Anagarika Dharmapala
Anagarika Dharmapala is a great Sinhala, Buddhist hero. He is a patriot and a towering personality in the revival and propagation of Buddhism. He was born on September 17, 1864. He had several names such as, Don David Hevawitharane and Ven. Siri Devamitta Dhammapala (after ordination). His parents are Don Carolis Hevawitharane and Mallika Hevawitharane.
He studied at Christian College, Kotte, St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena and S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia. He helped to restore Buddhism in his native Ceylon.
He granted 200 villages to the Nalanda University and revived it. May 1906, saw the birth of the Sinhala Bauddhaya, the news journal which Anagarika Dharmapala started as the voice of the Buddhist revivalist movement.
Anagarika Dharmapala is renowned because he was the forst global Buddhist missionary. He passed away on April 29, 1933. Angarika Dharmapalais a great national hero in our country.
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott was born in 1832 in New Jersey, USA. He received his basic education from a New York school and later enrolled at Columbia University and received his degree. Olcott was engaged in military service as a Colonel in the US Navy Department. Later, together with a woman named Helena Blavatsky he pioneered the Parama Vidyartha Company for social service work in the New York area. Impressed by reading a small book on the Panadurawaadaya, Henry Steel Olcott corresponded with Ven. Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera and the Ven. Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera. As a result of this, he came to Ceylon in 1880. Olcott’s services included pioneering the establishment of Buddhist schools with a fund, pioneering Sunday schools, making Vesak Poya a public holiday and many more beneficial acts. He is a hero who has served the country well.
- M. Sethuli Damnadee,
Grade 7-B,
WP/Jaya/Sri Rahula Balika Maha Vidyalaya, Malabe.