KAMALIKA PIERIS

Tamil Separatist Movement is scared that Buddhism will become popular in the north and east. That it will catch on and the Hindu population will decrease. That is one of the reasons for the strong resistance to Buddhistization.

The Hindus do not permit low castes to enter their best temples. Buddhists allow anyone to worship in any temple irrespective of caste. There is a possibility therefore that the low castes in the Hindu community may readily leave Hinduism for Buddhism in the north east, if there is a Buddhist temple nearby. Tamil Separatist Movement knows this. TNA MP Sumanthiran went to Supreme Court in August 2022, saying that the Hindu heritage would disappear because of Kurundi.[1]

Those engaged in archaeological work in the north and east have repeatedly stated that the Tamil population in the north and east are not against Buddhism .The Tamil villagers do not mind the conservation work on ancient temples. They seem to welcome the Buddhist temples.

The Department of Archaeology team, who went to the north in 2010 to look at the Buddhist ruins there, found that rehabilitated LTTE had also given them information on where the ruins were to be found.

Ven .Medhananda came on You Tube in July 2022    (Talk with Sanath channel. https://youtu.be/Tmw6767lSqA )

and stated firmly that there was no animosity on the part of the Tamil villagers, to the Buddhist ruins in the north. He was certain of this. I know because I have spoken to them. They like these viharas”.

Medhananda said he first went to see Kurundi before the Eelam war started. That would be in the late 1970s probably.  A Tamil living in a nearby village had offered to show him the way and was very helpful and friendly throughout the visit.   Api atara sahodarathvayak tibuna.

After the war ended Medhananda visited Kalvilan, a town in Mullaitivu. The Tamil villagers in Kalvilan readily helped him to locate the Kalvilan ruins.  They were very cordial and hospitable. He got on well with them. He showed photos taken with them in the You Tube discussion.  Medhananda added that the Tamil villagers were prepared to leave if the Buddhist ruins were to be conserved, provided they were given land elsewhere.

Ven. Santhabodhi also said the same thing. He too said in several YouTube presentations that he had no trouble at all from the Tamil villagers who lived around Kurundi. Relations with them were cordial. They brought him curd .He had visited them. He helped the children of these villagers with their education. The archaeology team working at Kurundi also said that they had no difficulty with the villagers. They all said that opposition to Buddhist temples came from the Tamil politicians alone.

Tamil Separatist Movement observed that expansion of Sinhala-Buddhism in the north and east is not simply religious expansion but a political, economic and geo-strategic project.  Buddhist temples were built at geo-strategic locations. The Buddhist claims to ancient sites in the Trincomalee area is of geo-strategic importance.  Transformation of geo-strategic locations into a Buddhist sacred space” is another type of post-war” activity, they said. Expansion of Sinhala Buddhism in the Tamil region is a war by other means, said Jude Lal Fernando.  

As a part of the geo-strategic project, the navy has acquired land in Mātakal in Jaffna’s Vallikamam division and naval cantonments have been constructed. Authorities are transforming the region into a sacred place”; claiming it as part of the Sinhala Buddhist heritage, said Jude Lal Fernando.

There is a newly built a large Buddhist stūpa    on the A9 road, near Mankulam junction. The place is being designed as a Buddhist monastery with the aim of bringing in monks to reside there. A plan for expansion is visible. Mankulam is the main junction between Vavuniya and Kilinochchi towns.

A sampling of the Śrī Mahā Bodhi has been planted in Kanakārayakuḷam on the A9 road between Vavuniya and Jaffna. Three roads near the Bo tree area, have been given Sinhala names—Kōsala Perērā Māvata, Anura Perērā Māvata, and Pūjya Yaṭirāvaṇa Vimala Thera Māvata. The first two are names of soldiers who took part in the war, and the last is the name of a Buddhist monk. Roads from four directions meet at Kanakārayakuḷam. Mankulam and Kaṉakārayaṉkuḷam junctions are the key business locations in Kilinochchi district.

Koneswaram and Thiruketheeswaram are the two main Hindu temples in north east. A massive Buddha statue was erected near Koneswaram Temple in Trincomalee some years ago. In 2021, a Buddhist shrine was erected by a monk on land belonging partly to the Thiruketheeswaram temple and partly to private ownership.

A large Buddha statue has been built near the Jaffna harbor making it clearly visible to the vessels that reach the shore. On the third anniversary of the final battle a Buddhist stūpa has been constructed at Muḷḷivāikkal. It had a Sinhala name board.

Buddhists are also holding Buddhist ceremonies in public in the north and east. The Bō sapling of Śrī Mahā Bodhi donated to Buddha Gaya in India was paraded throughout Jaffna peninsula accompanied by Buddhist monks with heavy military protection before it was sent to India. A stone inscription was set up in Mātakal to mark the occasion.

They organize Buddhist rituals and festivals in the Tamil region said the Tamil Separatist Movement angrily. Pirit ceremonies are organized for poya days throughout the night with loud-speakers, in strictly Hindu, Muslim or Catholic locations like   Jaffna town, Maṉṉār town, Muruṅkaṉ and Pesalai village.

The most celebrated moment of Buddhist rituals and festivals in the post-war” Tamil region was the government sponsored celebration of Vesak in May 2011 . There are no Buddhists in the North except the occupying army. But the whole of the North, from Vavuniya to Jaffna along the A-9 road, was full of colorful Vesak decorations, huge lanterns and flying Buddhist flags as if the people of the North are Buddhists. Vesak dansal had been set up in several places. All this was done by the occupying Sri Lanka armed forces and Police, as a sign of subjugation of the Tamils by the Sinhalese Buddhists, reported Jude Lal Fernando.

As part of its geo-strategic project, the Buddhist lobby is asking for more land for its strategically placed temples. There is an ongoing dispute as to the extent of land that should be given to ancient temples in the north and east. Anti-Eelamists see this as a way to take back the land and the alarmed Tamil Separatist Movement is frantically trying to get these requests squashed.

At the Eastern Province Development Committee meeting chaired by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in May 2023 it was shown that land had been given to places of worship in the Trincomalee District without any formal procedures. .A request had been made for 100 acres for the Arisimale temple and a letter issued to the monk in charge of that temple. 27 perches of land have been requested for Boralukanda Rajamaha Vihara to develop it as a sacred area.

3,065 acres requested by the Thiriyaya Temple was later reduced to 265 acres, by the Parliamentary Select Committee. Department of Archaeology made a case for Tiriyaya. Tiriyaya is on a hillock and the whole hill has to be protected not only the top. So it was necessary to declare over 600 acres of land at Tiriyaya as a protected site. Tiriyaya will require more and more land for the pilgrims rest, modern temple and other infrastructure connected with sacred area, Said the Department of Archaeology. It was decided in May 2023 to re-survey and settle the issue.

The name of the Jaffna peninsula is Nagadipa, not   Jaffna or Yalpanam. Ptolemy called the Jaffna peninsula   ‘Nagadiboy’.  Vallipuram manuscript (2 AD) of Vasabha called it Nakadiva.   A coin dated to 2 AD found at Ututturai in Tenmarachchi division of Jaffna peninsula confirms that the north was called Nagabumi, said P.Pushparatnam of the University of Jaffna.[2]

The British rulers probably transferred Nagadipa to Nainativu to eliminate Buddhism from Jaffna. Critics have repeatedly observed that Nainativu is far too small for the clash between the Chulodara and Mahodara factions.

The Buddhist lobby must ensure, as a part of its geo-strategic approach, that Jaffna is given back its original name ‘Nagadipa’.  Jaffna must   replace Nainativu in the list of   ‘solosmastana’. Jaffna must become part of the annual northern pilgrim route for Buddhists .Facilities must be provided for Buddhists to worship in Jaffna as part of the ‘solosmastana ‘pilgrimage.  Buddhists should have asked for this long ago.  (CONTINUED)

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[1] මුලතිව් ඓතිහාසික කුරුන්දි විහාරයේ ඇත්ත කතාව | Madhura TV | 2022-07- 20 

[2] P.Pushparatnam. Festschrift for Prof. S Pathmanathan. Godage  p 384