‘Buddhism on Stamps’ unique telling of Gautham Buddha’s story with philatelic materials wins accolades
Morung Express News
Dimapur | October 2
In 2014, M Lokeswara Rao the former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force (PCCF & HoFF), Nagaland took up painting Buddha as a “stress-relieving hobby."
It later turned to stamp collection and his fascination has put his ‘stamp’ on Buddhism by unique telling of Gautham Buddha’s story with philatelic materials.
Rao’s book 'Buddhism on Stamps’ has been winning accolades across the world and has reportedly broken records, after it was released in January, 2021.
“I took to painting Buddha in 2014 as a stress-relieving hobby. Two years later, when I retired, I started the stamp collection. I am not a Buddhist but I like the teachings of Buddha because they are about peace and nature,” he then told The Hindu.
The self-published book has set the Asia Book of Record and India book of Record for “maximum Philatelic materials used to narrate the story of Gautama Buddha” as per record provided by the author.
It was also accorded a Large Silver award in Great American Stamp Show, 2021 held in Chicago from August 12-15 as well as an American Topical Association (ATA) Study Unit Journal Award.
Later, it won a Large Silver at the Phila Nippon 2021, the 37th Asian International Stamp Exhibition, held in Tokyo from August 25-30.
According to Rao, the book focused on how different philatelic materials can narrate the story of Gautam Buddha.
Different available philatelic material like Stamps, stamp blocks, 3D stamps, Silk stamps, Se-tenant, FDC, Miniature Sheets, Souvenir Sheets, Maxim Cards, Post Cards, covers, gutter, booklets, errors, proofs etc are included from different countries of the World, he informed.
It includes explanation of the individual philatelic items in a temporal sequence and 1127 philatelic materials used to narrate the story of Buddha, he added.
With foreword by Chief Postmaster General Karnataka circle, Bangalore, the book is divided into 22 chapters dwelling on different aspects of Buddha’s life, Buddhism in different parts of the world, world Peace and so on.
Relevance of Buddhism
Talking about the book, Rao said that Buddhism, one of the “major religions in the world and Second largest spiritual path practiced by an estimated 1.6 billion people” began in India “around 2,500 years ago in India when Siddhartha Gautama discovered how to bring happiness into the world.”
Edwin Arnold has fittingly called Gautama Buddha the “Light of Asia” Wisdom of the world, he said.
The former Conservator stated “Nature is never absent from the four main events of the Buddha’s life: birth, Enlightenment, First Sermon and death,” and thereby his fascination, though he is not a Buddhist.
Buddha’s message clearly says that caring for nature must go hand in hand with respect for fellow human beings.
Buddhism is relevant to the present world because of the environment crisis we are facing at present and we are heading towards mass extinction of species, he said.
We live in an age of conflict and war, of hatred and violence all over the world. Mahatma Gandhi has followed the teaching of Buddha and practiced and preached “Ahimsa Parmo Dharma” (Non violence is the highest religious principle. Non violence is the Best policy). Through The Buddha I am symbolising peace that everyone needs in today’s world,” he added.
The book will be useful to the people from all walks of life including academicians, philatelists, researchers, followers of Buddhism, Environmentalists, students etc and can also be used as a coffee table book and a reference book, the author added.
Details of the Book
Cover: Paper back
Author and Publisher: M Lokeswara Rao IFS
ISBN: 9789354266447
Pages: 290 (Throughout color illustrations)
Philatelic materials used: 1127
Color images: 1127
