Post 3/3
6. http://kataragama.org/warrior.htm
(Written in 1992 by a Sinhala Buddhist, Aryadasa Ratnasinghe
It's the Bauddha Sangha! They're coming for the final takeover of the Other temple: to Pillaiyar (Ganapati). Soon they will have to evolve new Buddhist myths on how this Temple was "originally Buddhist" too, and how the Pillaiyar here is a "bodhisattva" blablabla.
Do note the date. It's the other reason for this posting session.
http://kataragama.org/news/siva.sandri.case.htm
6. http://kataragama.org/warrior.htm
(Written in 1992 by a Sinhala Buddhist, Aryadasa Ratnasinghe
Quote:It is believed by the Hindus (of Tamizh ancestry) that god Skanda is the younger son of god Iswara Siva [...] God Ganesha is the elder brother of god Skanda and it may be for this reason that the two devales (Sinhala word for Temple), dedicated to the brothers, lie adjacent to each other at Kataragama. Unlike at the Mahadevale, the kapuralas (this appears to be the Sinhala word for Temple priests) of the Ganesha kovil are [color="#0000FF"]Hindus[/color].That is, the Ganapati Kovil associated with the Subrahmanya kShetra at Kathirgamam is still a Hindu-administered temple (obviously built by Hindus).
It's the Bauddha Sangha! They're coming for the final takeover of the Other temple: to Pillaiyar (Ganapati). Soon they will have to evolve new Buddhist myths on how this Temple was "originally Buddhist" too, and how the Pillaiyar here is a "bodhisattva" blablabla.
Do note the date. It's the other reason for this posting session.
http://kataragama.org/news/siva.sandri.case.htm
Quote:Source: The Daily Mirror (Colombo) of 20 May 2010:The fact that Buddhism is now encroaching on the remaining unBauddhafied Hindu Kovil in the vicinity says something about the ... authenticity in the Buddhist "equal claim" assertion over the "Kataragama shrine" already usurped.
Fundamental Rights Petition against handing over Kataragama Pillaiyar Temple
by S.S. Selvanayagam
The Supreme Court yesterday (19) listed for support on Monday (24) the fundamental rights petition complaining against the alleged attempt to alienate the Mannikka Pillaiyar Kovil alias Sella Kataragama Ganesha Temple of Kataragama from the control and pssession of Hindus.
The Bench comprised Chief Justice Asoka de Silva, Justices P.A.Ratnayake and Chandra Ekanayake.
The Petitioner Swami Yogi Sri Shiva Chandri
The Petitioner Swami Yogi Sri Shiva Chandri (62) cited Kataragama Divisional Secretary T.B.M. Athapattu, Prime Minister and Buddhist & Religious Affairs Minister D.M. Jayaratne, Ratmalane Sri Siddhartha Thero, Swami Upul Chandima Dissanayake, and the Attorney General as Respondents. M.A. Sumanthiran instructed by Sanjeewa Kaluarachchi appeared for the Petitioner.
The Petitioner stated he has led the Pada Yathra (Foot Pilgrimage) to Kataragama from Thondamanaru, Jaffna for the past 28 years, following tradition passed on to him by his father and the said foot pilgrimage has been carried out annually for centuries with approximately 10,000 Hindu devotees attending annually. The foot pilgrimage, which travels for about 300 km, would take 2 ý months to reach the primary destination which is the Sella Kataragama Ganesha Temple.
Mannikka Pillaiyar Kovil at Sella Kataragama
He filed this petition as the public interest litigation secure and protects the interests and rights of the congregation of the said temple, and countless Hindu devotees who have allegedly continued to be affected by the actions and/or inactions of the State and the Respondents.
The said Temple is situated in the Kataragama division of Monaragala District and is built on a rock which stands in the middle of the ââ¬ËManik Gangaââ¬â¢. It has been a place of religious worship of Hindu devotees with a history of 5,000 years. He claimed this temple is also the repository of the Shiva-Linga; an aniconic naturally formed representation of the Hindu deity Shiva and unlike the Shiva-Linga found in various other Hindu Kovils, this Shiva-Linga situated at the said temple is a naturally formed phenomenon, growing out of the rock itself and not a manmade icon. [color="#0000FF"]He stated that it is the only site in Southern Sri Lanka where Hindu customs, rites and rituals are carried out in accordance with the traditional concepts utilizing mantras in Veda, Sanskrit and Tamil, whereas traditional mantras, in all three languages, are not conducted even at the main Kataragama Kovil.[/color] (That last is 'cause the Buddhists took over the Kathirgamam Kovil. But even if the Buddhists were to conduct Hindu rituals there, it will all be a sham anyway. Which is what it is now.)
He stated that the 1st Respondent Divisional Secretary had filed action in the Tissamaharamaya Magistrateââ¬â¢s Court [color="#0000FF"]on behalf of the 3rd Respondent Monk Siddhartha Thera, seeking an order to hand over possession of the Kovil to[/color] Venerable Siddhartha Thera. The Petitioner sought to intervene by filing a petition and affidavit inter alia stating that there were various under hand attempts by several government officials and the Respondent Siddhartha Thera, to purportedly lease out the sacred premises of the said temple to a purported ââ¬ËVadihitikanda Development Societyââ¬â¢ and that the said Society did not in fact exist in as much as it had no identifiable membership, and did not conform to the requirements of the duly registered society.
Source: The Daily Mirror (Colombo) of 20 May 2010
- Oh look, it's like the re-invention of Mahayana Buddhism from Theravada Buddhism going on before your eyes!
And shows what kind of religion it was all taken from... <=> direction of travel. And why it was done: the Buddhist takeover of Hindu rituals, mantras, language of the local Hindus, Hindu pilgrimage and festivals - for the same old reasons (and after preventing/effectively banning Hindus themselves from doing these very things/from carrying out their own religion, as seen in Post 2). That's how Buddhism, incl. most obviously Mahayana, acquired all the heathen stuff belonging to other religions.
- And then there's what all the above indicates about *lay* people and their actual religious tendencies in their natural state (when left to their own devices). That is, it says something about reversion (the direction): what the ancestral religion of people of the subcontinent *actually* is. Note that the Hindus visiting Kathirgamam were not there to convert the Buddhist laity, they were on pilgrimage to see their own Gods. It was the growing power of the Gods that were attracting the Buddhist laity back to them. In contrast, it is Buddhism that has to exert energy - work hard - to keep the converted laity Bauddhafied. (Can see exactly the same continue to happen Elsewhere - to a non-Indian population of a certain non-Hindu religion.)
- And it says something about the *meaning* of Hindu Gods when these are ... "adopted" into other Indic religions. It doesn't mean the same thing in the other religions.
Can see how much Buddhism actually cares about Murugan and the other Hindu Gods (or all other Gods): how real the Sangha think these Gods are. If they knew the Gods were real, they would not be ticking the Gods off by treating the genuine, devoted, loyal followers (the Hindus) in this manner. And can see how the Buddhist fraud perpetrated at the kShetra is going affect the kShetra's power. If Kathirgamam can be projected as "actually" Buddhist, the Buddhist Sangha will be pleased. But happier still if the "Buddhist" laity, currently flocking to the site and indulging in heathenism, were to finally slowly drift back into Theravada Buddhism when the kShetra loses its power and hence pull.
- I guess all the neo-Buddhists screeching against Hindu religion and pretending Hindu religion had hurt Buddhism are silent? Guess the ground-reality doesn't fit in with their "the south was originally not Hindu" theory?