Venerable Pelene Sri Vajiragnana Mahanayake Thera

A great and benign influence on Sri Lankan culture

Dr. Ananda D. Soyza

Sri Dharma Rakshitha Vansalankara Tripitaka Vadiswara Most Venerable Pelene Vajiragnana Mahanayake Thera, whose life and work we commemorate in November, was born in 1878 in the deep South of Sri Lanka where the Buddha Dhamma and Sinhala culture had been preserved throughout the centuries.

Venerable Pelene Sri Vajiragnana Mahanayake Thera

He received his early education and training as a Bhikku from the Venerable Weragampitiya Rewata Maha Thera. He completed his education at the Vidyodaya Pirivena with a dazzling academic record.

In 1901, at the early age of 23, he was invited to become the chief monk at the Vajirarama in Bambalapitiya. Among those who invited him were the late J. E. R. Pereira - father of the late R. L. Perera, Q.C. and Bhikku Kassapa and the late W. J. Soysa my grandfather, and his brothers-in-law the late Padikara Muhandiram G. J. Silva Kulatilaka and the late G. G. M. Silva, and P. M. Anthonis father of Dr. P. R. Anthonis and Simon Alwis.

Recently President Mahinda Rajapaksa, graciously conferred the title of a Sacred Site on it, thereby preserving the temple for posterity.

For over half a century the Venerable Pelene Sri Vajiragnana Mahanayake Thera, as he is popularly known, was a great and benign influence on the cultural life of Sri Lanka.

He made his contribution in public life in what may conveniently be described as in spiritual and the secular spheres in a significant phase in the history of Sri Lanka.

The commencement of the century witnessed mild and faltering efforts towards a revival of the religions and cultures of the major communities living in the island. It is now almost a truism to say that foreign conquest and being ruled for many years by foreigners in the old patterns of domination established by the invaders from the West tend to destroy the indigenous cultures of conquered people.

Three hundred years of domination, whether partially or wholly, of the island with three nations of conquerors from the West had driven underground or reduced in importance the religions, morals and customs of the people. Other religions, new economic forms, new systems of political domination and administration had been imposed on the country. Important sections of those who were ruled adopted the ways of the rulers.

The turn of the century not only witnessed the birth of a new professional and business elite in Ceylon but together with these an effort to usher in a renaissance in the cultural patterns of the people.

Each different field of activity had its own champion in restoring a larger measure of self-respect particularly among laymen who were adherents of Buddhism.

The oratory and the debating skill of the Venerable Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera had made a large contribution, in preserving Sinhala and Pali scholarship and to a lesser extent Sanskrit - as well as the preservation of the Buddhist traditions both for the Sangha as well as for the laity. The Venerable Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera made the Vidyodaya Pirivena at Maligakanda both nationally and internationally famous.

Alongside of western scholars like Max Muller, Oldenberg, Dr. Dahlke and Rhys David, Ananda Coomaraswamy combining the scholarship acquired in the western way with deepened conscious research into the religions, the literature and art of both India and Sri Lanka, attempted to bring back the values inherent in the national cultures to those who were educated in Western ways.

In the North of Sri Lanka, Sri Arumuga Navalar was active in the preservation of the Tamil culture and the Hindu religion. In politics, there were giants like the late Sir James Peiris, Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam and Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan while as an iconoclastic social reformer Anagarika Dharmapala, who later became the Ven. Dharmapala, held sway over the minds of the people. Sri Lanka saw once again the stirrings of a desire for political freedom.

It was in this galaxy of intellectual and philosophical endeavour that the Venerable Pelene Sri Vajiragnana Mahanayake Thera shone as a person who embodied within himself a combination of the deepest learning in the Indo - Aryan languages and in the Buddha Dhamma with an exemplary piety and an ability to expound the Buddha’s teaching to audiences of varying intellectual capacities.

He was one of the brightest pupils of the Venerable Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera. In Sinhala letters, he was pre-eminent in his time.

He did not make himself a slave to any preconceived theory in regard to the grammar and syntax of the Sinhala language or its idioms and usage.

He was, however, one of the earliest to contrast the native resources of the Sinhala language with the easy resort to the heavy use of Sanskritised forms.

He wrote in a lucid and easy style which served not merely to convey what he had to teach but created models of a limpid Sinhala prose that helped to pave the way for a clearer and more easily understood journalism.

The Vajiraramaya at Bambalapitiya became a centre of Buddhist scholarship in his day. Scholars from far and near regularly visited the temple and most of them went away with a feeling of having learned something they did not know before, be it in the field of oriental studies or an abstruse point in the abhidharma.

Many a Sinhala writer of that day was happy to submit his manuscript to the Venerable Pelene Sri Vajiragnana Mahanayake Thera to be corrected and polished before publication.

He often helped writers to re-write portions of their books where the thoughts or the style appeared to be faulty.

The range of books, pamphlets and newspaper articles he wrote as well as their volume were truly great.

It is a pity that the efforts to publish his collected works have remained in abeyance for many years.

It was the late Professor G. P. Malalasekera who said that Scholarship sat lightly on the Venerable Pelene Sri Vajiragnana Mahanayake Thera. He had the rare gift of being able to bring into any conversation the impress of his learning and piety in a manner that was relevant and style that sparkled with wit and good humour.

These were the characteristics that made him one of the most popular preachers of his time. It was an age in which Sri Lanka had no public address system. Preaching was done in the halls of temples and schools and sometimes in the village in cadjan sheds constructed for the purpose. It was a time that knew many famous preachers.

Among those who drew large crowds to the temples on a full moon night to hear a sermon, the Venerable Pelene Sri Vajiragnana Mahanayake Thera was one who was listened to with enthusiasm, because he was able to expound what had been taught 2,500 years ago with simplicity and in terms that could be understood by a person living amidst the problems of the 20th century.

His activities as a teacher extended over the years into the days when the sermon was brought by radio to your home.

Among all these achievements it is possible to believe that he himself would have counted as most valuable the fact that he imparted to several generations of Bhikkus his learning, the practice of the Dhamma and how to lead an exemplary and disciplined life according to the Vinaya.

His pupils both among the Sangha and the laity are found in many parts of Sri Lanka and across the seas in many lands today.

He was proud to claim among his distinguished pupils the late Venerable Narada Maha Thera and the late Venerable Madihe Pannaseeha Mahanayake Thera who sought to carry forward the traditions of their teacher. The Venerable Vajiragnana Maha Nayake Thera beginning his public activity at the commencement of the last century, expounded the Dhamma in terms relevant to the changes that took place in Sri Lanka with two World Wars and the troubled years after the Second World War.

His life and work attained their significance for those of us in Sri Lanka who are toiling through the beginning of the 21st Century.

His spiritual and literary contributions will continue to inspire the generations to come.