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Annex 2

(Writer- Paragu)

(An Extract From The People's Daily, 15-5-72)

"Age, one hundred years and wardaw (age as a bhikkhu) eighty years, Saradawgree U Chandramani of Kushinagar, India has passed away to Devaloka on 8-5-72".

The above news might not have any significant effect in Myanmar. However, this sad news will come as a great blow to the Buddhists in India, for Saradawgree U Chandramani was one of the first to rebuild Buddha Sasana that was slowly fading and fast disappearing. Not only that, he was the oldest and longest living Bhikkhu in the world of Buddhist India. The origin of Buddhism started in India and was disappearing. Buddhists from abroad were trying to rebuild it. Anagarika Dhammapala from Sri Lanka was one such notable person; so was Saradawgree U Chandramani from Myanmar.

U Chandramani was born in a village in the district of Akyab, Myanmar in the year 1874; at a tender age he became a novice and studied with his uncle, Ashin U Sandimar in Akyab. During that time, Anagarika Dhammapala and Colonel Oracle visited Arakan to discuss starting a Maha Bodhi Society and, among other things, they suggested to the Arakanese Buddhists that they send a few selected novices with the potential for promoting Buddhism in India. The two novices, Chandra and Thuriya, therefore, were selected and sent to India. This was about six years after King Thibaw was dethroned. The novice Chandra was the one who later on became Ashin U Chandramani. When the two novices were sent to India, the national language newspapers in Myanmar at that time reported in detail about Shin Chandra and Shin Thuriya's travel to India to promote Buddha's Sasana.

On arrival in India, the two novices stayed with a Sri Lankan Bhikkhu at an annex of a temple building in Buddha Gaya, which King Min Don had built and donated. The Maha Bodhi Temple in Buddha Gaya had been, at one time, in the hands of Hindu Guru Mahant, and one day Guru Mahant drove them out of their dwelling. Shin Chandra moved to suitable accommodation and continued to study Sanskrit and Buddhist literature. He returned to Myanmar twice. The second time he stayed in Moulmein and Mandalay with very well known Bhikkhus to study Buddhist canons. In 1903, the novice Chandra was ordained in the town of Panwar, now known as Ramu, to become a fully-fledged Bhikkhu. Forty Saradaws, headed by Withuddharon Saradaw, participated in the ordination ceremony, all of whom at that time had visited majjhimadesa Buddhist India.

On return to India, Ashin U Chandramani stayed at Kushinagar and remained there until his death. He had returned to Burma for a third time. U Chandramani was the one who had cleared the bush in Kushinagar. At the time of his arrival there the old Buddhist ruins were hidden in the undergrowth. Today, Kushinagar has become a Buddhist Centre attracting Buddhists from all over the world, all due to U Chandramani's hard work and stamina. While Anagarika Dhammapala, a Sri Lankan, was the one who masterminded the clearing of the Migadarwoon forest, near Varanasi, to become what it is today, U Chandramani, an Arakanese, was the one who made it possible for the world to recognise Kushinagar as the place where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana.

Not only did U Chandramani rebuild and make Buddhism prosper in Kushinagar, he made sure people in the street, in villages and in cities also benefited. Chandramani's non-fee paying schools and the Mahawira High School manifested his good intentions. Because of his kindness towards others, the poor people in and around Kushinagar were given the opportunity to receive an education; to the poor, he was the one they could rely on; to the school children and teachers, he was a father and a mother; and to the novices and devotees, he was a teacher. He was most venerated by the people in and around Kushinagar. While people in Myanmar knew him as U Chandramani, Indians most affectionately called him `Chandramani Baba'.

U Chandramani was a very sharp literary genius. He was always surrounded by people who wanted to hear him talk about Dhamma matters. He spoke five languages, namely, Pali, Sanskrit, Burmese, Bengali and Hindi. His book `Dhammapadatikar' written in Hindi and distributed in 1909 was a very well known document. In those days, there was hardly any Buddhist literature written in Hindi. Being a literary genius and having the ability to clearly explain the fundamental principles of Buddhism, a great number of Indians became Samaneras and Bhikkhus. Included amongst today's many famous Buddhist scholars in India are his pupils U Kittima in Migadarwoon, near Varanasi, and Bhikkhu Dhamma Rakkhita, Editor of the Dhammaduta magazine and a leader of the Maha Bodhi Society in Migadarwoon. His pupils were not only in India but also in Nepal. U Chandramani also did a great deal to spread Buddhism in Nepal. Today's Therawada Buddhism in Nepal was the fruition of his work; all the Nepalese Therawada Bhikkhus, Samaneras and lay Buddhist men and women were the product of his pupils' teaching.

Dr. Ambedkar, the so-called father Architect of the Indian Constitution, the leader of his low caste people and a Minister of Law of the Indian Government, much revered U Chandramani. In 1956, a remarkable event in the Buddhist history took place when millions of low caste, oppressed and deprived people led by Dr. Ambedkar, chose to become Buddhists. In the presence of U Chandramani who blessed them with the powers of Triple Gems, Dr. Ambedkar and his followers then took a vow to become Buddhists. U Chandramani's name was therefore linked to the history of those low caste people in upholding their human rights, and also to the emergence of a prosperous Buddhist India.