Asadha Poornima Dhamma Chakra Day 2021

  • India on 24th July, 2021 celebrated Asadha Poornima or Guru Poornima. Observed on full moon day in Asadha month of the Hindu calender, the Dhamma Chakra day is celebrated all over the country to commemorate the first sermon that Gautama Buddha gave to his five ascetic disciples. This day is also aptly observed as Guru Purnima by both Buddhists and Hindus as a day to mark reverence to their gurus. The day marks the establishment of the Sangha, on a full-moon day of the month of Asadha, in the Indian Sun calendar at the ‘Deer Park’, Rishipatana, now Sarnath.
  • Guru Poornima is also associated with the birth of Veda Vyasa, the author of Mahabharata. The festival is known to have been revived by Mahatma Gandhi to pay tribute to his guru Shrimad Rajchandra, a Jain poet, mystic and philosopher. This day is also popularly known as the day of the First Turning of Wheels of Dharma and is the second most important- sacred day of observance for Buddhists, after Vesak Buddha Poornima.