Sir Cyril De Zoysa - 113th birth anniversary:

Senator and philanthropist

Upadyaya, Dr. Aluthwewa Soratha Nayaka Thera

The 113th Birth Anniversary of Sir Cyril de Zoysa, who had venerated the Triple Gem with boundless devotion, while fulfilling invaluable services for the upliftment of the Sinhala nation falls on October 26.

Most of the people remember the name of Sir Cyril de Zoysa in connection with the Great Bo-Tree at Kalutara, further he is well known as a Senator, philanthropist and a noble person of high caliber. Here we wish to emphasis a fact which is known to a few and thus not well commemorated.

Kirivehera of Ruhunu Kataragama, that adorns Rohana Kingdom which flourished parallel to Anuradhapura Kingdom acquires a great prominence as a Punya boomi, a sacred place, as it was blessed with the visit of Samma Sambuddha.

According to the Buddhist tradition this sacred place is also included among the sites where Buddha had stayed during his 3rd visit to Sri Lanka. The historical Kirivehera was constructed at this place as a monument of that visit.

With the downfall of the Rohana Kingdom the thick jungle covered all the sacred sites and the Dagabo at Kirivehera too faced the hazards of the nature, and was in a dilapidated condition.

Although the British rulers who was in power or the Sinhalese who gained power as their successors were not extending an adequate patronage to re-construct this great historical monument that was deteriorating day by day.

The Buddhist monks who was always diligently involved in protecting the Buddha Sasana arrived at this place and initiated the renovation in their capacity. This great venture was commenced as a result of the Buddhist revival program of the Most Venerable Velivita Asarana Sarana Saranankara Sangaraja Thera.

The renovation of Kirivehera required a large sum of money, but as there was no way of accumulating that amount, the renovation of this National heritage had almost came to an end. At this juncture due to the good fortune of this nation, Sir Cyril de Zoysa stretched his benevolent hands towards this project.

He was the founder of the Kirivehera Chaitya Vardhana Society. As the President of this Society, Sir Cyril was involved in organizing so vigorously, he was able to divert the attention of the whole nation towards this prime work and thus to collect the necessary funds. The State patronage and the support of the Archaeological Department too were received due to his efforts.

As a result of his immeasurable courage and dedication in the task of renovating of Kirivehera, the project was completed in excellent condition. The accomplishment of his mission was marked with the installation of the Pinnacle on December 26, 1970 by Dudly Senanayaka who was the Prime Minister at that time. As a gesture of gratitude, I wish to add that if Sir Cyril de Zoysa was not there to pioneer this project even today this great monument, Kirivehera would have been in an incompleted condition.

The ancient glory and the greatness of Kataragama was re-established with the renovation of Kirivehera but the generosity of Sir Cyril de Zoysa did not stop there.

At that time a severe shortcoming of the Kataragama Sacred area was the non-availability of electricity. With the undeveloped infrastructure facilities of the area, it was necessary to do wiring for a long distance to obtain electricity from the main supply.

At that time Electricity Board did not have funds required for such a large-scale project. Sir Cyril de Zoysa’s next step was to overcome this challenge. I can remember that he donated a massive generator which enabled to supply electricity to the entire sacred area of Kataragama. He was generous enough to provide facilities to maintain it too.

At present Kataragama a sacred place where a large number of people congregate. Thus it is not only a religious place, but is a symbol of humanity too. We must not forget that this status was achieved due to the untiring efforts of Sir Cyril de Zoysa.

The writer is the Chief Incumbent of Kirivehera Rajamaha Viharaya, Kataragama, the Chief Sanganayaka of Ruhunu Magam Pattuva and Chancellor of Uva Wellassa University.