aluthgama report final

Chapter II
The Bodu Bala Sena
Background:
The events of 15 th and 16 th June cannot be considered in isolation from the anti -Muslim hate
sentiment so successfully propagated over the post war years by the Bodu Bala Sena and its
proxy groups. Chapter 2 discusses the manner in which the BBS framed the Muslims as the
ideal, quintessential and tragically necessary ‘other’ of the new post war triumphalist Sinhala
Buddhist nationalism.
The Monk as an Actor of Sri Lanka’s Historical Narrative
Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka have been revered by Buddhists for their role as the protectors
and disseminators of the teachings of the Buddha. Certain monks throughout history have
used this position of respect to influence the shaping of the political consciousness of Sri
Lanka.
The Sangha Community has sought patronage of the monarchy for their subsistence. The
Mahāvaṃsa, which chronicled the better part of pre-colonial Sri Lankan history is a narrative
presented from the point of view of a monk. 4 Thisaranee Gunesekera writes that not only
does the Mahāvaṃsa shape the ‘Sinhala commonsense and by extension the moral-ethical
outlook of the average Sinhalese’ but it also plays the role of the Book of Sinhala Buddhism. 5
She cites a narrative in the Mahawansa where a group of monks arrived to console a King
Dutugemunu lamenting over the slaughter of millions in his war against Elara with the words:
`From this deed arises no hindrance in thy way to heaven. Only one and a half human beings
have been slain here by thee, O lord of men. The one had come unto the (three) refuges, the
other had taken on himself the five precepts.’ Not only is this historical account symbolic of
the dehumanization of the ‘other’, by reducing the ‘slaughter of millions’ to insignificance, it
also demonstrates that the Sinhala Buddhist nationalist rhetoric (as formulated in this case by
the Mahāvaṃsa chronicler has historically attempted to justify violence against those
considered outsiders.
During the Colonial era, Buddhist monks adopted a more activist role in asserting selfdetermination
from alien domination. 6 Anagarika Dharmapala's rhetoric however, idealizing
an exclusivist Sinhala-Buddhist identity, and in addition to carrying out anti-colonialist
propaganda also alienated minorities within Sri Lanka. In 1956, SWRD Bandaranaike's
4 James J. Hughes, “Buddhist Monks and Politics in Sri Lanka”, Presented at Spring Institute for Social Science
Research University of Chicago in1987.
5 Thisaranee Gunesekera, ‘Occupied by Extremism’, LankaNewspapers.com, 29 March 2009.
6 Ibid.
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