Sir Mudliyar Hewawitharana & Lady Mallika Hewawitharana
It is the parents who mould and shape the culture of a child both physically and mentally. Here, both Don Carolis and his wife Mallika brought up young David in a traditional Sinhala Buddhist atmosphere with both instruction and training for the good of the whole of humanity. The parents of Anagarika Dharmapala were not only influenced his ‘work’ but gave him the moral and the financial backing for his services in Ceylon and abroad. Anagarika Dharmapala’s parents were the giants behind the success of his mission, philosophy and life.
‘It is a commonplace of educational psychology that the influences to which a child is subjected to during its earliest years more or less determine the whole course of its subsequent development, and the biography of Dharmapala provides us with no exception to this rule. His deep and spontaneous devotion to the Buddha, his instinctive observance of the plain and simple rules of the Dharma through the complexities and temptations of modern life, his ardent love of all that was pure and good, as well as his unsparing condemnation of whatever was unclean and evil, were undoubtedly the efflorescence of seeds which had been planted in the fertile soil of his young heart by his mother’s loving advice and hisfather’s austere example. *
(Bhikshu Sangharakshita-Diamond Jubilee souvenir)
Mallika Hewawitharana was the daughter of Andhiris Perera Dharmagunawardene, a Colombo businessman who had donated a piece of land at Maligakanda, erected on it the first Pirivena, or the Buddhist monastic college in Ceylon, (now Sri Lanka).
The names of the Vidyodaya Pirivena and its Principal Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Maha Nayaka Thera have passed, inseparably united, into the history of world Buddhism.
Mallika, a devoted Buddhist spent a good portion of her wealth for the upliftment of Buddha Sasana and her son activities in relation to the revival of Buddhism in India. She paid special attention towards the activities of the Maha Bodhi Society and the erection of Mulagandhakuty Vihara, in Saranath.
Don Carolis Hewawitharana, father of Anagarika Dharmapala died at the ripe age of 73. For twenty years Dharmapala was able to work for the welfare of the Buddhists, thanks to the generosity of his father.
The Maha Bodhi Journal, January 1906 published an article on the death of Mudliyar Hewawithrana and in that it stated…
The late Mudaliyar did not know a word of English and yet he had the wisdom to build up a business which today is the largest upholstering establishment in Asia. When Dharmapala was 20 years old his younger brothers were all attending School and when his father asked him to take up the business, he declined telling him that he preferred the Brahmachari life to that of a money-making householder. With his consent, accentuated by Dharmapala’s mother, the latter left home and associated with Col, Olcott who was then working for the welfare of the Buddhists of Ceylon. Since January 1886 Dharmapala, gaining the freedom, gave his life for Buddhism and for 20 years received an allowance from his father, who was a tower of strength to him in all his trials. Once he wrote to his son, when he was struggling at Buddha Gaya to get a foot hold at the holy spot, a very cheerful letter encouraging him using words of blessedness to strive for the Buddhahood, which was to him a rare compliment to receive from an unselfish father. His wealth was always ready for good work and he contributed to the Famine Fund and other funds without making any religious distinction. For Dharmapala’s expenses of travel he spent over Rs. 12,000 and he has left him a legacy to carry on the good work begun in 1891.
The late Mudaliyar received his Sinhalese education in his ancestral temple at Hittatiya, a village in Matara, under the High Priest, his own brother. He was a devoted student of psychical astrology and was always ready to help the suffering by his magnetic recitations. He knew Mantras, Parittas and Kavachas by heart, which he chanted sitting by the bedside of the suffering patient bringing immediate relief to the latter. He was one of the Founders of the Vidyodaya College which was established in 1873, under the presidency of the illustrious Sumangala, High Priest of “Adams Peak,” the Pradhana Nayaka, to whom he was devotedly attached till the day of his death.
He married the youngest daughter of the late Dharmagunawardana Muhandiram, the donor of property wherein is located the Vidyodaya College. The British government gave him the titular rank of Mudaliyar in appre- ciation of his many benevolent acts, especially for the furtherance of education. He was a great lover of flowers and also largely patronised industries giving employment to several hundreds of workmen in his factory and workshops. He was purely a product of the ancient Sinhalese. civilization and was a conservative in his national habits. The present progress that one sees in the expansion of oriental learning in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) is due to the self-sacrificing labours of the venerable and illustrious High. Priest Sumangala and to the thirteen pioneers who started the Vidyodaya College. Of the thirteen the late Dharmagunawardana Muhandiram and the subject of our notice were foremost in their generosity. His last act was to attest the trust deed of the Japanese Scholarships for which he bequeathed Rs. 30,000.
Of the four sons, the eldest Dharmapala, is devoting his life for the cause of religion, the next two sons are managing the firms of H. Don Carolis & Sons and the youngest is a university scholar, who after studying ten years in the London University is now in Colombo practising medicine.
In the passing away of the old Mudaliyar noble career has come to an end in this life; but his good deeds let us hope will live influencing his children for nobler activity in the cause of Humanity and Truth. May we all attain the Bliss of Nirvanic Enlightenment when the Blessed One, Buddha Metteyyo appears on earth!
The late Mudaliyar by strenuous exertion earned wealth, rose to honourable fame and lived in complete health up to the age of 71 years, (he became ill since then) and as Buddhist Upasaka he had full faith in the three Gems, observed the five and the eight precepts, was always generous, was never covetous, never neglected his duties, never showed an irritable temper, was always energetic. An Upasaka with these qualities is destined to be born in heaven.
