I first heard of Anagarika Dharmapala when I went to India with some Buddhist pilgrims. One of them had told me that Anagarika Dharmapala was a Harijans, or the untouchable who traditionally occupied the lowest place in the caste system of Hindu. He purportedly had escaped the harsh fate of an untouchable when he was adopted by a British couple and had assumed a British family name. Well, this great man who pioneered the revival of Buddhism in India after it had virtually become extinct there for centuries, was actually born David Hewavitarne in Colombo to Don David, a rich founder of a furniture shop and Mallika Hewavitarne. In 1880, when he was 16 years old, he met Colonel Olcott and Madam Blavatsky and was drawn to a life of religious dedication. He became a celibate, renounced wealth, position and comforts of a home life, adopted the name Anagarika (homeless) Dharmapala (Guardian of the Dharma) and garbed in the simple attire of a Buddhist devotee and became a religious propagandist. He worked tirelessly to create many charitable institutions, maintaining hospitals, schools and foundations for spreading Buddhism and helping all in need. In 1891, when he visited Bodhgaya, he was moved by the neglect and sacrilege of the Maha Bodhi temple and had thus set up the Maha Bodhi Society to wrest control of the Buddhist temple from the HIndus who were then controlling the temple. For his effort, he and several monks were assaulted and after a long battle, had managed only to get some Buddhists into the Advisory Board. Today, the majority members of the Advisory Board of the Buddhist Mahabodhi Temple are ironically Hindus. Angarika Dharmapala died in Sarnath and his last words were Let me be reborn. I would like to be born again twenty-five times to spread Lord Buddha's Dhamma. Perhaps, he would be back to save Mahabodhi Temple yet...Related Post: A Pilgrimage Special: Twilight at Bodhgaya
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