Monks from South visit disputed Neeraaviyadi temple at Naayaa'ru

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 October 2019, 23:27 GMT]
A group of Sinhala Buddhist monks from the South visited the disputed ‘heritage site’ Neeraaviyadi at Naayaa'ru in Mullaiththeevu on Thursday. The group was inspecting the Pi'l'laiyaar Hindu temple and the recently erected Buddha statue at the locality. Then, the group proceeded to the hut, where the late monk, Kolamba Thero, was preserving his collection of ‘artefacts’ claiming them as the remains of an ancient Sinhala Buddhist Chaitya. The collection of stones have been stored inside a small hut inside the SL military base located across the road, just opposite the disputed temple. The latest visit by the monks comes as the court is set to investigate the controversial cremation of the late Kolamba Thero, which took place near the Hindu temple in September.

The cremation was staged by a group of Sinhala Buddhist monks, who were led by Gnanasara thero, the Secretary of Sinhala extremist Bodu Bala Sena.

The monks chose to cremate the dead monk near the Hindu temple violating a court order and opposing the sentiments expressed by the Tamil people of the area. The move, perceived as desecrating the Hindu temple, triggered a series of protests from the Tamils in the North and East.

TNA Parliamentarian from Mullaiththeevu Ms Shanthy Sriskandarajah, who was a witness to the controversial event, has filed a case demanding action against the contempt of court by the extremist monks.

The latest visit by the delegation of monks was a fresh attempt to involve the SL Archaeology Department to certify the collection maintained by the late Kolamba Thero as a real archaeological collection before the contempt-of-court case is taken for investigations, Tamil trustees of the temple said.



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