Lankan monk’s death, a grievous blow to Sinhala-Buddhist revival

Lankan monk’s death, a grievous blow to Sinhala-Buddhist revival

The sudden death of the popular Buddhist preacher, the Venerable Gangodawila Soma Thera, in St Petersburg in Russia, has plunged Sri Lanka into unprecedented grief. On hearing the news, Sinhala-Buddhist women wailed inconsolably. Crestfallen men put up little ochre flags atop their houses and vehicles as a sign of mourning.

Soma Thera’s was the second Sinhala-Buddhist revivalist movement in recent Sri Lankan history. The first was led by Anagarika Dharmapala in the early part of the 20th century.

[pdf]http://www.dhammikaweb.com/pdfs/Lankan_monk.pdf[/pdf]