SRIPADA SEASON BEGINS ON POYA DAY

The 2016/2017 Sri Pada Pilgrim Season will begin on Unduwap Poya Day which falls on December 13 with the performance of the traditional rites and rituals.

Sri Padasthana Chief Incumbent, Sabaragamuwa Province Chief Sanganayake and Uva-wellassa University Chancellor the Ven. Bengamuwe Dhammadinna Thera said the casket containing the Buddha’s relics, a gold statue of God Sumana Saman and a part of the regalia would be taken in procession from the Galpottawala Rajamaha Vihara in Pelmadulla to the Sri Padasthana after an all-night Pirith-chanting ceremony at the temple on December 11.

The other gold statue of God Sumana Saman and the regalia would be taken in a motorcade to the Nallathanniya Buddhist Centre and from there in a procession to the summit on the following morning.

Ven. Thera said two other processions, one via the Ratnapura-palabathgala ancient Raja Mawatha and the other via the Balangodamarathenna route will arrive at the Sri Padasthana and the three processions would converge at the Sri Padasthana in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the dawn of the Unduwap Poya Day. He said the Sri Pada pilgrim season would begin with the placing of the relics casket, the statues and the regalia in a special shrine room in the Sri Padasathana. The Ven. Dhammadinna Thera said adequate facilities would be provided for the pilgrims by government institutions on the instructions of the Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura Government Agents. He said special security arrangements had been made by the police and the army to provide protection to the pilgrims and to prevent the use of liquor and activities unbecoming of pilgrims.