The nineteenth century was an era when western colonialism was at its height, with raw materials and other riches being brought to the metropolises in Europe from Asia, Africa and South America, and with manufactured goods shipped back to the colonies at great profit. By that time, the world had endured three centuries of western colonialism, which stunted the growth of indigenous cultures, traditions and learning, all of which were forcibly cast aside to accommodate western culture, traditions and the religion, Christianity. That was also the time when ancient civilizations were making way for new civilizations and enslavement of fellow human beings was at its height and considered fair and acceptable by the western world.

It was also around this period that the germination of new thinking and spiritualism began to stir in Europe and in the United States, which, by that time had shaken away the shackles of British colonialism, leading people to question current religious teachings, education and value systems influenced up to that time by the Greek and Roman civilizations, and to allow the mind to roam beyond the hitherto restricted boundaries, seeking new vistas.

If the Theosophical Movement had its origins in the United States of America in the 1880s, it also took root in Europe around the same time, when both continents were making great strides following the industrial revolution and the multitude of inventions that revolutionized the western world. With the new discoveries and changes that brought about rapid changes in the west, particularly in the newly independent young nation that was the United States, there were equally important changes that were taking place in the minds of people, who were freed from old dogma and teachings. Thus the emancipation of minds enabled the free thinkers of the day to heighten their understanding of issues and awareness by focusing on subjects that were hitherto alien to the majority of westerners.

In this process, they naturally looked beyond the west, and it was not a surprise that their focus of attention was directed toward the Orient, more specifically toward India, which was under colonial yoke at that time, but still was the repository of the wisdom of the ancient. After all, India was the birth place of three great religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and the fertile ground where the Vedas and Puranas were conceived, and where spiritual philosophy was a way of life.

The theosophic view of history speaks of “circumstances still unknown”, another reference to what we know in the east as karmic provision of spiritual and intellectual evolution. According to the law of Karma, wise teachers appear during periodic cycles to impart knowledge or wisdom to mankind, to improve the spirituality of societies, which stand to benefit from such visitations. [For example, Buddhists believe that a number of Buddhas or enlightened personalities were born from time to time for the benefit of mankind.]

The birth of Henry Steele Olcott in New Jersey, his leaning toward spirituality, his founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875, his departure for India in 1878 and his arrival in then Ceylon two years later following the great debate on Christianity vs. Buddhism known as ‘Panadura Vadaya’, can also be described as events that occurred due to karmic forces. If visitations of wise teachers or “Elder Brothers” known in the Theosophical literature as explained by Buckle, result in restoring knowledge once known to mankind in the past, but now long forgotten or overlooked, the role played by Colonel Olcott could perhaps be best described as preparing the soil to rebroadcast the seeds of knowledge that were inherent to India and to Sri Lanka.

What exactly was the role of Colonel Olcott, who was born, bred and educated in the United States of America in a far away island in the Indian Ocean, known at that time as “Ceylon”?

Colonel Olcott is remembered by Sri Lankans for several major contributions he made, which helped reshape the island’s history as well as its destiny.

The first was the revival of Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka, which by the time he visited the island was in decline after nearly 1500 years of steady growth. If the golden times of Sri Lankan history were the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa periods, the beginning of the decline of Sri Lanka’s civilization was the year 1216 AD, when Kalinga Magha invaded Polonnaruwa and laid waste that thriving kingdom. Referring to the great calamity the Chulawamsa says, “They wrecked the image houses, destroyed many cetiyas, ravaged the viharas and maltreated the lay brethren…The viharas, the pirivenas and many sanctuaries he made over to one or other of his warriors as dwelling. The treasures, which belonged to the Buddha and were the property of the Holy Order, he seized and thus committed a number of sins in order to go to hell”.

The decay of Theravada Buddhism that commenced in the early 13th century was almost complete by the mid-18th century, by which time there was not a single ordained Buddhist monk remaining in the island. It was against this appalling background that Kirthi Sri Rajasingha, king of Kandy, sent a delegation to the royal court of King Boromakot of Siam, which act resulted in the reintroduction of Upasampada on the Esala full moon day of July 20, 1753 and the establishment of the Siam sect. The Upasampada carried out by the Thai Upali Maha Thera succeeded in admitting to Higher Ordination, Kobbekaduwa Unnnase, Valivita Saranankara Unnanse, Hulangamuve Unnanse, Navinne Unnanse, Bambaradeniya Unnanse and Tibbotuvave Siddhartha Buddharakkihita Unnanse. The second Siamese delegation consisting of 16 bikkhus and 11 novices arrived in Sri Lanka in January 1756, which helped reestablish the Bhikkhu order in Sri Lanka once again.

However, there was little opportunity for the complete revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka during an era when a European colonial power had full sway over the whole country. The focus of the European powers was conquest of territory, ‘civilizing’ the natives and through that process, ‘redeeming’ their souls by converting them to Christianity as an alternative to Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. Consequently, there was no opportunity for Buddhism to flourish again in the environment that existed during the latter part of the 19th century.

It was the good fortune of Sri Lanka that Colonel Olcott’s arrival in the island coincided with the awakening of another native, who, years later, turned out to be another “elder Teacher”. That was the Anagarika Dharmapala, who after meeting with Colonel Olcott and Madam Helena Petrovna Blavatsky , functioned as their interpreter. The Anagarika Dharmapala’s contribution to the revival of Buddhism in India and Sri Lanka is legendary.

Having embraced Buddhism under the mentorship of two prominent Buddhist priests viz. Ven. Hikkaduwe Siri Sumangala Thera and Ven. Migettuwatte Gunanada Thera, Colonel Olcott made an immense contribution to the revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. For example, he contributed to unification of several Buddhist sects in the country and having observed that the majority of schools in the island at that time was in the hands of missionaries that were spreading false information on Buddhism, published “Buddhist Catechism” in consultation with Buddhist clergy, which was translated into many languages and used as a basic text book in Buddhist schools. Col. Olcott made other crucial contributions to promote Buddhism, such as designing the Buddhist flag and petitioning colonial rulers in London to grant a holiday on Wesak Day, the most important religious day for the Buddhists.

The other major contribution of Col. Olcott to Sri Lanka was the catalytic role he played in uplifting education in the island. To have a proper appreciation of this contribution we should have a fair idea of education in the country, past and present. Today we take pride in providing statistics of Sri Lanka’s achievement in the field of education, which has succeeded in coming up with a literacy rate of above 90 %, despite being a developing country with a per capita income of mere $1340. Today the ratio of female education is higher than that of males with similar progressive percentage for university admissions for females. The secret of this success was the investments made by successive governments since independence on education by providing free schooling for primary, secondary and tertiary levels, which made it possible for all children to pursue education, irrespective of the economic standing of their families. Moreover, even today, school text books and school uniforms are provided free. There have been periods when the government even provided free mid-day meals to school children so that children from dire economic circumstances did not have to pursue education on empty stomachs.

Now, please permit me to transport you to the pre-Christian era, an era unfamiliar to most of us today. This will provide you an understanding of the status of education in ancient Sri Lanka. In ancient India as well as in pre-Buddhist Sri Lanka, education was solely in the hands of Brahmins and knowledge was accessible only to particular castes of the society. We know from the Jathaka stories of the existence of the “Disapamok Acharya” in ancient India, where education was provided by Brahmin teachers to the children of royalty and the like, at “Gurukula”, also known as “Gurugedera”, which was essentially the home of the teacher. With the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka during the reign of King Devanam Piyatissa in 236 BC, Buddhist monastic institutions came into being, which primarily focused on teaching of the religion and the language. Thus, we know from Mahavamsa, of the establishment of Mahavihara in Anuradhapura in 250 BC, followed by Abhayagiri by King Vattagamini Abhaya, also in Anuradhapura around 103 BC. The third educational institution to be established in the country was the Jethavanarama Monastery during the reign of King Mahasena around 276 AD. The importance of the establishment of Jethavanarama was the expansion of the curriculum from religion and language to other subjects such as other languages, Vedic literature, medicine, poetry and even subjects such as astronomy and architecture. I venture to say that these institutions even had engineering faculties. If not, how did the ancient people of our country construct engineering marvels such as the Ruwanveli Mahaseya, the largest brick monument in the world, and all the stupendous irrigation projects in the pre-Christian era, which function even today? Eventually, numerous Buddhist temples transformed themselves into seats of education at the first level, what we now know as primary education; more organized pirivenas, where the monks learned dhamma became the centers for secondary education, with those who excelled in education receiving higher level or tertiary education in centers such as Mahavihara, Abhayagiri and Jethavana. We must not forget that ancient India had its own Oxford and Cambridge in the form of ‘Takshila’, which functioned around 300 BC, during the period when Alexander the Great came to India, and Nalanda during the Kumara Gupta’s period (414-445 AD).

Education in ancient Sri Lanka prospered beyond the Anuradhapura period to the Polonnaruwa period, which lasted from 1073 -1215 AD. Another significant period for education was the Dambadeniya period from 1232-1271, and despite the brevity of the Dambadeniya Kingdom; a number of prominent pirivenas came into existence during that period. They were the Maha Mahinda Pirivena, the Buwanekabahu Pirivena, the Perakumba Pirivena, the Pathiraja Pirivena and the Mayurapada Pirivena. It was during this period that famous Buddhist literature books such as Pujavaliya, Saddharmaratnawaliya and Attanagalu Wansasya were written.

By the time the first European colonists stepped on the shores of Sri Lanka, there were numerous other educational institutions contributing to the promotion of education in the country. These included the Thotagamuwe Sri Vijayabahu Pirivena, the Keragala Padmawathi Pirivena, the Veedagama Ghananada Pirivena and the Pepiliyane Sunethardevei Pirivena.

The Portuguese period, which lasted from 1505-1658 AD, and the Dutch period, 1658-1796 AD, dealt a major blow to the indigenous education system, which had lasted for over 17 centuries. Teaching religion was the main focus of the Portuguese with subjects such as reading writing, arithmetic, Portuguese language etc., and in general, education was limited to those who had converted into Catholicism. Significant aspects of the Dutch era were the introduction of free compulsory education, and the focus to suppress Catholicism. The eventual result of foreign occupation of the land was the decay of the Buddhist education system, which was speeded up due to increased missionary activities involving education and propagation of Christianity. However, it must be acknowledged that there were positive developments during the British period, which commenced in 1796, and more particularly since 1815 AD, following the fall of the Kandyan kingdom. Thus, in 1831, the Colebrook Commission made certain recommendations for the reorganization of the education system. Governor Mackenzie, who came afterwards, recommended the linking of Missionary schools to the government schools, admitting children without consideration to their religion and taking steps to develop vernacular schools.

Thus, by the time Colonel Olcott arrived in then Ceylon, the education system in the island was firmly in the grip of the Missionaries, whose focus of attention was anything but indigenous culture, education and religions. The contribution made by the missionaries from New England was considerable. From the opening of the first American missionary school in Tellipalai in 1816, through 1848, one hundred and five Tamil schools and 16 English schools were founded by the New England missionaries in and around Jaffna Peninsula, with Mrs. Harriet Winslow, a great-great-grandmother of the late Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, establishing the Uduvil Girls' School in 1824, the first girls' boarding school in Asia.

The stirring of nationalism, the urge to revive declining education, and the focus on vernacular languages, and the religions viz. Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, made way for a national revival, in which Buddhist monks such as Hikkaduwe Siri Sumangala Thero, leading Hindu personalities like Arumuga Navalar and Muslim leaders such as M.C. Siddilebbe made considerable contributions.

This was the backdrop to which Col. Olcott descended and made his contribution, the benefits of which the Sri Lankans are reaping even today. He was instrumental in establishing the first Buddhist Theosophical Society (BTS) School in Colombo under the name “Buddhist English Academy” in 1886, which was later renamed “Ananda College”, one of the most sought after schools in Sri Lanka even today. From there on, there was no turning back and the BTS launched Dharmaraja in Kandy (1887), Mahinda in Galle (1889), Maliyadeva in Kurunegala (1895), Dharmasoka in Ambalangoda (1913) and Rahula in Matara (1924). The activities of the BTS in the field of education resulted in the British rulers making their own contribution to education by opening many schools numbering over 200 since 1930s. As a result of the revival of education, by 1921, 9% of the total population of 4.5 million people in the island was attending schools and the literacy rate of the country increased from 26.4% to 57.8% by 1946.

Looking back from the vantage point of today, we cannot but, express our deep gratitude and appreciation to the contribution Col. Olcott made to promote education in general and vernacular education in particular, which contributed not only to the development of education but also the indigenous culture of the country.

Col. Olcott’s activities in Sri Lanka were not limited to opening of schools. He pioneered and ran a newspaper for the majority Sinhala readers, for he believed in the liberation of the people through general education. Col. Olcott and his Theosophical Society took a special interest in the historical past of the Sinhalese Buddhist kingdoms and managed to persuade the British governor to make Vesak, the chief Buddhist festival, a public holiday in the island.

Colonel Olcott is known as one of America’s first Buddhists, and an important contributor to both the Indian renaissance and the Sinhalese Buddhist revival in colonial Ceylon. He was a culture broker, who focused on one hand in traditional Sinhalese Buddhism, and on the other, in liberal American Protestantism. By creatively combining these two sources, along with theosophy, academic orientalism, and metropolitan gentility, he helped to craft a new form of Buddhism that thrives today not only in Sri Lanka but also in the United States. It is a matter of great satisfaction that there are over 35 Sri Lanka Theravada Buddhist temples in the U.S. today.

Sri Lankans consider Col Olcott a significant force in Buddhist revivalism in colonial Ceylon and have revered his memory through the years. A postage stamp was issued in Sri Lanka in 1967 to commemorate Col. Olcott's contributions to the Sinhalese Buddhist revival. A major avenue in the city of Colombo has been named after him. A statue of Col. Olcott also stands in Colombo as a sentinel to ward off intrusion from aggressive foreign powers. A former prime minister of Ceylon praised Col. Olcott as “one of the heroes in the struggle for our independence and a pioneer of the present religious, national, and cultural revival.” Col. Olcott is undeniably an unforgettable figure in Sri Lanka’s modern history who struggled to preserve our cultural heritage, in a period that was crucial for the determination of the direction that post-independent Sri Lanka would take.