Bangladesh: Indigenous Buddhist will not celebrate Kathin Chibar Dan festival for security concerns

Molly Barua

Citing the existing situation and insecurity in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) , the indigenous Buddhist monks announced not to celebrate Kathin Chibar Dan, one of the largest annual religious festivals of the Buddhist community in
in CHT, Bangladesh this year.

This announcement was made at Maitri Bouddha Vihar in Rangamati hill district on Sunday afternoon.

The Kathin Chibar Dan festival is scheduled to be held in CHT from the first week of next November.

In the press conference, the Buddhist monks alleged that the incidents of violence in CHT were with the direct and indirect cooperation of law enforcement agencies.

So far, none of the communal attacks have been prosecuted while Investigation committees were formed in these incidents which did not see the light of day, the Buddhist monks alleged.

Following the such insecurity and uncertainty, Shraddhalankar Mahathero, President of Parbatya Bhikshu Sangha, announced that no Kathin Chibar Dan will be held in any temple of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).

In a written statement the monk also said that between 18 and 20 September and 1 October, hundreds of shops from the indigenous communities were vandalized, looted and set on fire in Khagrachari and Rangamati hill district by settlers following the communal attack while four indigenous people including student were brutally killed.

At this time, Buddha statues were vandalized and donation boxes were looted in various Buddhist temples.

Kathin Chibar Dan is an annual religious festival during which Buddhist devotees offer to monks “Dan” robes or “Chibar” which are made of cotton and weaved by the devotees overnight, hence the word “Kathin” or difficult is associated with it.

Bishakha, a nurse of Goutama Buddha, introduced the festival about 2,500 years ago.

It marks the conclusion of a three-month seclusion of monks who meditate inside their monasteries for self-edification and atonement for mankind and is preceded by another festival, Probarona Purnima, characterised by the release of sky lanterns.