Mahinda College
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Mahinda College is a school in Galle, Sri Lanka that was founded in 1892 by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott.
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[edit] History
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott a retired U. S. Army officer was in search of truth. He studied various philosophies and listened to the sermons of various religious dignitaries. But this inquiring mind did not find an answer. In his search he came across a comprehensive report of the ‘Panadura Wadaya’. It was a report of a religious debate between Buddhist monks and Christian clergy. Olcott appreciated the contentions of the Buddhist monks and started corresponding with the outstanding Buddhist monks of Ceylon. This correspondence eventually led to his coming to Ceylon.
Col. Olcott landed in Galle on 17.05.1880 in the company of Madam I. P. Blavatskey, a rich Russian princess. They became Buddhists at the Wijeyananda temple in Galle. Olcott and Blavatskey were grieved at the treatment the Buddhists, their institutions and the religion received at the hands of the colonial rulers and the Christian hierarchy. They identified that the greatest danger came from the proselitization of the Buddhist children through education. TO combat this they founded the Buddhist Theosophical Society and set about opening up Buddhist English schools, for Buddhist children. He collected money and opened up the B.T.S. English school at Pettigalawatta on 15-09-1880. This school had a short existence and later with the arrival of Dr. Bowles Daly (LLD) a Christian clergyman, Mahinda College was opened on 01-03-1892 at Pedlar St. in Galle fort. Dr. Daly was a good disciplinarian and a tireless worker. He left after a very short period of one year.
The ensuing period of nearly a decade saw the school simply drifting with a number of principals serving for short periods. However with the arrival of Mr. Frank Lee Woodward as principal on 01-08-1903 things took a turn for the better. With the assistance of Mudaliyar Gunaratne, Muhandiram Thomas Amarasuriya, Muhandiram Wickremasinghe and the benevolent Buddhist public, Mr. Woodward shifted the College to its present site and made it one of the leading colleges in the south.
Mr. Woodward who has not only built buildings for Mahinda College gave it a soul – the Woodward tradition This was done through precept and practice. He decided to leave the college in 1919. He spent his retirement in Roweila in Tasmania translating Buddhist scriptures from Pali to English
Unlike in the 1890’s Mr. Woodaward was succeeded by capable men like Dr. Kalidas Nag, Mr. F.G. Pearce, Mr.W. A. Troupe and Mr. P.R. Gunasekara. Of course they served only for very short periods. They were succeeded by that eminent old boy of the college Mr. Edgar Albert Wijesooriya in 1932. This can be termed the golden age of Mahinda. He retired in 1962 with the taking over of assisted schools by the government. Thereafter Mahinda became a government Sinhala medium school.
Mr. Jayasena H. Gunasekara succeeded Mr. Wijesooriya. During his tenure of office many buildings came up and the school population was almost doubled. After the departureof Mr. Gunasekara Mr. C.K.Waidyarathne acted till the arrival of Mr. B. K. Silva. After him Mr.W. A. D. S. Gunathilake served Mahinda for five years. His elevation to a higher post in the Department led to the appointment of Mr. C.K. Waidyarathne as a permanent Principal. He was succeeded by another old boy Mr. D. D. Jayasundara in 1987. With his departure in 1991 another old boy Mr. M. Wickramasinghe was appointed principal in 1992. The centenary celebrations were held that year on a very grand scale. He went back to the department in 1994 and was succeeded by yet another old boy Mr. D.C.Nissanka de Silva who too joined the department in 1996. Mr. Silva was succeeded by Mr. D. K. Athukorala.
[edit] Henry Steel Olcott
We consider Sir .Henry Steel Olcott as the creator of Mahinda College. It was one of his step to build up Buddhist education in Sri Lanka.
Sir, Olcott was born on 2nd of August 1832 in New York. He made an effort to find out the truth . He was a pioneer of the Paramawinnyanarrtha society startedin1875. Col., Olcott read the news of the debate, Panadurawadaya between the Bhuddhist clerlgy and the Buddhist monks he liked come against the Christianity. after that , he liked come Sri Lanka to find out the truth.
Sir, Olcott come to Sri Lanka on 17th of May in 1880 after the eight days Col. Stele Olcott got the blessings of the triple Gem ,in the Vijayananda Viharya in Galle. Sir Olcott become a Buddhist after that . He laid the foundation stone to the Paramawinnyanarrtha Buddhist Society and he worked for the revival of Buddhism .
There were only two Buddhist schools when he come to Sri Lanka .the first Buddhist school was built in1881 by this Vinnyanarrtha Buddhist Society .It was a very important year. In 1884 ,with the advice of "Sri Sumangagala thero" he could do lot of things for the welfare of the Buddhists. He made the Vesak full moon poya a holiday. Also he made possible in to travel processions in roads and could register the Buddhist marriages. As a result of that, the first Vesak holiday was remarked in 1885, not only that , he published the magazines "sarasawi sadarasa " and "The Buddhist". He died on 11th of Feb. 1907
[edit] MR. FRANK LEE WOODWARD
F.L.Woodward (1871-1956) born in Saham in Norfolk, England as the son of a vicar of the Anglican religion, had an archetypal Victorian boyhood, attended a traditional English public school won scholarship to Cambridge, and later turned to teaching it secured him a deputy headmastership. He joined the London Theosophical Society and was a great friend of Olcott. So Col.Olcott offered him the principal ship of Mahinda College which he nursed for 16 years after that he left for Tasmania to devote the subsequent 33 years of his life to the task of editing and translating Buddhist texts to be published by the Pali Text Society, London. He died in 1956.
From the day Mr. Woodward became the principal, the school had slowly but steadily progressed. By December 1903 with in 4 months after Mr. Woodward’s assumption of office as principal, the average attendance of the school had risen to 142 from 89. In the same month students had been sent for the Cambridge examination and in July 1904 a student of Mahinda, G.W.Perera had won the university scholarship. By 1905 there had been 246 boys on the roll. It was during that period that Col.Olcott visited the college twice in 1904 and 1906. 1907 had been a dark year for Mahinda. Both Col.olcott & Muhandiram Thomas Amarasooriya had passed away. On 25 June 1907 Mr. Henry Amarasuriya, the son of the later had been elected as the manager of the school. Mr.: A.D.Jayasinghe jointed to the staff in 1917. He was appointed headmaster & retired in 1938 after a great service. He passed away in1968 at the age of 87.
In this time Mr. F.L.Woodward had been active with a plan to move the college to place with surroundings more conductive to its healthy growth. Mrs. D.F.de Silva of Minuwangoda donated a land called “DEVATAGAH WATTA” far from the madding crowd in a salubrious and elevated plot of land. It was a magical charming hillock with enlivening beauty of the central Highlands painted on its eastern sky had attracted the attention Mr. F.L.Woodward who had high sense of aesthetic beauty. The panoramic view of the siripada (Adam’s peak) also said that it is the most suitable place to a Buddhist school.
On 15 January in 1908 at 2.14 pm Mr. Woodward had laid the foundation stone of Olcott hall. In July & October of the same year the foundation stones for the Amrasuriya block & Matara block had been laid by Mr.: H.Amarasuriya, E.S.Balasuriya and D.N.Weeratunga respectively. In the first of august 1912 the new building had been ceremonially opened. With the shifting of the school to its present abode the number of students had risen to 300. Woodward’s work included taking classes in English, Latin, Pali, Buddhism and art, in addition of the administrative duties associated with the position of principal of the school. His involvement went much further. He was the designer / architect of its buildings, personally supervised their construction, and often works alongside the masons. The first price giving commemorating the 21st anniversary of the inauguration of the school & ninth anniversary of Woodward’s arrival also celebrated in 1912.
