History

                            Colonel Henry Steel Olcott a retired U. S. Army officer was in search of truth. He studied various philosophies and listened to the sermons of various religious dignitaries. But this inquiring mind did not find an answer. In his search he came across a comprehensive report of the ‘Panadura Wadaya’. It was a report of a religious debate between Buddhist monks and Christian clergy. Olcott appreciated the contentions of the Buddhist monks and started corresponding with the outstanding Buddhist monks of Ceylon. This correspondence eventually led to his coming to Ceylon.

                           Col. Olcott landed in Galle on 17.05.1880 in the company of Madam I. P. Blavatskey, a rich Russian princess. They became Buddhists at the Wijeyananda temple in Galle. Olcott and Blavatskey were grieved at the treatment the Buddhists, their institutions and the religion received at the hands of the colonial rulers and the Christian hierarchy. They identified that the greatest danger came from the proselytization of the Buddhist children through education. To combat this they founded the Buddhist Theosophical Society and set about opening up Buddhist English schools, for Buddhist children. He collected money and opened up the B.T.S. English school at Pettigalawatta on 15-09-1880. This school had a short existence and later with the arrival of Dr. Bowles Daly (LLD) a Christian clergyman, Mahinda College was opened on 01-03-1892 at Pedlar St. in Galle fort. Dr. Daly was a good disciplinarian and a tireless worker. He left after a very short period of one year.

                            The ensuing period of nearly a decade saw the school simply drifting with a number of principals serving for short periods. However with the arrival of Mr. Frank Lee Woodward as principal on 01-08-1903 things took a turn for the better. With the assistance of Mudaliyar Gunaratne, Muhandiram Thomas Amarasuriya, Muhandiram Wickremasinghe and the benevolent Buddhist public, Mr. Woodward shifted the College to its present site and made it one of the leading colleges in the south.

                            Mr. Woodward who has not only built buildings for Mahinda College gave it a soul – the Woodward tradition This was done through precept and practice. He decided to leave the college in 1919. He spent his retirement in Roweila in Tasmania translating Buddhist scriptures from Pali to English

                             Unlike in the 1890’s Mr. Woodaward was succeeded by capable men like Dr. Kalidas Nag, Mr. F.G. Pearce, Mr.W. A. Troupe and Mr. P.R. Gunasekara. Of course they served only for very short periods. They were succeeded by that eminent old boy of the college Mr. Edgar Albert Wijesooriya in 1932. This can be termed the golden age of Mahinda. He retired in 1962 with the taking over of assisted schools by the government. Thereafter Mahinda became a government Sinhala medium school.

                              Mr. Jayasena H. Gunasekara succeeded Mr. Wijesooriya. During his tenure of office many buildings came up and the school population was almost doubled. After the departureof Mr. Gunasekara Mr. C.K.Waidyarathne acted till the arrival of Mr. B. K. Silva. After him Mr.W. A. D. S. Gunathilake served Mahinda for five years. His elevation to a higher post in the Department led to the appointment of Mr. C.K. Waidyarathne as a permanent Principal. He was succeeded by another old boy Mr. D. D. Jayasundara in 1987. With his departure in 1991 another old boy Mr. M. Wickramasinghe was appointed principal in 1992. The centenary celebrations were held that year on a very grand scale. He went back to the department in 1994 and was succeeded by yet another old boy Mr. D.C.Nissanka de Silva who too joined the department in 1996. Mr. Silva was succeeded by Mr. D. K. Athukorala. And then taken over by Mr. K.A. Susil Premanath in 2004.Mr.L.C.Karunasena became the acting principal after Mr Susil in 2007.In 2008 Mr.R.M.Werahera ,yet another old Mahindian was appointed as the Principal and he got retired in 2012.Currently Mr. M.A. Jinadasa is serving as the Principal of Mahinda College with a great vision .

a view of Mahinda

Henry Steel Olcott

We consider Col..Henry Steel Olcott as the creator of Mahinda College. It was one of his steps to build up Buddhist education in Sri Lanka.

Col. Olcott was born on 2nd of August 1832 in New York. He made an effort to find out the truth . He was a pioneer of the Paramawinnyanarrtha society started in1875. Col. Olcott read the news of the great debate, Panadurawadaya between the Christian clerlgy and the Buddhist monks and he decided to visit Sri Lanka to find out the truth.

Col. Olcott came to Sri Lanka on 17th of May in 1880 and after eight days Col. Steele Olcott got the blessings of the triple Gem ,in the Vijayananda Viharya in Galle. Col. Olcott became a Buddhist after that . He laid the foundation stone to the Paramawinnyanarrtha Buddhist Society and he worked for the revival of Buddhism .

There were only two Buddhist schools when he came to Sri Lanka .the first Buddhist school was built in1881 by this Vinnyanarrtha Buddhist Society .It was a very important year. In 1884 ,with the advice of "Sri Sumangagala thero" he could do lot of things for the welfare of the Buddhists. He made the Vesak full moon poya a public holiday. Also he made possible it to travel processions in roads and could register the Buddhist marriages. As a result of that, the first Vesak holiday was remarked in 1885, not only that , he published the magazines "sarasawi sadarasa " and "The Buddhist". He died on 11th of Feb. 1907