Three-day Poy-Lang festival begins in Assam's Charaideo

Charaideo (Assam) [India], February 4 (ANI): The three-day Poy-Lang festival, organised under the initiative of Shyam Gaon Buddhist Monastery, began in the fields near the Buddhist Monastery of Chalapathar in Charaideo district on Saturday.
The three-day Poy-Leng festival, organised in accordance with the customs and traditions of Buddhism, is being celebrated in honour of the late Shasanbansh Mahathera Vante.
For more than 40 years, Shasanbansh Mahathera Vante had been a Buddhist monk in Shyam Gaon Buddhist Monastery.
Shasanbansh Mahathera died on August 23, 2023, at the Buddhist Monastery in Chalapatha.
The festival is celebrated mainly by pulling specially designed chariots in which the bodies of outgoing Buddhist monks are kept. At the end of the three-day festival, the chariot will be set on fire, which will put an end to the rath yatra of the late monk.
It is to be noted that when a Buddhist monk who has spent more than 40 years in a holy Buddhist monastery dies, his body is not immediately cremated or buried. The body of the monk is stuffed in a coffin for seven to eight months in a traditional and scientific manner and stored in a house called 'Nick Paan Kong'. After this, the festival of 'Poy Lang' is organised, and the said coffin is installed in the chariot.
After paying their last respects to the monk in that chariot, the people present pulled the chariot from both sides like ropes. This act is considered to be an act of virtue and is believed to bring satisfaction to the dead monk.
It is worth mentioning that thousands of people have gathered at the festival venue to participate in this rathotsav of the renowned religious leader of North East India and recipient of the Anandaram Baruah Award, Palibhasha, Buddhist-religion scholar, litterateur, and educationist Dharmaratna Shasavansh Mahather Bhante.
Piycheng Chawlo, one of the organisers of the festival, told ANI that the Poy Lang festival is being celebrated due to the death of Dr. Sasavansh Mahathera. On the first day this morning, the Buddhist flag was hoisted, and the body of Mahathar Vante was placed in the chariot.
The organising committee expressed hope that the festival will be held today for three days, irrespective of the Buddhist people of North East India as well as caste and religion. Guests from South Korea, Thailand, Myanmar, and China will attend the event. (ANI)