On Wednesday there were few meetings to
commemorate the hundred and fiftieth birth anniversary of Anagarika Dharmapala.
However, many people, I am afraid, were not aware of the event, and were more
interested in the reduction of the electricity bill announced by the President,
the previous day. The opposition led by Ranil Wickremesinghe had not at all
herd of the hundred and fiftieth birth anniversary of Anagarika Dharmapala, and
was busy claiming that the electricity bill had been reduced by Harin Fernando,
who is not even the leader of the UNP group in Badulla District. The opposition
without slogans, policy, vision, mission or anything else has gone down to
schoolboy level making such nonsensical statements. It is very unlikely that
they have any regard or respect for or memory of Anagarika Dharmapala. Does
Harin Fernando know much about Anagarika Dharmapala?
It is not only the UNP that ignored
Anagarika Dharmapala, but the JVP and other opposition political parties as
well. As far as the JVP is concerned Anagarika Dharmapala was probably a
colonialist who helped the British (English) empire. (If Scotland decides to
leave the so called United Kingdom it would spell disaster not only to England
but to USA as well.) Leave alone the JVP, what did the splinter groups JHU and
JNP do to commemorate the hundred and fiftieth birth anniversary of Anagarika
Dharmapala? These two parties are supposed to be nationalistic but it may be
that they do not consider Anagarika Dharmapala as nationalistic. Even the Desha
Hithaishee Jathika Vyaparaya headed by Gunadasa Amarasekera who was
instrumental in introducing Anagarika Dharmapala as a nationalist who fought
against the colonialists, ignored the event, as far as I am aware of.
The President took part in a meeting to
commemorate the birth anniversary and said that Anagarika Dharmapala was a
pioneer of vocational training in the country. The President reminded the
audience that Anagarika Dharmapala wanted the youth to train themselves in
industrial work and that he was interested in establishing a workshop for
match-box industry in the country. The President has also declared the year
that commenced on the 17th of September 2014 as the Anagarika
Dharmapala year. However, unless a detailed programme is planned out in advance
the Anagarika Dharmapala year would have the same fate that Sambuddhathava
Jayanthi year had a few years ago.
It may be that the people are not
interested in these anniversaries anymore. In 1956 the Buddha Jayanthi was
dawned with much fanfare that aroused nationalistic feelings among the people.
It led to the victory of fifty six then but one could argue that recently the
political victories have already been attained in 2005, 2010 not to mention the
Nandikadal Victory in 2009 in the military front. Thus one could say that we
did not want any more symbolical victories as such.
However, one should have any idea of
what we have achieved during the last hundred and fifty years but more
importantly what we could not or have not achieved. Anagarika Dharmapala was
very harsh in the words he used and he referred to Kochchiyas Hambayas and
others who deprived the Sinhalas of jobs as founded by the English. It is wrong
to say that unlike some present day Bhikkus Anagarika Dharmapala criticized
only the Sinhalas but not the others. On the other hand there are NGO pundits
and others who would lose no time in referring to so called weaknesses of
Anagarika Dharmapala sometimes calling him a homosexual and a person who
misused the money donated by others.
We should not be bothered by the
accusations of NGO pundits as they would echo only the views of the
colonialists but we should critically examine what Anagarika Dharmapala did not
or could not achieve. An Anagarika Dharmapala was born in the nineteenth
century as the Sinhala Buddhists were the downtrodden of all the communities in
spite of them being the community that was responsible for the history and
culture of the country. It is the Sinhala Buddhist history and culture that
prevailed in the country, but the English made sure that the Sinhala Buddhists
were discriminated against.
Towards the end of the nineteenth
century the situation was so bad that it called for the pancha maha vada
including the Panadura Vadaya that awakened not only young David Hewawitharane,
but the American Henry Steel Olcott as well. Very few people are aware that the
two did not see eye to eye but criticized each other through the newspapers
Sinhala Bauddhaya and Sarasavi Sandaresa. Essentially Anagarika Dharmapala was
a Sinhala Buddhist while Olcott was an international Buddhist without any
nationality as such.
It was Anagarika Dharmapala who
reinforced Sinhalaness and Bauddhathva after 1815, but Olcott wanted to
separate Sinhalaness from Bauddhtahva thus giving leadership to an hitherto non
existing species that could be called Olcott Buddhists. It is these Olcott
Buddhists who are still around who criticize the so called excesses of some of
the present day Bhikkus. What the Olcott Buddhists would not realize is that if
not for these Bhikkus who were involved in “excesses” from the time of King
Gemunu to Ven. Migettuwatte Gunanada Thera there would not have been a Sinhala
nation in the country. Once Sinhala is separated from Bauddhathva it is easy to
weaken the national movement, a fact which Anagarika Dharmapala probably understood
by intuition.
As far as Anagarika Dharmapala was
concerned there was no Buddhism even internationally without the Sinhalas, a
fact that can be said to be correct as far as Theravada Buddhism is concerned.
Thus Anagarika Dharmapala wanted Sinhala people to be awakened and save
Buddhagaya, which appeared to be a contradiction. In any event Anagarika
Dharmapala was able to see Sinhala
Buddhism as a culture in its totality, though he did not spell it out in so
many words.
However, it is this Sinhala Buddhism as
a culture that some Olcott Buddhists cannot see and they think that Bududhama
would be protected without the so called excesses of some Bhikkus. It is the
Olcott Buddhists who finally join hands with NGO pundits in attacking the
Sinhala Buddhism as a culture and we have to see that these Olcott Buddhists
who prolong their political lives due to media circuses and other facilities
through the internet and cyberspace are defeated in their own den.
On the other hand Sinhala Buddhists
should take steps immediately to safeguard their interests in the present
Eastern Province that are being eroded under anti Sinhala Buddhist attacks.
Even the Sinhala Ministers in this province do not take action against these activities
for the fear of losing non Sinhala Buddhist votes. Such are the perils of
English democracy that we have been accustomed to.
Anagarika Dharmapala fought against some
colonial activities but was unable to understand that some of the matters he
supported were anti Sinhala Buddhist due to the absence of a proper analysis of
the events. However, what is more regrettable is the use of the name of the
Anagarika Dharmapala and also the “property” that the “dayakes” had donated to
the Anagarika Dharmapala by a few who call themselves Sinhala Buddhists for
their survival.
Nalin De Silva
19-09-2014
