Sri Lanka police appeal public to avoid visiting Buddha relic as long lines leads to one death

Colombo: Police on Thursday appealed to devotees to refrain from travelling to a revered pilgrim place to witness the rare exposition of the tooth relic of the Buddha in central Sri Lanka.

The police appeal came a day after a person died of heart failure after being admitted to hospital following several days in the queue in Kandy, about 120 kms northeast of Colombo.

“We make this appeal to you kindly to stop travelling to attend the exposition today and tomorrow,” Sudath Masingha, a local senior police official said.

The exposition at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy is taking place after 16 years at the request of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Tens of thousands of Buddhist devotees are arriving to venerate the relic with queues stretching to several miles. The tooth relic holds special spiritual, historical and cultural significance for the 74 per cent Sinhala Buddhist majority in the island nation of 21 million people.

According to historical records, the tooth relic, brought to Kandy in 1590, came to symbolise Buddhist holiness, becoming Sri Lanka's most treasured possession and the seal of sovereignty.

On Wednesday, the Army and the police’s crack special task force troops were called to evacuate people from the abandoned old bridge - built in the British era - at Katugastota, the most populous of Kandy suburbs.

“Several thousands had got on to the bridge; people got agitated when asked to leave the bridge, so the police called the Army and the STF. Action to remove people from the bridge saved thousands of lives,” Masingha added.

The exposition ends on April 27 and the police said over 4,00,000 people have already thronged in the precincts. “We can only allow 85-90,000 people to venerate per day so we already have devotees for four days of exposition.” Tempers frayed between devotees for places in the several miles long queue and to avail limited sanitary facilities provided under challenging conditions by the authorities.

Clashes had led to a few people being injured. Police said a person had died of heart failure after being admitted to hospital after staying several days in the queue.