A Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, Pathberiye Gnanaloka Thero, was assaulted by members
of Tamil outfits at the Big Temple in Thanjavur on Saturday. He was part of a
team of students of the Institute of Archaeology of the Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI), New Delhi, on a study tour. Later in the day, vans transporting the
students to the Tiruchi airport from Thanjavur were pelted with stones resulting
in damage to windshields. However, the students escaped unhurt.
In
Thanjavur, the students and staff, 19 in total, were going around the Sri
Brihadeeswarar Temple when a group owing allegiance to the Naam Tamizhar Katchi
and the Thamizh Desiya Podhuvudamai Katchi attacked Ven. Gnanaloka Thero, who
stood out in the group in his saffron robe.
The
students were taken to the ASI office near the temple, but the assailants
surrounded the office and demanded that the monk be sent out. The incident sent
shock waves among devotees and archakas who were witness to the attack.
Gnanaloka
Thero was asked to change his clothes and sent to Tiruchi along with other
students with police escort in vans. As the vehicles entered Tiruchi, two cabs
transporting the students were targeted near Ariyamangalam and G Corner, where
members of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Naam Tamizhar Katchi
attacked the vehicles with sticks and stones, police said. The front windshield
of one of the vans and the rear one in the other were damaged. However, the
students were escorted safely to the airport.
City
Commissioner of Police Shailesh Kumar Yadav met the students upon their arrival
at the airport. The monk was put on a Chennai-bound flight later in the evening,
while the others were accommodated at the airport temporarily.
The
students hailed from different countries, including Sri Lanka, China and
Thailand and from north India. All of them are studying Postgraduate Diploma in
Archaeology in New Delhi. Their proposed visit to Darasuram and
Gangaikondacholapuram temples were cancelled following the incident.
Gnanaloka
Thero has been staying in New Delhi for the last one-and-half years pursuing the
diploma course. The 46-year-old monk, who hails from Colombo, told The Hindu on
the phone from the Tiruchi airport that he came to India in 2011 and enrolled
himself for the ASI course.
Eleven
persons, including A. Nalladurai, State coordinator of the Naam Thamizhar
Katchi, and Pazha Rajendran of the Thamizh Desiya Podhuvudamai Katchi, were
arrested in Thanjavur, while 10 persons, including MDMK rural district
secretary, Tiruchi, were held in Tiruchi in connection with the stone-throwing
incident.
