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Sacred hair relics of Buddha for Kataragama Kiri Vehera

Jayasiri Munasinghe

The sacred hair relic of the Buddha gifted to Sri Lanka by the Chitagong Purana Viharaya in Bangladesh now kept at the Hunupitiya Gangaramaya will be taken to the Kataragama Kiri Vehera premises in a special motorcade on Thursday, February 28.

A special ceremony will be held in this connection at Temple Trees under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday at 7 a.m. The ceremony will begin with a heel dana offered to the Maha Sangha at Temple Trees by the President, the first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, members of their family andrelatives.

Thereafter the President will place the casket bearing the sacred relics on a colourfully decorated float to be taken in a special motorcade to Kataragama. A member of the organising committee Ven. Kirinde Assaji Thera of the Gangaramaya said about two thousand people including the Mahasangha, Buddhist devotees ad students of the Sri Jinaratana Technical Training College affiliated to the Gangaramaya will join the motorcade chanting pirith and invocations to the Triple Gem on the way.

People are expected to line the route in large numbers along Galle Road to pay homage to the sacred relics. The motorcade will stopover at the Kalutara Bodhi at 9 a.m., Galle town at 11 a.m. and also at the Matara Bodhi for a brief public exposition of the relics.

The motorcade will then proceed to Matara Veherahena Poorvarama Rajamaha Viharaya where the relics will be kept until March 1. The Motorcade carrying the relics will leave Poorvarama Raja Maha Viharaya for Kataragama on March 1 having brief stopovers for public expositions at Tangalle and Tissamaharama.

The motorcade will arrive at Kataragama Kiri Vehera later in the day. A public exposition of sacred relics will be held a Kirivehera premises on March 1 and 2. Special religious observances will also be held on these two days at the Kirivehera premises to invoke blessings on the country, Government, Security Forces and Police and the people.

Ven. Assaji Thera said President Rajapaksa who has taken a keen interest in this pinkama has directed him to conduct in a manner befitting a national religious festival. Ministers Dullas Alahapperuma and Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena have helped in the arrangements.

New look PRIU Website

The PRIU website (www.priu.gov.lk) the official website of Government of Sri Lanka, maintained by the Policy Research & Information Unit of the Presidential Secretariat, will take a new reader-friendly format from today. The site will have more news, information on Government ministries and links to other Government websites.

Fire guts N'eliya shops

A row of shops in Hawa-Eliya, Nuwara Eliya were gutted in a fire around 11 p.m. on February 24.

The Disaster Management Centre said among the shops completely destroyed were a motor spare parts shop, a retail shop and a hotel. The total damage is estimated at around Rs. 2.5 million.

Cure for Leucoerdema

A native ayurvedic treatment that cures leucoerdema permanently has been discovered by researchers at the Maharagama Nawinna Ayurveda Research Institute.

This new treatment is available at all major Ayurveda hospitals countrywide, a spokesman for the Indigenous Medicine Ministry said.

Clinics for treatment of Leucoerdema are held at the Borella Ayurveda Teaching hospital on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Ayurveda Commissioner Ramani Gunawardena said.

A leucoerdema clinic is held at the Anuradhapura Ayurveda Hospital every Thursdays and other Ayurveda Hospitals treat Leucoerdema patients on skin clinic days, Gunawardena said. This treatment will be made available at all other smaller Ayurveda hospitals in the near future, she said.