|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Monday, 16 February 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Ananda College, Colombo Founder's Day tomorrow: Ananda's personality from a man of Steel by Chandra Edirisuriya Colonel Henry Steele Olcott the great American who was largely responsible for the revival of Buddhist education in Lanka arrived in this country in the year 1880. He had been inspired by the debate at Panadura between Venerable Migettuwatte Gunanada Thera and Rev. David de Silva. This remarkable event received publicity even in the New World and Col. Olcott made a careful study of it.
He realised that the Buddha Dhamma offered a practical solution to the riddle of life. Col. Olcott decided to come to Ceylon, as our country was then known, to give a helping hand to rebuild our national culture which was fast crumbling to pieces. "It is indeed a strange paradox that what the West sought to destroy the Far West rescued from disaster," stated Justice S. R. Wijayatilake, former Judge of the Supreme Court in his contribution titled, "Buddhist National Renaissance - Ananda to the Fore" to the special issue of the Ananda College magazine, 'Anandaya' in 1973. Perhaps next to the visit of Arahat Mahinda, the visit of Col. Olcott was the most eventful visit of a foreigner to our shores. Within a short time he was able to fathom the depths to which we had descended. He was a man of action. He was among those who inaugurated the Buddhist Theosophical Society and set about raising the people from their slumber. They awakened and they realised that the immediate way out of the morass was to organise Buddhist educational institutions. It was an ambitious programme but they had in Col. Olcott a man of steel. His dynamic personality won the hearts of the people and the first Buddhist English High School, later name Ananda College, was inaugurated at Maliban Street, Pettah, Colombo on November 1, 1886.
After nearly four centuries of foreign domination under the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British our national languages and religion were reduced to an abject state. The country with its little farmsteads, the viharas and the irrigation tanks was swallowed up by the mammoth coffee, tea and rubber plantations herded with cheap immigrant labour. A country with an essentially agricultural economy which was self-sufficient in her own way was fashioned into an attractive market for everything foreign. Only an insignificant few of the planter-raj, the commercial agencies and the kachcheris, which were under the control of the foreigner, had the educational and cultural background to appreciate our Dhamma and way of life. The results were disastrous to the Buddhists. Our seats of learning suffered neglect and our Buddhist Way of Life was belittled as something inferior. As the Portuguese made their inroads in the coastal areas our temples and pirivenas were reduced to such a state of ruin and desolation that the monks who were dedicated to them could not help abandoning them and finding shelter in caves and glens away from the onslaughts of these imperialists, who subtly went about the country in various guises. The impact of the so-called "Western civilisation" was so captivating that even our native chiefs and their retinue were won over to a way of life quite antagonistic to the Buddhist way of life. Liquor and slaughter of animals and Western habits and customs quite unsuited to our climate spread throughout like wild fire. It was amusing to see our very important men in favour with the government in thick woolen clothes, bathed in perspiration trying very deftly to balance their top hats, and their wives sweeping everything in their way with their Victorian skirts. It was indeed a pathetic picture. The peasant with open eyes stood aghast at these antics. The village playwrights found in these eccentricities popular theme for their playlets popularly known as Nadagam which kept the people in good humour. Let us transfer ourselves to a period before the Portuguese set foot on our shores. We could see in the distance across the lush paddy fields the little temples nestling among the hills in the shade of a Bo Tree with a white Dagaba atop a rock, with its golden spire pointing heavenwards; and as we walk up we could see the pirivena school with a few Samanera bhikkhus and village lads attending to their studies in a spirit of devotion. Then imperialism in its subtle ways radiated to these peaceful corners of this land and everything Buddhist was gradually crushed and it was left to a few valiant patriots both laymen and monks to reagitate for their lost rights. The majority remained speechless. It was in this background that Col. Olcott's arrival becomes all the more significant. Ananda College was the first of the string of Buddhist schools that Col. Olcott pioneered to establish. The contribution made by Ananda College to the emancipation of the Buddhists and their national and cultural regeneration will occupy an important chapter in the history of Sri Lanka. Ananda College has a personality tenderly and diligently nourished by Col. Olcott and his successors who were dedicated to Ananda College which was not a mere educational institution like any other but a guiding light to all others. When we contemplate Ananda her past, present and future - what strikes us most is her unique personality. It is this which has won the affection not only of the educated classes but of the multitude. It set a pattern out of the ordinary and thanks to Col. Olcott and other pioneers, Buddhist education was saved from extinction. Students joining Ananda from the other public schools were amazed at the spirit of patriotism openly and boldly displayed by the students and the staff. Ananda from the day of Col. Olcott had a distinct personality and it is for us despite the many changes in the present age to preserve this personality for generations to come. It is the spirit of freedom prevalent at Ananda which spread far and wide through the schools of the Buddhist Theosophical Society, thanks to the initiative of Ananda. Ananda provided the necessary environment for us to begin to appreciate, after a spell of imperialism, our own language literature, customs and traditions. Our old boys should be able to carry the message of Ananda to the countries throughout the world, far and near, in the spirit of Colonel Henry Steele Olcott. Tomorrow we commemorate the 97th death anniversary of Col. Olcott. He passed away on February 17, 1907. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
