Sri Lankan envoy and RSS chief discuss religious relations, scope for dialogue

NEW DELHI: Sri Lankan high commissioner Milinda Moragoda has met with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat and discussed a range of issues, including the possibility of establishing a dialogue between Buddhism and Hinduism.

Moragoda met with Bhagwat at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday, according to a statement from the Sri Lankan high commission. Senior RSS officials were also present at the meeting.

“During the meeting, they discussed a wide range of issues, including the age-old cultural and religious relations between India and Sri Lanka, especially between Buddhism and Hinduism, and sought ways and means through which a dialogue could be established between these two world religions, both of which originated in India,” the statement said.

Moragoda, a political appointee, assumed office in New Delhi last year and has been visiting various parts of India in recent months. He gifted two framed photographs – featuring murals from the Kelaniya Rajamaha Vihara, which depict the gift of Buddhism to Sri Lanka by India – to the RSS.

The first photo depicts a mural of Arahat Mahinda delivering the message of the Buddha to King Devanampiyatissa on arriving in Sri Lanka. The second one shows the arrival of Theri Sanghamitta to Sri Lanka, bearing the branch sapling of the Maha Bodhi Tree.

Moragoda also paid a floral tribute at the memorial of Keshav Hedgewar, the founder of the RSS. At the Hedgewar Smarak Samiti building, he unveiled the two photographs that were gifted in the presence of officials.