KAMALIKA PIERIS

New Buddhist temples were erected in the north, during the Eelam war and after. Admiral Daya Sandagiri, then Commander Northern naval area   built Dambakola Patuna Sangamitta Vihara   at Sambilturai, in Jaffna District. The foundation   was laid in 1997, work was completed in 2005.

Several temples were built in the north after 2009. Sri Raja Maha Vihara was built at Vadduvaakal Bridge, Mullaitivu. Nayaru Rajamaha Vihara was built by 19th Gemunu Watch Battalion opposite its military camp. 643 Brigade built a large vihara visible from the outside at its base at Oddusuddan. Mankulam Sri Sugatha Viharaya, a new Buddhist temple was built in Kilinochchi adjacent to a military camp In October 2013.   Kilinochchi Security Force Headquarters helped to construct it.

Tamil Separatist Movement has angrily added to this list. Buddha viharas are coming up at Omanthai, Semmadu, Kanakarayankulam, Kilinochchi, Mankulam, Paranthan and Pooneryn, they said in 2016.

There are nine Buddha Viharas being built in Mullaitivu district alone, these Buddhist viharas were constructed after the armed conflict ended. Mullaitivu District has witnessed the military’s construction of Buddhist structures on both state and private Tamil lands, said Adaalayam Centre  in 2017.

Tamil Separatist Movement strenuously opposed the construction of Buddhist temples in the north and east. Buddhist temples have sprung up all over the North where there are NO Buddhists, complained the Tamil Separatist Movement. They are built on state land and in many instances by the army.

Tamil Peoples’ Council, headed by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran said, in 2016    that Buddha viharas are sprouting like mushrooms in areas where there are no Buddhists. The British Tamil Forum launched in 2017, a book titled Proliferation of Buddhist structures in Tamil Homeland-sowing the seeds of disharmony.”

There were 131 sites of Buddhist religious worship in the North, of which 67 were in Mullaitivu said P. Raviharan in 2018. . These were ‘unlawful’ as there were no Sinhalese living in those areas. They must be removed immediately.  

There is a tug of war going on in the north between the Buddhist and non-Buddhists regarding the new Buddhist temples built in the north. Buddhist temples in the north and east are facing   formidable opposition from the Tamil Separatist Movement. Neither side is prepared to give in.

Boralukanda Rajamaha Viharaya is located at Illuppaikulam, Trincomalee. Ancient artifacts had been found there and the chief priest had obtained permission from the Department of Buddhist Affairs to develop the site. 27 perches of land has been requested for Boralukanda Rajamaha Vihara to develop it as a sacred area.

There was Tamil opposition to this temple.  TNA leader Sampanthan wrote to President Ranil Wickremesinghe in September 2023 regarding Boralukanda.  He said that building a temple in a region where 99% of the residents are Tamil has led to unrest amongst people of the area and this could lead to undesirable consequences and unpleasant developments. In 2015, efforts were made to change the extent of land   held by the vihara, by ordering a fresh survey of the area.

Eastern Province Governor Sendhil Thondaman issued an order on August 26 2023 to Viharadhikari of Boralukanda Vihara, Ven. Sukhitha Wansatissa, to halt the construction and clearing activities going on at the temple.  He had received a phone call from a Trincomalee District MP to do so. Buddha Sasana Minister squashed the order. He said that the government did not accept the order and that the Chief priest can move back to the temple.

A group of Buddhist monks reacted strongly to the order. They marched to the District Secretariat, Trincomalee on August 28^th. They told the police, we will lie on the road if we cannot meet the Secretary and then actually lay down on the road.  We have come to meet the governor, not to kill him, they said. This was shown on television news on 28.8.23 .

They waited for two hours till the DCC meeting ended. Then they forcibly entered the meeting hall. Buddhists    on the platform stood up. Ven. Wansatissa confronted the Secretary, and said, wagging a finger, this can go far, one monk is getting ready set himself on fire. He demanded that the order be withdrawn, declared that they will not leave till then and sat down firmly on the edge of the platform, to the delight of those  inside the hall.This  also was shown on evening televisions news.

The District Secretary withdrew the order. The bhikkhus then went outside and announced that they had won. DCC meeting  ekak navathawela thamai me livuma gatthe, they said.  They read the letter out to the television  camera..

But the Tamil protests against Boralukanda continued. A protest was held in Iluppaikulam, in the same month, condemning the construction of a new Buddhist temple at Boralukanda in an area predominantly inhabited by Tamil people. The protestors wanted to know the necessity and purpose of building a Buddhist temple in a locality where there are no Sinhalese residents. This construction will spark tensions among the various communities residing in the area, they said.

 Nilaveli Police submitted a petition to the Nilaveli Magistrate court, and court issued an injunction against 14 individuals, banning them from protesting near Boralukanda Buddhist temple in Illuppaikulam. Among those barred from protesting were R. Jerome and R. Nichols from Tamil Parvai described as a ‘fundamentalist civil organization’. Krishnapillai Prasad of the Tamil People’s National Front (TNPF) Youth Wing, MPs Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Selvaraja Gajendran, and Rasamanickam Shanakiyan, as well as former Kuchchiveli Divisional Secretariat Ponniah Waithiyalingam were also named in the injunction as those banned from protesting against the Buddhist temple.

This group  then  relocated from Sambaltivu Bridge to the opposite side of the road, and continued to demonstrate. They said that 540 families, comprising 2,202 Tamils resided in Iluppaikulam and surrounding villages of Periyakulam, Aththimotai, Sambaltivu, and Salli. None of these communities have Sinhalese residents. Why was a Buddhist temple being constructed there?  One poster said North east is  our homeland .Another poster said stop Sinhala Buddhistization immediately,”

There is a Tissa Maha Viharaya   in Kankesanthurai.  It is located in the Valikamam North Government Agent Division known as Thaiyiddi  South ,also known as Sinhala Kaladdi or Uluthan Kaladdi. In the 1940s two bhikkhus, Kalutara Sheeladharatissa  and Kalutara Pannanada  had visited the Jaffna peninsula in search of ruins of the ancient Tissa Viharaya, discovered the site and built a shelter there, said Amazing.lanka.com . [1]

Tissa vihara has a deed written in 1946’,said Daily News . Galagama Arachchige Abrahim Perera of Udahamulle, Nugegoda had donated 1.25 acres of the land  owned by him at  Kaladdi to Tissa temple on 18 December 1946. Ven. Brahmanawaththe Damma Kiththi   of Nagadeepa and  Ven. Kalutara Pandithaseela Dharmatissa  of Kankesanturai were named as the purchasers of the land as well as the trustees of the Tissa temple’, said Amazing.lanka.com.

This temple land has been clearly marked in both the English and the Tamil versions in the  revised 1959 Jaffna one inch map (1:63,360) published by the Survey Department, continued  Amazing.lanka.com.  According to this map the temple  owned an area of approximately 15 acres.

The last Wesak festival celebrated there was in 1954 said Daily News . The temple was damaged during the Eelam war  and the bhikkhus chased away. When Eelam war ended Ven.  Pathakada Wimalagnana , a student of Ven. Pannanada , tried to locateTissa Vihara.  He found that the Tissa Vihara established inside the Kankesanthurai Naval Base in 1973 was not  the site of the ancient Tissa Viharaya . The correct location was at Thaiyidd,. said Amazing.lanka.com

Ven. Wimalagnana met the Tellippalai Divisional Secretary and asked for the Sinhala Kalladi land mentioned in the maps, but was told that the land would be given only to those who submitted deeds. In 1958, due to the riots, Sinhalese living around the Tissa Vihara  had  left  Jaffna  andTamils ​​are been settled in these lands with fraudulent deeds. It was reported that the temple has now less than 1 acre of the land from the original 15 acres shown on the maps, said Amazing.lanka.com 

However some of the temple land was given back and the temple was rebuilt. Ven. Bintota Nandarama  was appointed as chief priest. Tissa Vihara  was placed under the protection of the   Army  Commander, Jaffna   and the army supported the temple. Tissa vihara was repaired in 2018 with plans to construct a sanghawasa and a dharmasala, said Daily News .  ‘Katina Pooja’ was held in 2019,after absence of nearly 67 years.

The construction of a new dagoba started in 2021. The stupa was designed by the Faculty of Architecture, University of Moratuwa.  The work was done with the assistance of Jaffna Security Force HQ, Navy, Air Force and  Police.  The  corner-stone laying ceremony was in January 2021.

Relics were enshrined by General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army in the presence of  members of Tissa Temple Development Foundation, members of the armed forces, devotees and  invitees.

Tamil Separatist Movement protested. Protesters in Thaiyiddy,  have been demonstrating continuously since May 3rd,2023 calling for the removal of the Tissa Rajamaha Vihara temple, reported Tamil Guardian. The demonstrators are demanding that the temple be removed and the land surrounding the temple be returned to the 14 families who own it.

MPs M.A. Sumanthiran, S. Sritharan, T. Sitharthan, and Angajan Ramanathan joined the protest in front of the temple  They said that the temple has been constructed without permission, illegally  on occupied land. Sumanthiran  condemned the actions of Sri Lanka’s security force in protecting the Buddhist vihara which was erected without permission and encroached on the land of locals.

Many locals have joined the protest despite the continued intimidation by the Police and the Military personnel  said Tamil Guardian. protesters marched to the temple’s entrance, and  five people, including one woman, were arrested by the Palaly Police. Since then, the police have erected barricades around the temple, preventing the public from entering the area. ( CONTINUED)

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[1] https://amazinglanka.com/wp/thissa-maha-viharaya/