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Ven. Wellawatte Gnanabhiwansa

Nayaka Thera

Ven. Wellawatte Gnanabhiwansa, Adhikarana Sangha Nayaka of Dharmarakshita Nikaya and chief incumbent of Suvisuddharama Purana Vihara of Wellawatte passed away at the age of 84 years on 5th of this month. He was ordained as a Buddhist monk at the age of twelve by Ven. Wellawatte Aryavansa Nayaka Thera, Viharadhipathi of Suvisuddharama Purana Viharaya. He received higher ordination at the age of twenty. His father was Dehiwalage Santiago Fonseka and mother Rendage Anjalina Fernando. They named him Dehiwalage Seibel Fonseka.

He learnt the Buddhist Doctrine, Sinhala and Pali from his teacher Ven. Wellawatte Aryavansa Nayaka Thera. He obtained higher education in oriental studies at the Vidyodaya Pirivena from the age of sixteen.

In 1948 Ven. Gnanabhivansa assumed the chief incumbency of Suvisuddharama Purana Vihara and in 1950 inaugurated the Suvisuddharama Mahamaya Kulangana Samitiya and the Suvisuddharama Dhamma School the same year.

He entered the University of Peradeniya in 1952 and obtained a Second Class Honours Degree in BA at the 1956 final examination.

Subsequently he taught at Nalanda Vidyalaya, Sandalankava, Vaishakha Vidyalaya, Wellawatte, Arethusa College, Wellawatte and lectured in Pali at the Kelaniya Vidyalankara University for a time.

He was elected to the Executive Committee of the Dharmarakshita Nikaya in 1979 and in 1996 was largely responsible for the new Constitution of the Nikaya and consequently elected as a joint Secretary of the institution. In 1999 he was elected to the Judicial Committee of the Nikaya and later its Adhikarana Sangha Nayaka in 2005.

He was associated with Sri Lanka's Socialist Movement and was a member of the Socialist Bhikkhu Association and later its Secretary. In 1964 he was elected a Secretary of the Eksat Bhikkhu Bala Mandalaya and in 1986 was elected President of the Janata Bhikkhu Sammelanaya and in 1988 he was elected President of the United Socialist Bhikkhu Front. In 1991 he was appointed Consultant to the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya and was appointed Co-President of the Inter Religious Peace Foundation.

He authored the poems, 'Padyavalee Rasa', 'Meth Dahara', 'Pavitu Mituru Easura' and 'Vaendun - Pidum'. He rendered into Sinhala Prof. N.A. Jayawickrama's PhD thesis which was serialised in the journal 'Dhara'.