Buddhavanam team consisting of Mallepalli Laxmaiah, Special Officer, and E. Sivanagireddy, Buddhist expert consultant, visited the third century BC Buddhist rock cut caves at Mathale located on Colombo-Kandy route in Sri Lanka on Sunday where the teachings of Lord Buddha were recorded for the first time on palm leaves.
Mr Laxmaiah said that the Buddha’s teachings called Tripitaka viz., Sutr, Vinaya and Abhidhamma pitakas, which were transmitted orally until that time, were written on palm leaves under the auspices of Sri Lankan king Devanampiya Tissa, contemporary of King Asoka, and after that event only did we get the Buddhist literature in India.
He added that Acharya Buddhaghosha, the famous Theravada Buddhist philosopher lived in these caves for some time and wrote Visuddhimagga. He appreciated the Mathale Buddha Vihara for running a school in the name of Acharya Buddhaghosha even today as a token of respect to his scholarship.
Mr. Sivanagi Reddy, Buddhist expert consultant of the Buddhavanam Project, and archaeologist, said the rock-cut caves, the monastery and antiquities recovered from the surrounding area shows the Buddhist connection between the two Telugu States and Sri Lanka.
Later on, Mr. Laxmaiah called on Venerable Gnanatilaka Mahathero, the Deputy Chief Monk of Mahavihara at Anuradhapura and extended an invitation to him to visit Buddhavanam, a unique and largest Buddhist Heritage theme park in south-east Asia. The monk responded positively and said that he would visit in the month of October this year and presented Buddhist souvenirs to both Mr. Laxmaiah and Mr. Sivanagireddy. Prof . Gamini Ranasinghe, Director General, Central Cultural Fund, Sri Lanka, participated in both the programmes.
