Is Gnanasara Another Buddharakkhitha In The Making?

By Vishwamithra1984 -July 16, 2014

“The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery – not over nature but of ourselves” ~Rachel Carson

Is the person who is identified asGalagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero another Buddharakkhitha in the making or is he just a pretender? But the circumstances and conditions seem to be much too close for comfort, although the mannerisms and public demeanor of the two seem to keep them wider apart than one would like to accept. At this juncture it might be useful to indulge ourselves in some post-independence history of Sri Lanka, especially regarding the Sir John Kotelawala era and the following ‘1956 Revolution’, one of the main architects of which was Ven. Mapitigama Buddharakkhitha Thero, the Head Priest of the historic Kelaniya Vihara. Buddharakkhitha’s very ascension to the exalted position of the Chief Incumbent of Kelaniya was not without any rumblings either. At the very tender age of the early twenties, to assume leadership among an exclusive clergy and for that matter, at Kelaniya of all places, is indeed a spectacle by itself. Yet Buddharakkhitha achieved it with overt support from one of the leading members of the Daayaka Sabha (Lay Committee) of the Temple.

The chief among those who supported Buddharakkhitha was D C Wijewardene whose young wife was Wimala who made no effort whatsoever to conceal her political ambitions. Her first attempt at the hustings failed when she contested the Kelaniya seat in the 1952 General Elections and lost to none other than J R Jayewardene; yet with money, power and the might of the Eksath Bikkhu Peramuna (EBP), fully behind her, Wimala defeated her opponent quite comfortably at the 1956 General Elections, this time in the Mirigama electorate. Her majority was over 25,000 votes, a prodigious majority in any era. Wimala Wijewardene was one of the beneficiaries of the ’56 Revolution, a child of the “new nation”.                 Read More