{"id":103153,"date":"2020-06-03T16:14:53","date_gmt":"2020-06-03T23:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=103153"},"modified":"2020-07-03T15:04:13","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T22:04:13","slug":"ven-ellawala-medhananda-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/06\/03\/ven-ellawala-medhananda-part-5\/","title":{"rendered":"VEN. ELLAWALA MEDHANANDA Part 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Revised 22.6.20<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda told his biographer that he had\nthought, when listening to lectures at Vidyodaya, as a student, that it\nwould-be good to investigate some of the things   mentioned in the Mahavamsa. He had joined a\nVidyodaya archaeological trip to look at Neelagiri seya. Ven. \nHandupelpola Punnaratana, who was teaching at Vidyodaya, had drawn\nattention to this seya. It was this\nexploration under the leadership of Gunapala Senadheera that inspired me to do\nmy own archaeological work, said Medhananda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Vidyodaya launched its own journal, in\n1960, Medhananda had contributed an essay  \non \u2018Some of the kings not mentioned in the Mahavamsa\u2019. He was asked to\ncontribute to the next issue. He then wrote Mahavamsa katuvarun nodutu Sinhala\nrajadhani\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This essay had come to the attention of many. Ven. \nHandupelpola Punnaratana had praised it to Vice Chancellor Weliwitiye\nSoratha  and arranged for Medhananda to\nmeet the VC. Medhananda had said then that he wished to explore undiscovered\nareas in our history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A group of Vidyodaya students had gone on an\narchaeological visit to Rajagala and brought back an inscription they had\ncopied there.  Medhananda   was interested, because he had read an essay\nin the University of Ceylon Review, which said that the remains of Arhat\nMahinda were at Rajagala.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda tried hard to get a copy of the\ninscription from the leader of the expedition but that person dodged giving him\na copy. So Medhananda went on his own\nto Rajagala, with two others from Napawela. The date is not given. At Bakkiela\nhe made contact with persons who had previously lived in Napawala. Some youths\nform Bakkiela also joined Medhananda. They took provisions and left from\nBakkiella vihara. Medhananda managed to\nfind the inscription. They were in letters six inches high. He copied it by\nhand. The inscription said \u2018this is the\nstupa of Mahinda and Iththiya.\u2019  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the start of Ven. Medhananda\u2019\nexploration of Buddhist archaeological sites. As at 2007, Medhananda has\nvisited a total of 369 archaeological sites    , situated mainly in Northern, Eastern,\nSabaragamuwa and Uva provinces. Medhananda has visited  77 sites in Ampara and Batticaloa, 64 sites\nin Ratnapura district,   53 sites in\nMoneragala  , 40 sites in  Kurunegala \n, 26  in  Anuradhapura, 18  in \nPolonnaruwa,    17  in Kegalle , \n16 in  Trincomalee ,  12 in \nVavuniya and Mullaitivu ,  12 in\nBadulla  , 12 in Hambantota, 10 in  Matale, 9 in \nPuttalam and  3 in Jaffna . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spend 8 days exploring in  the Toppigala jungles. Toppigala  area has \n150 archaeological  sites. All\nhillsides around Toppigala, such as Motagala, Vesibandagala,  Atubandagala, Varakamulla,  Kunchinamalai,  Devinigala, \nand Kavinigala  had vihara on\nthem. Some had inscriptions too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kudimbigala, Veheragoda,\nPanama all have Buddhist ruins. These areas \nare watered by Kudimbigal Ara,         \nHalava oya,  Vil oya,  Heda oya. at Kudimbigala, there are Buddhist\nruins for at least     600 acres. Numerous stupas can be seen today, on the\nrocks  . The  cave architecture of Kudimbigala is  astounding. They were placed on top of each\nother for 100 acres or so. Medhananda had found ten more inscriptions at\nKudimbigala, to add to those found by Paranavitana. Medhananda found that the ruins at\nBuddanehela  Raja Maha Vihara, Vavuniya\nare fast   deteriorating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda\u2019s explorations were solo efforts.\nThey consisted of personal examination of archaeological ruins, with particular\nreference to Buddhist ruins and rock inscriptions. He never attempted to do an\narchaeological dig. He said he had neither the permission, the equipment nor\npersonnel to do so.  \u2018I did not upset any archaeological\nitem I looked at,\u2019 he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda said that he did his archaeological\nexplorations at his own expense.  I went\non my own money with a couple of others to assist. I am the only person who had\ndone this, said Medhananda. He has not\nused any equipment, not even binoculars, or a good camera to take photos, only\na small camera which could take just 12  \nphotos per film roll. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has copied all the inscriptions by hand. He seems to have done this by himself,\nwithout any assistance. There is no record of anybody else copying them for him.\nMost inscriptions are below the drip ledge but Medhananda found quite a few\nabove the drip ledge,  such as the\ninscription at Budupetun kanda. Letters that were not cut deep enough got\nerased over time, those cut deep have lasted, he observed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda tried to cover as many sites as\npossible on one trip.  It took him eight\ndays to go on an exploration from Batticaloa via Bibile, to Maha oya-\nOmunugala- Kusalana kanda- Kasimottai- Kadurupetana malai- Atubandagala- Vasi\nbandagala- Narakamulla- Motagala \u2013 Toppigala- Vadumune- Manampitiya to Valachchenai.\nThe jungles encountered on this trip were extremely dense, difficult and\nhazardous, said Medhananda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Omunugala, on another occasion, he went\nto  Kunchinamalai, Kusalanakanda,  Kadulupotanamalai, Lavini aru ending at  Dambaliyaddegala. On another trip , he went from Pottuvil-\nPanama- Kudimbigala- Bambaragastalawa- Lenama- Budubava  to \nNalitta. He was at Kudumbigala for a week then Bambaragastalawa where he\nspent the  night in a cave.  On yet another occasion he went from\nKudimbigala, to Budubava,  Neelagiriya\nand  Naliththa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lack of access  roads did not deter him.<\/strong> He was told that Kirimakulugolle, at   Diyainne , Balangoda had an inscription, but\nthere was no road to the place. Medhananda went. He was told that there was no\nway of getting to Namalu  archaeological\nsite. (Ampara-Moneragala boundary- Heda oya- Namalu.) He visited the place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda has gone into dense forest, endured\nhardship, faced danger, to locate ancient monasteries and find new inscriptions. The explorations  seem to have been done with no advance preparation.\nThey decided as they went. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saman gala trip was very scary, recalled Medhananda.\nSaman gala  was surrounded for  miles by deep forest  with\nwild  elephants, leopard, and bears. He was advised not to go late evening\nas there were wild animals in the area. However, the team got to the take off point around\n6.45 pm. They were lumbered with provisions, such as rice and coconuts. They\nhad missed the bus they were planning to take.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They decided to\ngo in on their own though they did not know the route and did not know the\ncorrect turning. There were turn offs everywhere, could hear\nwild animals cries all round. They  went deep into the jungle, following  a footpath made by those  searching for firewood. They followed that for\nabout 1 \u00bd miles  and then after\ntravelling about 5 miles altogether  arrived\nat Saman gala forest monastery at 11 pm. There was just one monk there,\nliving alone. He was connected to the Buddhangala monastery. They were informed that a few minutes ago a\nleopard had gone by. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Neelagiri trip was equally  challenging. Medhananda and team started out\nat 6 pm to explore Neelagiri.  They did\nnot know the route but they had a guide. We\nhad to go through dense forest  which was\nhome to wild animals. We  could see that elephants had gone ahead,  from their droppings.   We pressed on as we wished to see the ruins.\nThe hill was very steep and sheer.  A\nvery difficult climb but we made it to the top, holding on to small bushes and\ntrees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Omunugala \nin Maha oya area  was an usually difficult trip, recalled\nMedhananda . It was very difficult to get there, had to cross two oyas, then\nmiles of muddy forest,   where  animal footprints could be seen. Getting to Bowattegala was also  very dangerous, it was all dense forest.\nMedhananda went twice.  Both times were\ndangerous experiences, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda said he faced a lot of frightening\nexperiences on the Kudimbigala trip. He wrote about them in his book on\nKudimbigala. For the   Horowopotana exploration, we climbed three\nhills and copied inscriptions. One hill was very dangerous to climb.  <\/em> If our foot slipped we would fall hundreds of\nfeet below to our death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is advisable to go into the forest with\nsomeone who knows the place said Medhananda.He and his team got lost at Karanda\nHela kande. \u2018Fortunately we met our \nguide, while wandering around,\u2019 said Medhananda .  They got stranded at Yoda Wewa forest\ntoo.  They managed to get to the main road,\nand got a lift from a lorry to Medawachchiya. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team had planned to sleep by the Kumbukkan\noya on one exploration, but Medhananda \nsaid no, the  river might rise in\nthe night. It did. On the Neelagiri\ntrip too, the team knew that they could not return via Heda oya as it would be\ntoo strong to cross on the return. They had to sleep in the jungle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda was not a  mountaineer, he had no training at all in hill  climbing. He scrambled up hills and rocks as\nbest as he could. At Danagirigala  his\nteam made a ladder, he climbed this and copied \ninscriptions . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda  had at least three dangerous falls. At\nNeelagiri, Medhananda had to climb about 100 feet to get to an inscription. The\nold steps had gone and there was no access. While\nclimbing  he slipped and fell deeply down\nbut ended up  in a bush, between  a tree and a \nrock and was saved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Velellugoda kanda Medhananda  found a inscription   and \nwanted to copy it somehow. There were some vines ( vel)  there and Medhananda tried to climb using\nthese. The   vel broke and\nMedhananda  fell between two rocks. The\nothers came running and pulled him out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda \nwas badly injured at Viharagoda \nwhen he fell, trying to slide down a huge rock. He injured his foot. The\nwound took one and half months to heal  and the scar can still be seen on his right\nfoot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were other  mildly \nuncomfortable expeirneces too, for Medhananda . At Handagiriya, Medhananda\nwas given a mattress of kurakkan karal to sleep on, as a special gesture. Insects\nfrom this were running across his body all night. On another occasion,  he was given a \u2018pillow\u2019 of dried leaves to\nsleep on.   Insects from the pillow crawled all over his\nface. While sleeping at Halmabagala temple Medhananda found a wild cat settling\non his chest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda \u2018s  explorations were done with a small team of\nvolunteers,  sometimes just two or three\npeople. One group had five.The\nexploration teams were ad hoc ones,  each\ncontaining different sets of persons. I don\u2019t think they knew anything about\narchaeological exploration, or jungle maneuvers, they were simply  supportive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda and his team   travelled by bus and on foot,   with the occasional lift from a lorry. When\nexploring Samangala, Medhananda started early from Napawala, went to Kandy,\ntook the Ampara bus to Veranketagoda junction, then travelled on Bandaraduwa\nroad on foot to Samangala. To see Galpiyuma aranya in Anuradhapura district,\nMedhananda went by bus to Kebetigollawa then Pulmoddai and through forest to\nGalpiyuma, known earlier at Galpokuna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Medhananda \nand team once went by bullock cart. There was an unusable jeep track\nbetween Siyambalanduwa and Mahakalugolla, but there was another route between\nchena and forest, used by hunters and wild animals. Medhananda decided to  go on this route. \u2018We used a   bullock cart which transported  firewood.  \nIt was a very bumpy, rough ride. We thought our bones would break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda and his team, were not\nexperienced  in jungle explorations. They\nmade up for this in enthusiasm and staying power. They  used small trees to climb onto bigger ones,\ncarrying their luggage. They slept on mats  <\/strong>on top of boulders and inside caves.  At Henangala, for instance, they went through\nthick forest and got into a cave. They\nwere attacked by mosquitoes every where they went.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda \nand team carried provisions with them, including rice and coconuts.  On one occasion they took scraped coconut in polythene\nbags  and made roti on the  heated rock in the jungle.  They picked \n‘nai miris’ from where ever they went  in the jungle. They once \ndrank coffee with nai miris as a substitute for sugar. On another occasion  they had a tasty meal of a wattakka picked up\nfrom a chena on the way, stuffed with nai miris, salt and a tomato also picked\nup on the way, and  roasted on the embers\nof  a fire on a rock on which they were\nsitting, trapped by elephants below.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were sometimes without water or food,\nhaving finished what they had brought. Once when they found they had no water,  it  suddenly\nrained for a few minutes and the team were able to collect the water they\nneeded.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The journeys were  dangerous. Medhananda  and his group went for miles on foot,  into dense jungle containing wild elephants. We often followed animal tracks, ready to\nhide if they came. Despite encounters\nwith animals, we were never harmed by a wild animal, said Medhananda . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda and team had  plenty of  near encounters with wild elephants, bears and\nleopards. In one instance , they were sleeping in a cave, when wild elephants\nmarched by. One broke down the makeshift \ndoor to the cave and   put his\ntrunk inside and    explored. Fortunately\nhe withdrew his trunk and went away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Korawakkegama they were so intent on\nexamining the ruins they did not see an elephant coming at them with its trunk\nlifted. They ran as they had never run before and got onto a rock. The elephant\nstopped below the rock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On one exploration the team got ready to cross\nMaduru oya  using branches and vines of\nthe trees by the bank. They heard a yell \u2018bahinna epo,\u2019. There was a large elephant\nbelow and if they had swung down they would have landed on top of the\nelephant.  A man also waiting to cross\nhad  warned them. They waited till the elephant left and proceeded.\nIt was dangerous to enter the water using those vines but we managed, recalled Medhananda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Handagiriya \nthey were confronted by a herd of wild elephants. They took refuge in the\nchena of Chandana hamy, who had come from Yatipasgamuwa. Later they found that the herd at attacked\nthe hut they had slept in earlier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team \noften took refuge from wild elephants on the top of rocks. Some rocks\nwere flat on top like platforms. They once watched a fight between two\nelephants, in that way. At Toppigala they spent the night on boulders as the\njungle was full of elephants.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda had many brushes with bears. At Bambaragastalawa, he was intent on\ncopying an inscription, oblivious of the fact that there were two bear cubs\nclose by in a cave. The mother bear would attack if she saw him.  The mother bear did return but only after\nMedhananda had moved away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Medhananda went to take a photo of the\nruined Buddha image at Bambaragastalawa, a bear jumped out, from behind the image,\nleapt over Medhananda\u2018s head and ran. Medhananda  fell down on to a bush, but took  his photo after that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Bovattegala they met a cluster of bears\nface to face but were not harmed. At\nSastravela Medhananda went to explore and found a huge bear seated on the spot\nhe wished to examine.\u2019 We hid under a ledge and moved away before he could see\nus, said Medhananda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda \nencountered a leopard at  Bowattegala\nvihara. The team had   lit a bonfire  on  another\ntrip and  found a leopard sleeping\ncontentedly on a tree  just above the\nbonfire, later on. At Kotaveheragala\nthe team went into a  tunnel and found\nthat there was a leopard inside it, far away. Medhananda opened his umbrella,\nplaced it on the ground, to block the view and the team crept backwards and out\nof the tunnel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 On another occasion, a bird  arrived and started calling. He is speaking to\nus, said the monk accompanying Medhananda . They tested this by moving away. The\nbird stopped calling. When they returned, the bird started again. The two monks\nlooked up  and found a large leopard\ncoming toward them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Malayadikanda Medhananda  had leaned against a tree and later felt\nsomething feeling around his head, he moved away and found a cobra descending\ndown the tree. At Budu patum kande he\nleaned against another  tree, heard a\nhissing sound, and  looked. It was a\nmapilla. Medhananda once woke from his sleep in a cave and found a mapilla\nabout to fall on two of the sleepers. He \nShouted to scare the mapilla off and dragged the two to safety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda and another monk were at a villu\nwhen a water buffalo saw them and came up, ready to attack. The monk  who was with \nMedhananda thrust his umbrella at  \nthe buffalo, and yelled at it. Buffalo ran away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When climbing up a hill, Medhananda had put\nhis hand into a convenient hole in the rock and hauled himself up. On examining\nthe hole they found that it contained a family of divi makuluvo ( tarantula). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda and his team occasionally  met settlers who had come into the jungles to\ndo chena farming. Where possible these settlers gave lunch ( dane) to\nMedhananda and his team.  At\nDiyahinna, Medhananda was given a dane of rice and mukunuvenna sambol by a    chena farmer. Chena farmers at Namalu chetiya served food to\nMedhananda and his team on lotus leaves. Instead\nof  umbalakada they  had used gona karavala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chena farmers also assisted in other ways. Medhananda\nand his team were helped to find  the ruins\nby a family from Kegalle living  at Maragala\nkanda. The man had brought along a bottle of water as well. On the Velellugoda kanda  exploration ,  they met a farmer  who provided a kalagedi of water  and a boy with a ketta to show the way to a\nlena to stay the night. Later the  boy came with some boiled maize for dinner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These settlers knew  the  rock inscriptions in the area and respected\nthem. At  Diyahinna  a  villager had told them, when asked, that there\nwere more inscriptions  elsewhere. Medhananda\nand team wanted to see an inscription which was already on record, at\nMahagirilla Savaran keligala,. (Nikaweratiya- Dalada gama- Halambagala\nvihara-  Mahagirilla savarankeligala) He\nasked a group of children whether they knew the place. They led him straight  to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Medhananda\nwanted to see the Tonigala inscription again, but could not recall the route.\nThey went into a house to ask for directions. There was  a girl alone in the  house. She knew where the inscription was and\nsaid,  I will take you. Also  when you go along the wewa a little further,\nthere is another inscription. I will take you there  as well as you cannot find it otherwise. When\nthey were at Tonigala, the girl’s mother arrived , having heard the news, with\norange juice in a bottle as gilanpasa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Danagirigala  exploration the team could not find the\ninscription they were looking for, in the forest. They met an 18 year old girl\nwith three small boys, going to their chena. She knew where the inscription  was and led them to it. The group stayed till the job was completed.\nWe were all young at the time, but  this\ngirl was safe with us, commented Medhananda . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda got\nsome degree of help and support, on these explorations, from a variety of persons.\nGotabaya Rajapaksa  when Defence\nSecretary  gave me much encouragement and\nhelped in my investigations in north and east, said Medhananda .    I was assisted by the armed forces and\npolice for two years. They protected me on my difficult explorations.  Army helped him to climb up  Pachchanur hill by sending down a rope for\nhim.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda \ncould not  explore Kudimbigala\nin  1965 or 1970, but in 1979  the Government Agent of Ampara, Y.W.\nGunawardene helped him to explore the place. At Bambaragastalawa\nMedhananda  was assisted by the police\nchief there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He got considerable support from the temples\nin the exploration areas. The team were often able to stay the night at these\ntemples. The monks at Malagiyakanda received us very kindly  and\nlooked after us for several days, said Medhananda . The monks at \nMahakalugolla vihara gave provision and provided assistants for an\nexploration. Ven. Atawekwela\nBodhiseeha  was very helpful in another\nexploration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chief priest of Piyangala and another\nadult joined Medhananda on the Pulukunava exploration.  it was Piyangala priest who had told him there\nwere archaeological  remains at\nPulukunava. Uhana police provided 3 police men \nas escort. Medhananda  went alone to Galpiyuma      aranaya but met there  a bhikkhu, who had worked in the Health\nDepartment and took robes on retirement. He was from   Anguruwella area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there was animosity from some monks.\nAt a temple in Hingurana area, the monk \ndid not allow us to even eat our food in the bana maduwa. Instead he had\nscolded us, recalled Medhananda . You have come to grab the temple haven\u2019t you,\nhe said. Go away there are enough monks here and there are no\narchaeological  remains.   ( CONTINUED)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ADDITIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Neelagiri\npilima lena at Lahugala was a very important site. Medhananda had gone there in\n1965 and again in 1981. There is no clear road to Neelagiri.  This is in the forest, and from Moneragala to\nPottuvil this forest is wild animal infested. \nI will never forget my 1981 journey there, said Medhananda. it was a\ndifficult exploration . We had to use the \npaths used by wild animals. It was muddy and rainy and crossing Heda oya\nwas extremely difficult.  Neelagiri was\nvery difficult and dangerous climb, very steep, nothing to hold on to. We  climbed holding on to bushes  and such like, getting scraped. We built a\nsort of bridge from tree to the rock, I \nremoved my outer robes and we crept along   on our stomachs. If we slipped we  fell to our death.  <\/li>
  • There\nwere about 30  Buddhist sites near\nUdagala Dagoba, also ancient irrigation channels. I explored this  area, taking 6 7 days at a time, under great\ndifficulty ( duk geheta)  I went by foot\nfor hundreds of miles.  I had Some\nfrightening experiences and some hilarious ones too on this exploration. <\/li>
  • Medhananda  had gone to \nlook at the ruins in Nanthikadal lagoon, Mullaitivu . He nearly fell\ninto the sea from this hill while inspecting its ruins. Those above caught him\nby his robes and pulled him up. Medhananda observed that there were no records\nof this place  in the Department of\nArchaeology. The LTTE was ruling there at the time. <\/li>
  • The\njourney to Niyaguna kanda vihara, Ampara, \nwas very difficult  and we needed\na guide. We were scraped by thorn bushes and had  slight wounds.  We took with us buns, tea and plantains  bought from a nearby boutique. <\/li>
  • Exploring\nValmandiyagala was a frightening, terrifying experience.      At one point they had no water to drink.\nSlept on a rock, it rained, they got wet. <\/li>
  • Vedikkinarmalai\nrock temple was explored in 1964 and 1973 amidst great  difficulty.( duskarata). <\/li>
  • Mutugalle\nin Ampara was    very difficult,\ninaccessible. <\/li>
  • On\none of our trips, we were able to watch two elephants fighting , but we had to\ntake a roundabout route adding about 2 miles to our journey. we  found a cave but were  too scared to sleep  because we could hear the animals.    <\/li>
  • Vehera\nwewa  ruins had in inscription dated to\n9-11 AD. While I was getting ready to copy this army asked us to come down,\nan  elephant herd  had arrived. <\/li>
  • At\nPadikemgala  we found that our way out\nwas  blocked by a sleeping wild elephant<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised 22.6.20 Medhananda told his biographer that he had thought, when listening to lectures at Vidyodaya, as a student, that it would-be good to investigate some of the things   mentioned in the Mahavamsa. He had joined a Vidyodaya archaeological trip to look at Neelagiri seya. Ven.  Handupelpola Punnaratana, who was teaching at Vidyodaya, […]<\/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-103153","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\/103153","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=103153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}