Indian HC and Moragoda visit Vidyalankara Pirivena

The High Commissioner for India to Sri Lanka, Mr. Gopal Bagley and Mr. Milinda Moragoda, High Commissioner-designate for Sri Lanka to India paid a joint visit to the Vidyalankara Pirivena at Peliyagoda on Thursday (Mar. 25) morning.

After being welcomed by Ven. Welamitiyawe Gnanarathane Thero, Director, Vidyalankara Pirivena and other officials, they worshipped the Buddha relics donated by India to the Vidyalankara Pirivena in 1940.

The visitors also called on the most Ven. Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Nayaka Thero, Chief of the Vidyalankara Pirivena.

The purpose of the visit by High Commissioner Bagley was to revive historical connections between Vidyalankara Pirivena and India. A presentation on the historical linkages between India and Vidyalankara Pirivena was made by Mr. Bertram Liyanage, Director of the Office of Buddhist Encyclopedia.

During the discussion, High Commissioner Bagley emphasized the paramount necessity of reviving historical, academic and research linkages that had existed between Vidyalankara Pirivena and similar institutions and personalities in India and deepening people-to-people contacts between the two countries.

The High Commissioner acknowledged that the Vidyalankara Pirivena is one of the foremost learning centers in Sri Lanka instrumental in fostering relations between the two countries at various levels.

In 1944, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan was invited as the Chief Guest of the first Convocation of the Vidyalankara Pirivena and conferred with the honorary title of “Vidyācakravari”. In 1959, then President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad participated as the Chief Guest at the establishment of Vidyalankara University.

Among the prominent Indian personalities who visited the Vidyalankara Pirivena were Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

The Pathfinder Foundation is planning to celebrate 80 years of diplomatic relations between India and Sri Lanka in 2022 with the focus on commemorating the appointment in 1942 of Sir Baron Jayatilaka as Sri Lanka’s first emissary to India. Sir Baron was a student of Vidyalankara Pirivena.

High Commissioner Bagley was accompanied by Ms. Irina Thakur, First Secretary (Commerce and Culture) at the Indian High Commission and Mr. Moragoda by Mr. SumithNakandala, Director of the Centre for Indo-Lanka Initiatives and Mr. Gamini Godakanda, Director, Media at the Pathfinder Foundation.

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