High Commission of Sri Lanka in India

Inaugurating an exhibition of photographs titled ‘Buddhist Heritage of Sri Lanka: a shared culture with India’ at the India International Centre in New Delhi on 9 April, Foreign Secretary of India Ranjan Mathai, quoting from a speech made by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during a visit to Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, in 1950, said that the bond of Buddha and all that it conveys is a bond between India and Sri Lanka which nothing can break. 

Elaborating on the shared culture of India and Sri Lanka, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai spoke of recent steps in the cultural sphere and joint celebration of the 2600th Sambuddhatva Jayanti, which have further strengthened the historic bonds between the two countries. He spoke of the exposition of the Kapilavastu Relics of Gautama Buddha in Sri Lanka last year where over 3 million people paid homage to the Relics, and India’s gift of the 16 foot Buddha statue based on the Gupta period statue in Sarnath which is installed at the entrance to the International Buddhist Museum in Kandy. In this context, he described in Nehru’s words, the solace he had derived from the Samadhi Buddha statue in Anuradhapura, a photograph of which was his constant companion in the Dehradun jail: “....the strong calm features of the Buddha soothed me and gave me strength and helped me overcome many a period of depression.” 

Speaking at the exhibition’s inauguration, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka, Prasad Kariyawasam traced the historic civilisational ties between India and Sri Lanka. The photographs, he said, tell the story of the ties that have bound the people of India and Sri Lanka for thousands of years, the great civilisation that once flourished, and the moral and ethical codes of compassion, tolerance, selflessness and non-violence which in today’s modern world seem to be overtaken by materialism, egoism and parochial interests. 

Photographer Benoy Behl spoke of the culture of all of South Asia being deeply unified by a vision of great compassion and stated that Sri Lanka is one of the great inheritors of this vision of life. In this context, Benoy Behl recalled the introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka in the 3rd Century BC during which time, artistes did not put their names on their work and ephemeral personalities were not considered important. 

Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai was gifted a sapling of the sacred Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya, nurtured and kept alive jointly by the people of both countries over thousands of years, as a symbol of the deep and abiding friendship between the people of the two countries and respect for the teachings of Gautama Buddha. 

The exhibition of photographs by renowned Indian art historian, photographer and film-maker, Benoy Behl, is organised jointly by the Sri Lanka High Commission in India, the India International Centre and the India-Sri Lanka Foundation. The exhibition featuring 40 photographs of historic sites in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Kandy and Kelaniya will continue up to 16 April. 

The full text of the High Commissioner’s Statement is appended below. 

High Commission of Sri Lanka in India 

New Delhi

11 April 2013