Thousands attend funeral of people's monk in India
The funeral with state honours provided by the Central Government of India for Sri Lankan born monk Ven. Galagedera Pannananda Thera was held at Sravasti in Uttar Pradesh last Sunday amidst a large gathering, including 500 Buddhist monks from 14 countries, including India, Thailand, China, Korea, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Some 15,000 Indian Buddhists were also present to pay homage to the 89-year-old monk who left Sri Lanka at the age of 15 and was ordained in Lucknow in 1941. He was a spiritual leader to hundreds of thousands of Indians who embraced Buddhism in India’s post-Independence period.
Ven. Pannananda Thera was Bhikku-in-charge of the Lucknow Centre of the Maha Bodhi Society of India and a patron of the society at the time of his demise.
The Government of Sri Lanka was represented by Buddha Sasana Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera who went as a special envoy of President Maithripala Sirisena. Acting Sri Lanka High Commissioner to India, M. Lenagala, and the Buddha Sasana Ministry's Assistant Secretary Chintaka Jayasinghe accompanied the Minister.
President Sirisena in a condolence message read out by Minister Jayawickrama Perera referred to the “colossal loss” not only to the people of Sri Lanka, but also to the Buddhists in India by the monk’s passing away. Ven. Pannananda Thera followed the Buddha’s advice “Charitha Bhikkawe Charikan” and travelled to remote corners of India spreading the message of the Dhamma. The late Ven. Pannananda Thera was proficient in Hindi, Sinhala, English, Pali and Sanskrit and had a deep knowledge of the Dhamma. He had abundant communication skills to spread the Dhamma, the President said in his message.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in a message referred to the monk’s participation at a historic event at Nagpur where the architect of India’s Constitution Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and 50,000 of his followers embraced Buddhism.
He rendered yeomen service towards Buddhism and was closely associated with the activities of the Maha Bodhi Society of India, the Prime Minister said in his message.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya also sent a condolence message earlier.
Minister Jayawickrama Perera spoke of the late monk’s “unparalleled service” to the Buddha Sasana and that it will be remembered the world over. He said the late monk had dedicated his life to the noble cause of Dhammadutha service under the aus-