Today is Buddha Purnima or Buddha Jayanti, which is a sacred festival of Buddhist people to celebrate the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha. The festival is of great significance to Nepalese people as Lord Gautam Buddha was born here in Nepal in Lumbini. I visited Boudhanath Stupa yesterday with my wife and it was her first time seeing the huge stupa. There were huge flocks of people visiting the stupa from local people to international tourists from different parts of the world. The festival is celebrated in Nepal, Sri Lanka, and many other south east Asian countries like Thailand, Myanmar, and so on. It is worth mentioning that the Boudhanath stupa is also a holy place for Hindu people as well.
The giant spherical dome-shaped stupa was thought to have been built around 6th century. It was built to house sacred relics and preserve other important things central to Buddhism. There is a belief that this stupa is a wish fulfilling stupa as wishes are known to come true after praying here. The bottom of the stupa is known as the base and it signifies the earth, the dome signifies the water, and inside here is a preserved sacred relic. The thirteen steps spire in triangular shape represents Bodhisattva's thirteen steps to Nirvana. And the triangular structure itself represents the element of fire.
The colored prayer flags can be seen waving in the stupa. The flag consists of mantras written in Tibetan. Five colors used in the flag have their own symbolic meaning and are kept in a specific order. Blue symbolizes the earth, white symbolizes the air, red symbolizes the power of fire, green symbolizes the water and yellow symbolizes the earth. At the center of the stupa is the eyes of Lord Buddha watching in all directions. Each side consists of two eyes of Buddha. Due to its religious significance, the stupa was enlisted in UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1979.
Around the vicinity of Boudhanath Stupa, one can see beautiful and old Tibetan monasteries, tourists shop like Thangka painting shop, Buddhist clothes shop and restaurants that offer typical Buddhism dishes. Monks in red dress can be seen circling around the stupa praying and singing a melodious songs. There are a total of 108 Buddhist prayer drum or wheel enclosed in a circular shape outside the stupa.