The political emergence of Buddhist monk in Sri Lankan society: From king's palace to parliament

Abstract

The relationship between the state of Sri Lanka and the Buddhism was established on the day when the Arahath Mahinda Thero introduced Buddhism to Sri Lankan society. After that Buddhist monk became a prominent figure in Sri Lankan society. This situation prevailed from the Anuradhapura kingdom to Kandyan kingdom. When Sri Lanka became a colony of British, Buddhist monk had given his guidance for the rebels conducted by local people. The Vidyalankara Decleration (Vidyalankara Prakashaya) which was declared in 1946 gave a disciplinary permission for Buddhist monks which encouraged them to engage in political activities without any fear. That situation paved the way to Buddhist monk for emerge as a prominent figure in 2004 parliamentary election as election candidates and win nine seats in parliament. This study is mainly focused on the political emergence of Buddhist monk in different stages of Sri Lankan history. The collection of data for this study is mainly done through the methods of textual analysis and interviews. The data which was collected according to the above methodology clearly suggest that the Buddhist monk captured a prominent place in Sri Lankan history of politics. As well as the image of Buddhist monk had used by the various types of political parties in order to grab the public opinion towards their victory.