{"id":95751,"date":"2019-11-28T16:43:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-28T23:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=95751"},"modified":"2019-11-28T16:43:30","modified_gmt":"2019-11-28T23:43:30","slug":"gotabaya-rajapaksa-seventh-president-of-sri-lanka-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/11\/28\/gotabaya-rajapaksa-seventh-president-of-sri-lanka-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA, SEVENTH PRESIDENT OF SRI LANKA Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

I am extremely fortunate to address you from\nthe sacred precincts of the Ruwanweli Maha Seya in Anuradhapura, which\nenshrines the Sacred Relics of the Buddha,\u201d  said President Gotabaya in his maiden\nspeech as President.  I have received\nthe opportunity of addressing the nation before the statue of great Warrior\nKing Dutugemunu due to the historic mandate given to me by the majority of\ncitizens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 It is unlikely that any Sinhala king of the\nAnuradhapura period would have gone to Ruvanvelisaya to be crowned or address\nthe public. However, the decision to conduct the swearing in of President-elect\nGotabaya Rajapaksa at Anuradhapura, beside the Ruvanvelisaya was a brilliant\npolitical move. It was a confident move, not a defensive one. The message was\nclear. The present state will emphasis the Sinhala Buddhist culture of Sri\nLanka, its historicity and its unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choice of Anuradhapura for the swearing\nwill come in for comment. This is to be expected. Ruvanvelisaya, the location\nselected for the swearing in, will escape criticism. There will be mighty rumpus\nif this venerated temple is laughed at. But the reference to Dutugemunu will be\npounced upon. Dutugemunu will be charged, among other things, with being a\nracist, making Sri Lanka into a Sinhala Buddhist state, killing Tamils and so\non.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jehan Perera has already observed \u2018The\nMahavamsa records as one of its central themes, the protection of Buddhism and\nthe Sinhalese race from Tamil invasions originating from South India. This\nmemory would be re-invoked by the oath taking of President Rajapaksa at the\nRuvanvelisaya in Anuradhapura, which is the sacred Buddhist temple built by the\nhero king of the Sinhalese, Dutugemunu, nearly two thousand years ago,\nfollowing his defeat of the Tamil king, Elara\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some brief observations on\nDutugemunu. Firstly, Dutugemunu was not Dushta Gamini\u201d (wicked). No king who\nelevated the monarchy to a high   level as Dutugemunu did would have been given\nsuch a name. He was Durstha Gamani\u201d. Durstha means \u2018strong.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, the Sinhala monarchy did not start\nwith Dutugemunu (161-137BC).  The Sinhala\nmonarchy had developed much earlier. The evidence comes from India.  Indian emperor Dharmasoka had sent coronation\nrobes to Sinhala king Devanampiyatissa (250-210 BC). The monarchy in Sri Lanka\nwould have been well established by then for King Dharmasoka to make such a\ngesture. Dharmasoka would not have sent coronation robes to a kinglet or\nkingling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirdly, Dutugemunu was not the first to unify\nthe Sinhala state. Dutugemunu\u2019s gesture of curling up in bed is not the gesture\nof someone who plans to newly unite a country. Lastly, Dutugemunu was not the\nfirst to think of chasing Elara out. The idea of ousting Elara came from his\nfather King Kavantissa. Elara was probably not the first south Indian to invade\nSri Lanka either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two days after taking up his appointment,\nPresident Gotabaya went to worship at the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. His\nfocus was the Dalada Maligawa, but the visit to Kandy meant that he was going from\nthe first capital of the Sinhala kingdom, Anuradhapura, to the last capital,\nKandy. President Gotabaya would have gone there anyway, but the historical\nimplication was not lost on the organizers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Dalada Maligawa President Gotabaya was\ngreeted by the Diyawadana Nilame in full costume, and both were taken into the\ntemple by a bare bodied\nescort carrying spears.  President\nGotabaya was later joined by a group of about ten or so Nilames,\nalso dressed up. After becoming Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa visited the Dalada\nMaligawa and the same process was repeated. There is sure to be contemptuous laughter in\nColombo over all this pageantry. But, as I will show in later essays, Pohottu\ngot it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President\nGotabaya has made it clear that his administration will emphasis Buddhism. The Buddhist philosophy is infused into my\nthoughts and conduct. Buddhist philosophy calls for a righteous rule that\nrespects law and order, justice and fairplay. It will be an administration that\nwill be an oasis for all communities and religious groups. I will be dedicated\nto protect and nurture the Buddha Sasana during my tenure\u201d, he said in his first speech as President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a tremendous gain for the\n\u2018Sinhala-Buddhist\u2019 segment. I did not think I would see this in my lifetime.  Sinhala Buddhists\u201d maintained a fighting\nspirit throughout British rule. After Independence, they set up the Buddhist Commission\nin 1954, celebrated Buddha Jayanti in 1956 and supported the 1956 MEP\nelection.  But they were still recovering\nfrom several decades of repression and showed it.  The Christian segment continued to be\ndominant. The media mocked the political Sangha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixty years later comes this unexpected\nascendency. This is due to the shocks the complacent Sangha received under\nYahapalana rule. They could not believe it. Bhikkhus were taken into remand,\nthe monasteries were charged with sexual misconduct, the Triple Gem was\naltered to \u2018Double Gem\u2019. The Sangha were furious. They realized that this was\npart of a well planned political strategy and that it was necessary to get\nYahapalana out. They supported the candidacy of Gotabaya Rajapaksa with great\nenthusiasm.  10,000 or so\nbhikkhus went canvassing <\/em>for Gotabaya Rajapaksa, reported\nthe media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Gotabaya made it a point to visit\nBuddhist temples after his victory. He was recognizing the role played by the\nMaha Sangha in his election victory, but he was also showing that his was a\nBuddhist administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Dalada Maligawa he went to Malwatte and Asgiriya vihara (Siam Nikaya). He\nthen commenced a round of temple visits. This is still continuing. He visited Vidya\nSagara Pirivena, Menikhinne(Ramannya nikaya). He visited Ven. Kotugoda Dhammavansa at Galkissa\nDharmapala aramaya (Amarapura nikaya). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everywhere he\nwent, teams of monks met him and gave lengthy speeches rejoicing in his victory\nand advising him on what to do next. Ven. Kotapitiye\nRahula said that the Sangha were ready to work with President Gotabaya. President Gotabaya was mobbed by delighted\nsupporters at the entrance to all these temples, including the Dalada Maligawa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a strong Buddhist flavor in the\nceremonies when Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his team took office. This was\ndeliberate.   Groups of bhikkhus were\npresent at every turn. The emphasis was on Buddhist ritual, on pansil and\npirit. In Anuradhapura after the oath taking, there was Seth pirith. There was\npirith again when President Gotabaya took over at the Presidents Secretariat,\nthe next day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the same when Mahinda Rajapaksa took up\noffice as Prime Minister.   On that\noccasion there were 3 long rows of bhikkhus, a slow extended pirit, which the assembly had\nto listen to while standing, a long speech by Ven. Medagoda Abeyatissa and\nblessings from Hindu, Muslim and Christian priests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhist Ministers of the interim cabinet formed on 22.11.19\nalso had pansil and pirit chanted by groups of bhikkhus before they took\noffice.  They all   signed\nin to the accompaniment of pirit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Gotabaya inaugural speech was\ncleverly crafted to include   three of\nthe four elements of Sinhala Buddhist civilization\u201d, namely, Buddhism, Sinhala\nlanguage and Sinhala unitary state. (The fourth element, Sinhala nationality\nwas not mentioned). These three elements are today bandied about as \u2018religion\u2019,\n\u2018language\u2019 and \u2018ancient history.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 We\nmust protect the Sinhala culture and heritage that has a history of thousands\nof years, President Gotabaya said in his inaugural speech. State patronage will\nbe given to protect our age-old moral values, traditions and rituals and\noneness.  Sara dharma, Ape kama, Sirit\nvirit must be protected and will receive state patronage, he said. He added\nthat he had studied at Ananda College and spoke of Ananda\u2019s\nBuddhist ethos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The inaugural speech was in Sinhala with a bit\nin English. As far as I can recall, there was no Tamil translation of the\nproceedings and no national anthem. The expected criticism came in. President\nGotabaya Rajapaksa is accepted by the millions who ensured him of the\noutstanding victory as the long awaited saviour of Sinhala Buddhists in Sri\nLanka,\u201d said one critic in a confused sentence. We are now in the Glorious Rise of Sinhala\nBuddhism\u201d. Another spoke of the Achievement of Sinhala Buddhist glory in the\nrecent Presidential election.\u201d We are\nclearly moving in a direction where [we will see] Sinhala Buddhist dominance,\nand its continuing impactful influence in Sri Lankan society and politics, he\nadded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Gotabaya is the first President of\nSri Lanka to have been educated at Ananda College.  I was educated at Ananda College, Colombo,\none of the leading Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka,\u201d he said, in his very first\nspeech as President of Sri Lanka. It\nhas taken Ananda College exactly one hundred years to reach this point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ananda College( est. 1886)  had been administered by several illustrious\nprincipals (Kuntz, Buultjens),had produced several distinguished  old boys, \n(D.J. Wimalasurendra) and had some academic  achievements \nto show,  when in 1918, P de S\nKularatne took over as principal  of\nAnanda. He made Ananda into the leading school that it is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kularatne  \nmade Ananda College a highly nationalistic and   patriotic school. He emphasized Sinhala\nculture in the curriculum. When the Dutugemunu block of classrooms   was completed in 1919 Kularatne added a\npedestal with a model of a lion with a sword in hand.   This indicates, said his biographer,   that from the beginning Kularatne had a political\nobjective in mind. That was a courageous thing to do since Sri Lanka was under\nBritish rule at the time, the biographer observed.(Kamalika Pieris, Kularatne of Ananda\u201d, 2015)  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1970s, Ananda looked back and noted\nthat Kularatne had consciously moulded persons who could participate actively\nin the nationalist revival and independence movement of British Ceylon, which\nwas taking place at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, Kularatne introduced cadetting to Ananda\nCollege. Anandians excelled in the sport and many joined the armed forces,\nafter independence. Anandians pointed out, with pride, that In 1986, there were\nmore officers from Ananda in the Sri Lanka army than any other school. The\nleading officers of Eelam War IV, including Gotabaya Rajapaksa, all came from\nAnanda. This was commented on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ananda College is sure to invite President\nGotabaya Rajapaksa to the school, to felicitate and celebrate.  When he goes there, I hope that he will make\nsome mention of P de S Kularatne, who started it all.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I end this essay with a snippet of\nhistorical information that may interest readers.  It is not well known that the Sinhala\nmonarchy had devised a mechanism of \u2018brother kings\u2019. When Vasabha died in 111 AD,\nthe island was ruled in three principalities by his three sons. Since the division was among the legitimate\nheirs, the unity of the state was not shaken.  I had found a second set of brother kings, also\nruling in Anuradhapura, but unfortunately, I cannot locate the reference at\nthis moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a third instance. Under\nDharma Parakrama bahu IX (1489-1513),the\nKotte kingdom was ruled by him and his four brothers. The brothers were united\nand ruled from their independent centres of administration at Madampe,\nManikkadavara, Raigama and Udugampola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interim government of 2019 has three Rajapaksa\nbrothers in three important positions. Gotabaya Rajapaksa as President, Mahinda\nRajapaksa as Prime Minister and Chamal Rajapaksa, a former Speaker, as Cabinet\nMinister.  The presence of three and four\nmembers of the same family dominating politics is seen as weakness when it\nshould be seen as a rarity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Rajapaksa brothers entered Parliament, through\ngeneral elections where they won seats through direct election. They won in highly\nindependent, volatile, electorates. These electorates were not pocket boroughs\nof the Rajapaksas. They won, because, despite heavy criticism, the Rajapaksa\nbrothers always delivered successfully on the tasks assigned to them. Sri Lanka\nis no longer a monarchy and these three are not kings. But I thought the\ninformation on \u2018brother kings\u2019 may be of interest. (continued)\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS I am extremely fortunate to address you from the sacred precincts of the Ruwanweli Maha Seya in Anuradhapura, which enshrines the Sacred Relics of the Buddha,\u201d  said President Gotabaya in his maiden speech as President.  I have received the opportunity of addressing the nation before the statue of great Warrior King Dutugemunu due […]<\/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-95751","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\/95751","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=95751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}