2ND LEAD (CORRECTION)

Saiva stone inscriptions in Easteren province destructed - EHAF

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2010, 18:07 GMT]
East Hindu Associations’ Federation (EHAF) has brought to the urgent attention of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne who is also the Minister of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs, the schemed destruction of several centuries old stone inscriptions recovered from Saiva temples in the Eastern Province declared as archaeological sites. EHAF has urged the Prime Minister in a memorandum submitted to him when he visited Batticaloa district, to appoint a Tamil Hindu officer in the archaeological department to study the stone inscriptions in collaboration with the Department of Hindu Cultural Affairs and to establish a museum to store these stone inscriptions in safe custody.

EHAF said that at present there is no qualified person in the Department of Archaeology to study stone inscriptions found with Tamil writings in several sites in the Eastern Province.

Hence this has led to the planned cultural genocide of Saivaism and Saiva Koayils that have been safeguarded in the province for several centuries.

Recently a several centuries old stone inscription with Tamil writing was unearthed when levelling a portion of the Trincomalee esplanade for the construction of a cricket stadium.

The inscribed stone was later handed over to the Department of Archaeology by Trincomalee Police.

Thereafter nothing was heard about that stone inscription. Meanwhile the Department of Archaeology has suspended the work on the construction of the cricket stadium, sources said.