After the passing away of Venerable Neluwe Jinaratana Nayaka Mahathera, Venerable Uruwela Dhammaratana was unanimously appointed to hold the high post of General Secretary of the Maha Bodhi Society of India.
He was the fourth General Secretary of the Society and due to deteriorating health, he resigned from this high post within a short period.
Ven’ble Dr. U. Dhammaratana Mahathera was born at Uruwela in Western Province of Sri Lanka in the year 1917. Religion was in his blood, as his father, Mr. V.K. Appuhamy and mother Mrs. M. Dissanayake always used to visit the Maligatennahermitage, accompanied by their son W.K. Jayasekara, a young boy (as Dr. Dhammaratana was called in his childhood) of eleven and listen to the discourses delivered by Ven. Manikdiwela Devananda Mahathera, who had become very popular in Sri Lanka for his piety and clear exposition of the Dhamma. Ven. Devananda Mahathera had noted with interest the young Jayasekara attending his discourses along with his parents. One day the Mahathera asked young Jayasekara if he would like to go to the Foster Buddhist Seminary started by Anagarika Dharmapala for imparting training to Dharmadutas, for the propagation of Saddhamma all over the world, particularly in India. Young Jayasekara responded in the affirmative and, to his satisfaction, he also found his parents quite agree- able to the proposition. After informing the Butpitiya Government School where he got primary education, and after complying with other formalities for the auspicious occasion he was taken to the Foster Buddhist Seminary in Kandy established in 1925. He became a novice (Samanera) in Foster Buddhist Seminary at Kandy in 1928, Venerable Manikdiwela Mahathera being his preceptor, who christened him Uruwela Dhammaratana..
The first batch of Samaneras consisted of ten members. The Venerable Metiwala Sangharatana was the eldest member among the Samaneras and Venerable Uruwela Dhammaratana was the youngest of them. After imparting training to them for a few years at Kandy, Venerable Anagarika Dharmapala sent them to Santiniketan (India) of Gurudeva Rabindranath Tagore with whom he had developed cordial relations. From there they were taken to Varanasi. By this time the grand and magnificent Mulagandhakuti Vihara at Sarnath was completed. They were instructed in Dhamma and Vinaya under the joint preceptorship of Venerable Devamottave Sasanasiri Nayaka Mahathera and Venerable Heenatiyana Dhammaloka Nayaka Mahathera. Anagarika B. Govinda used to give lessons in western philosophy.
After the passing away of Ven. Dharmapala. special classes organised by him for the Samaneras at Sarnath did not continue for long. Ven. U. Dhammaratana decided to follow a systematic academic course. With this end in view, he went to Calcutta and appeared at the matriculation examination conducted by the Calcutta University and was placed in the First division. Next, he appeared at the Intermediate Examination conducted by U.P. Board and passed it also with First division. Then he again went to Calcutta and joined the Rippon College and offered the combined course of Pali and Philosophy. In the final examination, he secured a First division. After he was invited by Sri Devapriya Valisinghe to join the editorial team of the Maha Bodhi Journal. It may be noted here that the well known ‘Dharmatula’ – Hindi Magazine of the Maha Bodhi Society-had also been started from Sarnath. Ven. U. Dhammaratana edited it for some ten years.
He joined the Philosophy Department of Be- naras Hindu University for the post-graduate course in philosophy. After his post-graduate studies at the B.H.U. Ven. U. Dhammaratana returned to Sarnath and devoted himself to teaching, preaching, meditating and writing books. It was during this period that he wrote several books in Hindi and English. He translated in Hindi Theragatha, Suttanipala, Khuddakapatha and wrote Vissuddhimagga Ki Ru- parekha. The Buddha and Caste System, A Study of Patisambhidammaga, An Introduction to Visuddhi Magga, and the Buddha and His Message are his works in English.
After the passing away of Sri Devapriya Valisinghe, Ven. U. Dhammaratana became the of The Maha Bodhi Journal and joint Secretary of the Maha Bodhi Society of India. On the occasion of 2500 Buddha Jayanti which was cele- brated in the year 1956, a project was prepared jointly by State Government of Bihar and the Government of India for the publication of a Devanagari edition of the Pali Tripitaka under the auspices of Nava Nalanda Maha Vihara and Ven. J. Kassapa Mahathera was appointed as Editor-in-Chief for the purpose. The Venerable J. Kassapa extended an invitation to the Venerable U. Dhammaratana to join project. At this time Ven. U. Dhammaratana had just completed his important thesis on ‘A Comparative Study of the Anatta Doctrine in Pali Nikayas and that of the Madhyamika System of Nagarjuna. ‘The thesis was supported with both internal and external evidence. In this connection special mention may be made of Professors A.K. Warder of Canada and K.N. Jayatilaka of Sri Lanka. It was at this stage that the result of his thesis was announced and he was awarded Ph.D. Degree of the Calcutta University.
The Director of the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara invited him to serve as a Lecturer in Pali and Buddhist Philosophy. Later on, he was promoted as Professor of the same subjects. He was also appointed Research examiner in several Universities, including those of Delhi, Lucknow, Banaras, Santiniketan as well as Colombo.
Here special mention may be made that Ven- erable Dr. U. Dhammaratana went to Sri Lanka and got full-fledged higher ordination (Upasampada) at Malwatta Temple of Kandy under the joint precep- torship of venerable Devamitta Dhammapla Thero and Venerable Manikdiwela Devananda Mahathero. His valuable services were highly appreciated by the Executive Council of the Post-Graduate Research Institute of Nalanda Mahavihara and he was honoured with the highest Degree of D.Litt (Honoris Causa) by the Institution.
Venerable Dr. U. Dhammaratana Mahathera also took keen interest in participating in the Vipas- sana Meditation Camps, especially those conducted by Acharya S.N Goenka, and he also visited Sri Lanka from time to time for the same purpose. After retiring from the services of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, he spent his whole time in propagating Saddhamma to fulfil the mission of his late teachers. In this connection he visited several countries of the world, including U.S.A., Canada, U.S.S.R. and Japan and delivered discourses on Buddhism and conducted meditation camps. After resigning from the post of General Secretary, he came to Buddha Gaya, fell ill, and according to the advice of Ven. Bulathsinghala Pannarama Thera, in-charge of the Maha Bodhi Society, Buddha Gaya he went to Lucknow for treatment.
His health was very delicate and he was taken to London for specialised treatment. Ven. K. Chandarathana Mahathera (Lecturer in Pali, Lucknow University) accompanied Ven. Dhammaratana to London. In spite of the best medical care provided to him and inspite of the prayers of his friends and admirers all over the world he could not survive long and breathed his last on July 20, 1985 at the age of sixty eight.
In the July-September issue of the Maha Bodhi Journal, 1985, appeared an article about the death of Ven. Dr. Uruwela Dhammaratana, written by Ven’ble Mapalagama Wipulasara Mahathera (present General Secretary of the Maha Bodhi Society) and in that it was stated…He was a great writer and exponent of Dhamma in simple language. He has many books to his credit in English and Hindi. He had also translated a number of Buddhist books into Hindi…”
“…The devotees, scholars and friends will ever remember this soft-spoken Buddha-puttra as a great scholar imbued with saintly qualities…”
