Colossal stupa to commemorate fallen heroes; and an earlier one

Cassandra has noted that when talk is about the President of the Democratic-and–all-that Sri Lanka, pens are sheathed, voices muted. Except, it is said, on social media! Even the burning of effigies was confined to those of the Minister of Agriculture who was ignited many times over and beaten and spat and trod upon. Only once did Cass spy an effigy of the person who banned chemical fertilisers, lofted on high. If it is respect for the highest in the land, Cass agrees and applauds fully the show of regard and restraint. If however, it is fear of critiquing him and/or his family that constrained the protesting hands of farmers and writing wrists of journos, it is not healthy; smacks of self-censorship and fear of retribution. But as Cass pointed out in a recent Cry of hers, criticism of the government must be taken in the correct spirit, and more so, criticism of those in power. Speech must be free as long as it is not libellous or malicious. And those in power must treat criticism, however damningly negative, as a job hazard; if in high places, the greater the brickbats and greater the tolerance called for.

All above is written as introduction or preparation for Cass’ crit on the new stupa built and donated to the public recently in a grand ceremony. She went to Anuradhapura when the Seya was being completed but did not go see it. Her intention on her trips to the Sacred City was to pay homage to the sacred Bo-Tree and the ancient stupas and statues like the Samadhi Buddha.

Stupa as war memorial

Surfing the Internet, Cass finds that Sandahiru Seya is the second largest hemispherical stupa in this country and located among the grandest collection of ancient stupas in Anuradhapura. “The stupa was built in commemoration of the fallen war heroes of the SL armed forces during the civil war that ended in 2009. The foundation stone was laid by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on November 22, 2010. The work was completed and the stupa was opened by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on November 18, 2021.”

“It is the largest dagoba after the construction of the Jethawanaramaya by King Mahasen in AD 301.” Construction was carried out by armed forces, plus the police and Civil Security Department personnel. It houses sacred relics including the Kapilavastu relics.

All that is fine. Now come the crits which are personal to Cassandra and are completely a-political and not taking into consideration any of the major persons concerned in the commemorative construction.

Why commemorate soldiers, sailors, airmen and policemen who laid down their lives to save the sovereignty and unity of the country, with a structure which has connotations, reference and connections to Buddhism? The Buddha taught pacifism, non-killing, non-violence and non-conflict primarily, which are results of the three great demerits or vices of greed, aversion and delusion (Lobha, Dosa, Moha)

Secondly, why build a new stupa in the foremost of our ancient cities among all the centuries old constructions, almost as if to tower over Abhayagiriya and Ruwanveli Seya? Ancient cities are sacred and historically valuable and aesthetically divine. It seems to Cass sacrilegious to go stick a new building among all the old sites.

We criticised heavily when Prez Premadasa held a Gam Udawa too close to Mihintale with its sacredness and wonder of being the site where Buddhism was officially introduced and accepted in Lanka of the 3rd Century. We were suitably disappointed, nay shocked, when a stark white statue of the Buddha was sculpted and placed in the Uda Maluwa of Mihintale.

Similar was our outrage when the Chief Incumbent of the Dambulla Rock temple built a garish new temple at the bottom of the rock, with fabricated cement blocks.

Stupa as placation

In sharp contrast Cassandra thought highly of, and considers as most appropriate, the Kotmale Mahaweli Maha Seya built to compensate and propitiate the gods for the submergence of 50 temples and kovils consequent to the inundation of land by reservoirs of the Mahaweli Development Scheme in the 1980s. It was the idea of Minister Gamini Dissanayake, constructed on a cleared land in Kotmale. President Jayewardene laid the foundation stone on March 20, 1983. The stupa was designed by Vidya Jyothi Dr. A.N.S Kulasinghe, who made its inside hollow, disagreed upon by architect and town planner Ulrik Plesner who preferred the traditional design. Plesner was in-charge of Mahaweli buildings including new townships. The construction of the stupa was neglected once the UNP government went out of power, but Navin Dissanayake persisted and it was completed and presented to the public by President Maithripala Sirisena and PM Ranil Wickremasinghe on June 20, 2016.

There is absolutely no political background to, or bias in what Cass writes here. She is just an insignificant pebble in Lankan soil, but very loyal; she loves her country and abhors show and ostentation. So while she expressed doubts and maybe a tinge of disapproval about building a stupa in Anuradhapura, she endorses the building of the Stupa in Kotmale, in a remote area where it will be unique and of benefit to the people living in that hilly district. She also approves of the fact that it is a place of worship and veneration, in lieu of many that had to be submerged.

It should be that advice must be sought before huge constructions are undertaken. We suppose the Chief Incumbent of Atamasthana approved of the construction of a brand-new stupa amidst those of antiquity.

Hotels in sites best left untouched

Likewise, regarding new commercial buildings, Cass and her friends were very disappointed to see a stark white, box like hotel stuck in the vicinity of the British-built Grand Hotel, Golf Club and Hill Club in Nuwara-Eliya. True, they were colonial buildings and looked askance at by ultra-nationalists, but they were historically significant and aesthetically wonderful. How can one tolerate a new hotel bang in front, looking so very cheaply modern.

And what about new hotels cropping up all along the beaches down south? One was being built adjacent to the Galle Bay blocking the view of the Fort to those approaching Galle from Matara and the exit from the southern highway. It is the same case in Weligama.

News flashes

Aung San Suu Kyi has been given a four-year sentence of imprisonment for, as accused, inciting violence (and revolt) and for breaching COVID-19 protocols. Both utterly absurd to us, specially the latter which is not only flimsy but tattered and threadbare. No wonder nature is running riot: volcanoes erupting, storms raging, floods awash and of course the curse of COVID-19 and its deadly variants. People in this wise country (or it was wise) had the saying that when the kings rule righteously, the rains come at the correct time and harvests are plentiful. We are already seeing the truth of this: Vegetables getting less abundant and prices rising and poor paddy harvests forecast with near-starvation ready to stare us in the face. Hitting is to the stomach. We were restricted and badgered by the onslaught of the pandemic; then floods and now bombs in the kitchen instead of gas cylinders which were perfectly safe until man tampered with contents for monetary gain. So even the gas cylinder hits back. What next is Cass’ pertinent question; the next here connoting disaster.

She ends her weekly word-ramble with a bit of good news. First the bad. Methane was found to be a deadlier atmosphere poisoner and global warmer than CO2. It was emitted by industries using coal and oil. Also, the behinds of cattle; flatulence in polite language – and f…ing rudely said. Now Norway has found a method to reduce methane from cattle; add substitutes and additives to cattle feed, particularly red seaweed. The microbes in the cattle stomachs are reduced in number and action.

The world is progressing in its bid to reduce global warming and thus save first low-lying countries and then Earth itself.