Anagarika Dharmapala

Common card · No. 337777

Anagārika Dharmapāla (born Don David Hewavitarne, Pali: Anagārika, [ɐˈnɐɡaːɽɪkɐ]; Sinhala: Anagārika, lit., Sinhala: අනගාරික ධර්‍මපාල; 17 September 1864 – 29 April 1933) was a Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist and a writer. Along with Henry Steel Olcott and Helena Blavatsky, the creators of the Theosophical Society, he was a major reformer and revivalist of Sinhala Buddhism and an important figure in its western transmission. He also inspired a mass movement of South Indian Dalits including Tamils to embrace Buddhism, half a century before B. R. Ambedkar. In his later life, he became a Buddhist monk with the name of Venerable Sri Devamitta Dharmapala.

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