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Sri Lanka Buddhist Revivalism
Beginning around the middle of the nineteenth century, the
Buddhist clergy attempted to reform the sangha (religious
community), particularly as a reaction against Christian
missionary activities. In the 1870s, Buddhist activists enlisted
the help of an American, Colonel Henry Steele Olcott. An ardent
abolitionist in the years leading up to the American Civil War,
Olcott cofounded and later became president of the Theosophical
Movement, which was organized on a worldwide basis to promote
goodwill and to champion the rights of the underprivileged.
Shortly after his arrival in Sri Lanka, Olcott organized a
Buddhist campaign against British officials and British
missionaries. His Buddhist Theosophical Society of Ceylon went on
to establish three institutions of higher learning: Ananda
College, Mahinda College, and Dharmaraja College. Olcott's
society founded these and some 200 lower schools to impart
Buddhist education with a strong nationalist bias. Olcott and his
society took a special interest in the historical past of the
Sinhalese Buddhist kingdoms on the island and managed to persuade
the British governor to make Vesak, the chief Buddhist festival,
a public holiday.
Data as of October 1988
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