The Most Venerable Gomagoda Sri Rathanasara Nayaka Thero, Senior Member of the Karaka Sangha Sabha of the Asgiriya Chapter of the Siam Nikaya, has passed away at the age of 81.
At the time of his demise, the prelate served as Chief Incumbent of the historical Galewela Bambawa Raja Maha Viharaya and the Sri Natha Devala Viharaya in Kandy. He also held the chief incumbencies of the Gatambe Sudarshanaramaya and the Menikhinna Heepitiya Ancient Temple.
Born on 11 October 1945 in Gomagoda, Pathadumbara, the late Thero entered the Buddhist order in 1962 and spent more than six decades in the priesthood, earning wide respect for his religious leadership and service to the Sasana.
The cremation committee announced that the final rites of the Nayaka Thero will be held on the afternoon of May 11 at the Getambe Grounds in Kandy.
The Asgiriya Chapter is one of the two principal monastic chapters of the Siam Nikaya, the largest Buddhist monastic fraternity in Sri Lanka. Its senior prelates and Mahanayaka Theros have played a prominent role in recent ecclesiastical affairs, including public statements by both Asgiriya and Malwathu Mahanayaka Theros following the BIA monk drug bust earlier this month.
Source: The Island.
