Background
Udugama Sri Buddharakkitha Thera was born on March 17, 1930, at Udugama village in Wariyapola Kalugamuwa in the Kurunegala District, to the family of J. M. Punchi Banda and Muthu Menike.
Udugama Sri Buddharakkitha Thera was born on March 17, 1930, at Udugama village in Wariyapola Kalugamuwa in the Kurunegala District, to the family of J. M. Punchi Banda and Muthu Menike.
His complete title was Most Venerable Agga Maha Panditha Udugama Sddharmakirthi Sri Dhammadassi Rathanapala Buddharakkhithabhidhana Mahanayaka Thero. Before entering the order of Maha Sangha, he received his primary education at the government school in Udugama. As a Samanera, he received his higher education at the Dharmaraja Maha Pirivena, Matale.
He was a pupil of the late Mahanayake of the Asgiri Chapter, the Most Venerable Udugama Sri Rathanapala Mahanayake Thera.
On many occasions he functioned as the Chief Custodian of Services to the Sacred Tooth Relic at Sri Dalada Maligawa, Kandy. Udugama Sri Buddharakkitha Thera was appointed Chief Incumbent of Dambulla Rajamaha Viharaya in 1992.
On December 13, 1999, he was appointed to the supreme post as the Mahanayake of the Asgiriya chapter, after the demise of Palipana Sri Chandananda Mahanayaka Thera. Udugama Sri Buddharakkitha Thero was admitted to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore on 10 March 2015, after falling ill for few weeks.
He has undergone a kidney transplant operation few years earlier.
He received treatment for pneumonia and kidney disease at the hospital until 06 April 2015, when his condition deteriorated and was immediately transferred to the intensive care unit, where he eventually died two days later on 08 April 2015. He was 85 years old at the time of his death. As a mark of respect, the government of Sri Lanka has declared April 12, 2015, the day on which Mahanayake Thera"s final rites were observed, as a day of National Mourning in the country.
Udugama Sri Buddharakkitha Thero was succeeded by Galagama Sri Aththadassi Thera as the 21st Mahanayaka of the Asgiriya Chapter.
In 1966, Buddharakkitha Thera was appointed a member of the prestigious Karaka Maha Sangha Sabha, of the Asgiriya chapter.