Yagirala Pannananda
Yagirala Pannananda Thera was a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and scholar. He was the author of a number of works in Sinhala and Pali, including a biography of his teacher Hikkaduve Sumangala and Mahavamsa Part III, an extension of the Mahavamsa chronicle covering the period from 1871 - 1935.[1][2]
In the 1940s, Pannananda became involved in a public debate with other monks regarding the proper role of Buddhist monks in Sri Lankan society. Pannananda was recognized as the leader of a faction that believed that monks should not participate directly in politics, and wrote several newspaper editorials to this effect.[1] In this debate, he found himself at odds with Walpola Rahula and faced calls that he should be forced to give up his robe for having received an award of a gold medal from the UNP government (accepting gold being forbidden by the Ten Precepts).[3]
References
- ^ a b Kemper, Steven (1992). The Presence of the Past: Chronicles, Politics, and Culture in Sinhala Life (1st ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. pp. 95–104. ISBN 0801423953.
- ^ The Work of Kings, H. L. Seneviratne
- ^ Colors of the Robe: Religion, Identity, and Difference, Ananda Abeysekara