August 31: Great Britain Controls Sri Lanka

On 31 August 1795, the British captured Fort Ostenburg and therefore gained control of Tricomalee (Tamil: திருகோணமலை; Sinhala: තිරිකුණාමළය) and the island of Ceylon. It was not until 1948 that Ceylon would gain its independence from Great Britain. In 1972, Ceylon changed its name to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා;, Tamil: இலங்கை).

Because of its location on the tip of India, Ceylon was strategically important as a shipping port. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to colonize the country. They were followed by the Dutch. A major impetus for the British conquest in 1795 was to keep the island out of the hands of the French.

Sri Lanka is the world’s oldest Buddhist country. In the third century BCE, King Ashoka of India was a strong proponent of Buddhism and helped spread the religion throughout his kingdom as well as in neighboring areas. He sent his son Mahinda (Sanskrit: महेन्द्र), a Buddhist monk, to Sri Lanka.

After King Devanampiyatissa converted to Buddhism and the religion began to spread in Sri Lankan, Ashoka’s daughter Sangamittam, a Buddhist nun, joined her brother on the island. Sangamittam brought a sapling from the Bodhi tree with her to Sri Lanka. The Gautama Buddha had received enlightenment under the Bodhi tree and the sapling was planted in Anuradhapura. It is still alive today.
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After Buddhism was essentially eliminated from the Indian subcontinent, it continued to thrive in Sri Lanka. The island remains the spiritual home of Theravada Buddhists. “Theravada” literally means “the teaching of the elders” and is the oldest sect of Buddhism still being practiced.

–Steven L. Berg, PhD

Photo caption: Sri Lanka is near the lower tip of India. (top) Statue of Gautama Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree. (bottom)

 

2 Responses

  1. Theravada Buddhism is not only concentrated in Sri Lanka, it is also found in other South East Asian countries. Those countries are Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. Through the exchange of traditions from merchants and missionaries, Theravada Buddhism slowly took hold. As Theravada Buddhism slowly spread within the region, it meshed with the local or indigenous practices brought upon the Chinese such as Ancestral Worship within the region as well. These differ in comparison in a Western lens in terms of metaphysics. In Western beliefs, the soul leaves the body and exists in a realm.separate from the living while in Eastern beliefs, the soul lives a continuation and lives within many existences of realms and transferring energy and re-channeling it in various ways such as bringing fortune and reincarnation.

  2. Haroon Chaudhary says:

    History of Sri Lanka dates back 30,000 years when the island was inhabited. Chronicles, including Mahawansa, Dipavamsa, Culavamsa and Rajaveliya, record events all the way from the start of the 6th century BC. The arrival of European Colonialists was during the 16th century. This led to the disestablishment of the monarchy in 1815. The mentions of the country can be found in Ramayana, the Mahabharata and in the books of Gautama Buddha’s teachings. Buddhism was introduced in the 3rd century BC by Arhath Mahinda, who is the son of the great Indian emperor Ashoka.

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