Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="netlife007" data-source="post: 19624618" data-attributes="member: 79514">Elephants – Colonial invadersWhen the Portuguese arrived they too continued the trade of exporting elephants. The writings of Hulugalle states that Rome has a memorial to elephant Annone the first elephant sent to the Vatican. Admiral Onescritus of Alexander the Great’s army (3rdcentury BC) described the trained elephants of Ceylon as being ‘bigger and more fierce and furious for war service than those of India’.  After the Dutch arrived, the Portuguese historian Ribeiro claims that all the elephants except one (kept to carry timber) in the Colombo Fort were killed and eaten as they were short of food.   Enter the British first taking the Maritime Provinces in 1796 and thereafter the whole of Sri Lanka in 1815. The British found elephants a sport – to run after and shoot them dead. Major Thomas Rogers is said to have killed over 1500 elephants within 4 years. Captain Galleway and Major Skinner each having shot over 750 elephants. The British closed down the Elephant Department.  Samuel Hunter even wrote a book "The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon" in 1855 boasting the massacre of elephants. The book reveals the ‘civility’ of the British hunter in killing a lactating she-elephant while the two baby elephants kept on sucking the milk spilling from the mother’s udder.It is strange that those who petition (most of whom are non-Buddhists) for cruelty against elephant, a very noble gesture puts brakes on drawing similar attention to stopping animal slaughter / ritual slaughter and animal sacrifice etc. Millions of animals are killed to celebrate these festivals. Millions of animals are sacrificed to ask favors from Gods. The crime of cruelty is far more negligible than the crime of taking away the life of an animal. Moreover, if the problem is with mahoots treating elephants badly, rather than stopping temples from keeping elephants it is better to fire the mahout and the temple committees to regularly look into the welfare of its elephants. Even if elephants are taken away who will guarantee their protection. Can they be put into the wild where elephants are fighting to survive when humans are invading their space? Was the tsunami not a message to tell us that nature protects only those that protect nature? The solution to protecting Buddhism’s place in history is for the State to uphold its obligation under Article 9.Silence is strange…<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">56 Billion farm animals are killed each year</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">100 million of animals are slaughtered over a period of 48 hours during Eid Al Adha </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">3,000 animals die every second in slaughterhouses around the world</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">More than 45 million turkeys are killed each year at Thanksgiving alone (US)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Around 17 million turkeys are slaughtered in the UK each year</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Some 500,000 animals were sacrificed in Nepal for the Gadhimai festival</li> </ol>Nevertheless with the current attempts to gag the Buddhist priests (while ignoring the manner Church fathers were openly involved with LTTE and some kovils even collecting money for the LTTE – some kovils are under investigation by UK police) timed together with the insidious attempt to remove temple elephants, it is no coincidence that the bigger plan is to remove the pomp and pageantry associated with Buddhist religious festivals of which the perahera is a major tourist attraction.The perahera procession starts with Chief officers, the elephants, drummers and dancers. The famous perahera’s include Kandy, Gampola, Ratnapura, Dondra, Kotte (Raja Mahavihara perahera established by King Parakramabahu VI), Aluthnuwara and Kataragama. The Portuguese historian Queyroz in his book “The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon” writes.  "This the ancient King of Kotte signified by certain celebrated processions called peraheras, which lasted 16 days some being held by day and others at night, which amounted to thirty two, and these by night were more famous. In them women took part with the same licence as in the Feast of Bacchus. The King used to go in them with a bangle on one foot, made up of fifteen beads, which represents those over whom he dominated." It was the Buddhist ethos that built this nation. The Buddhists constitute the majority. The ethnic groups and religions that came later day should respect the Buddhist identity of Sri Lanka. No other majority race/religion has compromised to the minorities as the Sinhala Buddhists have with no reciprocity. It is unfortunate that due to the weak leadership of the present day Sinhala leaders the remaining Buddhist identities are now being targeted for slow removal and replacement. Our culture/history and traditions cannot and should not be allowed to be wiped out as was done to the Incas, Mayas and thousands of other cultures/tribes/traditions which are now only memories in some museum where the conquerors can boast of their achievements.</blockquote>

Verification: Haya warak paha keeyada? (haya wadi kireema paha)

Top Bottom