Galkande Dhammanada Thero was disrespected during Galle-face protests?
Three years after the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, investigations have not yet yielded the justice for the victims of the tragic attack. There was a recent event at the Galle-face Green, to commemorate the victims of the Easter Sunday attack as well as to support the protest at the Galle-face grounds, demanding the president and the government to resign.
A photo of a Buddhist monk sitting on steps during this event was shared by multiple Facebook users with misleading narratives claiming that the Buddhist monk had been mistreated by Galle-face protestors by not offering him a chair while catholic nuns were sitting on chairs. However, our investigation proves that claims were misleading.
Social Media Posts:
A picture of a monk sitting on the ground while a group of catholic nuns were seated in the background in a photo taken at the Galle Face Green function. The text accompanying these posts were trying to convey that the monk, Galkande Dhammananda Thera was mistreated by the event organizers by not offering him a chair to sit.
Facebook | Archived Link Facebook | Archived Link
Another Facebook posts related with this can be reached from here. Archived Link
This is how these posts were widely circulated by Facebook users
Fact Check
To get a better understanding about the viral picture and the associated claims, we inspected the event which had taken place at the Galle-face green, where this picture was snapped.
Accordingly, our attention was drawn to photographs taken at this event, and we noticed a number of photos which included different angles as seen below. This clearly showed that Galkande Dhammananda Thero was not given less preference as claimed on social media posts and that he along with another thero and a catholic priest were sitting at the steps at the front as seen below.
Also below is a photo taken from another angle.
Senior Lecturer Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thero’s Explanation:
Some online users had also accused the monk of insulting the Buddhist robe by sitting on the ground. The thero who is seen in the viral image, Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thero, a senior lecturer had stated about this in a statement through his Facebook account. Below is the English translation of that post.
“ I proposed to sit on the ground at the event held at the Galle Face protest to commemorate the victims of the Easter attacks and the various conflicts in Sri Lanka. Because it made me want to sit down more humbly in remembrance of the dead. Father Jeewantha gladly agreed.
Accordingly, Rev. Jeewantha, Ven. Bibiladeniye Mahanama Thera, another elder father, and I sat on a mat and were standing while addressing the crowd.
There were a few chairs on the side of where we were sitting. A few people and a few nuns who came later were seated in these chairs and I respect their right to choose a seat of their choice.
I'm sorry to hear from a few people who appreciate maintaining the quality of the exterior things, such as the seat.
I would like to thank Rev. Jeewantha Peiris for arranging for me to sit on the mat in response to my suggestion that he should sit on the floor, and for elder father who joined me in sitting on the mat despite his physical discomforts”
Here is a video of Galkande Dhammananda Thero addressing the gathering.
Photographer's opinion:
In order to check if the viral image was a cropped version of an original capture, we checked the version of the original photographer. However, we found that the photo was indeed an original version and the photographer had captured the scene intentionally.
Below is the English narration of a Facebook post by the photographer Priyantha Meegoda who took the photo.
“ I wanted to take these pictures like this (the viral picture). Because I did not have enough space, I was only able to capture this frame. As soon as I tried to capture the picture, I thought, 'This is a picture that could be much talked about, so I'm taking this picture like this.'
This is how I wanted to take the picture. I wanted to publish this picture like this else I would not have taken this picture.
The presence of Ven. Galkanda Thero brought great respect to my mind at that time. The nuns were sitting on a higher level to that of the monks sitting on the floor. The story I wanted was there. What's wrong here? In the name of humanity weren't the teachings of the Dhamma present at that time?
I wanted to tell this story like this. I do not want to take anyone's religion for granted. We are a country where people have paid with their lives for false religious beliefs. Why can't we be so simple. I could have posted the photo on the internet while capturing Rev. Jeewantha also in the same picture . But I did not do that because I wanted to publish the picture this way. No one should apologize for posting this picture in this manner. This is the way I believe it should be. ”
Other photos from this event at Galle Face Green on the 20th April can be reached from here and here. Below is an image where Ven. Galkanda Thero along with another thero and Rev. Jeewantha were having a discussion at the Gotagogama protests grounds.
It is a common practice in Sri Lanka to offer a higher level of seating to Buddhist monks, such as a chair, covered in a while cloth, which had caused these claims to originate indicating that the monk was given less preference at the protest ground. There have been a number of posts in the past few weeks claiming that Buddhist monks were ill-treated at the Gotagogama protest ground and this photo was shared in a similar narrative as well.
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Conclusion:
Our investigation shows that the Buddhist monk appearing to be seated on the ground alone, was seated in the front during an event held at Gotagogama protest grounds, along with another monk, Rev. Jeewantha and few others. Ven.Dhammananda Thera, is seen in the picture clarifies that and he only had suggested to be seated on the steps to commemorate the victims of the Easter attacks and the various conflicts in Sri Lanka.
However, from the angle at which the photograph was taken, it appears that Ven. Dhammananda Thera was the only one sitting on the floor while the nuns were seated on chairs.
The photographer who captured the picture, had intentionally taken this image, expecting that this would cause lot of discussions, but questions what’s wrong in this image as per the teachings of the Dhamma.
Title:Galkande Dhammanada Thero was disrespected during Galle-face protests?
Fact Check By: Kalana Krishantha
Result: Misleading
