KAMALIKA PIERIS

Tamil Seperatist Movement alleges that    there was an ancient kovil at Kurundi called Kurundumale Aadi Sivan Aiyanar Kovil.  Tamil Separatist Movement complained    on 1 July 2021, that they found the lingam   missing from the site and that a trident  had been damaged.Sivan Aiyanar Kovil Society Chief Weerasingham Kaleichelwan, told the newspaper, The Morning on 26.6.2022 that villagers had long worshipped at this kovil but they were not allowed to enter the site after the war ended.

In the same month TNA MP Sumanthiran filed a fundamental rights petition in Supreme Court saying that the Tamil devotes had been prevented from worshiping at the kovil and also that damage had been done to the kovil. A trident had been broken and thrown away.   

Santhabodhi was asked, was there any such kovil. This is a new story, he replied, but   the pilimage has been turned into a kovil.  When conservation started at Kurundi    TNA had held a puja at Kurundi and sent   photos to the media, pretending that they were old photographs.

 During the excavation an exquisitely carved octagonal Yupa Gala, the central pillar of the early stupas, was found. Tamil politicians had leapt on this discovery stating that a Siva Linga had been found at the Kurundumale site. Yupa Gal are found all over the country, they are well known, observed the amused Ven. Santhabodhi.The Tamil Separatist Movement   had also attempted to build another kovil near Kurundi in 1981.

The tussle between the Tamil Separatist Movement and the Kurundi Buddhist Movement is continuing. The attempt to enshrine relics at Kurundi in June 2023 was blocked by Tamil disruptors. The Buddhist group are seen on camera, passively standing by.  They did not proceed with the ceremony, probably because they needed a tranquil atmosphere for enshrining relics.  But it looked like a defeat for the Buddhists.

Realizing this, Pivithuru Hela Urumaya announced that a 50-member group led by its leader Udaya Gammanpila would visit the Kurundi temple. they would also visit Nedunkerni viharaya, also targeted .Shanthibodhi thera had come under tremendous pressure  after the utterances of the Presidnet. On 21.6.2023, they went to Kurundi in a large group, accompanied by the Maha Sangha. They circled the stupa, carrying flowers, chanting pirit and looking purposeful.

The Tamil Separatist Movement remained undeterred. They knew they had the President on their side. On July 7, 2023 Viharadhipathi Santhabodhi   was informed that Tamil MPs   planned to celebrate Pongal   at Kurundi.  He informed the police.  Police had asked for an order from the Magistrate to stop this. Magistrate refused.

MPs Selvarajah Gajendran and Dharmalingam Siddharthan with a large group went to Kurundi on     14.7.2023 and started pongal preparations. The police intervened and stopped the puja. The   Hindu group turned aggressive and threatened the police, who remained firm. The Hindu   group chanted prayers, smashed many coconuts, offered flowers and left.

Santhabodhi sees the Tamil opposition to Kurundi as a part of the Eelam strategy. Their interest in Kurundi is political. He stated that not only the MPs, but the Tamil officials in the area are also working toward Eelam.  At the start the villagers were friendly and sociable with us later the Tamil politicians turned them against us.  Unlike the Sinhala public, the Tamil public is very, very   scared of the Tamil officials and   politicians. They never oppose them. They obey them implicitly.

The villagers living around Kurundi are not against Kurundi conservation,  said Santhabodhi. We have no problem with the villagers.I can definitely say that we have had no clash with the villagers. They come to Kurundi. They provide   Gokkola and plantain leaves for our functions. They know a little Sinhala.  Villagers respect Buddhism.     Before there war there has been a monk resident at Kurundi .They have given Dana to him.

Government officials, army and police working in Mullativu, come to Kurundi when they are free and have a bath and a chat. Tamil boys also come. We all meet at Kurundi, said Santhabodhi.   But after Tamil Separatist Movement   came on the scene, things changed.

The pro-Tamil anti Kurundi cause   was supported in Colombo too. Spectator” writing in Talk at the café” in Sunday Times, ridiculedSarath Weerasekera. He reported that Sarath Weerasekera and a group of his supporters had      attempted to intrude into the   inquiry held by the Mullativu Magistrate at the Kurundi site. Sarath attempted to make representations   .The judge refused to accept his representation, pointing out that it was a judicial inquiry. Sarath and his group then left the scene, said Spectator.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka also publicly criticized Sarath Weerasekera on the Kurundi matter. The BASL said in a media statement, that the statement made by MP Sarath Weerasekera in Parliament, on 07 July 2023 on the Kurundi matter was an unfounded, brazen attack on the judiciary.

The Buddhist Lawyers Association, after some delay, came to the support of Weerasekera .they issued a statement saying we note with disgust that the BASL was prompt in issuing a statement with regard to a speech made by Parliamentarian Sarath Weerasekera, calling it a brazen attack on the judiciary, when he was expressing his views on Kurundi Vihara.

BASL did not respond in the same manner when MP Sumanthiran, speaking during the debate on the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution Bill in the Parliament, had stated: It’s not only the parliament that swings like a pendulum, so does the Supreme Court.  Change that Supreme Court also. Ask them to go home.”  The BASL did not complain about this said the Buddhist lawyers.  

 Sarath Weerasekera also responded. He rejected the allegation that his speech in Parliament on 07 July was a brazen attack on the judiciary. I know how to conduct myself in Parliament, he said. I think your press release was to show your solidarity with the lawyers in Mullativu. Why didn’t BASL issue a statement condemning TNA MP Sumanthiran when he in parliament, accused the Supreme Court of swinging like a pendulum, continued Sarath.

UN special rapporteur Monica Pinto submitted a paper on Sri Lankan judiciary to the UNHRC where she leveled many charges at the judiciary. The BASL has not made any statement against this derogatory report.  BASL should visit the North and observe how the Buddhist ruins are destroyed and Chaithyas razed to the ground. The archaeological officers are threatened with death. Court cases filed, with the help of Mullativu lawyers to delay renovations and then destroy what has been already done, concluded Sarath.   (Continued)