President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday released a commemorative postage stamp on Anagarika Dharmapala, a Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist and writer, at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"The release of the commemorative postage stamp on Anagarika Dharmapala will contribute towards further strengthening the bilateral ties between India and Sri Lanka and bring the two nations closer," said President Mukherjee.

He was confident that the relations between the two countries will continue to further strengthen in the coming years to the mutual benefit of our two peoples.

"This stamp release on one of the apostles of Buddhism, once again reminds us to work relentlessly and collectively to ensure an era of peace, stability and friendly bilateral and multilateral ties in order to create an enabling environment for the rapid socio-economic development of the people," he added.

The President paid his humble homage to Anagarika Dharmapala on the occasion and congratulated the Department of Posts for bringing out the Commemorative Postage Stamp on Anagarika Dharmapala.

Anagarika Dharmapala was born on September 17, 1864 and died on April 29, 1933. He 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.

In the latter stages of his life, he entered the order of Buddhist monks and was known as the Venerable Sri Devamitta Dharmapala. He worked selflessly all his life with a missionary zeal to propagate Buddhist ideals and to restore the glory of Buddhism.
(ANI)