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by Rita Perera

E. W. Perera

At a time when the forces of division are rearing their heads, this time to create dissensions and conflicts between Buddhists and Christians, in Sri Lanka, it seems opportune to reflect on the past efforts of Christians to save and further the cause of Buddhists, sometimes even at imminent peril to their own lives.

Of course, it can be argued that it was in a different era, far removed from the present day.

However, it is worth looking back at, 'the beginnings' to gain an insight into 'the end'! During the British colonial regime, when Buddhism and everything connected to it was relegated to a secondary place, it was a Sinhala Christian E. F. Perera (father of E.W.) who used his literary connections to publish extracts of the historic Panadura Debate of 1873, in England and America. It helped in no small measure to attract the interest of many foreigners in Buddhism especially, that of Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky, who arrived in Ceylon and helped give an impetus to the revival of Buddhism, the establishment of Buddhist schools etc. that followed.

E.F. also exerted the considerable influence he had to make Vesak a public holiday. This was an era, when even Anagarika Dharmapala, who attended a Christian school as a boy, was punished for absenting himself from school on Vesak day, in order to observe sil.

The role model set by his father was followed to the nth limit, by his son E. W. Perera, also a devout Christian.

He was one of the leaders in the Reform movement, then gathering momentum, when Martial Law was declared in 1915, for a somewhat trivial incident, which was probably deemed to be the beginning of a Buddhist insurrection, by the then rulers. Several prominent citizens were shot and killed by the military and the police.

Others, among them, D. S. and F. R. Senanayake, D. B. Jayatilleke, the Hewawitharana brothers and many others were imprisoned without trial. It was felt by the pioneers of the movement for political reform (who were multi-racial and belonged to the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim faiths) that even though England was in the throes of the First World War, Whitehall had to be informed of the prevailing situation in Ceylon.

E. W. agreed to undertake the arduous task, risking his life and embarking on a ship that could have been torpedoed at any moment by German submarines. Apart from the dangers he faced on his long journey, to war-torn London, there was the additional hazard of also being summarily shot himself, if the infamous 'shoot at sight', order of Governor Chalmers, was discovered on his person.

No-one suspected that it was safely hidden in the sole of his shoe! His concern and the mental agony he endured on this journey, is described in his own words, "Everyday on board ship was a day of anxiety, for I did not know whether my friends had not already been marched out of their cells, placed against a wall and shot as had been done to others..."

The process for their release which he initiated and secured and the long struggle for religious and political freedom, is history. It culminated with the granting of independence in 1948. However, gratitude is not a virtue Sri Lankans are noted for. The very friends for whom he risked his life turned against him. D. S. Senanayake, the so-called Father of Our Nation, deliberately encouraged J. R. Jayawardene to contest him at the State Council election in Kelaniya and denied him, this last chance to remain in politics, to which he had given his life to, foregoing the prospects he had for a lucrative legal career.

The odds were stacked against him, as he was a man renowned for his convictions, and was not willing to change like J.R. and other 'Donoughmore' Buddhists did; either his Christian religion or his Western attire for the national dress. He paid the penalty and lost. Nor was he willing to compromise any of his principles and stifle his opinions, by accepting any sinecure post, such as that of Speaker.

He accepted his rejection by a predominantly Buddhist electorate with Christian fortitude and stoicism, writing about it to a friend, "After all, when my Divine master's fate was to be rejected and to suffer, who am I in comparison?" He died 11 years later. As he lay in his coffin, at least one Buddhist prelate tried to make amends. He bent and whispered softly in his ear. When his brother H.W. inquired from him as to what he said, he replied, "I asked him to forgive us for working against him... He was too great a man for us to have used such tools!"

It is a pity such realisations always seem to come too late. In the struggle to overthrow our subject status, before Independence, Christians, Hindus and Muslims joined Buddhists in a common endeavour, with no thought of material reward or petty political gain.

However, not only are selfishness and self-seeking rampant in our society today, but to compound all these evils the fires of religious intolerance are being maliciously stoked in total repudiation of the very teachings of all these religions.

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