhist monk. The day commemorates the first sermon delivered by Buddha after his enlightenment to the five ascetics at a forest near Varanasi. Also, during the month of Asalha, Buddha and his wife princess Yasodhara's son Rahula was born. It was after his birth that Buddha renounced the world and set on the path of spiritual enlightenment.

The day is observed by making donations to the temple and listening to the sermons of Lord Buddha.