sm suffered a severe setback due to the acts of the Catholic Missionaries. With the deterioration of discipline within the Sangha, Theravada Buddhism would have disappeared from the country if not for the valiant efforts of Ven. Welivita Saranankara Maha Thera and King Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe who revived Buddhism and the Sangha organisation by the introduction of Upasampada or the higher ordination from Siam in 1753.
Even though the fifth clause of the Kandyan Convention signed in 1815, guaranteed the protection of Buddhism and its places of worship, the British did not honour it after they established their supremacy in the Kandyan provinces. After the rebellion of 1818, the British while promising to protect Buddhism dropped the world ‘inviolable’ which appeared in the fifth clause of the Kandyan convention, thereby giving an indication of the relaxation of the guarantees concerning the protection of Buddhist places of worship and the Sangha. The missionary schools overtook the Pirivena or the Buddhist temple schools by the year 1827. There were 96 schools managed by the Christian clergy, while 94 pirivena schools existed in the Kandyan provinces. There did not exist a single school for the education of Buddhist children. Moreover, there were no schools belonging to the Government in the Kandyan provinces. In addition, the British Government declared Sunday a public holiday on the 6th April 1817, thereby, cancelling the Poya day holiday enjoyed by the Buddhists since 242 BC.
In 1832 Colebrooke introduced English as the medium of instruction in the Government service. As a result, all Government Sinhala medium schools were closed in 1832. Instead, English schools were opened in main cities all over the island. The Colombo Academy, now Royal College in Colombo 07 was opened in 1836 as a direct result of the new policy on education. There were only two Buddhist schools in the country - in Panadura and Dodanduwa with an attendance of 246 children as against 805 Christian schools with an attendance of 78,086 children, in the country in 1870.
At this juncture Ven. Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera, came to Deepadutthaaramaya in Kotahena from Gala Uda Viharaya in Dodanduwa. In this particular era thousands of Sinhala people after learning English had become Christians in order to gain a livelihood. A Sinhalese villager could be trained to attack Buddhism within a year and in those days a salary of Rupees twenty per month was enough to make him offer his services as a Catechist to preach in the villages against the religion of the Sinhala people. The Christian missionaries began propagating the religion through pamphlets and books. When Rev. D. J. Gogerly of the Wesleyan mission published ‘Christian Pragnapthi’ in 1849, Venerable Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera replied with ‘Durlabdi Vinodimi’ in 1862 and Ven. Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Nayaka Thera wrote ‘Christian Vada Mardanaya’ and ‘Samyak Darshanaya’ 1862-63. Soon the writings were replaced by public debates. Through journals like ‘Satya Margaya’, Satya Prakashanaya’, ‘Lakmini Kirula’, Christiani Wada Vighataniya’, and ‘Reversa’ and thousands of pamphlets, the Ven Thera, refuted the wrong views that were held by the opponents of the Sinhala people and Buddhism.
He led many debates on behalf of the Sinhala Buddhists. The Baddegama debate was conducted through the exchange of articles between the Buddhists and the Christians in February 1865. It originated from an argument between a young Buddhist monk named Sumangala and a Christian priest at a Viharaya in Baddegama, the Udanvita debate was conducted in a temple in Udanvita in the Satara Korale in 1866. It centred on the Creator, the redeemer and the Eternal Heaven. The Gampola debate was held June 1871 with Ven. Gunananda Thera and Pandit Batuwantudave for the Buddhists and Rev. Charles Carter and his team for the Christians. The Waragoda debate had been held in the year 1865 and the Liyanagemulla debate was in 1866.These debates culminated in the world famous debate held at Panadura from the 26th to 28th August 1873 as a result of a 