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Cultural and Religious Themes in the Life of FL Woodward

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Cultural and Religious Themes in the Life of FL Woodward VOLUME II Khippam Vayama- Strive earnestly CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS THEMES IN THE LIFE OF FL WOODWARD. By Michael Powell BA DipEd TIC Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania / act-f9‘c5 April, 1999. VOLUME II TABLE OF CONTENTS Woodward and Mahinda College. 170 Educational Philosophy and Values. 180 Building a New Mahinda College. 194 Determination and Conflict. 207 The School Moves to New Premises. 218 Making of a Myth. 226 Woodward as Educational Administrator. 229 Progress and Karma. National Significance. 237 The Creation of a University. 237 The Elevation of Sinhala. 241 The Elevation of Buddhism. 246 Advocating Nationalism. 259 Woodward's Legacy - The 'Old Boys' Network. 274 Leaving Ceylon. 289 Journeying. 300 The Tamar Valley. 304 Rowella- Copied Class and English Ease. 319 Woodward Returns to England and Ceylon. 330 The Trek to Tasmania. 340 EM Hare and Woodward. 342 Concordance. 346 The Task of Translation. 350 Woodward's Translations. 357 A Constellation of Lives. 360 Deciphering. 388 Baconianism. 388 The Dilemma of Mysticism. 398 The Mysticism of Woodward. 403 A Life Resolved. 409 Uroborus. 415 Bibliography. 170 WOOD WARD & MAHINDA COLLEGE. To know how good men live their lives Can set us free Woodward arrived by boat at the ancient Galle dock in the early morning of the first of August 1903, the same day his predecessor and founder of the school, Bowles Daly had begun his work in 1892.2 He stepped ashore on the jetty which was decorated for the occasion, a tall man (for the time) of about six feet, lean, weighing not much more than the 11'9Ib (74kg) he weighed at university3. He had soft, sensitive features and hair parted in the middle in the Theosophical fashion.4 He stepped forward to be greeted by representatives of the Galle Buddhist Theosophical Society - Gate Mudaliyar E.R Gunaratna, Muhandiram Thomas de Silva Amarasuriya, Muhandiram F.A Wickramasinghe - and the acting Principal, Sagaris de Silva and staff. 5 These were personages of importance, with elevated 'native' titles and social prestige in the Southern Provinces: Muhandiram Thomas de Silva Amarasuriya, prominent Karava planter, school benefactor and financial manager, who had formed his wealth as an arrack renter6; E.R Gunaratna, Mudaliyar of the Governor's Gate, a westernised Goyigama Anglophile, who was 1 From the Commentary on Samyutta Maya, I, 16.) cited in Woodward, FL Buddhist Stories- translated from the Pali (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1925) p136. 2Gunewardene (p13) suggests the date was 1891; Vitharana Ms, untitled (Colombo, undated) suggests 1892. The Mahinda College Magazine Vol.IV #5 of June 1923, p52, mentions the school was opened on March 1st 1892 at 4:30pm which suggests Bowles Daly may have arrived on August 1891 and opened the school in March 1892, thus explaining the discrepancy. I am immensely grateful for Dr Vitharana's help and access to his material. 3 "Annals of the Sidney Sussex Boat Club" (1870-1891) Sidney Sussex College Archives, Cambridge. 4 One of Leadbeater's advocated fashions, parting the hair in the middle was supposed to expose the crown chakra for spiritual benefit. 5Vitharana Ms p18. 171 nevertheless an early supporter of the Buddhist Revival and nationalist aspiration, as well as a Pali scholar who edited various texts for the Pali Text Society7; and, Muhandiram F.A Wickramasinghe, another prominent philanthropist who was later responsible for establishing science laboratories at Mahinda, an innovation at a time when science was still an educational poor relation. Woodward returned the formal greetings but refused the carriage drawn up for him, a declaration intended to stand him among those he meant to serve and to distance him from imperial practice. It was a conscious, deliberate gesture, and quite significant at a time and place that observed closely the minutiae of colonial status. By associating with 'natives', albeit 'natives' of substance and status, Woodward telegraphed a statement clearly understood by all, for "those ....who did not seem to be 'anti-native', were certainly not quite 'Europeans' of the purest water."8 Woodward ignored the nuances of superiority and strode instead, with the accompanying party, the short distance from the jetty to the massive fort gates that today still display the arms of the Dutch East India Company 6Roberts, M. "Elite Formation and Elites", p171. 7 He produced for the Pali Text Society, editions of the Dhatukatha with Commentary, 1892, the Pajjamadhu, 1887, the Tela-lcataha-gatha, 1884, and the Vimanavatthu, 1886. Roberts, M. Exploring Confrontation- Sri Lanka: Politics, Culture and History (Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1994) p166 and footnote pl 79, suggests that Gunaratna was a Goyigama of the Obeysekere-Bandaranaike clan and that he was Christian, "not Buddhist". The diaries of ER Gunaratne, edited by PE Peiris Notes on Some Sinhalese Families (Colombo: Times of Ceylon, ND) p8 indicates an early "fervent" adherence to Christianity, but his later involvement with the BTS and his association with the PTS, seems to mark a shift in affiliation. The way many notable families moved between the social and religious interstices may well have given the impression of Christian affiliation. Certainly the Bandaranailces generally adhered to Anglicanism until a shift to Buddhism in accord with nationalist aspiration became opportune. 8Ludowyk, E.F.C. Those Long Afternoons- childhood in colonial Ceylon. (Colombo: Lake House, 1989). p14. Ludowyk was a distinguished scholar of Burgher (mixed race) descent, very much a people between cultures and very conscious of the pejorative use of the term 'native' which was often applied more viciously among indigenous peoples themselves to define nuances of status, behaviour, dress or cultural practice. The adoption of the pejorative use of 'native' illustrates the importance of 172 (VOC). They entered the gates, walked past the shaded park outside the administrative Kachcheri9 and down Pedlar Street, the narrow lane leading to the Mahinda school house.th Mahinda was a name encompassing intentions grander than the modest quarters of the school, for it was the Buddhist Emperor Asoka's son, Mahinda, who is reputed to have first introduced Buddhism to Ceylon, 'bringing the precious gift of dharma to Lanka')' In contrast, the school that bears his name, at that early stage, stood cheek by jowl with arrack shops and brothels, at the junction of Pedlar and Church Street, two of the busiest of the many narrow lanes of the Fort. It was a dark and cramped building, with no yard or compound, though with an open balcony on the lower floor. There may be an irony in the choice of name Bowles Daly attributed to the school, since in a way these early Theosophists saw themselves as introducing 'Buddhism' again to Ceylon, purified of the 'degeneracy' Olcott and the TS perceived as having entered the religion. And in a sense they were, if not 'reintroducing', then 'recasting' as has been alluded to previously, since their influence profoundly shaped the form of Buddhism that has prevailed in twentieth century Sri Lanka, a role in which Woodward played no small part. For the modem day acolytes that pilgrimage each year to Sri Lanka in search of an 'original' Buddhism there may be something vaguely familiar in the encounter; of a profound Protestant western influence that has preceded them. language in defining superior/inferior, and the way colonial peoples unconsciously absorb the destructive sub-text of valuation. 9 Kachcheri is a term for an administrative headquarters introduced from South India when Ceylon was under the British Madras Presidency. I° The schoolhouse is now a noisy printery and prior to that was a branch of the Bank of Ceylon. It is difficult to imagine a school located in such cramped, dark, airless conditions. I 1This an oft repeated sentiment encompassing elements of a central myth of Lanka as guardian of the Buddha dharma (after the collapse of Buddhism in India) and preserver of its original 'purity'. 173 When Woodward arrived at the school that first morning a few monks attended the gathering to greet his arrival by chanting customary parts of the sutras and afterwards tying short lengths of pint nula (charmed thread) on the wrist of Woodward and the others. 12 Woodward spoke to the assembled guests and students offering them a reminder of their obligations and responsibilities and having established the tenor of his reign as Principal, he set about the business of schoolmaster, not with book work and planning but with a cricket match. It was still only 8:30am, before the heat of the day, and he again walked with some of the others back through the old gate, past the jetty to the race track outside the Fort with its arched pavilion and white painted posts and rails. There in the middle were the coir cricket mats and the stumps and bails prepared for the annual Mahinda v Dharmaraja match, Dharmaraja being another of Olcott's Buddhist schools, this one established in Kandy several years before Mahinda. Thus in the fashion of Victorian obsession with games, Woodward began his career in Ceylon umpiring a cricket match, "a unique incident in the annals of any school anywhere!"13 The repetition and emphasis of this tale of Woodward's arrival in the stories about him in oral discourse indicates its significance, probably because of the undeniable stamp of energy and commitment, but also because of the odd incongruence and non-conformity he exhibited. After all, the position of principal was prestigious and eschewing the carriage drawn up for him and descending to the role of umpire may have 12 Vitharana Ms p18. 13 de Sila, D. "Woodward of Mahinda- the Englishman who was a great educationalist" Evening Observer (Sri Lanka) 27 May 1982, p7.
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