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105th Commemoration of Sir Cyril de Zoysa and Golden Jubilee of Kalutara Bodhi Trust.

by N.S.A Goonetilleke P.C. Chairman, Kalutara Bodhi trust

Sir Cyril de Zoysa

 first came to know Sir Cyril de Zoysa as a lawyer practicing at the Kalutara Bar, who was closely associated with my father who also practiced at Kalutara. They worked together in many other fields connected with the welfare and well-being of the Buddhists in the Kalutara District. To educate the young people of Kalutara in a Buddhist environment was of prime importance to Sir Cyril and it was he who conceived the idea of founding Kalutara Vidyalaya and thereafter Balika Vidyalaya. He donated his own house in Kalutara to start off Balika Vidyalaya, which was the sister school to Kalutara Vidyalaya.

It was typical of Sir Cyril that, having started off and completing so many different projects, he did not seek publicity for himself. As one who lived in Kalutara and practiced his profession in Kalutara, his first thought was for the people who lived there and particularly for their children.

The Kalutara Bodhi Trust was thought of and founded by him with the help of a small group of close friends, all of whom were lawyers. One of them was my father and he became the first Hony. Secretary of the Bodhi Trust. After I became a lawyer myself, it was Sir Cyril who sent for me and gave me advice, which has proved invaluable. The other members of his group formed the first Board of Trustees. I recall that when my father passed away nearly 40 years ago, it was Sir Cyril who took charge of the arrangements for the funeral and did everything necessary. Soon thereafter he sent for me and said "Now let us see whether you are as good a man as your father". Under his guidance, I began functioning as a Trustee of the Kalutara Bodhi Trust.

Apart from two schools I have mentioned, he found time to build up a flourishing Bus Company, which started with the name "Suwarnapali" and became the business that was "South Western Bus Company Limited", which he transformed into, huge empire. With the take over of the Bus Companies by the then Government, the Kalutara Bodhi benefited because Sir Cyril had more time to devote to the Buddhists of Kalutara.

The huge Chaithya you see today in the upper Maluwa was an idea conceived by him. He wanted a huge Dagoba to crown as it were, the Kalutara Bodhi. I still recall him saying that he will get Mr. Kulasinghe, the well-known Architect and Engineer to do it.

Mr. Kulasinghe and he designed the Chaithya, which you can now see soaring into the sky on the banks of the Kalu Ganga. It was the first Dagoba to house inside it an equally massive Viharage for pilgrims' to worship at. This was an idea conceived entirely by Sir Cyril and it was our good fortune that he found in Mr. Kulasinghe the one man who could turn his dream into reality. It was Sir Cyril's idea that he would construct on the hill opposite what is today the lower Maluwa of the Kalutara Bodhi, a Chaithya that could be seen far out at sea and be an inspiration to Buddhists when they left our shores as well as when they came home from foreign climes.

It was the magnificence of Sir Cyril's vision combined with his extra ordinary talent to translate his vision into reality that resulted in giving to the Buddhist world the awe inspiring sight that is the Dagoba comprising the upper Kaluwa of the Kalutara Bodhi, standing as it does at the point where the Kalu Ganga meets the sea. This perhaps is the greatest achievement of the man that was Sir Cyril. Not since the time of the Sinhala Kings has such a great tribute to the teachings of the Buddha being achieved.

This is the measure of the man that was Sir Cyril de Zoysa, who despite all the time he devoted to charitable work, became the President of the Senate, then the upper house of Parliament under the Soulbury Constitution. There are many other great achievements of Sir Cyril that one can speak of, such as transformation of the Kiri Vehera and the five storied building complex he put up for the Colombo Y.M.B.A., but the work he did to transform the Kalutara Bodhi into what it is today is, I think, the greatest and most meritorious of his many achievements.

May he attain Nibbana

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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