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  Sanmargi Dharmapala: Voice of the Pali Revival Dr. Goutham Avarthi | September 17, 2025 Anagarika Dharmapala (17 September 1864 – 29 April 1933) is remembered as one of the foremost reformers of Sinhala Buddhism and a key figure in Sri Lanka’s freedom struggle against British colonial rule. Born on 17 September, his birth anniversary is observed worldwide as “Pali Language Day.” This year marks the 161st Jayanti of Anagarika Dharmapala, a moment to reflect upon his life, legacy, and sacrifices. The Beginning of a Dharmic Journey Dharmapala was born as Don David Hewavitarne on 17 September 1864 into a wealthy Buddhist family in Sri Lanka. His father, Don Carolis Hewavitarne, was a well-known entrepreneur, while his mother Mallika Gunawardene deeply inspired her son’s religious inclinations. From childhood, young David displayed a keen interest in Buddhist teachings. At 16, he came in contact with Colonel Henry Steel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky of the Theosophical Society. At the t...

Introduction      The Devadasi system, which flourished in Tamil Nadu and Orissa, has no substantial evidence of ever existing in Kerala. Kavalam Narayana Panikkar emphasizes that there are no indigenous families or records claiming such a tradition in Kerala’s temples. Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai speculated that women might have been employed in Kerala’s temples as Devadasis, basing his arguments on inscriptions found in Tamil Nadu temples such as Suchindram, Cholapuram, and Kanchipuram. Yet, as Panikkar notes, these claims remain conjectural and are strongly challenged by other historians who argue that the absence of any lingering Devadasi families in Kerala undermines such theories (Pillai 1978: 278–281). Koothachi and the Artistic Communities      Confusion often arises due to the term koothachi, mistakenly equated with Devadasi. In Kerala, koothachi referred to women performers of the Chakyar 1 community, whose art—Koothu—was a respected theatrical tra...

The study of totems in India, unlike in many other anthropological traditions, has long been neglected. This neglect owes much to a dominant perspective advanced by colonial administrators, notably the Census Commissioner, who insisted that the fundamental unit of Hindu social organization was the sub-caste, bound by endogamy. Yet, as Dr. B. R. Ambedkar sharply pointed out, nothing could be further from the truth. For him, the real unit of Hindu society was not the sub-caste but the family, governed not by endogamy but by exogamy. In this sense, the Hindu family is essentially tribal in its organization. In northern India especially, marriage rules are shaped by kula and gotra, which operate as equivalents of the totemic system in so-called “primitive” societies. Caste and sub-caste, Ambedkar argued, were superimposed later, as secondary layers of social order. Beneath them lay the older tribal system, still visible in the exogamous rules that structured kinship and family life. Tribes...