Chanaka Bandarage

Courtesy – ‘New Buddhist’, India (July 2015 edition)

Is Anagarika Dharmapala the Mahatma Gandhi of Sri Lanka?  There is a truth in this statement.

True, Dharmapala spoke largely for the Singhalese Buddhists.  But, like Gandhi, Dharmapala too fought fiercely against British imperialism (the British were ruiling Sri Lanka during his lifetime (1864 – 1933).

Thus, Dharmapala fought for all Sri Lankans.

Dharmapala reminded his fellow Sri Lankans why India, a very close neighbour, is so important to Sri Lanka.

Though Sri Lanka has a Singhala, Buddhist base (foundation), it is today a country where people of all major world religions (except Judaism) live in a friendly and harmonious manner.  It is a fine social experiment of a ‘melting pot’.  Sri Lanka will continue to prosper as a fine ‘multicultural’ country.

Sri Lanka was founded soon after the demise of Lord Buddha (2498 years ago – (498 BC), where Vijaya, a Prince from northern India (Singhapura Village in Wanga Land of Lata Nation, located in the present day northern Bengal ) landed in Sri Lanka (Thambapanni).  According to Mahavamsa (the chronicled history of Sri Lanka), Vijaya’s father was King Singhabahu; and  Singhabahu’s father was a lion (his hands and feet were like a lion’s paws). Singhabahu’s mother was a princess from the same area (Kalinga).

Dharmapala in his writings pointed out that according to Mahavamsa and other Chronicles, Sri Lanka’s second king, Panduvasdeva (Prince Vijaya’s nephew), married a blood relative of Lord Buddha (Baddha-Kacchayana of the Buddha’s Shakya Wangsha of Kapilavastu); thus, the Singhalese are able to trace a lineage to Lord Buddha.  According to Buddhists, Lord Buddha, a citizen of India (Dambadiva), is the Greatest Person to have lived in the world.

Sri Lanka became a fully-fledged Buddhist nation during the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa (Sri Lanka’s eighth King; 307 BC to 267BC.), after the  arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka under the aegis of the Maurya Emperor, Dharmashoka (this happened about 200 years after the arrival of Prince Vijaya). He utilized his son (Mihindu) and daughter (Sanghamittha) for the propagation of Buddhism to Sri Lanka.  They carried out the missions extremely successfully.

In his writings Dharmapala stressed that his fellow countrymen (Singhalese) should work hard like the ethnic minorities of the country of the time (largely of Indian decent). He questioned his fellow Singhalese that if the minority races could do so well in trade and commerce, why could not they.

Dharmapala wanted to motivate the Singhalese to work hard and prosper just  like their Muslim, Tamil, Burgher, Bhora, Sindh and Parsi counterparts.  But, Dharmapala never addressed those minority races in derogatory terms. For example, he never used the somewhat offeensive  adjective, ‘para’ (bloody), to  describe ethnic minorities of the country;  he used the term to describe the British.

True, language such as ‘para’ is inappropriate for contemporary Sri Lanka, but, more than 100 years ago, it was acceptable.  It was one of Dharmapala’s ways of getting through the message to the masses.  And his method was effective.  People accepted his counsel without a protest.  Dharmapala never used  ‘filthy’ language against any people, including the British.

Due to the colonial (British) occupation of the country, Dharmapala was fiercely anti-British.  He vehemently opposed the unlawful British occupation of Sri Lanka.

Dharmapala never preached that  only Singhala Buddhists should live in Sri Lanka or that other races must leave Sri Lanka.  He basically wanted the Singhalese to come out of their  closets and be successful like the ethnic minorities.  Coming from an entrepreneurial family, he was totally against idleness.

At the same time, Dharmapala was always a forceful protector of Singhala, Buddhist values, culture and traditions. There was nothing wrong in this, as he did not harm other cultures or religions.

As a true Buddhist, Dharmapala launched massive campaigns against meat and liquor consumption – ills that were introduced by the western imperialists (first, by the Portuguese in the 1500s).  He travelled the whole island in a placards fixed car, demanding people to refrain from meat and alcohol consumption. Dharmapala spoke to his fellow countrymen, sometimes in harsh language; people listened to him intently, acknowledged his views and refrained from consuming meat and alcohol.

Dharmapala asked his fellow countrymen to refrain from killing all living beings; he also asked people, especially  children to follow the five Buddhist precepts – the Buddha’s preaching to the Buddhist layman.  Again, people largely followed Dharmapala’s advice.

Dharmapala asked people to change their Portuguese and English names to Singhala (a Sanskrit language of an Aryan base).  He himself changed his name from David to Dharmapala.  He persuaded his family members to change their names as well, including his mother. He advised his Singhala brethren not to give western names to their offspring.  A fine example was how he instantaneously changed (by consent) the name of young Pedris Silva (then 14 years old) to Piyadasa Sirisena.  The young boy had come to read Singhala poems before Dharmapala at a Buddhist function.  Piyadasa Sirisena went  to become one of Sri Lanka’s  Sinahala literary giants.  Owing to Dharmapala’s action, hundreds and thousands of Sri Lankans  started to have Singhala (Arya) names.  The trend continues to this day.

Another very successful campaign launched by Dharmapala was asking the Singhalese (both men and women) to renounce western attire and wear the traditional Singhala, Buddhist dress that was applicable to them.

When working with his mentor, Henry Steel Olcott (a US citizen), Dharmapala assisted Olcott’s campaign to establish many Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka (numbering about 300). This includes Ananda College, Sri Lanka’s premier Buddhist school for boys.

A prolific writer, Dharmapala wrote to his fellow countrymen regularly through his then very popular newspapers, ‘The Buddhist’ (English)  and ‘Singhala Bauddhaya’ (Singhala).  He gave good counsel  to his people to lead a pious and a meritorious life.

Being a Buddhist leader, Dharmapala stressed that Buddhist children must attend Sunday Buddhist Schools (‘Daham Pasal’) held in Buddhist temples throughout the country to study Buddhism, and among  other things such as good manners (eg. respect elders).  Parents  and teachers positively responded to Dharmapala’s request, there was a massive revival of the Sunday ‘Daham Pasal’ in Sri Lanka.  This trend also continues to this day.

Dharmapala was instrumental in translating Tripitaka from Pali to Singhala. He entrusted this work to his own brother, a medical doctor.

The biggest and the most notable contribution to Buddhism by Dharmapala was the saving of  Buddhagaya for Buddhists from Hindu fundamentalists.  Buddhagaya is the place where Buddha attained enlightenment.  Dharmapala restored stupas there.

This was an achievement of unprecedented proportion.

This is one reason why the Buddhists in India pay so much respect to Dharmapala.

Thanks to Dharmapala thousands of Buddhists from all over the world visit Buddhagaya today, one of the most sacred places for the world’s Buddhists.

If not for Dharmapala, Buddhagaya today would have become a place of Hindu worship.  He initiated legal proceedings against Mahantaya who had unlawfully occupied Buddhagaya and systematically tried to convert it to a place of Hindu worship.  The legal proceedings in New Delhi ran for several years and that drained Dharmapala physically, mentally and monetarily.  But, Dharmapala never gave up.  It was a lone fight by him against a very powerful cabal led by Mahantaya.  But, finally Dharmapala won.

Dharmapala did not rest from Buddhagaya.  He saved Mulagandha Kuti in Saranath for Buddhists.  He built stupas there (opened by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1930). Mulagandha Kuti  is the place where Lord Buddha  made his first sermon, to the five disciples.  It is situated in close proximity to Isipathanaramaya in the city of Banares (‘Baranes Nuwara’ or present day Varanasi).

Dharmapala restored many important Buddhist sites in India.  He built a massive temple in Calcutta – Dharmaraajika temple,  then, pilgrims rests in major  Indian cities including  in Chennai and Calcutta.

One of Dharmapala’s  main ambitions was to educate Indians about Buddhism and Lord Buddha.  He wanted to do this without disturbing other religions and without antagonizing non-Buddhists.  Dharmapala laid the foundation to revive Buddhism in India, his followers like Ambedkar very successfully carried forward the task.

Dharmapala was sorry to see the destruction and desecration of the ancient Buddhist places of worship in India.  The Mahabodhi Society that he established (a mammoth establishment in India today) worked in restoring the ancient Indian Buddhist sites. This work continues to this day.

Dharmapala achieved tremendous successes in India, wholesomely a Hindu country, without causing any commotion there.   This is a remarkable achievement; in effect, a silent revolution.  It is a good example to present day politicians of both countries how to resolve issues in a friendly and amicable manner, avoiding conflict.  Especially, when people of the two  close neighborhoods are also distantly related to each other.

Rather than despising him, the Indians liked Dharmapala.  Even today, there is admiration for him in India.  At the beginning of this year, India honoured Dharmapala by issuing a postage stamp to commemorate his 150^th Birth Anniversary.  This is a very rare thing to happen in India –issuing a postage stamp to honour a foreign national. It was more significant because Indian President Pranab Mukherjee presided the ceremony and expressed India’s gratitude to Dharmapala. It is stated that even today one of the main streets of Calcutta – presumably,   the street where the Mahabodhi Society in Calcutta was then located, is named after Dharmapala (It has been stated that the famous US Golfer, Tiger Woods, is an admirer of Dharmapala, he had kept a portrait of Dharmapala in his room (Tiger’s mother is a Buddhist from Thailand). His Holiness Dalai Lama, a resident of India, has praised the work of Dharmapala; he has a high regard for him.

Dharmapala propagated Buddhism in many parts of India and the West.  He did this in a peaceful, non-violent manner,

This also shows that Dharmapala is a man of  truly international significance.

The British wrongfully alleged that Dharmapala instigated Buddhists to riot during the 1915 Singhala-Muslim riots.  There were no documentary evidence to prove the charges against Dharmapala, he was totally innocent.  When the riots happened, Dharmapala was in Calcutta, India.  This alone shows his innocence. Being a good Buddhist, Dharmapala never instigated violence against anyone.  Basically, he had absolutely nothing to do with the Singhala – Muslim riots.  Yet, the British incarcerated him for a long period of time (6 years).  National leaders like DS  Senanayake,  FR Senanayake and several others were also incarcerated over the same incident (the Singhala – Muslim riots; they were also innocent).  William Pedris, a brave young man, was brutally executed at Welikada prison.  EW Perera took a letter to the King of England (George Vi) concealed in his shoe sole to obtain the release of DS  Senanayake and FR Senanayake and few others.  He was successful, but the British kept Dharmapala imprisoned (under house arrest in India).  Fortunately, like Pedris,  they did not hang  Dharmapala, but, restrained  him badly.  Dharmapala was in his early 50s during that time.  Dharmapala never recovered from the mental agony he suffered as a result of the unlawful imprisonment.  He suffered because he did nothing wrong; it is alleged he was punished solely because of the British’s hatred towards him.  It is alleged, it was a case where the British took revenge from Dharmapala who spoke harshly against the British rule in Sri Lanka.  There were some Singhala leaders, loyal to the British, who worked against  Dharmapala.

During the 18th and 19^th centuries Sri Lankans were subjected to harsh, imperialistic rule and their morale was low.  Dharmapala did everything to improve the self-confidence of his fellow countrymen.  Dharmapala,  who came from a ‘high society family’, possessed a pleasing personality – a dark man of almost six foot tall, Dharmapala wore a long, yellow coloured (Singhala)  garment.  His presence caught the eye of everyone.  He was a great  communicator.   Dharmapala spoke fluent English and his English writing skills were exceptionally good.  He was  well educated (an old boy of St Benedict’s College, Colombo 12*, he was a civil servant before starting  the Buddhist propagation work  (*at St Benedict’s, he had an altercation with the school hierarchy when he saw a Catholic Priest mercilessly shooting down a bird).  Dharmapala was mentored by the American Buddhist, HR Olcott.  Dharmapala watched ‘Panadura Vaadaya’ where the Buddhist priests won the debate over their Christian counterparts (Olcott became a Buddhist owing to the outcome of this debate).

Oozing with confidence, Dharmapala was  fearless; he never hesitated to fight against discrimination and injustice.  He always fought for the downtrodden; he aspired  equality and justice.  The following  incidents illustrate his fearlessness and bravery:

a). Robert Chalmers (the then Ceylon Governor) allowed Dharmapala to attend his office, but, Dharmapala  was purposely kept waiting in the office for a long time –for nearly 2 hours.  Dharmapala became angry; during the meeting he complained to Chalmers that he too was busy and that Chalmers should have stuck to the appointment.  Dharmapala remonstrated that Chalmers deliberately wasted his valuable time, he had no confidence in Chalmers.  Despite Chalmers’ request to stay, Dharmapala left the office early without completing the meeting.  This was like a slap on Chalmers’ face,  his staff witnessed what happened.  Chalmers never expected  that type of ‘bravery’ from a Singhalese; at  that time the whites sometimes considered the locals as a species of sub-human.   Note, when Dharmapala was imprisoned, Chalmers was still the Governor of Ceylon.  It was Governor Stubbs who released Dharmapala.

b). In late 1920s Mahatma Gandhi attended the function to open the Calcutta Mahabodhi  Society.  In his address, Gandhi stated  he understood the Greatness of Lord Buddha after reading Sir Edwin Arnold’s ‘Light of Asia’.  Dharmapala was the last speaker of the event (listed to give the ‘Thank You’ address).  Dharmapala said that Lord Buddha was born closer to 2,400 years ago in India (Dambadiva), he questioned why Mahatma Gandhi had to wait to read the Englishman’s book to realise the Greatness of Lord Buddha.   Dharmapala said that Lord Buddha was not just the  Greatest person ever produced by India,  he  was the Greatest Person ever produced by the world.  Gandhi was somewhat taken back by Dharmapala’s ‘rebuke’; he nodded and smilingly listened to Dharmapala.  Gandhi was prepared to learn from his friend Dharmapala. Gandhi had a strong liking to Dharmapala. After the  speech Rabindranath Tagore, a close friend of both Gandhi and Dharmapala,  congratulated  Dharmapala for his oratory skills.  At that time no one would dare criticise Gandhi, who was the undisputed leader of  India’s independence struggle, but brave Dharmapala  did not hesitate to say what he had to about his friend , Gandhi, inside Gandhi’s  own India.   The remarkable thing is that Dharmapala did this without antagonizing Gandhi. Dharmapala had a great respect and admiration for Gandhi; but on that occasion, he believed he  had to make the utterance.  This is due to his love for Lord Buddha and Buddhism which preceded everything else for him. It is stated that Gandhi was saddened to hear the death of Dharmapala in 1933.

c).  When travelling by train in India and Sri Lanka on two separate occasions, Dharmapala was confronted by unruly white  British men (in Sri Lanka, by a white planter), who demanded that Dharmapala  leave the 1^st class compartment that they were in.   They could not tolerate travelling in the same compartment with Dharmapala – a Buddhist preacher, who wore a ‘strange’ yellow garment and demanded that they stop consuming  alcohol (whiskey) on the train.  Dharmapala, a brave man,  did not bow down to his white opponents; he directly confronted  them.   Dharmapala had a  stronger personality than his white opponents, the whites ‘lost the battle’ – they fled their respective  compartments allowing Dharmapala to travel freely (Note, Gandhi too experienced an ugly train incident in Pretoria, South Africa – his first taste of racial discrimination. Despite carrying a first class ticket, he was indiscriminately thrown out of the train by the authorities on the instigation of a white man.  The difference is that the whites failed in their attempts to evict Dharmapala from his train compartment – on both occasions).

Dharmapala was an avid traveler.   Those days the voyages were made by ship.  Lots of Dharmapala’s time was spent on travelling to various countries to promote Buddhism.  His speech at the Chicago Conference on Religion (Parliament of the World’s Religions) in 1893 was exceptionally  powerful and of very high standard.  Dharmapala became  the ‘key person’ at the Chicago conference, most of the representatives were Christian.  The thousands of delegates flocked around Dharmapala as if he was a movie star.  Dharmapala gave a mesmerising speech to the audience about Lord Buddha and Buddhism, even Swami Vivekananda who represented the Hindu faith of India had to openly  embrace him.  Chicago was a major watershed event in Dharmapala’s life.

Dharmapala supported Buddhist countries, for example,   Japan – at a time when most countries despised it.  He was clever to collect monetary donations from Japan.  He had leading Japanese business friends in Japan. When he visited Burma, sometimes he was  invited to the king’s palace where he had audiences with the Crown Prince.  The Burmese  Crown Prince made small financial contributions towards Dharmapala’s legal battles in India to save  Buddhagaya.   Dharmapala had a deep gratitude for Burma for help establishing the  Siam Nikaya in Sri Lanka.  Dharmapala maintained a good relationship with the Thai Royalty.  Dharmapala visited Shanghai in China few times, he also visited several other Asian and European  countries.

Dharmapala had a remarkable knowledge about international affairs and world religions.

Dharmaplaa liked Western Capitalism, and impliedly encouraged it.  He had a great ‘entrepreneurial  mind’; he raised hundreds and thousands of  dollars for his noble tasks.  Dharmaplaa needed money for his many projects – the ’Save Buddhagaya’ project itself needed lots of money – the litigation in India was protracted and lots of money was required for legal fees, pay compensation etc.  As stated before expelling the illegal Hindu squatter (Mahantaya) from Buddhagaya, who had patronage from the Indian state, was a herculean task; only Dharmapala could do it and so he did.  Not only Dharmapala started Buddhist philanthropy projects in Sri Lanka (there were many), he embarked on noble Buddhist projects in many countries, mainly in India, and the West – notably in  the UK and US.  He raised money well.  It is Dharmapala who founded the London  Buddhist Vihara (Saddhatissa Centre of North London is the main Theravada Buddhist centre in the UK today).  He established Buddhist presences in San Francisco, Boston and New York.  Dharmapala was clever in persuading his family to financially support his Buddhist  ventures. The main donor for his projects was Mary Foster Robinson, the US philanthropist.   Mrs Foster Robinson was impressed of Dharmapala after his historic speech in Chicago.  She donated many  thousands of dollars (possibly millions) for Dharmapala’s various causes.  Dharmapala ran a large farm type project in Hiniduma in southern Sri  Lanka.  Emulating Gandhi’s handloom co-operatives , he established Sri Lanka’s first handloom weaving school (Hewawitharana  Weaving School).  He started a Free Hospital in Colombo 10 in memory of Mrs Foster Robinson who predeceased Dharmapala.  Dharmapala’s diary notes show that though he dealt with lots of money, he spent them  thriftily and very carefully.  Dharmapala was 100% honest in financial affairs. Dharmapala valued the financial donations he received and accounted for every cent.  This is why people like Mrs Foster Robinson continued to fund him. Obviously his opponents, who were jealous of his money  raising and contact making ability and the enormous standing  he had in the community;  attacked him from left, right and the centre.

Above all, Dharmapala was a Great Practising Buddhist.  He tried to follow the Buddha’s teachings to the letter.  Dharmapala dedicated his life to Lord Buddha.  Buddha was in his mind and thoughts always.  That is the reason why he became ‘Anagarika’. Most devotedly, Dharmapala  tried his best to worship Buddha every day.  Every of his speech and writing was embedded with Buddha’s teachings.

Dharmapala venerated his mother, he predeceased her.

Dharmapala wished that he be born again and again in India (Dambadiva), not because he was disgusted with Sri Lanka.  Dharmapala loved his native land, Sri Lanka and as pointed out in this article, he did so much for Sri Lanka.  Being a follower of  Buddha (Dharmapala became a monk in the last stages of his  life – Ven Siri Devamitta Dhammapala), he wished that he be re-born in India.  This is due to his eternal love for Lord Buddha, and also of his affinity with Buddhagaya, the place that he rescued for the world’s Buddhists.  He also loved the Indian people.

Ven Dhammapala passed away  starring at the Mulagandha Kuti  Stupas that he built, his fellow monks moved his bed outside of the building that he was living; as it was the desire of Ven Dhammapala to view the Stupas upon his demise.  When a portion of Dharmapala’s  ashes were brought to Sri Lanka (Colombo) by a specially decorated ‘Buddhist  train’ from India, hundreds and thousands of Sri Lankans lined along the railway track yelling ‘Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu’. They threw fragrant flowers at the train. It is stated that more than 50,000 people flocked inside Colombo’s Fort Railway Station to receive the train. There were more people outside of the station. A massive Buddhist memorial service was held in Colombo where condolences were read from Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore and leaders from many nations, including from the Governor of Ceylon. It is stated that in Bihar, many state government and privately owned buildings displayed a white flag in respect of Anagarika Dharmapala.

 The writer, a Lawyer, is the President of Sri Lanka Support Group (Global)

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(This article was published in the magazine ‘New Buddhist’, India, July 2015. A Singhala translation of this article will be  published in Lankaweb soon)