Sri Lanka: The Buddhist trail

Published : Oct 05, 2012 00:00 IST

A believer paying obeisance to the Kapilavastu relics at Matara.-R.K. RADHAKRISHNAN

A believer paying obeisance to the Kapilavastu relics at Matara.-R.K. RADHAKRISHNAN

A Few minutes past 10 a.m. on August 19, an inconspicuous aircraft made a perfect touchdown at Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo. As it taxied to a halt in front of the VVIP enclosure, a red carpet was extended to its stairs. Kumari Selja, Union Minister of Culture, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, descended the steps of the special Indian Air Force aircraft with extreme care, holding in her hands an oversized, draped object. On the ground below waited the entire officialdom of Sri Lanka, led by its President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

More than two years after Sri Lanka and India put on paper the road ahead for India-Sri Lanka ties, one crucial demand of Sri Lanka was conceded when the Indian Minister handed over the Kapilavastu relics (believed to be fragments of the Buddhas bones) to Rajapaksa.

After Buddhist monks offered prayers and chanted the pirith (Sinhala word for protection), the relics were taken in a procession to the first venue of exposition at the Manelwatta Maha Viharaya, at Kelaniya, 30 km away. At the Viharaya, a huge queue had formed from the early morning of August 19. The number of people, clad in white, chanting pirith and waiting patiently braving the elements, grew by the hour.

Town after town saw the same religious fervour. In Jayanthi Viharaya, Anuradhapura, the third venue, a large number of people had gathered to pay respect to the sacred relics much before it was moved out from the earlier venue, Rajamaha Viharaya, Pelmadulla. It was estimated that around 75,000 were waiting at the start of the exposition, an Indian High Commission press release said of the Anuradhapura crowd.

In response to a request from the Sri Lankan government, India agreed to extend the exposition of the sacred relics in Sri Lanka by another week, until September 11.

It is the second time since their discovery that the relics have travelled to Sri Lanka from Indias National Museum in New Delhi. The first exposition was in 1978.

R.K. Radhakrishnan
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