He was the ‘Man’ behind Dharmapala’s – successful Buddhist missionary work for a long time.
He was the ‘Man’ close to Ven. Siri Devamitta Dhammapala until the latter’s death. Sri Devapriya Valisinghe was appointed to the post of General Secretary of the Maha Bodhi Society in 1933 after the higher ordination of Siri Devamitta Dharmapala.
In 1933 the March-April issue of the Maha Bodhi Journal announced this appointment as follows:-
The new General Secretary of the Maha Bodhi Society-On his being given Upasampada ordination the Venerable Siri Devamitta Dhammapala retired in favour of Brahmachari Devapriya Valisinghe from the General Secretaryship of the Maha Bodhi Society, which office he had held from the commencement of the Society.
Accordingly, Brahmachari Devapriya was nominated to the post by the two Presidents of the Maha Bodhi Society of Ceylon, the Most Ven. K. Ratanasara Maha Nayake Thera and the Most Ven. L. Dhammananda Maha Nayaka Thera.
The appointment is for life as in the case of Ven. Dhammapala. Buddhists are requested to give him every assistance in the work that lies before him…”
Though he was formally appointed to this post in 1933, he had been virtually in charge of the affairs of the Society from 1923. He looked after the Maha Bodhi work in Calcutta and in Sarnath when Anagarika Dharmapala was out of India.
As the General Secretary, his greatest achievement was obtaining the Sacred Relics of Arahants Sariputta and Moggalana for the Maha Bodhi Society, which led to a tremendous Buddhist reawakening in India and various Buddhist countries.
After the death of Ven. Dharmapala he continued the struggle to rescue Buddha Gaya and to in- fluence the Government of India by various means to restore Buddha Gaya to the Buddhists.
Following are some of the notable activities of Brahmachari Devapriya Valisinghe as the General Secretary of the Maha Bodhi Society: –
- Organising the funeral of Siri Devamitta Dharmapala.
- Taking ashes of Dharmapala to Ceylon and his pledge to save Buddha Gaya and restore to it to the Buddhists as a tribute to the memory of Anagarika Dharmapala.
- Collecting funds for the purchase of the property adjoining the Calcutta Vihara.
- Leading the Maha Bodhi Society delegation to the Pan Pacific Young Buddhist Conference in Tokyo. Lecture Tour in Hongkong, Shanghai, Singapore and Penang to invite Buddhist pilgrims to visit Buddhist Sacred places in India.
- Publishing the booklet ‘The Buddhist Way of Life’.
- Amalgamation of Bahujana Vihara and Ananda Vihara Bombay with Maha Bodhi Society of India.
- Took the initiative to establish close relations with Buddhists in Singapore, Kuala Lampur, Pe- nang and Hongkong and enrolling them as Life Members of the Maha Bodhi Society.
- Erecting the Vihara at New Delhi with the help of Seth Jugal Kishore Birla, Sri Birla bore the entire cost of building the temple with rooms for resident monks.
- – Organising the ‘Ashoka Day’ in memory of the Emperor Ashoka at Varanasi.
- Organising relief funds to assist the victims of the Bihar earthquake, malaria epidemic in Cey- lon and earthquake of Tokyo.
- – Building of the Colombo Headquarters building of the Maha Bodhi Society.
- Improvements of the Maha Bodhi Printing Press.
- Maha Bodhi Life Membership Scheme.
- Publishing of Dhamma Books including ‘Dhammapada’ and ‘Cynosure of Sanchi’ Obtaining the land and raising the funds to build the Sanchi Vihara.
- Wrote a book entitled ‘Buddhist Shrines in India’. Organising the exhibition of the relics of Sar- iputta and Moggallana Arahans in Calcutta, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Burma, Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Nepal, Ladakh, Sikkim and Tibet. Took a leading part in organising the opening ceremony of the Sanchi Vihara in 1952.
- Took the initiative in starting in Calcutta a Buddhist Sunday School for children.
- Getting an Act passed in 1949 by the Govern- ment of Bihar transferring the management of the Buddha Gaya Temple to the Management Committee.
- Organising the ‘Buddha Gaya Day’ in India, Ceylon and other Buddhist countries to keep the ‘Save Buddha Gaya’ agitation alive.
- Appointed as a member of the Enquiry Com- mittee on the Buddha Gaya Temple issue with Dr. Rajendra Prasad as Chairman.
- Suggestion to establish a Buddhist Colony at Buddha Gaya.
- Organising the Buddha Jayanthi Celebrations all over the Buddhist World with the assistance of the Government of India.
- Contributed a paper entitled ‘Revival of Bud- dhism’ to the Volume 2500 years of Buddhism’ published by the Government of India.
- Attended the historic function in Nagpur where Dr. B.R. Ambedkar embraced Buddhism with Five Lakhs of his followers in 1956.
- Organised the Centenary Celebrations of the Ven. Dhammapala, his Guru.
- Publishing Maha Bodhi Journal regularly was one of his main functions.
