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| Sunday, 27 June 2004 |
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Sunday Essay by Ajith Samaranayake The unanimous elevation of the Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Siddhartha Sri Sumangala Thera as the Mahanayake of the Malwatte Chapter of the Siam Nikaya introduces both continuity as well as change into the order of the Maha Sangha at a vital intersection in its dealings with the social and cultural system of Sri Lanka.
If the late Mahanayake, the Most Venerable Rambukwelle Sri Vipassi was born in the second decade of the previous century, his successor was born just four years before Ceylon, as it was then known, attained political independence. Entering the sasana at the age of 13 and receiving ordination in 1964 at the age of 20, the Ven. Sumangala has steadily climbed the hierarchy of the Malwatte Chapter and associated with all the elder priests of the Malwatte and Asgiriya chapters of the time most notably the Ven. Sirimalwatte Ananda Thera and the Ven. Palipane Chandananda Thera, who as the Mahanayakes of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters respectively, left behind valuable imprints in the annals of the last several turbulent decades in Sri Lankan society. Like most senior monks of the Siam Nikaya, Ven. Sumangala Thera was born to a middle-class Kandyan family in the Matale district. His mother hailed from Karalliyadda in the Teldeniya area now gone under the Victoria reservoir. While it was customary for the Kandyans occupying the higher brackets to manage their own lands or go in for the professions, many middle-class Kandyans were ordained as monks, a practice which was made the easier by the tradition of pupilary succession which operates at the heart of the bhikkhu order. Generally, pupils of senior monks who had themselves been Mahanayakes or Anunayakes stand a better chance of occupying the same offices in the fullness of time. The sense of Kandyanness and the monastic education imparted by the Sangharaja Pirivena were therefore the determining factors in conditioning the monks of the Malwatte Chapter while the same function was performed for the Asgiriya monks by the Asgiriya Pirivena. Unlike the bhikkhus who belonged to the Amarapura and Ramanna Nikayas, the Kandy monks were relatively immune from the modernising influences which British colonialism had introduced to the western seaboard and the capital of Colombo. They also suffered from a sense of historic grievance because of the repressive acts of the colonial regime in the wake of the Kandyan Rebellion of 1818, where under the Wastelands Ordinance, the peasantry was deprived of their traditional paddy and pasture land which was sold to British companies for cultivating coffee and later tea. Buddhism was also suppressed and the bhikkhus harassed in many insidious ways as a result, although the Kandyan Convention of 1815 had earlier solemnly assured that 'the religion of the Boodhoo', as it was described, would enjoy the same status as under the reign of the Sinhala royalty. The byproduct of this manifested itself in two ways. There were those bhikkhus such as Kudapola Unnanse who actively took part in the Kandyan rebellion while the majority of the monks of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters tended to go into a shell behind their conservative ramparts and saw as their ordained mission the preservation of the Buddhist order from the ravages of colonialism and its missionary votaries. The result was that even when the country obtained political independence in 1948, the Kandyan monks were little changed from the position they had occupied under the last King of Kandy. Conservative in their ways, they were moreover holders of large temple and devale land which had come down to them from royalty. As the custodians of the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha, they occupied a quasi-political position apart from their position as bhikkhus since the Tooth Relic was seen as the source of legitimacy of the kings and therefore the State. Ceylonese nation state Only the monks of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters have access to the custody of the relic and here too the monks who perform the 'thevava' form a select band which alone is privy to a whole set of arcane rituals and rites associated with the relic. Thus the two Mahanayakes of the Siam Nikaya occupy an unique religio-political role in the Sri Lankan social order. The collapse of the Sinhala monarchy led to the diminution in the role of the Sangha but this was restored to some extent by the attainment of independence and the establishment of the Ceylonese nation state. But here again, while the Sangha belonging to the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters enjoyed a reverential ceremonial role, it was the monks belonging to the modernist layers who played a more overtly political role in post-independence times. These varied from the Socialist-oriented bhikkhus who belonged to the Vidyalankara movement in the 1940s to the monks who were grouped around the Eksath Bhikkhu Peramuna which was instrumental in bringing Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike into power in 1956. Based in Colombo as they were, these monks were in various degrees exposed to the influences of modern day politics both in its beneficial as well as debilitating ways culminating, of course, in the assassination of the same Prime Minister by a Buddhist monk. Once again, the monks of the Kandyan provinces were immune from such influences and tendencies and more and more tended to take on the patriarchal role which they played during the time of the Sinhala kings. They have been spectators rather than participants in the political tableau played out by the monks of the urban centre. Their relative isolation in the fastness of Kandy and the deference shown to them by the political Establishment have contributed to forming their role. It is from this milieu that the new Mahanayake has emerged. He is essentially a modest but gregarious person. If I am permitted to strike a personal note, all of us were taken aback when he visited our home in Kandy to condole with us on the death of my father in January 1993. Normally, bhikkhus do not visit funeral houses unless they are specifically invited for the 'pansakula' but Ven. Sumangala Thera who was already the Anunayake saw nothing strange in thus departing from tradition to pay his respects to a 'dayaka' whom he had known for long. The gesture was all the more honourable for as my mother later recollected, my father had failed to attend the ceremonies connected with the act of appointment being conferred on the Anunayake Thera the previous year because of a personal commitment and what is more, had not offered any explanation either. I can still recollect Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera, who was there at the time laying out a white cloth for the Anunayake Thera to take his seat. Forward-looking outlook That is the measure of the new Mahanayake of the Malwatte Chapter. Having been a monk from the age of 13 with firm roots in Matale, Kandy and Kurunegala districts (where in the latter area he has been for long the chief incumbent of the Ridi Viharaya), Ven. Sumangala Thera brings a solidity of presence and a relatively forward-looking outlook to his new role at the apex of the Malwatte Chapter. What is more, he completes a historic cycle since hailing as he does from the Thibbatuwawe clan, he belongs to the same illustrious line which bequeathed on the Sasana the first Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatte Chapter, the most Ven. Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Buddharakkitha who took office under King Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe in 1753. The present Mahanayake's tutor was also the 21st Mahanayake of the Chapter Most Ven. Purrijala Sri Siddhartha Saranankara. Needless to say, the 26th Mahanayake takes office under difficult but challenging circumstances. The emergence of the Maha Sangha as an organised political force in Parliament has changed the equation of contemporary politics. The resolution of the National Question calls for the active participation of the Buddhists who form the majority of the country's people. The present Mahanayake's predecessor was best known for his frank and trenchant comments to politicians of all persuasions who came to pay him court. The Most Ven. Sumangala might well have to combine such a role (if that is his style) with that of acting as a rallying force for the Maha Sangha itself at this present historical moment of pressing national need. |
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Continuity in the sense that the Ven. Sumangala as Anunayake had worked
for 12 years with his predecessor and can be said to be fully possessed of
the onerous functions of his new office. Change in the sense that at the
age of 60, the new Mahanayake represents a generation which arrived at
maturity in Independent Sri Lanka and therefore can be described as being
in tune with the nation and aspirations of her people.
