Monks and residents of Usgala Siyambalangamuwa held a dhamma sermon on Thursday night in memory of the tusker Kavantissa, at a temple close to the spot where the animal died.
The ceremony took place at Ethinivetunagala Rajamaha Viharaya in the Galgamuwa village, and was organised by the local clergy together with villagers, Hiru News reported late on Thursday. A sanghagata dakshina — an alms-giving for the Maha Sangha — is scheduled at the same temple on Friday afternoon.
The filing describes Kavantissa as an animal whose loss leaves a gap in the wild tusker population that cannot be filled, and says the grief in the village went beyond what could be contained in mourning. It notes that people had lined up to demand justice over the death in the same way they turned out to remember it.
The burial, and what the report says about it
The account carries one pointed line about what happened after the death. It says the last rites for the animal — among the largest tuskers in the country — were carried out on 17 October without any honours.
That date is consistent with this desk’s record of the death at Siyambalangamuwa, Galgamuwa, on or around 16 October 2026, though newsrooms have differed over the precise day. A magistrate had ordered the carcass buried on Department of Wildlife Conservation land in a manner that would allow the tusks to be recovered later, and treated the burial site itself as requiring protection.
The sermon is the first community commemoration for the tusker this desk has recorded. Official activity since the death has run through other channels: a presidential committee into the circumstances, an expert committee that met for the first time this week, two suspects remanded at Mahawa, and an opposition push for a parliamentary select committee.
Not reported
The filing does not name the monks who conducted the sermon or give an attendance figure, and does not say whether any state or wildlife official attended. It gives no time for Friday’s alms-giving.
It also does not explain what it means by the burial drawing no honours — whether that refers to the absence of officials, of religious observances, or of public access to the site. Hiru News was the only outlet located by this desk to file on the ceremony at the time of writing.
