As a Dhammaduta worker in the Maha Bodhi Society of India
Due to his standing, social service and learning, Brahmachari Devapriya Valisingha, the General Secretary of the Maha Bodhi Society of India, invited Ven. Ariyawansa, at the end of Oct. 1949 to serve in India. Thus Ven. Ariyawansa rendered his services to the Society, perma- nently staying in Calcutta, at its premises. In a month’s stay there Ven. Ariyawansa got pub- lished his 3rd book in Bengali, entitled ‘Bauddha Niti Shiksha’, covering 35 pages. According to the desire of Brahmachari Valisingha he had to go to Sarnath at the end of November, 1950. Thus he started redering his services to the most important of the Maha Bodhi Society of India by his permanent stay at Sarnath. Attend- ing all sorts of work at the centre, he took charge of the local library organised by the Society and shaped it properly, working for it very labouri- ously. Due to hard labour and unfavourable climatic conditions he fell ill and in the first week of August, 1951, Brahmachari Valisingha invited him back to Calcutta for treatment. According to the advice of the physicians he was sent to Shillong, and after a stay of 3 months he came back to Calcutta fully recovered and was transferred to Delhi as in-charge of Buddha Vihar, on 7th November, 1951. When Ven. Ariyawansa went to New Delhi, most Ven. Dr. H. Saddha Tissa Maha Thera worked as the Secretary of the centre. He was transferred to Sarnath as a Chief worker at the place and after a long stay there he was sent to London as the Secretary of the British Maha Bodhi Society, was devotedly busy there with the propagatory work of Buddhism.
When most Ven. Dr. Saddha Tissa Maha Thera was leaving for Sarnath from Buddha Vihar, he put Ven. Ariyawansa to severe tests and examined him as regards his ability and experience, knowledge, his qualities, his person- ality, and he tried to know with great eagerness, whether Ven. Ariyawansa could be able to fully bear the responsibility of the centre of the Soci- ety situated in the capital of India. After a thor- ough examination in office work, maintenance of accounts, correspondence, public relations and holding celebrations and assemblages, he found that Ven. Ariyawansa would prove more suitable successful and immensely valuable at the place. Thus considering him to be more experienced and proficient in every type of work he expressed his heartfelt pleasure in giving the charge of New Delhi centre to Ven. Ariyawansa. At the time of departure he advised him to work with utmost alertness and vigilance. Even from Sarnath, he kept writing at times to Ven. Ariyawansa regarding the local problems and according to his directions Ven. Ariyawansa started handling the work of the centre, with great and caution.
