Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs

The Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs^[2] (Sinhala: බුද්ධශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය; Tamil: புத்தசாசன, சமய மற்றும் கலாசார அலுவல்கள் அமைச்சு) is a cabinet ministry of the Government of Sri Lanka. It is responsible for oversight of the country's de facto state religion, Theravada Buddhism by:^[3]

• General oversight and maintenance of the welfare of the nation's Buddhist clergy and places of worship
• Oversight of Buddhist education in the country, including provision of information technology to temples
• The development of temples as community centres with multiple services outside of matters spiritual
• Maintenance of selected places of Buddhist worship as tourist sites, and maintenance of sites of Buddhist pilgrimage
• The propagation of Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy
• Maintaining the nature of the Buddhist state via necessary legislation

Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs

බුද්ධශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය புத்தசாசன, சமய மற்றும் கலாசார அலுவல்கள் அமைச்சு
Ministry overview
Jurisdiction	Government of Sri Lanka
Headquarters	135 Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala road, Colombo 7 6.914409°N 79.858778°E / 6.914409; 79.858778
Minister responsible	Hiniduma Sunil Senevi [1], Minister of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs
Ministry executive	Chandraprema Gamage, Ministry Secretary
Website	mbs.gov.lk

List of ministers

Parties

  Sri Lanka Freedom Party   United National Party   Pivithuru Hela Urumaya   Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna   National People's Power

Name		Portrait	Party	Took office	Left office	President
	W. J. M. Lokubandara		United National Party	12 December 2001	9 April 2004		Chandrika Kumaratunga
	Mahinda Rajapaksa		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	25 November 2005	23 April 2010		Mahinda Rajapaksa
	D. M. Jayaratne		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	23 April 2010	9 January 2015
	Karu Jayasuriya		United National Party	12 January 2015	17 August 2015		Maithripala Sirisena
	Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe		United National Party	4 September 2015	23 August 2017
	Gamini Jayawickrama Perera		United National Party	25 August 2017	26 October 2018
	Udaya Gammanpila		Pivithuru Hela Urumaya	9 November 2018	15 December 2018
	Gamini Jayawickrama Perera		United National Party	28 December 2018	21 November 2019
	Mahinda Rajapaksa		Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	22 November 2019	9 May 2022		Gotabaya Rajapaksa
	Vidura Wickremanayake		Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	20 May 2022	14 July 2022
				22 July 2022	24 September 2024		Ranil Wickremesinghe
	Vijitha Herath		National People's Power	24 September 2024	18 November 2024		Anura Kumara Dissanayake
	Hiniduma Sunil Senevi			18 November 2024	Incumbent			[4]

See also

• Buddhism in Sri Lanka
• Religion in Sri Lanka