Does a sinking ship bring the Kuveni Curse?

Is this a cursed land? What has been happening in recent months raises this question. Are we moving from one curse to another, from small curses to bigger ones, and are we now faced with the biggest curse in our history?

Are we seeing and feeling the reality of a curse that has come down from history? Let’s see.

The people gave a huge majority to presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa with great expectations. There are many who think that was the beginning of the current Age of Curse. – Shaapaye Yugaya. Let’s put such thinking aside, because we will be blaming the voters as the sources of the curse, and not the winner.

We did get the Covid Curse very early, with an infected Chinese traveller, who was cured here and kissed goodbye by our Health Minister. But the Covid Curse did come back, kept under control in the first phase, with claims of proud achievement by the President himself. But, the curse came back again, and we saw the same Minister of Health, and other ministers, too, take to ‘yanthra and manthra’ exercises, as well as support syrups produced by carpenters and others, which did not have any power over the Covid Curse.

Amidst this Covid Curse we have also seen other curses that hit the people, but not the rulers. There was the Sugar Tax Curse that was so profitable to big sugar importers and traders, and then the coconut oil with a cancer infection. The rulers had their day, with the absence of any legal action or proper investigations. These are the signs of curse-promoting rulers being in power.

Let’s not forget the 20th Amendment to the Constitution. It was one massive curse, promoted by the rulers, that has led to the virtual destruction of the democratic process that prevailed in this country, with many limitations, since 1948. It will go down as the Constitutional Curse or Vyavastha Saapaya.

With such a curse-given power, we next saw the speedy passage in Parliament of the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill, with all the promise of being a major threat to the country’s sovereignty, rights of the people, and bringing us much closer to the curse of overall China dominance over the country and people. It will be recorded as the Great China Curse or the Maha Cheena Saapaya.

Now, we have a curse that is affecting both our land and the sea around – the X-Press Pearl – that is bringing environmental, economic, employment, health, and social curses to this country. The rulers of the past did sail away from the country to dominate in other regions, and also to establish links with Rome, China, and what is now Indonesia, and spread the words of Buddhist teachings too.

This X-Press Pearl curse has brought massive damage and destruction to our beaches, the big showpiece for tourism promotion and related development. It poses a major threat to the fisherfolk of the country, and threatens the health of the people in many ways. The last minute attempt to tow the vessel away from shallow sea close to the Colombo Harbour, certainly failed, mainly due to delays.

The questions being raised about this Land and Oceanic Curse are many. Did our Port authorities know what poisonous, fiery and other dangerous material it carried? Was Colombo informed as to why it was refused entry to two previous ports? Did they know about the fire-fighting needs that were necessary, and did we have such fire-fighting vessels and equipment?

These cursed queries go on, and all we hear now is about the huge compensation we will receive. There are politicians in positions of power who are proud of such (yet to receive) compensation, and largely silent about all the damage and destruction to this country, and to the lives of the people. This is the reality of cursed politics that dominates this country today.

I initially raised the question whether we were seeing and feeling the reality of a curse that has come down from history? It is time to go back to this cursed record. It was said to be on a Vesak Full Moon day that Vijaya and his followers arrived in this country. He was quick to marry Kuveni, who had sway over this land and people. But it did not take long for Vijaya to banish Kuveni, and their two children, and get down a royal bride from nearby India, his homeland.

Tradition has it that Kuveni did utter a heavy curse on Vijaya, his followers and descendants. This is a curse that has followed us through more than 2000 years, striking our rulers and people hard. Kuveni did have her way of catching up with all the pain she felt when banished by Vijaya. The rulers who follow Vijaya, who take pride in the Vijaya traditions of lack of faith that affect our politics to this day, had better be aware of the Power of Kuveni, when trapped in their glory of power, which includes family power.

Is the X-Press Pearl, sinking below the ocean today, the curse that Kuveni had in mind? When will we get rulers, or politicians, who can rise above the Kuvani curse, through dedicated and honest service to the country and the people? Is this something we can never expect, or even hope for, with the swearing in of Cabinet Minister Namal Rajapaksa, as State Minister for Digital Technology and Entrepreneur Development. It all remains within the family !

Will Kuveni’s curse continue to haunt our country and people, as the rulers remain the Vijaya lackeys of today? The sinking X-Press Pearl gives the answer to what till now was the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.