Sri Lankan academic, Hema Goonatilake has told the eighth international conference on Sri Lanka Studies in Jaipur, India that the Bhikkuni order was accepted in Sri Lankan communities they live in, the ‘Times of India’ was quoted yesterday by the Press Trust of India (PTI).

PTI quoted Goonatilake as saying that the Bhikkunis now performed religious functions hitherto performed only by nuns.

The Jaipur datelined PTI report said: ‘Bhikkhuni’ - the Buddhist nuns’ order - is slowly making its presence felt in Sri Lanka and is now performing religious functions hitherto done only by monks, the eighth International Conference on Sri Lanka Studies was told here.

The Buddhist nuns’ order, established in Sri Lanka in the third century BC - just six months after the introduction of monks’ order, has been restored in Sri Lanka after a millennium, thanks to a silent revolution brought about by women’s groups.

However, it disappeared in the 11th century after the Chola invasion from South India, a paper presented by a scholar Hema Goonetilake said at the four-day meet that concluded here on Saturday last.

Although the monks’ order too disappeared after the Chola invasion, it was restored later. However, restoration of nuns’ order took almost a thousand years, the paper said.

Goonatialke, who herself participated in the movement to restore Bhikkhuni order, said it was finally restored in 1998.

"The order had not (not) been restored but is being accepted in the communities they live in," she said.

The Bhikkhunis now perform religious functions, hitherto performed only by monks, she added.

The paper said it took almost a century for women to assert themselves and restore the Buddhist nuns’ order.

A movement of female renunciation, known as ‘dasa-sil matas’ emerged way back in 1905 observing ten precepts instead of the 311 prescribed precepts for a Bhikkhuni.

The restoration of Bhikkhuni order became a part of discourses among local women’s groups by 1984 and an international women’s issue by 1988.

Tracing the process, including the support and opposition by monks and laymen, through which it was finally restored in Sri Lanka in 1998, the paper said, the key feature was the return of Bhikkhuni lineage transmitted in the fifth century to China by Sinhalese Bhikkunis.