Ramayana Trails -Sri Lanka
Posted on April 29th, 2024
Vichara.
( ලංකාපුවත්) – ලෝකයේ අති නවීන තාක්ෂණික හා සංචාරක ක්‍රමවේදයන් සමගින් ‘ශ්‍රී රාමායන් ට්‍රේල්ස් ශ්‍රී ලංකා’ (‘ශ්‍රී රාමායණ මංපෙත්’- Shree Ramayan Trails sri Lanka) ව්‍යාපෘතිය කොළඹ ටාජ් සමුද්‍රා හෝටල් පරිශ්‍රයේදී පසුගියදා(21) නිල වශයෙන් ආරම්භ කරනු ලැබිය.
ඉන්දු ශ්‍රී ලංකා අධ්‍යාත්මික සම්බන්ධතාවයේ සහ සංස්කෘතික පුනර්ජීවනයේ නව යුගයක් ආරම්භ කිරීමට අඩිතාලම දමමින් මෙරට සංචාරක ක්ෂේත්‍රයේත් සංස්කෘතික හා අධ්‍යාත්මික ක්ෂේත්‍රයේත් සුවිශේෂී සිදුවීමක් සිදු වන ඓතිහාසික දිනයක් ලෙසින් මෙම දිනය ඉතිහාසයට එකතු වනු ඇති බව අතිඋතුම් ස්වාමි ගෝවින්ද් දේව් ගිරි මහාරාජ් හිමියන් ටාජ් සමුද්‍රා හි ඊයේ (21) පැවති විශේෂ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී සඳහන් කළේය. මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 50කට අධික ආයෝජනයකි.
There is no doubt that this project will give a boost to Indian tourism in Sri Lanka. Rmayanaya is a living legend among the Hindus and Rama is their most popular deity. Historically the dominance of the Hindu culture was so strong it was able to supress the then pervasive Asokan culture based on Buddhism. Prime Minister Nehru once said that Buddhism is the greatest gift to the world from India. But it did not take much time for this gift to decline in India and has not revived even today with a more enlightened milieu. Rama heritage has been weaponized and made a political tool by the present BJP government. The destruction of the Ayodya Mosque and bulding on the same site a massive Rama Mandhir demonstrate the strength of the Rama legend and the Hindu culture.
The two children of Emporor Asoka, Arhath Mahida and Theri Sangamittha brought not only Buddhism to SL, but also the Mauryan arts, crafts and culture. Based on this precious amalgam and enriched by the prevailing local culture, a Sinhala Buddist Civilization (SBC) was founded in this country over 2000 years back. Since then despite violent incursions from South India during the early history and the pervasive spritual and cultural violations by Western invaders in modern history, SBC has grown from strength to strength. This was achieved with boundless sacrifice by the Sinhala nation.
The objective of the Rama Trails Project to lay the foundation for ඉන්දු ශ්‍රී ලංකා අධ්‍යාත්මික සම්බන්ධතාවයේ සහ සංස්කෘතික පුනර්ජීවනයේ නව යුගයක් is disturbing.This could well mean the supression of the present Sinhala Buddhist Culure and its replacement with the Hindu Brahmanic culture of India. It will be useful to examine the experience of Nepal which was historically a Buddhist Kingdom became the only Hindu Kingdom in the world.
There is already a growing Indian dominance in the economy of Sri Lanka. Indian tourists form the highest number of tourists visiting Sri Lanka. It is expected this will increase sharply due to the prevailing poor relationship between Maldive Islands and India. The deep interest of India in sharing the benefits of tourism in Sri Lanka is demonstrated in the new Indian investment in the massive ITC Hotel Ratnadipa in Galle Face. Tourism has the potential to become the top foreign exchange earner and is capable of making a significant impact on the development of the country. But no economic activity, however important, should be supported at the expense of the nations Sinhala Buddhist civilizational fundamentals.
A cynic said that Rama trails should not become a Hanuman tail.
Vichara.