SLACLAS:

The final call for abstracts

"Writing the nation" will be the theme of the conference to be hosted by SLACLAS (Sri Lanka Association of Commonwealth Language and Literature Studies) with the collaboration of the Department of English University of Peradeniya Sri Lanka early next month. A considerable number of foreign delegates are expected to attend this conference.

The final call for abstracts to be presented at the conference is being made by the SLACLAS committee now. Papers should be submitted (abstracts) to the SLACLAS papers committee c/o the Department of English faculty of Arts University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya Sri Lanka. (Those due to submit papers please respond immediately.)

The conference will be held in Peradeniya from October 10th to 12th, and those wishing to participate are requested to contact SLACLAS at the same address above. A registration fee of Rs 200 will be levied, but SLACLAS will provide lodging and meals for participants for the duration of the seminar.

This is the first SLACLAS conference with an international input to be held in this country for ten years. International participants, particularly from India, are expected to provide interesting contributions, but papers from Sri Lankan participants are also a substantial part of the agenda.

A display of Sri Lankan writing is scheduled to run concurrently through the duration of the seminar. The seminar will be of particular interest to graduate and post graduate students of English, teachers of English literature at higher educational institutions, writers and academics.

Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera and Professor Ashley Halpe are among the Sri Lankans who will contribute papers, and the organsiers expect that much of the seminar sessions will be devoted to panel discussions. This is one reason the call is going out for early submission of abstracts.

Birth Anniversary of Anagarika Dharmapala

He showed us our roots

The latter part of the 18th century pro duced a remarkable son of Lanka-Anagarika Dharmapala. Born into a wealthy aristocratic family on September 1864 Ana-garika Dharmapala could easily have led an untroubled life but destiny was to cast him in an entirely different role.

Realising the hard times the Sinhalese people were enduring under Colonial rule, he sacrificed his promising career in government service and a comfortable life for a crusade to save the religion and cultural heritage of Lanka.

Such rebellion was fraught with danger and would have led to his incarceration, but self-preservation was alien to him. His activities would have caused bitter disappointment to his parents, but Kamma or destiny must have its way. He was defiant and vehemently criticised the British rulers. He provided the inspiration the people needed at that time and they began to rally round him to fight discrimination and oppression against their religion and culture. Holding meetings throughout the country, he appealed to the patriotic instincts of the people, some of whom were still too lethargic to wake up from the slumber induced by years of foreign rule.

Wearing the simple ochre robes of an ascetic, with long-flowing hair, he was an inspiring figure and he began a crusade which he carried on regardless of the many obstacles. His knowledge of the Buddha Dhamma was profound and this proved invaluable in his battle to regain the rightful place denied to Buddhism and the Sinhalese people. This was an era when alien cultures were permeating into every stratum of our society and many people assumed names which, they believed would give them dignity and opportunities under Colonial rule. Many were the people who turned apostate in the hope of gaining better opportunities and positions in life.

Anagarika Dharmapala was a fiery speaker and he did not mince his words in pointing out the foibles of people. He ridiculed people who aped an alien culture and many prominent people of the day came under the barbs of his incisive criticism. There had been many instances where he had picked out a person in a crowd and exposed him as a renegade, much to the consternation of that person.

His fame as a fearless leader and a moral revivalist spread far and wide and his meetings attracted crowds. But, inspired as he was by the nobility of his mission in life, he had borne no malice towards anyone. His only consuming desire was to bring about a religious and national resurgence to a land rapidly degenerating into a morass of alien culture.

He incurred the wrath of the rulers of the day and also the people who had changed their religion and lifestyle in their desire to achieve their own ambitions under the new masters.

Anagarika Dharmapala also realised that Buddhism had virtually died in the land of its birth - India. Places replete with historic remains from the time of the Buddha were buried, as it were, by the dust of time. He made untiring efforts to restore these historic places and made it possible for pilgrims from Sri Lanka as well as from other parts of the world to visit these holy places and venerate them.

The Maha Bodhi Society was established on the 31st May 1891 by him opposite the Maligakanda temple.

The question might have arisen in many minds as to why a person possessed of a vast knowledge of the Dhamma, a lucid and convincing tongue, did not enter the Order and spread the Dhamma in many parts of the world, especially as he was possessed of a good knowledge of English as well. Perhaps, good Kamma or destiny, as some would prefer to call it, had decreed that he be the resuscitator of Buddhism at a time when Buddhism was oppressed in our country and totally neglected in the land of its birth. As a monk, he, realised that he could only propagate the Dhamma through sermons and books and could not play a more dynamic role as he was bound by the Vinaya rules. The need of that time, too, was for action which exceeded the boundaries of a monastic life.

The indomitable courage of Anagarika Dharmapala ran like a golden thread through all his activities. He was an orator who enthralled his audience and in debates he was able to hold his own against anybody in his day. In the religious Congress held in Chicago in 1893, he spoke on the Buddhist philosophy, perhaps in a nutshell, but that was sufficient to convince many people that Buddhism was, indeed the panacea for most of the ills that afflicted humanity.

Austere simplicity and sincerity were two of the qualities which distinguished the great personage. There was no duplicity in his life as is the case with many others who have scaled the heights of fame and popularity. His entire life was devoted to the cause of Buddhism which, if I may say so, is the life-blood of the people of this country.

Today, we can look back on the life and work of this illustrious son of Lanka who pioneered the way for pilgrims from all over the world to visit the hallowed sites where the greatest human being Gautama Buddha, was born.

The establishment of the Maha Bodhi Society also, apart from all else, immortalises Anagarika Dharmapala. Today it extends its services in many ways to Buddhists here and throughout the world.

Thus, the Buddhists of this country in particular and others all over the world owe a debt of gratitude to Anagarika Dharmapala whose singular efforts had restored to us the sacred places in the land where Gautama Buddha preached to the world his doctrine of Anicca, Dukkha, Anatma.

- I.A.Sangadasa

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