Sri Lanka's Swarnavahini TV needed to be brought to book for assisting a Buddhist monk to attempt self-immolation

Sri Lanka's Swarnawahini TV videoed all from beginning to the end of the self-immolation attempt of a Buddhist monk near the entrance of the Buddhist Temple of Tooth of Kandy where a relic tooth of Lord Buddha is placed for worship.

The TV crew seemed of being well aware of the crime the Buddhist monk was about to commit but did not do anything to prevent it, a clear legal offense by a citizen.

The monk Bowatte Indrarathana who was earlier a Jathika Hala Urumaya (JHU) local government member of Pelmadulla Pradeshiya Sabha who lost the position due to absence. He has been an activist of other Sinhala Buddhist chauvinist movements like Sinhala Ravaya.

The monk seems an honest kind of racist. Definitely a victim of the vicious campaigns of the opportunist racist campaigns. 90% burnt, the 31 year old monk may suffer throughout his entire life mentally, if not physically but we have no other option than to wish he will live. 

Update: The monk passed away in the evening of May 25. 

Sri Lanka entering an age of violent Buddhism

Sri Lanka which sees the rise of Buddhist extremism in recent times passed a breakthrough as a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk committed self-immolation today at Kandy city. Kandy is a sacred city of Buddhists where the sacred relics of Lord Buddha is housed in the Temple of Tooth.

The monk had told that he would commit self immolation against the slaughter of cattle.

The monk has been identified as B. Indarathana Thero who resides in a temple in Kahawatta.

The incident took place before the entrance to the Temple of Tooth.

The monk doused himself with petrol and set ablaze. Hospital sources say that the monk's body is 90% burnt and his condition is very serious. He was transferred to Colombo national hospital.

Sri Lankans eat meat since generations although the Buddhist religion the majority of them follow advocates peace on the lives of the animals also.

However,  the Buddhist extremist elements intensified the campaign against the cattle slaughter. But the same Buddhist extremists do not protest the killings and forcible disappearances of ethnic Tamils of the country. In recent months, the Muslims were also the focus of the wrath of the Buddhist extremists.

Cattle farmers who are mostly Buddhists sell the bulls and old cows for meat as an additional income since long ago.

Why do Sri Lankan presidential candidates go back to history to launch their campaigns?

(December 17, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Today the nominations are closed for the January 25 presidential of Sri Lanka. Both the government and the major opposition will have their inaugural rallies tomorrow.

President Mahinda Rajapakse's first propaganda rally is held in Anuradhapura while major opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka will climb the hill to address his inaugural rally held in Kandy.

The two venues chosen by these two candidates to launch their campaigns officially has connotations linked to the past.

Anuradhapura is an ancient capital of a kingdom that ended at the beginning of the second millennium around 1000 AD. Later the colonial archaeologists and the historians unearthed the glorious city in late 19th century until what times it was covered by thick jungle.However, as Sinhala nationalism was formed in the modern times with its primary focus to the Sinhala dominance in the post-colonial state, Anuradhapura was chosen as the ideal capital of the Sinhala polity.

Kandy is the capital of the last Sinhala kingdom that fell to the English colonials in 1815 basically due to internal mutiny.

Both cities are equally significant for the Buddhists. Buddhism is the majority religion of the island. Sri Maha Bodhiya, a tree believed to hail from the ancient tree that provided shade to Lord Buddha to attain enlightenment is in Anuradhapura.

The sacred tooth relic of Lord Buddha, a symbol of kingship is in Kandy.

Another significance is that the Tamil nationalist rebels have attacked both these cities and killed people.

What do you think about the historical ramifications of selection of these two cities by the two major candidates for the launch of their campaigns instead of Colombo, the natural nerve center of politics.