Thousands of monks bless Rajapaksa and army

15 May 2013

Sri Lanka held a ‘Jaya Pirith’ ceremony earlier this week, which saw thousands of monks gather in Colombo this week to invoke blessings upon Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Sri Lankan Army.

The ceremony was initiated in 2008 and described by the Ministry of Defence as the ‘brainchild’ of Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to ‘invoke blessings on marching victorious troops in defence of the country’.

This is the 6th consecutive year that the ceremony is being held, with over 3,400 monks in attendance, alongside several senior members of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.