As in years gone by, people will flock to the Pettah Eksath Bodhiraja dansala
The Bo tree providing shade at the Bodhirajaramaya. Pix by Athula Devapriya
For decades a long line has always presented itself during Vesak as the Pettah Eksath Bodhiraja Society conducts their rice and curry dansala. Under the shelter of Pettah Bodhiya facing 5th Cross Street, this year too the dansala will take place today, tomorrow and on Tuesday from 11 a.m. till the last person in the queue has been fed.
The Pettah Eksath Bodhiraja Society was chartered in 1958, but its annual dansala has been held for much longer, said the society’s secretary J. P. Samarasinghe, explaining that in those early days there was no proper monitoring of the finances. In the 1960s the dansala was open till dawn for two days. It was extended to a three-day event in 1993. People from all backgrounds join hands to make this dansala a success.
The first chairperson of the society was N. U. Gunasekara, a labourer at the Port and the second chairperson was U. D. Sumathipala, the late father of Minister Thilanga Sumathipala.
The current president of the society, owner of Nawagiri Group of Companies, P. Nawarathna has always been a benevolent contributor to the dansala donating the required amount of rice to feed the crowds. K. D. Sirisena, 76-year-old senior organiser of the dansala, joined the society when he was very young, and currently he and Mr. Samarasinghe are the oldest living organisers still involved with the dansala. “We guide today’s younger organisers with our years of experience,” said Mr. Sirisena.
The dansala is funded through voluntary donations from traders and the money from the merit till (pin kataya) at Bodhirajaramaya, the temple that was later built under the Pettah Bodhiya. Shopkeepers and tradesmen of Pettah donate the vegetables and other dry rations.
The dansala used to be inside a thatched hut during the late 1960s, erected where the hall of the present day Bodhira-jaramaya stands, said Mr. Sirisena. Prior to 1958, S. T. Sinnadurai,the well known Pettah entrepreneur who helped Buddhist causes, who later became the first treasurer of the Bodhiraja society and Mr. Sigerarachchi, the owner of what was then called Weera Hotel, contributed to the dansala and organised it together with cart drivers and traders living in Pettah, said Mr. Samarasinghe. V. T. Devanayagam Pillai, a Pettah businessman was also a benefactor of the dansala.
In 1983 the society decided to put up a pandal which cost them around Rs. 120,000 back then and ever since that day the pandal and dansala have been constant companions during Vesak.
People who visit the dansala are served at what was once the preaching hall of Bodhirajaramaya.