Anagarika Dharmapala - Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, India
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N 25° 22.821 E 083° 01.605
44R E 703911 N 2808610
The life size statue of Buddhist monk Anagarika Dharmapala is located on the grounds of the Mulagandhakuti Vihara, the main Buddhist temple in Sarnath in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Waymark Code: WMQ82T
Location: India
Date Posted: 01/06/2016
Views: 1
Mulagandhakuti Vihara was built in 1931 by Anagarika Dharmapala. It is said to be located at the place where Buddha used to stay during his visits to Sarnath. Mulagandhakuti Vihara is a magnificent structure with ancient Buddhist architectural decorations carved on Indian red stone with an image of Buddha inside it. Buddha’s relics discovered at Taxila are enshrined underneath the pedestal of the image. There are also fine paintings on the walls by Japanese artist Kosetsu Nosu. Buddhist services are conducted inside the temple.
Anagarika Dharmapala (1864 – 1933) was a Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist and writer. He was one of the founding contributors of non-violent Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism and Buddhism.
He was also a pioneer in the revival of Buddhism in India after it had been virtually extinct there for several centuries, and he was the first Buddhist in modern times to preach the Dharma in three continents: Asia, North America, and Europe.
Along with Henry Steel Olcott and Helena Blavatsky, the creators of the Theosophical Society, he was a major reformer and revivalist of Ceylonese Buddhism and an important figure in its western transmission.
He also inspired a mass movement of South Indian Dalits including Tamils to embrace Buddhism, half a century before B. R. Ambedkar. At the latter stages of his life, he entered the order of Buddhist monks as Venerable Sri Devamitta Dharmapala.
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