Bihar poors embrace Buddhism

About 100 children belonging to downtrodden, poor families embraced Buddhism in Bihar and vowed to spread the message of Buddha.

All the children who included 77 boys and 15 girls hail from various villages in central Bihar’s Nalanda district where Buddha is believed to have stayed for some months after attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya.

The children “liberated” themselves from the age-old caste system amid chanting of holy Buddhist texts by a priest of local Thai temple Dr Fan.

Most of the children embracing Buddhist on Tuesday were enrolled in the local Thinjkad Public School being run by the Thai temple in Nalanda.

Nalanda has considerable historic significance as it was at this place that the first Buddist Council was held after Buddha attained enlightenment.