Ven Migettuwatte GunanandaBy Walter Wijenayake
On the 21st September 2008, falls the 118th death anniversary of Ven.
Migettuwatte Gunananda who spearheaded the famous debates between the
Buddhists and the Christians at Baddegama, Udanvita, Gampola, Waragoda,
Liyanagemulla and Panadura in the 2nd half of the 19th century. He was
born at Migettuwatta (Mohottiwatta) in Balapitiya in the Galle District
on the 9thFebruary 1823 to a Buddhist family. From his early childhood
he had a close relationship with a Catholic priest who was residing in a
nearby church. It gave him the opportunity to read the Bible in addition
to so many other Christian books and study Christianity. He had at one
point, the intention of becoming a Catholic priest. However, in the
meantime, he came into contact with some Bhikkhus of the nearby temples.
This caused him tochange his mind about joining the Catholic Clergy.
After few days he went to the Kumara Maha Viharaya in Dodanduwa which
was also known as Gala Uda Viharaya and
stayed there for some time. He was ordained a Bhikkhu by the Chief
incumbent of the temple, Ven. Thelikada Sonuttara Thera. While staying
in the temple, he acquired proficiency in oriental languages and Buddhism.
One day while he was reading the magazine ‘Bauddha Sahodaraya’, he came
to understand that in Colombo city Christian power was such, that a
Buddhist monk could not walk in the streets without becoming the butt of
sarcastic remarks from Christians. Venerable Gunananda Thera was greatly
disturbed by this news. This made him decide to come to Colombo and
reside in Deepaduttaaramaya in Kotahena. While he was there he started
to deliver talks countering Christian arguments against Buddhism. When
Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka during the reign of King
Devanampiyatissa in the month of Poson (June) 306 BC, it received royal
patronage. The idea that the King of Sri Lanka had to be a Buddhist was
rooted in the soil and this was never changed until the Kingship was
abolished in 1815. From 1505, the time the Portuguese invaded the
country, the Sinhalese and Buddhismsuffered a severe setback due to the
acts of the Catholic Missionaries. With the
deterioration of discipline within the Sangha, Theravada Buddhism would
have disappeared from the country if not for the valiant efforts of Ven.
Welivita Saranankara Maha Thera and King Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe who
revived Buddhism and the Sangha organisation by the introduction of
Upasampada or the higher ordination from Siam in 1753.
Even though the fifth clause of the Kandyan Convention signed in 1815,
guaranteed the protection of Buddhism and its places of worship, the
British did not honour it after they established their supremacy in the
Kandyanprovinces. After the rebellion of 1818, the British while
promising to protect Buddhism dropped the world ‘inviolable’ which
appeared in the fifth clause of the Kandyan convention, thereby giving
an indication of the relaxation of the guarantees concerning the
protection of Buddhist places of worship and the Sangha. The missionary
schools overtook the Pirivena or the Buddhist temple schools by the year
1827. There were 96 schoolsmanaged by the Christian clergy, while 94
pirivena schools existed in the Kandyan provinces. There did not exist a
single school for the education of Buddhist children. Moreover, there
were no schools belonging to the Government in the Kandyan provinces. In
addition, the British Government declared Sunday a
public holiday on the 6th April 1817, thereby, cancelling the Poya day
holiday enjoyed by the Buddhists since 242 BC.
In 1832 Colebrooke introduced English as the medium of instruction in
theGovernment service. As a result, all Government Sinhala medium
schools were closed in 1832. Instead, English schools were opened in
main cities all over the island. The Colombo Academy, now Royal College
in Colombo 07 was opened in 1836 as a direct result of the new policy on
education. There were only two Buddhist schools in the country - in
Panadura and Dodanduwa with an attendance of 246 children as against 805
Christian schools with an attendance of 78,086 children, in the country
in 1870.
At this juncture Ven. Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera, came to
Deepadutthaaramaya in Kotahena from Gala Uda Viharaya in Dodanduwa. In
this particularera thousands of Sinhala people after learning English
had become Christians in order to gain a livelihood. A Sinhalese
villager could be trainedto attack Buddhism within a year and in those
days a salary of Rupees twenty per month was enough to make him offer
his services as a Catechist to preach in the villages against the
religion of the Sinhala people. The Christian missionaries began
propagating the religion through pamphlets and books. When Rev. D. J.
Gogerly of the Wesleyan mission published ‘Christian Pragnapthi’ in
1849, Venerable Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera replied with ‘Durlabdi
Vinodimi’ in 1862 and Ven. Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Nayaka Thera wrote
‘Christian Vada Mardanaya’ and ‘Samyak Darshanaya’ 1862-63. Soon the
writings were replaced by public debates. Through journals like
‘Satya Margaya’, Satya Prakashanaya’, ‘Lakmini Kirula’, Christiani Wada
Vighataniya’, and ‘Reversa’ and thousands of pamphlets, the Ven Thera,
refuted the wrong views that were held by the opponents of the Sinhala
people and Buddhism.
He led many debates on behalf of the Sinhala Buddhists. The Baddegama
debate was conducted through the exchange of articles between the
Buddhists and the Christians in February 1865. It originated from an
argument between a young Buddhist monk named Sumangala and a Christian
priest at a Viharaya in Baddegama, the Udanvita debate was conducted in
a temple in Udanvita in the Satara Korale in 1866. It centred on the
Creator, the redeemerand the Eternal Heaven. The Gampola debate was held
June 1871 with Ven. Gunananda Thera and Pandit Batuwantudave for the
Buddhists and Rev. Charles Carter and his team for the Christians. The
Waragoda debate had been held in the year 1865 and the Liyanagemulla
debate was in 1866.These debates culminated in the world famous debate
held at Panadura from the 26th to 28th August 1873 as a result of a
sermon delivered on the 12th of June 1873 by Rev. David Silva on the
teachings of the Buddha with reference tothe human soul. On
the 19th of the same month it was taken exception to by the Buddhists,
denounced as untrue and a debate was initiated by the Christians.
The Christians were represented by able men, the ablest debaters in the
island whom their church could have summoned. Arrayed against Rev.
Gunananda Thera were Revs. David Silva, S. Langdon, Principal of
Richmond College. S. Tab, S. Cauls, C. Jayasinghe, F. Rodrigo, the
catechist Sirimanne, Mudliyar de Soysa, Dunupola Nilame among others.
Before this formidable opposition alone and undaunted rose the militant
Rev. Gunananda Thera, hisreasoning was so powerful, eloquence so
convincing, that he annihilated his opponents. At this debate for the
side of the Buddhists were Ven. Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera, Waskaduwe
Sri Subhuti Thera, Potuwila Indrajoti Thera, Koggala Sangatissa Thera,
Talhena Amaramoli, Mulleriyawe Gunaratana and Gunananda Theras. The
debate ranged from the nature of God, the Soul and resurrection on the
one hand, to the concept of Karma, Rebirth, Nirvana and the principle of
Paticca - Sumuppada or dependent origination. The impact of the
debate was phenomenal, Locally, it was the major force behind
re-establishing the identity and pride of Sinhala Buddhists that was
dwindling fastunder the devious and oppressive practices of the ruling
British, Internationally, it was instrumental in creating awareness
about Buddha Dhamma in the West, a wealth of knowledge that was highly
appreciated by the intelligentsia. Edward Perera, prepared a summary of
the whole debate in theEnglish language as arranged by the Editor of
‘Ceylon Times’ John Cooper. Thousands of copies of the translation were
published and distributed. When Mr. Feeble came to Sri Lanka, he
received a copy of that translation in Galle and took it to America and
published it with an introduction explaining how the Buddhists in Sri
Lanka have shown the real position of Christianity and named the book
‘Buddhism and Christianity face to face’. One of the copies published by
Mr. Feeble fell into the hands of Colonel Henry
Steele Olcott and it was after he read it that he become interested in
Buddhism. He felt this is one of the religions he was looking for to
unearth the secret of the Universe after which he came to the island and
formed the Theosophical Society. With the arrival of Sir Henry Steele
Olcott, the Buddhist revival movement got a dynamic leader who could
deal with the colonial rulers on level ground.
What is significant here is that it was Ven. Gunananda Thera’s
eloquentpresentation of the Buddhist point of view that attracted Sir
Henry Steele Olcott, who came to Sri Lanka on the 17th May 1880, and
consequently accelerated the activities of the revival movement. As a
result, Buddhist high schools such as Ananda College, Colombo,
Dharmaraja College, Kandy and Sri Sumangala College in Panadura were
started. Ven. Gunananda passed away in September 1880.
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