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Panadura Vadaya documents declared UNESCO Heritage
View(s):The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has included the documents connected with the 1873 ‘Panadura Vadaya’ (The Great Debate of Panadura) in its list of items of documentary heritage inscribed on the Memory of the World International Register in 2025.
The four documents are among 74 new items included in the list for 2025. The four documents, kept at the Rankot Viharaya Buddhist temple in Panadura, hold immense historical, cultural, spiritual, and intellectual value, the UNESCO said. The documents were created against the backdrop of religious discord between Buddhists and Christians in the mid-19th century.
They consist of correspondence between the Christian and Buddhist leaders advocating for an open dialogue on doctrinal issues, as well as a transcription of the entire dialogue.
This transcription spans 27 and a half pages of handwritten text on paper using ink.
The event fostered reconciliation and mutual respect between the two religious communities. The English translations, later made available in Europe and the US, had a significant impact on religious activists and scholars in those countries, contributing to the recognition of Buddhism as an advanced religion.
The UNESCO decision follows a request made by the Rankoth Viharaya’s Chief Incumbent, the Ven. Prof. Kahapola Suatharathana Thera, on behalf of the Panadura Vada Memorial Committee, to the UNESCO. The request was made through the National Library Service Board.
The Co-Convener of the Committee, Mudhitha Karunamuni, said the request had been made in 2023 to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the ‘Panadura Vadyaya’ but was accepted after a lengthy process only this year.
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