The 110th death anniversary and commemoration of Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, the first well-known American of European ancestry to make a formal conversion to Buddhism and the man who engineered a Buddhist renaissance in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), falls on February 17.
Nalanda College, Colombo, holds an Olcott memorial commemoration programme every year and this year the College has made arrangements to hold the commemoration on a grand scale.
Nalanda College Principal Thilak Waththuhewa speaking about this year’s Olcott commemoration celebrations said, “There is a special reason for Nalanda College to commemorate Col. Henry Steel Olcott. He came to Ceylon on February 17, 1880 and embraced Buddhism on May 19, 1880, at Sri Vidyananda Pirivena, Galle. At that time, under the British colonial administration, Buddhism and Buddhist education were suffering greatly and the education system of the island was mainly in the hands of missionaries. Col. Olcott decided to visit the island after reports of the Panadura Debate and Buddhism reached him in America. He activated several programmes to uplift Buddhism in the country and one of his major activities was the establishing of the Parama Vingnartha Bouddha Sangamaya with the objective of reviving Buddhism in the island. Then, he started the ‘English Buddhist School’, which later became Ananda Vidyalaya, on November 1, 1886, at Malay Street. Along with the opening of that school, the Parama Vingnartha Bouddha Sangamaya started several Buddhist schools throughout the island such as Mahinda College in Galle, Musaeus Girls College, Colombo, Dharmaraja College in Kandy and Maliyadeva College in Kurunegala.”
“On November 1, 1924, Nalanda Vidyalaya was established as a brother school to Ananda Vidyalaya, attached to that school. Nalanda College was then registered as a separate school on November 1, 1925. Commemorating and valuing such a ‘Man of the Era’ who did so much to uplift Buddhism and Buddhist education in the country and preserving historical information about the role played by Col. Olcott in the revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka for future generations is of utmost importance. That why Nalanda College has made a tradition of commemorating and bestowing merit on its founder Col. Henry Steel Olcott annually.”
“The 110th death anniversary of Col. Olcott commemoration will be on a grand scale because the ‘87 Group of the Nalanda College OBU headed by Chairman Prasanna de Silva and Secretary Rohan Halwathura made a request for permission to organize the event as most of them will be 50 years this year. So, on February 19, there will be an alms-giving for 50 members of the Maha Sangha including Mahanayakes and Anunayakes of the Malwathu and Asgiri Chapters and other Sangha Chapters to bestow merit of Col. Olcott.”
“To perpetuate the memory of Col. Olcott and his services to Sri Lanka’s Buddhism, we have conducted essay and art competitions among the students of the school. All the arrangements are being made by the School Buddhist Society, five Ven. Theras on the school staff, myself and other members of staff and the ‘87 Group of the Nalanda College OBU.”
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