President Maithripala Sirisena has directed relevant sections to implement a special program to preserve tampita viharas (temples on pillars), a special kind of Buddhist temples.

The President gave these directions at a meeting on conservation of tampita viharas in Sri Lanka. The meeting was held yesterday at the Presidential Secretariat.

The building of tampita vihara; the temples built on pillars was popular in Sri Lanka during Kandy and Gampola periods. 204 tampita viharas have been recognized by now while 06 of them have been preserved. The preservation work is being done on another 85 tampita viharas.

The President directed the relevant sections to provide adequate human resource for this task.

The President was recently presented a book on a research done on the tampita viharas in Sri Lanka. The book was published by the Samkathana Research Unit of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya. During the discussion the attention was paid on the proposals suggested in this book.

They discussed on commencing of a program to train laic and clergy guardians to preserve and maintain tampita viharas.

The government’s program to protect and preserve the places of archeological values was reviewed at this meeting.

The President directed the officials to implement a special security program to protect places of archeological values in remote areas, with the help of Police, Civil Security Force and Archeological Department.

He further directed the officials to expand the prevailing security in the places of archeological values including the places in the North and the East, provided by the Civil Security Force.

Chief Incumbent of Dewagiri Rajamaha Viharaya in Bingiriya Ven. Padiwela Soratha Thero, Minister of Cultural Affairs S. B. Nawinne, IGP Pujitha Jayasundara, Director General of the Civil Security Force Chandrarathne Pallegama and the Research Assistance of the Samkathana Research Unit of University of Kelaniya Mrs. Ganga Rajini Dissanayake also joined this discussion.