: धम्मालोक महास्थविर) (1892-1968) was a Nepalese Buddhist monk who played a leading role in the revival of Theravada Buddhism in Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

. He was also a writer who contributed to the Nepal Bhasa renaissance. Dhammalok worked to promote Theravada Buddhism and Nepal Bhasa in the face of government persecution.

Early life

Dhammalok (alternative names: Bhikkhu Dhammalok Mahathero, Dharmaloka) was born Das Ratna Tuladhar

Tuladhar

Tuladhar is a caste from the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. The name Tuladhar is derived from the Sanskrit words tula and dhar , thus meaning scale-bearer or in general, merchant. Tuladhars belong to the Uray group which includes Kansakar, Tamrakar, Sthapit, Bania, Sindurakar,...

 at Asan

Asan

Asan is a city in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. It is located at , bordering the Seoul Metropolitan Area to the north. Asan has a population of approximately 250,000.Asan is known for its hot springs and is a city of spas....

 Dhalasikwa, Kathmandu to a trading family. His father was Tej Sundar and his mother Bekha Laxmi Tuladhar. Das Ratna engaged in business in Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

 during his early years. He was married to Dibya Laxmi with whom he had two sons and a daughter. He returned to Nepal after the death of his wife. Grief and his association with Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan

Rahul Sankrityayan

Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan , who is called the Father of Hindi Travel literature, was one of the most widely-traveled scholars of India, spending forty-five years of his life on travels away from his home. He became a buddhist monk and eventually took up Marxist Socialism...

 of India drew him towards religion.

Imprisonment and ordination

In 1926, Das Ratna went to Sri Lanka and became a monk taking the name Dhammalok. Returning to Nepal, he lived at the monastery of Kimdol Vihar at Swayambhu

Swayambhu

Swayambhu means Self-manifested or that which is created by its own accord.-Vaishnavism:Based on details in Bhagavata Purana and Matsya Purana, Narayana or Krishna is said to be the Self-manifested Swayambhu form of Brahman as the first cause of creation...

. Here he conducted regular prayer meetings and distributed pamphlets written in Nepal Bhasa appealing for donations. On 6 November 1931, he was arrested and imprisoned for seven days as it was illegal to write in Nepal Bhasa or propagate Buddhism.

Subsequently, Dhammalok went to Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon

Yangon

Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...

, Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

) where he lived a year. Returning to Kathmandu, he was detained for six days on the charge of not possessing proper travel documents. In 1933, he went to Sarnath

Sarnath

Sarnath or Sārnātha is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna. Sarnath is located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India...

, India where he became a fully ordained monk.

The writer

Dhammalok returned to Kimdol Vihar where he began writing a series of books in Nepal Bhasa that challenged traditional thinking. Lokay Kuchal Kubyabahar Sudhar ("Reforming Ill Practices and Customs in Society") and Dharmaya Namay Pap ("Sinning in the Name of Religion") published from Varanasi

Varanasi

-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...

, India are some of his well known works. Dhammalok has also translated ancient Buddhist texts into Nepal Bhasa. Following his return from Burma in 1932, he translated Buddha Charita, a biography of the Buddha by Asva Ghosh, into Nepal Bhasa from the Sanskrit. Among his notable books, the travelogue Mahachin Yatra ("A Journey to Great China") was published from Kalimpong in 1950.

Into exile

In 1943, Dhammalok established Ananda Kuti Vihar, the first Theravada monastery in modern Nepal, at Swayambhu. It became the center for the Theravada community.

The government declared that the activities of the Theravada monks of spreading Buddhism were illegal, and on 11 August 1943, all of them including Dhammalok were expelled from Nepal. The exiled monks first went to Kushinagar

Kushinagar

Kushinagar , Kusinagar or Kusinara is a town and a nagar panchayat in Kushinagar district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is an important Buddhist pilgrimage site, where Gautama Buddha is believed to have attained Parinirvana after his death.-Demographics: India census, Kushinagar had a...

, India and then to Sarnath. On the full moon day of December 1943 in Sarnath, they founded Dharmodaya Sabha (Society for the Rise of the Teaching) which published books and a magazine on Buddhism titled Dharmodaya. Dhammalok spent his exile in India and Tibet, and returned to Kathmandu on 5 June 1946 after the ban was lifted.

From 1946, following pressure from Indian Buddhist societies, the government also allowed publication of literature in Nepal Bhasa after being censored. Dhammalok devoted his later years to writing. He also worked to develop Lumbini

Lumbini

Lumbinī is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in the Rupandehi district of Nepal. It is the place where Queen Mayadevi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama, who as the Buddha Gautama founded the Buddhist tradition. The Buddha lived between roughly 563 and 483 BCE...

 and Kapilavastu

Kapilavastu

Kapilavastu is the name of a region of ancient Shakya kingdom that is considered a holy pilgrimage place for Buddhists. The search for the Buddha's birthplace following the accounts left by Xuanzang and Faxian involved various searches in the late 19th century...

, the Buddha's birthplace and family home in southern Nepal. Dhammalok died at Ananda Kuti Vihar.