KAMALIKA PIERIS

Kurundi is the first ancient Buddhist temple to be conserved in Mullaitivu. Mullaitivu is the one district that links the Northern Province to the Eastern Province. The bogus Tamil ethnic group declared that the north-east of Sri Lanka is their Eelam. Buddhist worship in Mullaitivu will hamper the rise of this Eelam. Therefore Tamil Separatist Movement intends to prevent Kurundi vihara from blossoming forth and functioning as a well patronized temple.

 Kurundi needs a strong lobby to resist this. Fortunately, an informal Buddhist lobby has emerged around Kurundi. This is led by Bauddhaloka Foundation.  The Department of Archaeology told Ven. Santhabodhi that they would do the work if he could find the money. The Bauddhaloka Foundation offered to put up the money.

Jagath Sumathipala, founder of Bauddhaloka Foundation signed an agreement with the Department of Archaeology to fund the excavation and conservation of Kurundi stupa. Funds were   readily provided as and when needed and the stupa was completed. We are told that the funds for doing the pilimage are ready and waiting at Bauddhaloka Foundation.

Kurundi also has   financial support from abroad, from Sri Lankan Buddhists in Dubai and from SPUR in Australia and others. Groups and individuals have also helped with other matters, like monk’s living quarters and the supply of dry goods. Santhabodhi was given a vehicle for his use.   But financial support alone is not sufficient, Kurundi needs a strong political lobby.

Since the Kurundi project   was initiated by a courageous young bhikkhu working alone,  the first support should be  from the Maha Sangha. The Sangha has shown interest in the  work at Kurundi. At one talk show, which was endlessly going round and round the topic of Kurundi,    bhikkhus cut in, tell us about the       court decisions in the Kurundi matter, they said.  What are the obstacles   we are facing in north east?

Leading bhikkhus from the three Nikayas have supported Santhabodhi, but they have done so separately.  Bhikkhus have appeared in court with Santhabodhi to give him moral support. They have visited the stupa and conducted   pinkama. But they have done all   this individually. This is not sufficient. They must appear in a body, en masse.

The first lay Buddhist association to support Santhabodhi was the All Ceylon Buddhist Association (ACBC).  The ACBC   was cautious. They first interviewed Ven. Santabodhi, were satisfied with what he said, and only then decided to support him.  They   provided quiet support for Kurundi. They sent a lawyer, Samith Kalhara to fight the Kurundi case in Magistrate Court, Mullaitivu on behalf of Kurundi.

Federation of Organisations for Protecting National Heritage led by Ven. Medagoda Abeyatissa announced on 29. Oct 2022, that it will file legal action in Supreme Court, against the Minister of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage, Vidura Wickramanayake and the Director General of Archaeology for violation of laws pertaining to preservation of historical sites.  

The Federation will file action for violating the Archaeological Sites of National Importance Act 16 of 1990 with regard to historical Kurundi Temple. No one is allowed to carry out construction at sites which have been identified as archaeologically important as per the Act. A Hindu temple is being constructed at the site currently in violation of the law, Medagoda said.

Former Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Jagath Dias and two other retired officers, Brigadier Athula Hemachandra de Silva and Lt. Col. Anil Sumeda Amarasekera    petitioned the Court of Appeal on July 19 2023 , against the government’s decision to release state land around the historical Kurundi temple.

They  said that the DG, Archaeology tendered his resignation after being humiliated by President Wickremesinghe in the presence of a delegation of TNA MPs at a meeting held in the Presidential Secretariat on June 08, 2023.Subsequent to that meeting, a directive has been issued to alienate land, surrounding the Kurundi temple, to cultivators, who were cultivating the surrounding lands, and to remove the existing boundary stones placed by the Task Force for Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province and to replace the stones after the identifying the archaeological sites. 

The petitioners have   sought to prevent the government from removing the boundary stones already planted by the Presidential Task Force for Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province.

Declaring that over 300 acres has been now identified to be of archaeological value that needs excavation and gazetting under the provisions of the Antiquities Ordinance No. 09 of 1940, the petitioners alleged that a survey of the area was stopped by the second respondent Buddha asana, Religious and Cultural Affairs Minister Vidura Wickramanayake last September Subsequently the then Director General of Archaeology, Prof. Anura Manatunga who is the third respondent, resumed the survey and was proceeding according to a plan when President Ranil Wickremesinghe intervened .

The petitioners have submitted  a letter, dated January 11, 2023, sent by the Secretary to the President to the Director General of the Archaeological Department, directing that he obtain the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers before declaring any site to be an archaeological site or monument. The petitioners pointed out that  the power to declare an archaeological site and/or monument is a power granted to the DG, Archaeology under section 33 of the Antiquities Ordinance No. 09 of 1940. Therefore, the directive issued by the Secretary to the President is an unlawful encroachment of the powers conferred by an Act of Parliament to the Director General of Archaeology .

Thereafter media reported that the writ petition ( No 367/23) submitted to the Court of Appeal challenging the order given by the President on June 08 to remove the boundary stones of the archaeological sites identified by the Presidential Task Force for the Management of Archaeological Heritage in the Kurundi Temple Archeological Site and in the Eastern Province, was  scheduled to be heard  on July 20 2023.

Somaratne Vidanapathirana Buddha Sasana, Secretary of the Ministry of Religion and Culture, Vidura Wickramanayake Minister of Buddha Sasana ,Religious and Cultural Affairs,  Anura Manatunga former Director General of Archeology, Pradeepa Serasinghe current Acting Director General of Archeology,  Land Commissioner General, and Attorney General have been named as respondents. President’s  Counsel Manohara de Silva is representing the petitioner. ( Continued)