- Saman C. Liyange's book entitled : Siripada Veherapathi Sirinives Maha Yathi ( the incumbent of Siripada ; the Sirinives' of high order ) was published by Sri Saranankara Development Foundation in September 2013.
This opus is dedicated to the Gothatuwa lineage of monks and their Dayaka's who treated them with all respect.
The book is based on the life of the high priest Welivitiye Sirinivasa who passed away on the 15th of July 2015, at the ripe old age of 92 years . Saman C Liyanage has turned aback in time embarking on a journey of historiography in appreciation of the pivotal role of the high priest draws this publication in biographical depiction.
The indispensable value of this book is that the high priests recollections are a gift for posterity.We owe a debt of gratitude for Saman C. Liyanage for his foresight.and the yeoman services rendered.
The High Priest seems to possess a prodigious and a tenacious memory to retain all essential minute details pertaining to the temple .Had not Saman C. Liyanage placed them on record these wealth of material would have been buried in the sands of time.
What whetted curiosity of this reviewer is that Ven Baddegama Sumangala thero who sparked the seed of controversial thought that led to the Baddegama Vadaya or the controversy of Baddegama , his origins were not documented by Prof. Tissa Kariyawasam who wrote initially in his doctoral thesis submitted in 1971 which was subsequently published by S.Godage International publishers in 2009 entitled:"Religious activities and the Development of a New Poetical Tradition in Sinhalese 1852-1906 " thereafter one of his write ups is found in this book of Saman C. Liyanages' it self .vide appendix found at pages xi to xviii and the Sampurna Baddegama Vadaya [ The Complete Baddegama Vadaya ] in Sinhalese 2015 Godage edition. Also it is matter to be stressed and taken into serious account that the well-known writer Bandupala Guruge vouches the fact Ven Baddegama Sumangala hails from his family.
However, more research is advocated as the need of the hour by this reviewer Ven Kalawane Ratnapala who began the lineage of the Gotatuva yathi parapura -lineage of monks of Gotatueva - was a monk from the up country Malwatte temple who was not in the good books of the colonial rulers. The most essential feature of this Chief priest is that neither he belong to the Totagamuwa lineage of monks nor any details of his ordaining as a monk or receiving the higher upasampada ordination is known to anyone. The reviewer could not trace any information from Kapila Pathirana Vimaladarama's Sacerdotal Sussession of Sri Lankan Buddhist Monks -since 1753 Volume 1 and 2 Varuni publishers 2013 . It is very likely that he hailed from Kalawana of the Sabaragamuwa district.
The reviewer wishes to make the following comments on the Saman C. Liyanage's biography of this High priest.Thus:
At page 16 the oyster dish vide Sir J. Emerson Tennent's Ceylon Vol. II at page 649 Tisara edition The rest house in Bentota ' the delicacy for which Bentotte has a local renown ,oysters taken off the rocks in the adjoining estuary'.
At page 27 the last monk to attain arahathhood Maliyadewa rahathan wahanse is commonly known as a erroneous account.
At page 28 Bambarende Kurumbure Poorwarama rajamaha viharaya vide pages 90-1 of Wehelle Dhammadinmna Shasana Ithihasaya by Kirielle Gnavimala thero 1975.
At page 31 of his book Saman C. Liyange says that the wattle and daub hut in Gotatuva watte or garden were the modest beginnings of the chaithyaramaya of Siripadagodella on 25th July 1825. This reviewer assumes that this temple is very likely to be the oldest in Baddegama. Rev . James Selkirk's 'Recollections of Ceylon'- after A residence of nearly thirteen years as a Church Missionary Society missionary published in London in 1844 the earliest published record on the Siripadgodella temple dated 2nd December 1836 was not traced by the author found at pages 468 to 471 of this book . According to Rev. Selkirk himself he became in charge of the CMS station in Baddegama only in the latter part of 1836 .Thus:
"SMALL TEMPLE OF THE " BLESSED FOOT. Dec.2 , I went with the interpreter this evening to a small temple, about two miles from Baddegama, where is a mark of the Sri Pada , or " blessed foot" , similar to the one which is on the top of Adam's Peak ,(see Dec .29 ,supra) and to which such vast crowds of worshippers are drawn every year. It appears that a priest in this neighbourhood some years ago ,went to the Peak , and took the measure of the "foot" ,and on his return got a stone- mason to cut one out similar to it. This was erected on the top of a hill in this neighbourhood,and enclosed within a small building. Great number of people come at certain seasons of the year to make offerings to it. I measured the length of it, and found it to be seventy -two inches ; the breadth is thirty sixty inches .* The length of each of the toes ,which are all alike,is fifteen inches and the breadth of each seven inches and a half. When I asked the priest , who resides at a pansala near the place , what sort of a body the person must have had enormous a foot,he said, with much of gravity , "Don't you know that our Buddha is eighteen cubit high? By the cubit is here meant two feet three inches. We had long conversation with him.He would not acknowledge that there was Creator, but maintained that everything took place according to the Kusal and Akusal, the merit and demerit of actions done in a former birth.He brought forward the usual Buddhist objections against a Creator, that some men Are rich , and others poor some lame ,blind,deaf &c. I endeavoured to show him that this was rather a proof that there was God than that there was not : as, if all were rich ,or healthy , or good , there would be no room for the poor, and in the minds of the healthy when they relieve the sick. I said too, that according to their system, of things happening according to the Kusal or Akusal of the individual, they would have no means of obtaining merit , if there were no poor persons to be cured.He said" Yes"; but in such a manner as showed that though at the time he thought it proper, he believed it to be contrary to their books , and therefore false.He asked us for money ,which gave us the opportunity of charging him with sin in breaking Buddha's commands ,as one of them says that money is not to be touched by a priest . This he evaded, by saying that he asked money , not as a priest but as a man . He was a very good-tempered man and took in good part all we said , and received one of our tracts, though with some reluctance ,at parting. I found a leaf of the Act of the Apostles , in Singhalese , cut out into two fantastic figures, and pasted on one of the doors of this temple , and another leaf cut so as to represent the sun on the other door. the priest said they were cut and put there by some boys.* This is little from the one on the Adams peak, which is five feet seven inches long , and two feet seven inches broad. See Dec. 29 ,1836, supra."
This reviewer ventures to state that this account is a biased account by a CMS missionary. The priests requesting of cash well could be said that a request for a donation to build the temple which was in the process of development.The value of this account is that it is the only written description which substantiates the legends based on the temple and its founder Rev Kalvane Ratnapala .
At page 37 that there was a oral debate thus there was no oral debate at the Baddegama vadaya.
At page 93 Herbert Charles Jacob Peiris who was later known as Devar Suriya Sena , Music of Sri Lanka by Devar Suriya Sena Vijitha Yapa publications 2008 .'Of Sri Lanka I Sing' -The Life Times of Devar Suriyasena 1978 published by the Ranco printers Colombo was his autobiography.He co-authored together with W T Keble the biography on his father titled: ' The Life of Sir James Pieris 'Times of Ceylon Colombo 1950.
At page 97 on George Winter see: at page 170-1, J. Penry Lewis's 'List of Tombstones and Monuments 'published by the Government printer 1913 serial no 556 January 21.1853 there is a memorial plaque at the Dutch Reformed Church Fort Galle thus: 'Sacred to the Memory of George Winter Esqr. of Baddegama near Galle who departed this life 21st January 1853,aged 55 years '.Lewis also has stated that his tombstone is found at the All Saint's Church [Church of England ] cemetery which is not enlisted in his book .At page 203 under Baddegma Church Yard burial and tombstone of George Walter Winter October 24th, 1825 .George Winter's son Alfred Octavius's burial and the tombstone is found there. It is evident that the Baddegama Church Yard has the earliest George Walter Winter. Also the 'Winter ferry -the Winter totupala' is hitherto reminiscent of the Winters at Baddegama.The news paper editor was George Winter ,whose the plaque is found at the Dutch Reformed Church Galle.
At page 108 there is reference on the opening of the "Sigiri " cinema . A part of the photograph is found with SWRD Bandaranaike published in the " Bandaranaike Parivarthana Yugaya "[ Transitional period of Bandaranaike by Henry Abeywickrama [ in Sinhalese ] published by Hansa Prakasakayo in 1971 .A better detailed photo was seen by the reviewer at the cinema itself.
At page 131 this reviewer finds an error that it was not the 'Lankalokaya press' that was owned by the Bulathgama High priest. vide: pages 96 to 104 Pagngnasekra K Rev titled: Sinhala Puwath path Sangara Ithihasaya volume 1 and that he owned Lankopakara press. It is assumed that Lankalokaya press became Grantodaya press which had published the First Sinhalese Newspaper vide: at pages 191 Kularatne Tilak book titled: 'History of Printing and Publishing in Ceylon 1736-1912' ,2006 an author publication. From Galle in 1938 it was removed to Baddegama thereafter to Weliwatta Dangedara .In 1942 it was taken back to Galle and was installed as the Grantodaya possible location is "Ice Mola Handiya aka Badahela junction in Miniwangada[ Minuwangoda ] Galle [ per comm with late Rev Akuretiye Nandasara threo]. Finally it was removed to Baddegama again in 1945 to house it at the present permanent location.
The most noticeable omission is that the photographs of Ven. Welivitiye Pugngnasara,which could be traced from the photograph at the hall of Vidyaloka Pirivena Wackwella road Galle or from the booklet published by Ven. Ganegama Sarankara at the eve of his death occurred on 03-04- 1957 , his brother Kanapendala Gamage Caranelis Appuhamy proprietor of the 'Grantodaya' and of the Columbian press dated 1859 '-which later became 'Grantodaya'.
The high priest Rev Welivitiye Sirinivasa thero is indeed " Dulabbo Purisa Gnano Gnaso Sabbatu Jayatu " [ Such men( erudite legendary monks ) are rare; Rarely are they born].
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