‘Indrarathana Thero Not A True Monk’, Says Clergy

By Raisa Wickrematunge-Sunday, June 02, 2013

Friday, May 24th people watched in horror as Bowatte Indrarathana Thero self-immolated to protest against cattle slaughter.

When people decided to intervene, it was too late – the monk suffered third degree burns on his body and succumbed to his injuries shortly after.
Indrarathana Thero is being hailed by many as a saint for self-sacrificing to a cause. But others, including members of the clergy, disagree.
Ven. Baddegama Samitha Thero said that Indrarathana Thero’s death was not only a sin, but that he was no longer considered a monk after committing suicide.

Ven. Samitha Thero said there were certain transgressions, which, when committed, would cause a monk to lose his robes. These included stealing a certain amount of money, sexual intercourse and killing another human being. Within this category, suicide was also a sin, Ven. Samitha Thero explained. The monk said he could not endorse Indrarathana Thero’s act, which had disgraced not only himself and the Dalada Maligawa as well. “You cannot call him a monk,” Samitha Thero added.

Funeral rites of the Ven. Bowatte Indrarathana Thero being performed

The venerable monk added that Indrarathana Thero had become desperate during his spiritual campaign against cattle slaughter. Buddhists should always take the middle path of moderation, he added, but the monk had been driven to desperate measures. The monk also blamed the media, several of whom had been told in advance about Indrarathana Thero’s self-immolation. “There was plenty of time and opportunities to save him,” Samitha Thero said.

In addition, he said that a small number of extremist groups were now being given political backing, with elements of the state encouraging these groups’ violent nature, including those within the Government.

Upon being asked to identify these state elements however, Samitha Thero said he did not want to comment on that for the moment. But added the notion that; “The country knows that certain individuals are promoting these vile extremists”.

Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero also said that as a member of the clergy he could not condone someone committing suicide. Sobitha Thero pointed out that in the past there had been many protests and petitions signed on this issue. After this suicide, the Government would hopefully take note and implement measures to ensure cattle were protected to some extent. In this sense it would be good to see the Government take action but it was not a good thing to commit suicide, Sobitha Thero reiterated.

The Sinhala Ravaya speaks

In the meantime, members of the Sinhala Ravaya are hailing Indrarathana Thero as a martyr who sacrificed his life for a cause.
Chairman of the Sinhala Ravaya organization and former JHU Parliamentarian Ven. Akmeemana Dayarathna Thero said that Indrarathana Thero had held a prolonged campaign against cattle slaughter, even calling on the authorities to take some action, but no one had taken any interest in the matter. Akmeemana Thero added that as soon as a child stops depending on its mother for milk, he or she depends on the cow, and thus killing cattle should be frowned upon.

However in a new twist Dayarathna Thero also said that Indrarathana Thero had also campaigned against unethical conversions.

Dayarathna Thero claimed that there was a programme by Muslim and Christian fundamentalist groups to convert Buddhists to their religion, and that Indrarathana Thero had spoken up against this as well, with churches springing up everywhere. Dayarathna Thero added that they had carried out protests in different parts of the country but the authorities had not stopped illegal conversions or cattle slaughter.

Dayarathna Thero said that illegal conversions led to disharmony and misunderstandings about mainstream Christianity and Buddhism.
As such, the Thero said that when Indrarathana Thero sat in front of the iconic Temple of the Tooth and meditated that day, he had made a sacrifice in order to open the eyes of religious leaders on both issues. “Normally, suicide takes place when people are troubled and can’t escape from their problems. But he did it for everybody, so we don’t see it as a suicide, but a sacrifice,” Dayarathna Thero said.

Speaking further, he said that buying the freedom of cattle was not enough – the whole practice should be banned entirely. Saying that the population of Sri Lanka was 80% Buddhist, he added that if the practice of other religions was detrimental to the wellbeing of the majority then the Government should take steps to correct that.

The Thero said that this issue was not connected to an earlier campaign to ban Halal products. “This is not about Muslims, we have nothing against them. If they want to import meat into the country, then we have nothing against that,” Dayarathna Thero said.

Meanwhile, JHU Parliamentarian Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thero denied that there was any split of opinion within the party over Indrarathana Thero’s death. He added that Minister of Environment Champika Ranawaka and he both wanted the same thing, which was to ban cattle slaughter. “It was not suicide, but an act of sacrifice,” Rathana Thero said.

Drama At the funeral

There was some drama in the wake of Indrarathana’s Thero’s death – with members of the Sinhala Ravaya violently protesting that the monk’s body should be kept at the Jayaratne Funeral Parlour in Borella, where his remains were being prepared for last rites.
However, the monk’s body was transferred to Kahawatte in the Ratnapura district.

At the last moment, the funeral was also shifted forward from Wednesday (May 22) to Tuesday (May 21) and was held in the Kahawatte Porunuwa grounds.

A monk speaking from the Porunuwa-Sugathaarama temple in Kahawatte said that there had been a ‘firm request’ by the Pelmadulla Pradeshiya Sabha to bring Indrarathana Thero’s body to his village, and it was in response to that that the body was brought to Kahawatte, so that funeral rites could be held as quickly as possible.

Indrarathana Thero had also been elected a member of the Pelmadulla Pradeshiya Sabha but had lost his seat, as he was unable to attend meetings due to his social work commitments, it was earlier reported.

Minister of Public Administration John Seneviratne was loudly booed when he tried to address the crowds gathered at the funeral, and a tense situation quickly developed. Seneviratne said he did not want to comment on the incident due to the tension following the funeral, which had led to some misunderstanding.
An investigation is going on into the cause of death, police spokesman Buddhika Siriwardena said, the Kandy police is conducting the investigation, while the CID is currently collecting facts on the incident. Several witnesses who had been at the Temple of the Tooth had been interviewed and statements given, following Ministry of Mass Media and Information Charitha Herath’s lambasting of certain media organizations who had prior knowledge of Indrarathana Thero’s intentions but did nothing to stop him or warn anyone beforehand.

On banning cattle slaughter

Several members of civil society came forward to comment on the issue of cattle slaughter.
Managing Director of Young Asia Television, Hilmy Ahamed said that the Buddhist community alone refraining from eating beef would spare thousands of cattle. However, a huge financial loss would be incurred by those low-income farmers who rear cattle and even other animals like goats to supplement their income level. The people who reared cattle were mostly Buddhists themselves, and a ban would hit them hard, Ahamed said. In addition, he added that if looking at the numbers of cattle slaughtered, those consumed by Muslims would only amount to 2-5% of the total. Therefore it was not only the Muslims who would lose out by such a ban but Buddhists too, Ahamed said.

N. M Ameen, the President of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka said that the issue of cattle slaughter has suddenly emerged as a Buddhist concern. The Muslims and most other Sri Lankans have had access to Cattle meat for centuries, he said.  If there is a religious restriction for Buddhists to consume beef, the Muslim community would certainly respect them, Ameen said, adding that Buddhists did have the choice to refrain from consuming meats. However he also said that the suppliers of cattle to the slaughter houses were often Sinhalese farmers. For example, a large number of cattle are slaughtered everyday in the Eastern province which is a source of high revenue for the farmers of Maha-Oya and Ampara districts. Any restriction will affect these Sinhalese cattle farmers greatly, Ameen said. He added that while it was true that most of the meat stalls in the markets are owned by Muslim traders, there is a large non-Muslim population who patronize the beef stalls, Ameen pointed out. Further, Sri Lanka has become a major tourist destination for Arab and Middle Eastern tourism. This too would be affected. Ameen reiterated that religious, cultural and social freedom of all communities should be respected.

Meanwhile, an online campaign circulating on Facebook is claiming that there is a Christian and Muslim conspiracy to blame the TV station who stood by and took video footage of the monk setting himself on fire. The Facebook photo claims this is because Christians and Muslims support cattle slaughter while the TV news station is against it.

While the sudden death is tragic, it is important to remember what Indrarathana Thero stood for. Dayarathna Thero while speaking at Indrarathana Thero’s funeral reportedly said that the monk was a strong activist within the Sinhala Ravaya. This group has indeed been active against what they term are illegal conversions.
(Funeral pictures courtesy
Gossip Lanka)