Sumanapal Bhikkhu
Anagarika Dharmapala, the great
Sinhala Buddhist Patriot was a towering personality in the revival and propagation
of Buddhism. He also created awareness towards the Buddha and the Dhamma all
over the world.
Anagarika Dharmapala was born on 17th
of September 1864 in Sri Lanka. His father’s name was Mudliyar Don Carolis
Hewawitharana and his mother’s name was Srimathi Mallika Hewawitharana. His
original name was Don David because in
those days a Christian name was a necessary passport to place of destination.
Anagarika Dharmapala received his education at Pettah Catholic School
(St. Mary’s) Colombo, St. Benediets Institute at Katahena, Colombo, and Christian
Missionary School (St. Thomas), six miles away from Colombo. He learnt Buddhist
Studies under the guidance of Ven. Migettuwatte Gunananda Nayake Mahathera and
Hikkaduwe Siri Sumangala Maha Nayake Thero.
The turning point in his life came when he met Col. Henry Steel Olcott
and Madam Blavatsky at Vidyodaya Parivena (School for Buddhist Teachings) in
Colombo.
Learning school in 1883, Anagarika joined
Department of Education as a junior clerk. In 1886 he left government service
and devote his time for working for the welfare of Buddhism under the
leadership of Col. Olcott.
During this time he first visited
Adhyar, South India, with Madam Blavatsky to study the Theosophical Movement.
He was also deeply moved by reading a few articles by Sir Edwin Arnold
published in the London based The Telegraph. From those articles Anagarika had
a fair knowledge about the deplorable condition of the Sri Maha Budhi Temple at
Buddha Gaya. Then he changed his English Christian name – Don David to
Dharmapala Hewawitharana and directly involved himself with the activities of
the Buddhist Theosophical Society (BTS) as the General Secretary of the
Buddhist section. He also worked as the Manager of a newspaper named Sandaresa
or rays of the moon. In 1888 Anagarika started an English newspaper named The
Buddhist and Mr. Leadbeater was its first editor.
On 22nd January 1891
Dharmapala visited the Buddha Gaya Temple and Sri Maha Bodhi tree under which
Prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment and it was the most decisive moment in
his life. The sight of the deplorable condition of the Buddha Gaya Temple
inspired Dharampala to take up the great mission of the restoration of that
sacred temple and the regeneration of Buddhism in the land of its birth.
He stayed in Buddha Gaya till March and
studied the affairs connected with the Buddha Gaya Temple and left for Rangoon
via Calcutta, then the commercial capital of the country. Dharmapala decided to
make Calcutta, the base of his activities.
In Rangoon Dharmapala created awareness
about the neglected condition of the Buddha Gaya Temple to Burmese Buddhist
leaders and returned to Colombo with a firm determination to finalise his
future plans.
The Buddha Gaya Maha Bodhi Society was
founded in May 31, 1891 and Siri Sumangala Maha Nayake there was its first
president.
In the month of October that year,
Anagarika delivered his first lecture in English at the Albert Hall of Calcutta the present day
Coffee House at College Street. His topic was the kinship between Hinduism and
Buddhism. The programme which was an attempt to relink the two camps was
attended by some notable intellectuals like Mr. Narendranath Sen who was the
editor of the influential newspaper ‘India Mirror’. In the same month an
International Buddhist conference was convened at Buddha Gaya to make the
Buddhist World conscious about the state of affairs at the Buddha Gaya Temple.
Buddhist monks and by Buddhist leaders from Japan, Sri Lanka, China, Burma and
India attended the conference. The Maha Bodhi Society was started at Gangadhar
Babu Lane in Calcutta. Later it was shifted to 2 Creek Road.
In 1893 Dharmapala attended the World
Parliament of Religious held at Chicago and his speech there “The World’s Debt
to Buddha” highly impressed the participants. Then while returning from
Chicago, Dharmapala met Mrs. Mary T. Foster who was the wife of wealthy banker
of North America. She was rightly called the “Foster Mother” of Anagarika for
she liberally donated for the establishment of schools, hospitals, temples,
monasteries and numerous other institutions in India and Sri Lanka.
During the years 1893 and 1894 Anagarika
visited London, New York, Japan, China, Rangoon, Bangkok and Colombo in order
to make aware of the situation of the Buddha Gaya Temple and seek assistance to
restore the Sacred Temple to the Buddhist World. He also delivered several
lectures on Buddhism.
He went to Japan in November 1893 and
received a great Buddha image from the trustees of the Tentokuji Temple, Shilea
Tokyo.
In London Dharmapala met Sri Edwin Arnold
and Mrs. Annie Besant who become his lifelong friends.
In 1894 he visited Colombo to influence
the wealthy Sinhala Buddhist to donate funds for the purchase of the Maha Bodhi
village in Buddha Gaya. In September of that year he succeeded to start a
‘Buddha Gaya Fund’ in Colombo. After Anagarika had placed the Buddha image from
Japan in the main shrine of the Buddha Gaya Temple, it was forcibly removed and
thrown out into the open by the servants of the Mahant, the self appointed
custodian of the temple.
In February 1895, a case was initiated
against the Mahant’s men for disturbance of worship. This was the beg inning of
the internationally known “Great Buddha Gaya Temple Case”.
While the case was pending in court,
Anagarika made all possible efforts to propagate Buddhism in India.
It was in May 1906 that the Vaishaka
festival was organized in India after a gap of 800 long years. The occasion
marked the Birth, Enlightenment and Passing away of Sakyamuni Buddha and was
attended by several scholars, community leaders as well as Buddhist monks from
different parts of India. From 1896 to 1901, Anagarika Dharmapala devoted most
of his time to visit America and several other countries and attended the
dispute of the Buddha Gaya Temple.
In October 1901, the Lt. Governor Woodburn visited Buddha Gaya and on the
request of the Maha Bodhi Society he allotted a land to build a rest house for
the Buddhist pilgrims.
Sarnath, the place where the Buddha preached his first sermon was in a
sad condition and Anagarika was shocked and saddened by the terrible neglect of
this holy place of Buddhism. Anagarika immediately sent a letter to the
collector of Benaras requesting him to take steps for the restoration and
conservation of the sacred spot. In the letter he stated, to the 475 millions
of Buddhists, the Deer Park at Sarnath is as holy as Jerusalem is to the
Christians and Mecca to the Mohammedans.
However, until such time that he got a plot
of land from the government, he himself purchased a land in the heart of Ishipatana
Deer Park, Saranath. But later the Government authorities raised several
objections against the purchase of the particular land.
Again from 1902 to 1904, Anagarika toured
Japan, America, London, Holland, Denmark and Italy preaching the Noble Dhamma
of the Sakyamuni Buddha and collecting funds to develop Buddha Gaya, Sarnath
and other places of Buddhist interest. When in America and England he visited
industrial schools to gain awareness on subjects taught and practical classes.
In April, 1904 he visited Colombo and in
July, returned to Sarnath and started an industrial school for the benefit of
the youth.
The Maha Bodhi Journal started in May
1902 and it was very popular at this time. Apart from that Anagarika took
necessary steps to start Pali classes at the Calcutta University. This was a
major step towards the propagation of Buddhism.
From May 1906, Anagarika visited
Colombo several times and started the Maha Bodhi Printing Press near Colombo.
For these funds were donated by Mrs. Foster of Honululu.
In 1907, in spite of facing some setbacks
in the Buddha Gaya Temple Case, Anagarika continued his legal battle with
courage and confidence. Mrs. Foster was very much satisfied by the noble works
started by Anagarika and donated funds to purchase a property in Calcutta to
house the Maha Bodhi Society. Accordingly a house at Beniapukur Lane, in
Central Calcutta was purchased in July 1908.
From 1912 to 1915 Anagarika
spent most of his time in Sri Lanka. He started a National Revival Movement and
travelled all over the island arousing national feelings among Sinhala
Buddhist. At this time he becomes a national hero or ‘Lion of Lanka’.
The British authorities in Sri
Lanka came to know about the strong Sinhala Buddhist feelings among the Sinhala
Buddhist feelings among the Hewawitharana family and decided to take action for
crushing it. Anagarika’s younger brother Edmund was arrested, tried and
sentenced to life imprisonment. He languished and died inside the jail.
Anagarika came to India in order to avoid
arrest but here to he was caught and was interned in his own house for five
years on the request of the British authorities.
Dharmapala utilized these five years supervising the construction of the
Dharmarajika Bihar in Calcutta. In 1915, the Maha Bodhi Society of India became
a registered body (No S/2666/61 of 1915-16). A Governing Body was formed with
Sir Asutosh Mukherjee, the Chief Justice of the High Court at Calcutta and the
Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta as President and Anagarika as the
General Secretary.
In 1920 the construction of the Dharmarajika Bihar was completed. A
large amount of Rs. 63,606/- was donated by Mrs. Mary Foster and the Maharaja
of Baroda and M/S Birla Brothers also contributed.
Sri Dharmarajika Vihara was declared open
on the 20th of November 1920 in an impressive ceremony attended by
Sir Asutosh Mukherjee the President of the Society. Anagarika Dharmapala the
General Secretary and Mrs. Annie Besant. On that day a procession arrived at
the Government House in which about 2000 people took part. The Governor of
Bengal his Excellency Lord Ronaldshay handed over the casket containing the sacred
Relic of the Buddha to Sir Asutosh who handed over the same to Anagarika. Then
the casket was placed on a throne kept in a carriage drawn by six hours. The
procession returned to Dharmarajika Vihar and the Relic was enshrined in the
specially prepared stupa.
In 1922, Anagarika was released from his
confinement to Calcutta city and was allowed to go out of India. While the
construction work of the Dharmarajika Bihar was going on Anagarika and his
disciple Devapriya Valisingh started to negotiate with the Archeological
Authorities and the British authorities for the purchase of a land to build a
temple in Saranath where the Buddha preached his first sermon. Since the land
which was purchased in 1901 was under dispute, Anagarika wanted to obtain
another plot of land for constructing the temple.
On June 30th, 1916 the Maha Bodhi Society was informed that
the Government of India was prepared to present a relic of the Sakyamuni Buddha
if the society would erect a suitable building for a temple at Sarnath. But as
World War I was going on in those days the Society was unable to begin the
construction work of the proposed temple. After the end of the war when
situation became normal and the decision was taken by the Society to erect the
Vihara on the Society’s land. But even then the Society faced a lot of
difficulties in getting the final approval. Anagarika’s disciple Devapriya Valising
he handled the matter confidently and finally the Foundation Stone of the
Vihara was laid by his Excellency Harcourt Butler, the Government of the United
Province.
But again a dispute arose with the
British authorities and the matter was ultimately settled with the Government (1)
agreeing to bear the cost incurred in connection with the foundation work and
(2) offering a suitable plot of land for the proposed Vihara.
The construction work of the Temple
started again with the funds provided by Mrs. Mary Foster, parents of
Anagarika, his brothers and several well wishes from India and abroad.
From 1925 to 1927, the Anagarika toured
England, America and Sri Lanka several times. In July 1926, permanent
headquarter of the London Buddhist Mission was established at the Foster House,
London. From the end of 1927 to 1931 Anagarika was confined to bed due to
stomach trouble and heart disease but even then he was busy planning the future
of the Maha Bodhi Society and the work at Sarnath.
Anagarika was shaken by the death of
Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Foster who died on 19th of December 1930. She
was Anagarika’s “Foster mother” generously contributing to Anagarika’s noble
work. Recovering slightly from his illness, Dharmapala again visited India in
1931 and supervised the construction of the Mulagandhakuti Vihar. Then
Dharmpala decided to spend his last days of life at Sarnath.
Anagarika Dharmapala also made projects
for the training of monks. While in Sarnath he paid special attention to the
training of the monks whom he had sent from the Foster Seminary in Kandy to
Santiniketan. Anagarika’s another project was to create an International
Buddhist Institute to train the students from every corner of the Buddhist
World.
The Mulagandhakuty Vihara was opened on
the 11th November 1931. At 2:15 p.m. on that day the Director
General of Archeology Rai Bahadur Dayaram Sahani presented the bone relic of
the Buddha to Maha Bodhi Society, as the representative of his Excellency Lord
Willington.
Till the end of 1932, Anagarika
Dharmapala supervised the final work of the inner chamber of the temple. The
second anniversary of the temple was held amidst pomp and splendor and the
ceremony was attended by Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, his wife and daughter Indira.
Then Anagarika fell sick again but
even then he did not forget the issue of recovering the sacred site of Buddha
Gaya which was its greatest dream. On the 20th April 1933 his
condition became serious and his relations in Colombo were informed. He
breather his last at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon of 29th April
1933. I convey my deep respect to Anagarika Dharmapala on his 150th
year of birth celebration.
Bibliography:-
1. Mahasthavira,
Sangharakkhita, Flame in Darkness the
life and sayings of Anagarika Dharmapal, Anagarika Dharmapala Trust, Triratna
Grantha Mala, Sri Lanka, 1980.
2. Ratnatunga,
Sinha, They Truned the tide, the 100 years history of the Maha Bodhi Society of
Sri anka, Srilanka, 1991.
3. Thero,
Dr. Kahawatte siri Sumedha, Anagarika Dharmapala the lion of Lanka, Second
Asoka in India,Mulagandha kuti vihara, Saranath, U. P. 2006.
4. Pande,
Acharya Archana, Bharatiya Boudha Dharma me Sinhal vir Purush Anagarik
Dharmapal, Buddhagaya, gaya Bihar, 2011.
5. Rupasinghe
Upali, (Editor), The Maha Bodhi (1891-1991) Centenary Volume, The Maha Bodhi
Society of India, Kolkata.
6. Rupasinghe
Upali, (Editor), The Maha Bodhi Journal Centenary Volume (1892-1992), The Maha
Bodhi Society of India, Kolkata.
7. Roy,
Tarit Kanti, Tthe history of Dharmarajika Chetiya Vihar, The Maha Bodhi Society
of India, Kolkata. 2012.
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