{"id":113939,"date":"2021-04-30T16:14:58","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T23:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=113939"},"modified":"2021-05-02T16:25:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-02T23:25:56","slug":"the-general-election-of-1956-part-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/04\/30\/the-general-election-of-1956-part-13\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1956 Part 13"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The\nmost important achievement of the 1956 government was the entrenchment of\nBuddhism. MEP government gave Buddhism its \u2018rightful place.\u2019 <\/em>It\nis tempting to make fun of this phrase but it is an accurate description of the\nhistorical role of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhism\ncame to Sri Lanka in the time of Gautama Buddha, in 6th<\/sup> century BC. The\nevidence lies in the regular exchange of travelers between the Ganges plains\nand Sri Lanka during this time. Arahant Mahinda who came in the 3rd century BC\ndid not bring Buddhism, it was already there. He came, on invitation, to set up\nthe Sinhala Sangha with its own upasampada and monasteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nvisit of Arahant Mahinda would have been a high level embassy involving much\nplanning. King Devanampiyatissa would not have been deer hunting in a forest\nwhen Mahinda arrived. He would have been in the city, waiting to greet Arahant\nMahinda. Mahinda would not have needed to climb up a hill either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhism\nlacked the qualities popularly associated with \u2018religion\u2019.  It was not based on\nblind faith and had no salvation component. Instead Buddhism offered its followers\na daunting   physical and mental discipline based on a\nhighly intellectual argument. Anuradhapura, to its credit, was careful not to\ndistort or reduce this thinking. It took care to preserve the doctrine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anuradhapura\nover time became a recognized centre for Buddhist studies. Maha vihara\nheld a valuable set of commentaries written in Sinhala. Abhayagiri monastery\nwas an international centre for Buddhist scholarship in the three main schools\nof Buddhism, Theravada, Mahayana and Tantra. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anuradhapura\nhelped spread Buddhism in Asia. Sinhala bhikkhunis went to China in 5 AD,\nprobably to develop Mahayana. Bhikkhuni Chandramali went to Tibet to help with\nTantric Buddhism. Abhayagiri influenced Buddhism in Indonesia. Maha vihara\nhelped to entrench Theravada Buddhism in Cambodia, Thailand, Burma and Laos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhism\nproduced a substantial literature which is well regarded today, this includes\nthe Vamsa collection.  The Buddhist architecture\nof Anuradhapura was much admired.  Jetavana is recognized as one of the world\ntallest building, pre 7 century.  In another\nranking, two stupas from Anuradhapura are included in the ten highest buildings\nin the ancient world,   Jetawanaramaya at\n4th<\/sup> place and Ruvanvelisaya at 7th<\/sup> place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jetavanaramaya<\/a> boasted of\nthe largest stupa in the entire world (while also holding the honor of the tallest\nstupa in the ancient world), said the selectors. The originally 400-ft tall\nstupa accounted for an astronomical base area of 233,000 sq m,  which is equivalent to 43 football fields!\nThis massive structure was estimated to be constructed from 93.3 million baked\nbricks (each of which could withstand loads of up to 166 kg), with one side of\nthe enormous stupa measuring 576 ft (176 m) in length.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruvanvelisaya  (2 BC ) has a massive tapering dome\noriginally rising to 300 ft,  and a\ndiameter of around 295 ft (90 m) and circumference of 950 ft (292 m)., the base\narea of Ruvanvelisaya equates to over 68,300 sq ft, which is bigger than a\nconventional football field. [1]<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jetavamaramaya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ruvanveliseya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/strong> <\/strong>The two sources are:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.realmofhistory.com\/2015\/11\/13\/10-tallest-man-made-architectural-triumphs-from-our-ancient-world\/<\/strong><\/a>)  (<\/strong>https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_the_world%27s_tallest_buildings#Tallest_buildings_(pre-7th_century<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhism\nplayed a significant role in the social and cultural life of the country from\nAnuradhapura  period  to  the\nend of the  Udarata kingdom.   The Udarata kingdom remained Buddhist. Kings\nwere imported from Tamilnadu, but were compelled to embrace Buddhism. There is\nno mention of kovils in Udarata. There were no mosques either.  Muslim traders stayed in Buddhist temples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nspecial position of Buddhism was recognized in the 1815 convention. Clause 5 of\nthe Kandyan convention said. . The religion of Boodhoo, professed by the chiefs and\ninhabitants of these provinces, is declared inviolable, and its rites,\nministers, and places of worship are to be maintained and protected.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nBritish administration had no   intention\nof keeping this promise. The British rulers were not interested in protecting\nBuddhism, they wanted to contain Buddhism. They did so by encouraging three\nother religions, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. These religions were\nbrought in for a disruptive purpose, to challenge Buddhism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christianity,\nHinduism, and Islam were firmly entrenched in the island by the British administrators.\nThe entrenchment was done mainly by the allocation of strategically placed land\nfor churches, kovils and mosques. They were given prime land.  The dates of origin of present day churches,\nkovils and mosques fall within the British administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nChristianity, the British encouraged both Catholics and Protestants. Therefore\nboth Catholics and Protestant churches flourished in British times. St Paul\u2019s\nChurch was built in the premises of the Dalada Maligawa and a Roman Catholic\nconvent was set up in the heart of the Anuradhapura sacred area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hinduism\nwas a new arrival. It catered to the Tamil immigrants brought in by the Dutch\nand British rulers.  Hindu kovils were artificially\nintroduced into places which had never had Hinduism before, such as Colombo, Kandy\nand the central hills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These activities were resentfully observed by the Buddhists living\nunder British rule. Their resentment was building up and would burst at some\npoint. They hoped for a change once Independence was granted. Independence came\nin 1948. The Buddhists found that after 450 years of Christian rule, they were\nnow facing a fresh bout of post independence Christian rule under the UNP. The Buddhists\nwere not prepared to tolerate continued Christian dominance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 1951 the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress   wrote to Prime Minister, D.S. Senanayake\nreferring to the disappointment, almost resentment, growing among the\nBuddhists of Ceylon,\u201d and asked the UNP government to extend to Buddhism the\nsame patronage as was extended to it by Sinhalese rulers of old.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The ACBC called upon the government to remedy\nsome of the damage done to Buddhism during the reigns of the Portuguese, Dutch\nand British by offering greater state support for Buddhist education, monks and\ntemples, and to appoint a Buddhist Commission. .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senanayake  refused. The Buddhist Congress created their\nown Buddhist Commission of Enquiry. The ACBC Commission undertook a two-year\ninvestigation to explore the extent of the injuries done to Buddhism during the\ncolonial period and to recommend actions that the state should take to repair\nthem. The work culminated with the publication of a Sinhala report, the English\nsummary of which was titled The Betrayal of Buddhism. This report of the\nBuddhist Commission became one of the leading campaign documents of the 1956\nelection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1956   MEP victory\nbrought to the Buddhists the recognition they had asked for. Buddhism also  became important in politics. After 1956, all\npoliticians, on taking office paid a visit to the  Dalada Maligawa  in Kandy, dressed in white and bearing trays\nof flowers.  Buddhism has continued to\nstrengthen its position .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A related development of 1956\nwas the rise of the Maha Sangha as a political force.  the aggressive Buddhist movement that started\nin the 1940 and gathered momentum in the 1950s brought the entire\nMaha Sangha to the forefront as an active social and political force,  said Wiswa Warnapala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0In ancient times the Sangha had a legitimate role in the political affairs of the country. They guided the king. They did not wield power directly. This traditional role was now resurrected in a modern setting. \u00a0The Sangha is now an active social and political force in modern Sri Lanka, he concluded. It is now\u00a0 \u00a0a permanent part of the political culture of Sri Lanka. ( continued)<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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KAMALIKA PIERIS The most important achievement of the 1956 government was the entrenchment of Buddhism. MEP government gave Buddhism its \u2018rightful place.\u2019 It is tempting to make fun of this phrase but it is an accurate description of the historical role of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Buddhism came to Sri Lanka in the time of […]<\/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-113939","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\/113939","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=113939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}