Sri Lanka President hands over proposal to declare Tripitaka as World Heritage

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday handed over a proposal seeking to declare the Theravada Tripitaka, the sacred scripture of Buddhists, as a UNESCO World Heritage.

The proposal was officially handed over during a national ceremony held in Kandy to the UN resident coordinator in Sri Lanka, Hanaa Singer. The Theravada Tripitaka was declared as a National heritage of Sri Lanka by President in January this year.

Buddha’s preaching was propagated through word to mouth for generations till the Tripitaka was finally written down in Sri Lanka about 100 years BC.

The whole teachings of Buddha are contained in three volumes titled ‘Sutta, Vinaya and Abhidhamma’. They were first compiled and written on palm leafs with more than 1000 monks involved in the task in Aluvihare near Matale.