Abayagiri preservation work:

More public support needed

Nimal Wijesinghe,Anuradhapura additional district group correspondent

The Abayagiri Dagoba Preservation Committee requested the public to participate in the conservation work by providing volunteer labour and material to enable the work to be completed.

During the last two years, nearly 200,000 persons have participated in the shramadhana campaigns at the worksite mainly confining to the relaying of specially manufactured bricks to the top of the cetiya along with buckets of cement mixture.

Last month, 2,500 youth from the NYSC's Rata Dinavana Vishishtayo visited the Abayagiriya worksite in five separate batches and offered 25 days of labour for the Abayagiriya construction venture.

Ven. Kallanchiye Rathnasiri Nayake Thera, Chief Incumbent of the Abayagiriya Dagoba Temple said the Anuradhapura Kingdom remained for 1,400 years under a line of 130 kings including King Walagambahu, the youngest son of King Saddhatissa, brother of King Dhutugemunu. King Walagambahu (89 B.C) constructed the Abayagiriya Dagoba. It was later reconstructed by Kings Mahasen, Gajaba, Kanishka Tissa and Kasyapa. 'Fa hien Thera who lived two years at Abayagiriya temple has mentioned in his writings that 5,000 bhikkhus were occupying the Abayagiri temple site in the past. The Thera said Abayagiriya was of great historical archaeological and religious importance and the world Buddhist community should patronage the preservation programme which has been dragging on for a long period.