Commander Places Relic Casket &;amp; Opens Matara Vesak Zone

‘Sri Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi Vesak Zone’ that covers Matara Bodhiya precincts and the Uyanwatta Sanath Jayasuriya ground is to formally culminate the week-long commemorative events in the country on Saturday (21) with the conduct of Sri Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi Perehara in Matara.   

HE the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Hon Prime Minister, Ministers and a host of other invitees are expected to grace the final phase of the 2600th Sri Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi ceremonies.

On Friday (20), the Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, participating in the day’s opening ceremony of the Vesak Zone as the Chief Guest, carried the Buddha’s relic casket in a colourful procession amidst drummers and dancers before it was placed in the specially-designed octagonal ‘Pattirippuwa’, the replica of the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, symbolizing the onset of the day’s arrangements.      

Afterwards, Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya in the company of Ven Getamanne Gunananda Thero, Presidential Advisor on Buddhist affairs who is also the livewire behind Matara Sri Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi commemorative arrangements, went out to see a couple of Vesak lanterns on display, crafted by Police, Civil Defence Force personnel and trainees, attached to vocational training centers under Ministry of Vocational Training and Youth Affairs. A bevy of girls and boys, dressed in religious attire who were reciting devotional songs in one corner of the Uyanwatta esplanade turned out to be another spectacle in the day’s elaborate arrangements.

A brief meeting that followed the formal opening was addressed by Ven Getamanne Gunananda Thero and a few others. A message issued in connection with the ceremony by Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya was also read out on the occasion.

Minister of Youth Affairs, Mr. Dallas Alahapperuma and Minister of Education, Hon. Bandula Gunawardhana (M.P) were also associated with the event.