{"id":102766,"date":"2020-05-24T16:00:50","date_gmt":"2020-05-24T23:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=102766"},"modified":"2020-05-24T16:00:50","modified_gmt":"2020-05-24T23:00:50","slug":"ven-ellawala-medhananda-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/05\/24\/ven-ellawala-medhananda-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"VEN. ELLAWALA MEDHANANDA Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Ven. Ellawala Medhananda was very active politically. He took an active part in settling Sinhalese in Maduru Oya, in the 1980s, when Accelerated Mahaweli\u201d started, Gamini Dissanayake; Minister for Mahaweli had asked Ven. Medhananda to do a study of the history of the Mahaweli region. While engaged in this, Medhananda had met Ven.\u00a0 Kithalagama\u00a0 Seelalankara of\u00a0 Dimbulagala.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Kithalagama  had come to Toppigala area in 1960s.   He \ncreated the  Dimbulagala vihara\nand had   started to settle Sinhalese in\nthe surrounding  area  when the Mahaweli scheme started. Mahaweli\nscheme included the  development of Maduru Oya basin in the \nBatticaloa district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dimbulagala and Medhananda decided that the\nbest way to prevent  LTTE coming into the\nEast was to settle Sinhalese in the Maduru Oya area.    \u2018We settled the excess population from\nHingurakgoda  and Minneriya, numbering\n40,000 in Toppigala, Kunchanamalai, \nNelugala,  Atubandigala,  Vesibandigala and  Piyangala.    \nWe informed President  JR  Jayewardene that we were going to settle\nSinhalese there. JR was against this, but we \ncontinued  with the project,\nrecalled Medhananda . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The settlers were    assaulted and chased away, on JR\u2019s orders,\nby Paul Perera, said Medhananda .  UNP\nMinister Paul Perera was  the invisible\nleader of the Gampaha underworld, observed Dharman Wickremaratne. The houses of\nthe settlers were set on fire. The\nsettlers  took refuge in Dimbulagala\npasala. They were later sent to Dollar and Kent farms  where they were  killed, said \nMedhananda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sociologist Asoka Bandarage confirms this.\nVen. Kithalagama Seelalankara had  led\nthe movement to settle some    40,000\nlandless Sinahla peasants  in Maduru oya,\nshe observed. The proposed settlement of Sinhalese on Maduru oya right\nbank  came under opposition from  Tamil separatists and international donors.\nUnder their growing pressure JR ordered the forcible removal of all settlers.\nThe settlements were dismantled and the Sinhalese displaced. Subsequently\nMaduru oya and 20 other small projects were close down,  concluded Bandarage..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008, Medhananda went to courts to stop\nMuslim encroachment on to Dighavapi lands. This \nis case  no SC FR 178\/08. Ven.\nEllawala Medananda thero vs. District secretary, Ampara and others<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda was joined by other petitioners for\nthis case. They included   the Viharadhipathi\nof the Deeghavapi Raja Maha Viharaya, the President of the Dighavapi Surakeemay\nSanvidanaya, the Deeghavapi Pratisanskarana Sabhawa and other bhikkhus who,\ncoming from different Buddhist organizations, represented the interests of\npersons concerned in preserving the Deeghavapi Raja Maha Viharaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The petitioners informed court that 60\nacres of land to the south of the Dighavapi Raja Maha Viharaya was given to 500\nMuslim families without a good reason. Sinhalese who had requested land were\nnot given any. The settlement of such a large number of Muslims within  close proximity to Dighavapi Raja Maha Vihara\nwould have an adverse effect on the temple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nPetitioners submitted that the Deeghavapi Raja Maha Viharaya is one of the 16\nmost venerated sites of Buddhists in this country. They provided historical\nevidence to support their statement, including a Report of the Director General\nof Archaeology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto this report the name Deeghavapi has been used from the 2nd Century B. C. and\nthe Viharaya was constructed by King Saddhatissa in the lst century B. C.\nFurther, the Viharaya had been reconstructed by King Kirti Sri Rajasinha of the\nKandyan Kingdom in 1746. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe circumstances nothing further need to be stated as regards the sensitivity\nwhich has been affected by the impugned action from the perspective of the\nBuddhist, not only in that area but in the entire country, said Supreme Court.\nSupreme Court agreed with the petitioners that fundamental rights have been\ninfringed and allowed the application.  Medhananda had  won the case<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven.\nMedhananda   also spoke out about\nunethical conversion of Buddhists to Christianity. He had encountered this on a\nvisit to Ampara district. In 1993, Ven. Kalutara Dhammananda of Buddhangala\nmonastery, Ampara had asked Medhananda to help 46 families living in Ratugala\nvillage, situated near Wellassa, Galgamuwa. He had gone there with dry rations,\nclothes, books soap, toothpaste, coconut, medicines in July 1993. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then found\nthat Ratugala village was in the clutches of a Christian evangelistic church,\nKristiani subharanchi sabhava\u201d. The headquarter of this evangelistic church\nwas in Makandura, Gonawela. A team of three persons had come to Ratugala and\nset up a society called Jinaloka samaga subha sadaka sanvidanaya in 1990. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This team had\nestablished contact with the leaders of the village, Kaira and Gombira. Gombira\nsaid that his two children had converted and the missionaries had taken them\naway. His granddaughter was staunchly Christian and refused to speak to\nMedhananda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The evangelists had got hold of Kaira’s land\nand built a chapel on it.  They baptized\n23 children on Poson Poya day.  Before\nthe baptism, the children had been made to smash and trample Buddha statues,\nthey were given dodol to eat and told that this was the Buddha\u2019s flesh. The\nevangelists were making use of the poverty of Ratugala and other such places,\nsaid Medhananda .  (Kahatapitiya p\n357-358)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nsituation is also seen in Badulla, Moneragala, Ampara, Polonnaruwa and  Hambantota, very strongly said Medhananda,\nand at a lesser level elsewhere. He pointed\nout that to protect and preserve Buddhism, it was necessary to preserve the\nBuddhist population, not temples. What we need to look after it not the\ntemple, it is the Buddhist population. Temples came later. To look after\ntemples we need a Buddhist public\u201d, he said.  \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Medhananda was responsible for the birth\nof the Jathika Sangha Sammelanaya. Jathika Sangha Sammelanaya started under my\ndirection, said Ven. Medhananda. The first discussions were at Kuppiyawatte\nJayasekeraramaya. We met there to discuss how to combat the anti- national and\nanti-Buddhist activities that were taking place in the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Jathika\nSangha Sammelanaya (JSS) was set up as a formal organization  in 2002 in Colombo  Ven. Medhananda was appointed President. We had all island meetings and talks,\nrecalled Medhananda. We set up districts units of the JSS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda played a prominent role in all JSS\nproceedings. He addressed the Sammelanaya at its inaugural meeting. He gave the\nkey note address when the Gampaha district branch was set up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JSS was very active in 2002 and 2003. There\nwas a huge Sangha Samuluva at BMICH in September 2002. Medhananda presided. The\nJSS decided to meet the President that night itself. They went straight from\nthe   conference to meet President\nChandrika Kumaratunga and placed before her the recommendations of the\nConference. Ven. Medhananda led the \ngroup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 JSS\nheld another well attended meeting at Dharmavijaya Foundation in  2002. A second Sangha samuluva was held in\n2003 at BMICH. JSS also went to Kandy, in 2003 and there it set up Trinikaya\ncommittee   with Medhananda as President. At this meeting, JSS vowed to protect the\nunitary state.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2003 \nJSS also went to Ministry of Buddha Sasana and complained.  Buddhist ruins were being destroyed, Buddhist\nlands were in danger, unethical conversion of Buddhists was going on at a rate.\nWhat was the Ministry doing? The Minister should resign if he cannot take\naction, said JSS . JLL asked for\nmilitary protection to go and look  at\nthe Buddhist remains in North and east. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JSS was very clear as to what its\nfocus was. Its focus was    \u2018rata, jatiya\nand agama.\u2019  When rata agama, jatiya are  in danger ,it is traditional for the Sangha\nto  intervene, said JSS. The Sangha have the right to comment on all\nmatters relating to this country. In a situation  like today, it is the duty of the Sangha is\nto alert the public as to what is happening, \nthere are international conspiracies hatched to\nundermine the sovereignty and independence of Sri Lanka.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda went around the country making\nspeeches on the political situation . He addressed the meeting of  Delgamu hela \nbodu Sanvidana, held  at Degamuwa\nSri Dalada raja maha vihara, Kuruwita .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was firmly against the  Tamil Separatist Movement. He criticized the\nfour conditions put forward by Tamil Separatist Movement at Thimpu. There is no\nhistorical basis for a Tamil homeland in the north and east said Medhananda .  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He heavily \ncriticized the Ceasefire Agreement.. The\nLTTE has got strengthened as never before due to the Ceasefire agreement. What  is happening now beats everything that  Dutugemunu, \nValagamba, Dhatusena  had to face,\nhe said. But there is no one speak up on the matter.  LTTE was \nnow getting ready to get itself   \nrecognized    internationally\nusing a foreign country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda  was well informed on the Eelam issue.  Tamil nationalism was created by the British,\nhe said. He commented on Pongu Tamil movement   and noted that the LTTE had created a half\nhour time difference for the \u2018state of Eelam\u2019. LTTE went for peace talks\nwhenever it got weakened, he said.  He  also\npointed out that LTTE  were destroying\nBuddhist   monuments in north and east . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shivajilingam had said that there were now two\ncountries in Sri Lanka . Medhananda pointed out that if so, Shivajilingam  could not have arrived in Colombo as he had\ndone. Shivajilingam was able to do so, because Sri Lanka was one country. There\nis only one government and just one breakaway province, declared Medhananda . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JSS found it \nwas not getting anywhere despite its efforts. It was suggested that JSS should enter\nParliament. A new political party, Jatika Hela Urumaya, was launched for the\npurpose. Ven. Ellawala Medhananda together with Kolonnawe Sumangala  and Omalpe Sobhitha were\nfounding members.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jathika Hela Urumaya contested its first\nparliamentary election on 2 April 2004. All of its candidates were Buddhist\nmonks,  led by Ven. Medhananda. The other\nmonks entered Parliament through elections. Medhananda went to Parliament on\nthe National List. He stated later that\nhe was sent to Parliament, \u2018giya nova yavuna\u2019.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda said that he was firmly opposed to\nthe idea of a bhikkhu contesting  the\npost of President of Sri Lanka . Medhananda\nexplained his view of Bhikkhus in politics in an interview with CA\nChandraprema. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We first became politically active through\nthe Jathika Sangha Sammelanaya,\u201d he said. At a certain point, we came to the\ndecision that in order to win the war against terrorism and to put an end to\nunethical conversions, bhikkhus should be represented in Parliament. I agreed to the decision to contest\nelections only after discussing it six times, rejecting the idea and finally\nagreeing to it in the seventh round of discussions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stated very clearly that a bhikkhu whether\nin Parliament or in the temple had to remain a bhikkhu. We held large meetings\nand protest campaigns but in all such instances I ensured that the bhikkhus\nmaintained the decorum expected of them by the laity. For example we held a\nprotest in front of the British High Commission which was attended by a large\nnumber of bhikkhus all of whom behaved in a manner befitting a monk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda replied an MP who had been\nvery  critical  regarding the arrival of  bhikkhus into Parliament. Medhananda said,\nour  Parliament  has been \nmodeled on the British Parliament, but this is not England. This is a\nSinhala Bauddha rata and  JHU came into\nParliament on the Sinhala- Buddhist \nwave. JHU  has been the first to\nchallenge the English model in \nParliament.  Certainly, we do not\nstand when the Speaker comes in, but that does not mean that  we do \nnot recognize  him, Medhananda\nsaid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Medhananda made use of his period as an\nMember of Parliament,  to make lengthy\nspeeches and place certain facts on record. \nHe spoke forcefully.  At one point\nhe was asked by the Speaker whether he was taking the full 15 minutes allocated\nto the JHU. Yes, said Medhananda firmly, there is no other speaker,  only me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda drew attention to the privatizing\nof national assets. He referred to\nstoning of judges houses  and\ngarlanding  a person declared guilty in\nJ.R Jayewardene\u2019s time. But his main subject was the ethnic issue, in its\nvarious manifestations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He relentlessly attacked the Tamil Separatist\nMovement, the Eelam war and Eelam itself. The government must as soon as\npossible  defeat the LTTE, he said. He\npointed out that the basic services in the LTTE controlled areas was provided\nby the government using government funds. He criticized the merger of North and\neast.  He condemned the Millenium City\nraid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda spoke out against  a Tamil homeland. Sampur is \na historical Tamil village, said Sampanthan.  I will show you  how Tamil \nit is, replied Medhananda, with gusto, \nand  gave the documented  history of \nSampur, citing Sinhala king after Sinhala king. Medhananda \nalso said that by putting ai\u201d before  \na word, such as Wellawattai,\u201d   does not \nmake it Tamil.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda submitted a long memorandum , with\nsupporting documents, to Parliament, to be \nrecorded in Hansard. It  showed\nthe Sinhala Buddhist history of north and east. It contained detailed\ninformation on the Buddhist ruins and other archaeological remains, such\nas  tanks, irrigation channels, still\nvisible there.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda also drew attention of\nParliament  to a statement forwarded\nto  the UN Human Rights Council, Geneva\nby K Sachchitanandan   which argued that\nthe north and east belonged to the Tamils. \nHe has distorted our history, said Medhananda .  I  have\nprovided a 12 page reply to be included in Hansard. The Speaker agreed to\ninclude the statement in the Hansard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his reply \nMedhananda had taken each statement made by Sachchitanandan, and\ndemolished them one by one.  Medhananda\nsaid that there was no Sivam Senior and Sivan \nJunior ruling in Jaffna.  There\nwas only one Siva in history and that was Devanampiyatissa\u2019s father. Many of\nthe Tamil names were actually \ndistortions of  the original\nSinhala name, e.g. Mannakamam was Medagama. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda was regularly interrupted by Tamil\nMPs, especially when he spoke out against \na Tamil homeland.  Medhananda,\ncontinued undisturbed. Shout as much as\nyou wish ,said Medhananda. MP Sri Kantha said \u2018if you will allow me I will educate\nyou.\u2019 Medhananda replied \u201dSit down, It is I who is speaking. You can speak\nafter me, if you wish.  MP Shivajilingam\nwas reprimanded by the Speaker, for threatening Medhananda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda spoke strongly against the LTTE .he\nstarted by listing the villages LTTE had attacked. The LTTE had hit the\nfollowing villages and towns, Bakkiella ,Bakmitiyawa, Damminna Gonagala,\nKeenwatte, Kent farm,  Kiri ibban wewa,      Kombanachchi,  Lankapatuna, \nMangala oya, Mutur, Namalgama, Omanna, Pottuvil, Sampath town ,Sastravela,\nSeruwila, Thamalthala, Tirumangala,  \nTrikonamadu    and Villumale . LTTE\nalso attacked Hulannuge School,   and\nchased away Sinhalese from Akkaraipattu <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda  referred to a training given by LTTE to young\npersons, this was supposed to be  health training.\nDid they need guns for such a training asked Medhananda . He observed that a  LTTE  group  who had gone to Norway  to \nstudy federalism had actually been given training by Norway\u2019s Special\nForces.   He spoke against the  NGOs  in\nthe north. ZOR was one of the  NGOs that is\nhelping LTTE, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spoke favorably of standardization.\nMedhananda gave statistics of education, for all  28 districts (year was probably 2005).  He  showed that \nJaffna with 492,000 population had 33 schools ,Colombo with\n17,00,000  pop had 32. Jaffna with \n2434  (sic) pupils had 32 schools,\nColombo with  7454  (sic) had 40. Similarly, Colombo had  9301 doing science  , Jaffna had 2486, Kandy 1124, Galle 1208. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He took a strong Sinhala Buddhist line.  He said the government did not give any land\nto the Sangha for  providing houses for\ntsunami affected person, but they gave 207 acres to World Vision,  a Christian NGO. He drew attention to unethical conversion of\nBuddhist to Christianity.   He spoke of the plight of  viharas. Of the 10,200 vihara about 3000 are\nin difficulties.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spoke of Muslim assertiveness. He said that\nit was not necessary to obtain permission from Muslims, to erect a Buddha\nstatue at Pottuvil.  He spoke of a\n[Muslim] bank  where they give easy loans\nto Sinhala businessmen. Then when they fail to pay back they seize their\nproperty.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spoke of colonization schemes.  Gal oya settlements were to going into the\nhand of non-Sinhalese, he said. In 1974 7597 \nacres were allotted to settlements 1,2,3,4,7,8.  Of these 3,4, and 7 are now held by non\nSinhalese.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 At Dighavapi\n585 acres were set aside for Sinhalese. Of these settlements several are\nnow  occupied by  non-Sinhalese. The land was taken forcibly and\nhouses built. In 1996, against Sinhala Buddhist opposition, 250 acres at\nDighavapi were bulldozed  and non-Sinhalese\nwere given houses with 2 \u00bd acres each.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Akkaraipattu water scheme in 1994,  three projects were for Sinhala settlements\nbut the was reduced to one.  Eventually\nit is Akkaraipattu which will be the main town of the district not Ampara, said\nMedhananda . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda stated firmly that he did not make\nuse of  any of the perks available to\nMPs. He did not go on foreign jaunts, or  obtain land in Colombo to build a house.   His car permit he gave the JHU,  and continued to use his own old car. He did\nnot even  use  his position to improve Napawala temples. The\ndecentralized  budget he received was\nused to improve roads, electricity supply, drains  etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The money he received as a Member of\nParliament  was  used \nto help others. He was particularly keen on opening bank deposits  of Rs 1000 for  poor students \nin schools and daham pasal. The first beneficiaries were 70  pupils in Gomadiyagala village, Kurunegala\ndistrict. This was followed by schools in Dambahara gammanaya in\nMadahapola,  and Kukulega in\nKahatagasdigiliya. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also provided every child who left for\nschool from Napawala preschool, with a bank deposit. . 120 clever children from\nSiripura, Padaviya and   Weli oya  were given \nassistance including clothes..Medhananda had  also provided books to   school\nchildren, who were poor. He has also donated books to school libraries  and Pirivena libraries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had also \nhelped the poverty stricken people in the north and east. At Padavi Siripura he came across  an old woman who   had had an operation on her neck and was\nasked to attend a monthly clinic at Anuradhapura,  but she was unable to do so as she did not\nhave the money to travel there. Medhananda made arrangements to provide her\nwith the money.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda \nhelped badly off temples in north and east as well as other far flung\nplaces with monthly deposits paid into their \nbank accounts.  In 2004 he started a scheme at Siripura\nPirivena  to provide dane, pirikara and\nmoney  to these  monks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Medhananda was openly critical of Prime\nMinister Ranil Wickremesinghe. He was heavily critical of  the Ceasefire agreement which he attributed\ndirectly to Ranil Wickremesinghe \nMedhananda also noted that Ranil Wickremesinghe had got ready to\ncelebrate  the  500th anniversary o f the  arrival of the Portuguese in Sri Lanka   . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil Wickremesinghe returned the\ncompliment.  He used the car permit given\nto Medhananda as MP  to discredit him. Medhananda explained to his biographer that\nhe had collected his car permit and put in a drawer and forgot about it, The\nJHU bhikkhus has decided that they would not obtain cars nor would they\nsell  the permits.   Since the JHU kept asking for the  permit, he had, after three months,  taken it to a JHU central committee meeting\nand placed it on the table, saying \u2018here is the permit, do what you want with\nit.\u2019 He said that was the last he saw\nof the permit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil Wickremesinghe  however, thought differently. He charged that\nMedhananda had bought himself a silver, E-class Mercedes Benz car with the\npermit. Ranil Wickremesinghe   personally travelled in it  to   a  media conference held at Vidyodaya.\nMedhananda flatly  denied purchasing the\ncar and said that he had never seen it before. He knew nothing about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foreign\npress, including New York Times, pounced on this issue. The tale of the\nBuddhist monk and his shiny, new Mercedes-Benz has sparked a national drama\nthat has enthralled Sri Lanka and left many questioning the political and\nreligious ethics of the cleric’s hawkish political party, said Indian Express. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda did not last long in Parliament. In\n2010, at the party\u2019s seventh national\nconvention JHU ousted Ven. Medhananda from the post of party leader and elected Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha. JHU\nsaid Ven. Medhananda had  resigned from the post   as he needed to devote time to his archaeological research. He did not\nhave the time to engage in full time politics.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda denied\nthis. He had not told\nthe party that he wished to be relieved of leadership. At no time had he cited\ntime constraints and  said his\narchaeological work was  an obstacles to\nhis work in the party. He was unaware of what happened during the Jathika Hela\nUrumaya national convention. He was in Mullaitivu on an archaeological study at\nthe time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In  2014, Medhananda  stated that he was not in agreement with the\nJHU.The Jathika Hela Urumaya and Jathika Sangha Sammelanaya are now working\nagainst their [original] policies, he said. If the common candidate Maitripala\nSirisena wins the Presidential election, [the country will get divided.] The\nbhikkhus of the Jathika Hela Urumaya and National Bhikkhu Council who  see this looming danger will rally round\nPresident Rajapaksa[ at the next election].   (  to be continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Ven. Ellawala Medhananda was very active politically. He took an active part in settling Sinhalese in Maduru Oya, in the 1980s, when Accelerated Mahaweli\u201d started, Gamini Dissanayake; Minister for Mahaweli had asked Ven. Medhananda to do a study of the history of the Mahaweli region. While engaged in this, Medhananda had met Ven.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}