Buddhist-Christian Relations in Colonial and Postcolonial Contexts

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This chapter examines Buddhist-Christian relations in colonial and postcolonial contexts through the case study of Sri Lanka. Using an indicative cameo approach, it surveys relationships between the two religions under three colonial powers from 1506 to 1948 and postindependence. The Buddhist response to the Portuguese (1506–1650s) is illustrated through the poems of Alagiyavanna Mukaveti. The period of Dutch rule (1650s–1790s) is examined through popular narratives that ridiculed Christianity and the response of the monastic sangha to questionnaires on Buddhism submitted to them by the Dutch authorities. The reminiscences of a British Christian missionary; the writings of Reginald Stephen Copleston, Bishop of Colombo from 1876–1902; and the attitudes toward Christianity of the Buddhist revivalist, the Anagārika Dharmapāla, illustrate the period of British rule (1790s–1948). The decades following independence are explored through a group of mid-twentieth-century Christians, who sought to roll back the mistrust of the colonial period, and the Buddhists who responded to them. The chapter argues that both in colonial and postcolonial contexts, Buddhist-Christian relations in Sri Lanka have moved between rapprochement and defensive resistance, conditioned by the extent to which respect has been shown to Buddhism by Christians.