Water offering ceremony at Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi praying for rain

The annual water offering ceremony conducted annually by the Ministry of Power and Energy praying for the end of the dry weather conditions and calling for rains was held recently.

The water offering ceremony was held at the revered Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi precincts under the patronage of the Minister of Power and Energy Pavithra Wanniarachchi.Twelve jars containing water from the hydropower reservoirs were offered to the Jaya Srimaha Bodhi by Minister Wanniarachchi after having them blessed at the Ruwanweli Maha Seya.

Thousands of lotus flowers were spread at the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi and 4000 lamps were lit on either side of the path from the premises of Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi to Ruwanweli Maha Seya. It was followed by the boiling over of milk at the four gateways to the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi and an alms giving to the Maha Sangha in the morning of 31st The main objective of the water offering ceremony conducted with the participation of the Chief Incumbent of the Atamasthana, the venerable Pallegama Siri Nivasa Nayaka Thera and the Chief Prelate of Ruwanweli Seya, the venerable Pallegama Hemarathana thera was to pray for rains in the catchment areas of the hydropower reservoirs.

Deputy Minister of Irrigation and Water Management, W.B. Ekanayake, Chairman of the Sabaragamuwa Pradeshiya Sabha Kanchana Jayaratne, Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board, W.B.Ganegala, General Manager Shavindranath Fernando, Working Director Deepthi Kularatne, Additional General Manager M.C.Wickremasekara, Deputy General Manager of the North Central Province Piyasiri Gunasinghe and senior officials of the Ministry of Power and Energy and the Ceylon Electricity Board were present on the occasion.