SOUTH ASIAN MEDIA NET
The new international Buddhist museum at Sri Dalada Maligawa, a sacred temple in Kandy, features artefacts from 16 different countries– including Pakistan.
For years, Colombo-native Ariyawathi knew of Pakistan only as a Muslim state of little significance to Buddhists.
But that was before she visited the new international Buddhist museum at Sri Dalada Maligawa, a sacred temple in Kandy. The collection at the year-old museum features artefacts from 16 different countries– including Pakistan.
What she saw made a profound impression on her.
“During my school days, I learnt about Buddha’s birthplace in Lumbini, Nepal and other areas associated with milestones of his life in India,” Ariyawathi, 60, told Khabar South Asia. “Yet I hardly knew Pakistan also has a proud history of Buddhists. I was happy to know it. We have to teach this to our children.”
The Pakistani and Sri Lankan governments have been increasingly interested in fostering a relationship based on the two countries’ shared cultural heritage. Last year, as Sri Lanka commemorated the 2,600th anniversary of the Buddha’s enlightenment, the Pakistani government sent a set of sacred relics. They were exhibited in June 2011 before being taken back to Pakistan.
Now, the High Commission of Pakistan in Colombo is taking steps to send replicas of key artefacts that can be kept permanently at the museum in Kandy.
“Pakistan has gifted these invaluable cultural assets to Sri Lanka,” Pradeep Nilanga Dela, custodian of the Sri Dalada Maligawa museum, told Khabar. “The museum where these items are kept is an important one. It presents to people how Buddhism was founded and spread across the countries.”
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(Thanks to Pritam Rohila)