National memorial commission
On 2 June 1987, thirty-three Buddhist monks — most of them young novices — and four civilians were killed near the village of Aranthalawa in the Ampara District. The monument marks that place.
Thirty-two sculptural figures were modelled and installed within eight days, arranged around the memorial so that the site is read as a sequence rather than a single object. The intention was neither spectacle nor accusation: a public space for reflection, composed to hold the weight of the event without amplifying it.