Ven, Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera passes away

Ven, Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera passes away

After being subjected to a by-pass heart surgery recently, Rev. Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera who was in an ailing state passed away this morning around 4.30 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. He was 73 years old at

that time.

The thera who came back to reside at the vihara after the by-pass surgery a few days back had once again been admitted to hospital because the operation did not turn out to be successful and for a number of weeks the thera had been undergoing treatment at Malabe Neville Fernando Hospital and the Central Hospital in Colombo. Since the health condition became complex during the past week, he was despatched to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore for further medical attention under the patronage of the government and was thus taken there in a special flight. Specialist Sri Lankan consultants also accompanied the thera on this journey while seven specialist consultants of that country too attended on the thera. However the efforts taken by them to assuage the situation was unsuccessful and early this morning the venerable thera breathed his last.

The Kotte Sri Naga Viharadhipathi Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera who functioned as the leader of the Janatha Vyaparaya for a just society, created a common candidate during the last stages of the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime and built a strong organisational force to oust that government and thus managed to bring about a change on behalf of the existent regime. However, the thera who worked according to principles by criticising the shortcomings of the incumbent regime dedicated himself to diverting the country onto the correct path.

Sobhitha Thera was born in May in the year 1942 in the village of Maduluwawa. He was the only male child in a family of three children. The father's name is Pathirage Don Appuhamy. The mother, Karalinahamy. Sobhitha Thera's lay name is P.D. Ratnasekera. Sobhitha Thera who entered the Sasana in 1955 received his Upasampada in the year 1962.

The government has arranged to carry out the thera's final rites with State honours. The thera's body is expected to be flown to Sri Lanka at about 9.15 tonight (08). Later the body would be taken to Jayaratna Florists tomorrow (09) and the body is expected to be brought to Kotte Sri Naga Viharaya where he was the Chief Incumbent. It is reported that Rev. Sobhitha Thera's cremation activities has been arranged to be conducted at 3 in the afternoon next Thursday (12) at Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Parliament Grounds. The government has also declared Thursday the 12th as a National Day of Mourning.

The song created on behalf of Sobhitha Thera's 70th date of birth, from below