Re: Dhammananda Kosambi

Bhante,

On 20 Sep 2007, at 18:59, nyanatusita bhikkhu wrote:

>  There is something about him on the following Thai page but I can't
> read it:


This is a quick translation. Please excuse the inelegance of the
English:

Ven.Dhammaananda Kosambi

Ven.Dhammaananda Kosambi was an important Pali scholar during the
period of revival of Buddhism. He was born in Goa, Maharashtra, on 6th
October 1876, the youngest in a family of five children. As a child he
was impressed with the stories of the Buddha in a children's book and
so when he grew up he went to study Sanskrit and Buddhism at Poona and
Varanasi. Later he travelled to Nepal to study Buddhism but he felt
disappointed due to Nepal not being a Buddhist land, and so returned to
Bodh Gaya. Several monks advised him to go to study in Sri Lanka, a
land where Buddhism still flourished, and so in 1906 he travelled to
Sri Lanka to study Buddhism and there he received upasampadaa with Ven.
Sumangala Mahaathera as preceptor. Later he returned to India, got
bored, and gave up the bhikkhu training.

Later still, he got married in his home village and had a son named
D.D. Kosambi. After that he received upasampadaa again in 1910. He
travelled about, furthering his studies, until completing his doctorate
at Harvard University in America. Upon returning from America to India
he founded a Buddhist vihaara in Bombay in 1937. The vihaara was called
Bahujana Buddhavihaara. He then went on to write many books, including
_Bhagvaan Buddhaa_, the book responsible for arousing Dr. Ambedkar's
interest in Buddhism and his eventual conversion. At the end of his
life he entrusted Bahujana Buddhavihaara to the Mahaa Bodhi Society of
India and went to stay at Sarnath, where he passed away on 14th June
1947.

Best wishes,
Dhammanando