History of Ananda College

HISTORY OF ANANDA COLLEGE S.A. WIJAYATILAKE (circa 1956) Ananda College, originally known as the Buddhist High School, Colombo, as founded in November 1886 by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, the distinguished American Theosophist and President-Founder of the World Theosophical Society. Colonel Olcott, who had come across a copy of the Times of Ceylon report in English of the epoch-making religious controversy which had taken place a few years earlier at Panadura between a Buddhist and a Christian team of clerics led by Migettuvatte Gunananda Thera and the Rev. David de Silva respectively, had his interest in Buddhism and in Ceylon roused by the pamphlet and decided to come out to Ceylon, primarily as a student of comparative religion. It did not take him very long to discover the greatness of Buddhism as a moral philosophy and as a way of life and, paradoxically, the extent to which the Buddhists of Ceylon had become demoralised and debilitated as a result, mainly, of the violently partisan attitude of the British colonial government which had existed for nearly seventy years and of the Portuguese and the Dutch colonial governments which had preceded it and been entrench d in Ceylon for a total of over three hundred years. He soon convinced the Buddhists of Ceylon of the immeasurable value of the religious and cultural heritage that was theirs, and he succeeded in making the Buddhists rally round him and, under his direction and leadership. organise themselves. One of the first fruits of the Buddhist revival that he thus brought about was Colombo' s one and only Buddhist High School, which Olcott inaugurated in very humble premises in Maliban Street, Pettah, on a spot occupied today by the rear portion of the dagoba-surmounted three-storied building, which t he Colombo Buddhist Theosophical Society Ltd., erected less than twenty-five years ago as its memorial to Olcott. The first headmaster of the School was Mr. C.W. Leadbeater, an English theosophist and close colleague of Olcott. Before very long the School had grown to such proportions that it felt cribb'd, cabin'd, and confined in its Maliban Street premises and, thanks to the generosity of a number of leading Buddhist as as well as to the proverbial widow's mite of the very poor , was moved to Maradana, where it stil1 remains under its later name “Ananda College”. The second Headmaster of the School was Mr. A. E. Buultjens, a very scholarly and distinguished Ceylon Burgher, an alumnus of St. Thomas’s College, Colombo , and of the University of Cambridge. Under his stewardship the School progressed steadily. Next came Sir Baron (then Mr. D.B.) Jayatilaka, an alumnus at the time of Vidyalankara Pirivena, of Wesley College, Colombo, and of the University of Calcutta, and later of the University of Oxford. During his Principalship the school produced its first University Scholarship winner in Mr. G. K. W. Perera. Ananda College thus proved that, educationally, it was not a whit behind its rivals the schools of various Christian denominations. When after some years Principal Jayatilaka left for England to enter the University of Oxford and to read for the Bar, Mr. J. Tyssul Davis, a Welshman, was appointed Principal. He was, followed by Mr. M.U. Moore, an Irish Theosophist, a very learned though slightly eccentric Cambridge graduate equally familiar with the Classics and the Modern Languages and with Mathematics into the bargain. He resigned about 1913 but continued to engage in educational work right up to the time of his death in Ceylon about twenty years ago. His last appointment was that of Principal, Siddhartha College, Balapitiya. Ananda's next Principal was Mr. Fritz Kunz, a very youthful American Theosophist, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. He completely reorganised, or rather revolutionized, the College. He weeded out the unfit among the pupils and among the teachers and being a stickler for discipline though he never used and never allowed corporal punishment raised the discipline of the College to an unbelievably high degree of perfection. He expanded the College physically by building the Assembly Hall (commemorating Col. Olcott) and the Edmund Wilson Dias Memorial Science Laboratory. Differences with the managing Society made him leave in 1917. Happily he is still alive, as busy and dynamic as ever; he is head of the Foundation for Integrated Education, New York, N. Y., and Editor of the Foundation's journal “Main Currents of Modern thought”. Kunz was succeeded by an equally youthful Principal P. de S. Kularatne, an alumnus of Richmond College, Galle, of Wesley College, Colombo, and of the University of London. He had just returned from England with Honours degrees, in Arts, Science, and Law, and on appointment as Principal of Ananda College, threw himself into his new duties with tremendous zeal, developing the sports and dramatic activities of the College while always giving first place to studies. During his Principalship Ananda produced a large number of University Scholars, Civil Servants, doctors and engineers, all of whom shed lustre upon their alma mater . He continued the building expansion scheme started by Principal Kunz, and built the Library block, the Dutugemunu block of classrooms and a Workshop. During his regime the College celebrated its Golden Jubilee, in 1936. Principal Kularatne retired in the early 1940s and was succeeded by Mr. A.B. Perera, a graduate of the University of London and of the London School of Economics. He initiated the Women's College of Higher Education as a subsidiary of Ananda College, and gave a fillip to higher education for girls, especially in science subjects, at a time when facilities for studying such subjects in the regular girls’ schools were either non-existent or woefully inadequate. During his Principalship the College experienced a disastrous fire which destroyed not only a goodly portion of the School's furniture but all its records. Mr. L.H. Mettananda, who had long been an assistant teacher and later Vice Principal and acting Principal of Ananda, became Principal in November 1945. His was a very uphill task, for during the War years (1942- 1945) the College premises had remained under British Military occupation and the School had to function, perforce, partly at Gampaha and partly at Maharagama in temporary buildings and with a depleted staff and in November 1945, when at last the military authorities had released the College premises, there occurred the fire which wrought such havoc. Heroically, however, Principal Mettananda laboured, piecing together the disrupted fabric and within two or three years he had raised the College to heights unknown before. He evolved order out of chaos, re-established the tone and discipline of the School, and carried out a vigorous campaign for collecting funds for building extensions and improvements. He built the large and splendidly equipped Science block, a large Hostel block, a well-equipped Workshop, and began work on two large three- storeyed classroom blocks. He also built, up to the damp proof course level, a large Vihara building. During his regime the University Entrance results of the College began to be even better than before, especially on the Science and Medicine sides. In sports, athletics, and cadeting too the College achieved high distinction. Mr. Mettananda retired in December 1954 and was succeeded by me in January 1955. I have just completed one of the 20 three-storeyed classroom blocks referred to above, and expect to start work on the other before long. It is trusted that not only all Buddhists but all who value the nation’s culture will contribute their help to Ananda College..

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