A campaign over the treatment of the imprisoned Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera began on Saturday morning in front of the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy — and it is not a stationary protest but a six-day walk that reaches Colombo on 15 October.
Hiru News reported the campaign’s launch at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, with Ven. Ulapane Sumangala Thera saying the first step would take the form of a satyagraha at the site.
The Daily Mirror reported the event under its organisers’ own names — the “Justice for the Robe – National Commitment Pooja” and a “Freedom Walk” — and set out what follows it. The walk, organised by the Maha Sangha, calls for the protection of the religious rights of Gnanasara Thera and other imprisoned monks.
The route
The walk is scheduled to pass through several major towns on its way to Colombo:
| Date | Leg |
|---|---|
| 10 October | Kandy → Kadugannawa |
| 11 October | Kadugannawa → Kegalle |
| 12 October | Kegalle → Warakapola |
| 13 October | Warakapola → Nittambuwa |
| 14 October | Nittambuwa → Kadawatha |
| 15 October | Kadawatha → Colombo |
That is the Kandy–Colombo road, covered in six daily stages. The Maha Sangha launched the protest and the religious observance in response to concerns over the legal situation of imprisoned monks and reported incidents of monks being stripped of their robes.
The choice of starting point is itself significant. The Sri Dalada Maligawa is the most venerated Buddhist site in the country, and beginning there puts the dispute over Gnanasara Thera’s robes at the symbolic centre of Sinhala Buddhist religious life — then carries it, over six days, to the seat of government.
What the Malwathu chapter says the President agreed
Separately, the Malwathu Maha Viharaya chapter issued a clarification on the meeting held last Thursday between representatives of the Chief Prelates of the three chapters and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
According to that clarification, the President accepted that the concerns the Chief Prelates raised about monks serving prison sentences were justified, but said prison officials had acted within the law as it stands.
The Maha Sangha then proposed a change: that prison authorities be required to notify the relevant Buddhist chapter when a monk is serving a sentence of more than three years, and to act on that chapter’s recommendations regarding the monk’s robes. The clarification says the President agreed to the proposal and instructed the Justice Minister to finalise the regulations within two weeks.
That two-week deadline matches what was reported at the time. This newsroom reported on Thursday that the President had appointed a committee to propose new standing orders and regulations and given it two weeks — a panel drawn from the Attorney General’s Department, the ministries of justice, public administration and Buddhasasana, prison officers and the Commissioner General of Prisons.
The three-year threshold in the chapter’s account describes the proposal, not the law in force. Tamil Guardian reported that the only existing provision dealing specifically with monks is Regulation 216, under which monks held on remand may keep their robes while those sentenced to rigorous imprisonment must wear prison-issue clothing.
Where the dispute stands
Two other strands reported alongside the satyagraha have already been covered here. Ven. Teeniyawala Palitha Thera filed a writ application in the Court of Appeal on Friday seeking to quash the removal of the robes, and the Kotte chapter — to which Gnanasara Thera belongs — has written to the President asking for its own meeting before the monk is next produced in court, saying it was left out of Thursday’s discussion.
Gnanasara Thera is serving a six-year sentence imposed for contempt of court in the Eknaligoda case.
Not reported
The Daily Mirror’s filing answers what Hiru’s did not: the campaign runs six days and ends in Colombo on 15 October. What neither report gives is how many monks or lay supporters are taking part, whether the Diyawadana Nilame or the Asgiri and Malwathu chapters sanctioned an event on temple premises, or whether police permission was obtained for a walk along a main road.
Neither says what happens when the walk reaches Colombo on 15 October — whether a rally, a petition or a handover is planned, or where it ends. Neither carries a response from the Presidential Secretariat or the Department of Prisons, names the organising body within the Maha Sangha, or gives the date of Gnanasara Thera’s next court appearance.
The Tamil Guardian report cited above covers Thursday’s meeting and the prison rules, not the Kandy campaign.
