Sacred Kapilavastu Relics arrive in Sri Lanka

Indian Minister of Culture, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation brought the Sacred Kapilavastu Relics to Sri Lanka yesterday at 10:15am in a special Indian Air Force aircraft. The exposition of the Kapilavastu Relics will take place in Sri Lanka from 19 August 2012 to 4 September 2012.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa received the Sacred Kapilavastu Relics at the tarmac in a colourful ceremony at the Bandaranaike Airport in Katunayake. A large number of Buddhist monks in a religious ceremony chanted pirith.

The Sacred Relics were then taken in a procession to the first venue of exposition at the Manelwatta Maha Viharaya, Kelaniya. Earlier in the morning, a special religious ceremony was organised at the Delhi Airport before the Sacred Relics left for Sri Lanka. It was attended by the Buddhist monks, senior officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in India.

Minister Kumari Selja, accompanied by the High Commissioner of India and senior officials of the delegation, called on the President of Sri Lanka following the arrival of the Sacred Kapilavastu Relics. The President of Sri Lanka thanked the Minister of Culture for bringing the Sacred Relics to Sri Lanka.

It is for the second time since their discovery that the Sacred Kapilavastu Relics have travelled to Sri Lanka from India’s National Museum situated in New Delhi.  The first exposition of the Sacred Relics in Sri Lanka was in 1978.

The exposition of the Sacred Relics in Sri Lanka has been organised at the request made by the President of Sri Lanka to the Prime Minister of India as this would provide an opportunity to the followers of Buddhism in Sri Lanka to pay homage to the Sacred Relics.

The exposition of the Sacred Kapilavastu Relics is a grand finale to the joint activities undertaken by India and Sri Lanka to commemorate the 2,600th anniversary of the Enlightenment of Lord Buddha – Sambuddhatava Jayanthi.

India has taken a number of other initiatives to jointly celebrate the 2,600th anniversary of the Attainment of Enlightenment by Lord Buddha – Sambuddhatva Jayanti – with Sri Lanka, which, inter alia, include:

nOrganisation of an International Buddhist Conference in Kandy;

n Installation of a 16-foot high statue of Lord Buddha in the Sarnath style from Gupta period at the entrance of the International Buddhist Museum in Sri Dalada Maligawa complex in Kandy;

nLaunch of a new Buddhist pilgrimage circuit train ‘Damba Diva Vandana’ originating from Chennai and touching key Buddhist sites in Northern India;

n Organisation of dance-dramas, photographic exhibitions and screening of documentaries on Buddhism.

A publication containing the proceedings of the International Buddhist Conference titled ‘Cultural Interface between India and Sri Lanka – Based on Buddhist History, Art, Literature and Philosophy,’ which was inaugurated by the President of Sri Lanka on 20 March 2011 in Kandy, will also be released during the exposition of the Sacred Kapilvastu Relics.

Coinciding with the exposition, a set of books on Buddhism would be gifted to the Pali and Buddhist Studies Unit, University of Colombo.  

On the occasion of the exposition of the Sacred Kapilavastu Relics in Sri Lanka, the Centre for Contemporary Indian Studies (CCIS), Pali and Buddhist Studies Unit, University of Colombo in association with the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS) are organising a half-day symposium on ‘Relic Worship: History, Archaeology and Religion’ at the LKIIRSS Auditorium on 20 August 2012.

The relationship between India and Sri Lanka is more than 2,500 years old and is built upon a legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious and linguistic ties. Since Prince Arhat Mahinda’s arrival in Anuradhapura in the 3rd century BC, which heralded the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Buddhism continues to be one of the common threads that bind India and Sri Lanka together.

The exposition of the Sacred Kapilavastu Relics in Sri Lanka will reinforce the common cultural heritage shared between India and Sri Lanka and will further strengthen the multifaceted relationship that both countries share.