On 9 November 2018, H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, will preside over the Offering Ceremony of the Royal Kathina Robes graciously bestowed by His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, to  the congregation of Buddhist monks at Shree Jayashekhararamaya, Colombo, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The ceremony will be headed by the Most Venerable Thalalle Siri Mahinda Nayaka Thero, Chief Incumbent of Shree Jayashekhararamaya. The representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are H.E. Mrs. Chulamanee Chartsuwan, Ambassador of Thailand to Sri Lanka, Ms. Busadee Santipitaks, Director-General of the Department of Information, and Mr. Chettaphan Maksamphan, Bureau Chief, Office of Policy and Planning. The Sri Lankan dignitaries to the ceremony will be Honourable Karu Jayasuriya, Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Diplomatic corps, representatives of the Thai private companies in Sri Lanka as well as Thai and Sri Lankan Buddhists are expected to attend the event. 

 

Thailand and Sri Lanka share long and close bilateral relations, especially in the field of Buddhism. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has organized the Royal Kathina Offering Ceremony in Sri Lanka for the past sixteen years since 1996 and this is the first that the ceremony is held at Shree Jayashekhararamaya. The temple is known for having a strong connection with the Thai people through the cooperation with Thailand and Thai monks, including an exchange of visits between monks of the two countries for past 4 decades.

 

Since 1995, the Royal Kathina Robes have been bestowed by the Thai Monarch, at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to be presented to Buddhist temples abroad.  The Royal Kathina Ceremony is part of the Ministry’s initiative to preserve Buddhism and its customs and rites as well as to enhance relations between the two countries, both at governmental and people-to-people levels, based on their shared faith in Buddhism.