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| Thursday, 24 June 2004 |
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The new Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatte Chapter by S. B. Karalliyadda
The first Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatte Chapter of the Siyam Mahanikaya established in the period of King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe, was Ven. Tibbatuwawe Sri Sidharta Budharakkita Thera. The Tibbatuwawe Mahanayake clan began from 1773 with the first Mahanayake Thera of Malwatte. Three of them held the post of Mahanayake before and Ven. Tibbatuwawe Sri Siddharta Sumangala, the present Mahanayake of the Chapter, becomes the fourth to succeed to the most dignified and exalted position of Mahanayake. Ven. Tibbatuwawe Sri Sidharta Budharakkita Maha Thera who held the post of Mahanayake of the Malwatte chapter during the period of Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe (1747-1780), was the scholar who composed the last eight hundred Pali stanzas of the Mahavansa and completed the chronical. The Governor General at the time, Sir Henry William Gregory, was keen that the Mahawansa written in Pali should be translated into Sinhala so that the Sinhalese reading public too could understand the great chronical. The Governor entrusted this task to Pandit Don Andreas de Silva Batuwantudawa, an erudite scholar at the time, who enlisted the support of a similar erudite scholar, Ven. Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala, to complete this task. Manuscripts that were available at the time in Senkadagala, Mulkirigala, Matara, Bentara, Panadura and the Salpiti Korale were collected and examined but only the copies of over hundred years that were available at Ridivihara in Kurunegala, were made use of to accomplish the task. Such was the scolasticism of the Tibbatuwawe clan. Ven. Tibbatuwawe Sri Siddharta Budharakkita Mahanayake Thera wrote two Pali books - 'Sri Saddharmapayanaya' and a preface to 'Sathipattana'. A bhikkhu of that lineage had been appointed 26th Mahanayake Thera of Malwatta Chapter on this month of Esala to coincide with the visit of Mahinda Maha Thera who established the Sangha Sasana and brought the doctrine of Buddha Dhamma to Sri Lanka nearly two thousand three hundred years ago. New Mahanayake Born on May 30 1944 in Tibbatuwawe village in Matale, his father was Tibbatuwawe Samarakkody Wijesundara Bandaranayake Wasala Mudiyanse Ralahamilage Tikiri Banda and his mother was Karalliyadde Ekanayake Wijeratne Wasala Mudiyanse Ralahamilage Idame Walawwe Loku Kumarihamy. He was named Loku Banda and had his early education in Weraitiya Government school and Christ Church College Matale. He entered the order on June 10th 1957 as a pupil of Ven. Tibbatuwawe Sri Sidharta Medankara, high priest of Ridivihara. He had his eduction at the Sangaraja Pirivena, Kandy, where he learnt Buddhist philosophy. Dhamma Vinaya, Philosophy, Linguistics and passed the Pirivena Final Examination. He received his higher ordination in 1964 under Venerable Amunugama Rajaguru Vipassi who was then Mahanayake Thera of Malwatte Chapter. Subsequently, he was appointed to be in charge of the Thevawa of the Tooth Relic at the Sri Dalada Maligawa, member of the Karaka Sangha Sabha, Asst. Secretary of the Karaka Sabha and finally the Secretary of the Karaka Sabha. In 1992, he was appointed Anunayake of the Malwatte Chapter. The new Mahanayake Thera was never ambitious or greedy for power and position. All these positions were forced on him with the unanimous wish of the Sangha Sabha. Had he been ambitious or gone after such positions he would have been the Mahanayake Thera long ago. But he observed the seniority and traditions that are followed in the selection to such exalted positions in the Sangha order. He shun competition and rivalry among the Sangha. The Buddhists attribute all these qualities to the merits acquired in previous births. That may be why the venerable Mahanayake Thera is endowed with such a pleasing and charming personality as described in the Naraseeha Gathas to describe the Buddha Putras. He has done yeoman service to bring the historic Ridiviharaya to what it is today. The tradition of the annual perahera is continued and more than one hundred caves are provided in a jungle of Ridiviharaya more than one hundred acres in extent, for those who would like to meditate for long periods. The Mahanayake assumes his prestigious position at a period of transition, as described in the dream of king Kosala. His role as Mahanayake marks a vital phase in our history. The establishment of the Punya Grama concept, educational reforms to provide a value based system enriching the norms and values of Sinhala society as envisaged in the policy of the Government, retaining the territorial integrity of the island and above all, facing the new challenges to the Buddhist religion, are some main issues where he will have to play a vital and a decisive role on behalf of the entire nation. Facing such challenges in the turbulent periods of our history has been the sine qua non of the Tibbatuwawe lineage. It was the Tibbatuwawe Nayake Thera who was the 4th accused in a case of high treason taken up for trial on 12.01.1835 in the Magul Maduwa presided over by the Puisne Judge W. Norris. Kings Advocate Carr and Deputy Kings Advocate J. Ferrings argued the case for the English government and after a lengthy trial that lasted nine days, the high priest was acquitted. With this historic background of the family, the new Maha Nayake should be able to meet future challenges. We wish the Maha Nayake the blessings of the Triple Gem and long life to serve the nation for many more years to come. |
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