Sikkim Mahinda Thero: A national hero of Sri Lanka

PART- I
SHITAL PRADHAN
I first heard about S Mahinda Thero during 2005 while at Kolkata when I was asked by one of a stamp dealer whether I was interested on a 5 cent stamp of S Mahinda Thero issued by Sri Lankan Postal Department in early 1970s. I collect philatelic items on Buddhism but I never had a sense of whom he was talking about. He told me, as I was from Sikkim, so I might be interested to know more about the person, and he went on to add it was Sikkim Mahinda Thero, a Buddhist monk who is regarded as a national hero, a famous poet in the Sinhalese language whose poetry promoted patriotism and the revival of Buddhism to this part of the Island. He promised to send me the stamp of S Mahinda Thero from Colombo through mail but since then I had never heard from him. But towards my limited concern it was enough to have knowledge of such person who is keeping the name Sikkim with honour and pride in Sri Lanka.
I had the name of S Mahinda Thero within me but never got an opportunity to look at more about him until a year back when I was told by my younger brother about his penpal friend from Sri Lanka. I believe she could help me increase my little knowledge about S Mahinda Thero. A letter arrived from GayaniAmarasinghe after a month I had penned down. She was more than curious about my inquiry about their national hero; according to her they call him "TibbetJathikaSikkimmhe Mahinda Thero" which means The Mahinda Thero of Sikkim the Tibbetian (with the same spelling). She even added his poems are found in the school text books too. My fascination towards this Buddhist monk poet was growing. Thero is an honorific term in Pali language for elderly monks and nuns.
Gayani writes in her letter recalling how her father would remember the uncertain death of S Mahinda Thero on March 16th 1951 was little expected when the country needed more of his patriotic poetry then. Her father would sing lullabies of the great poet for his younger brother and even she had heard her father sing for her when as a child. Gayani shared her favourite S Mahinda Thero's poem (English translation) she liked the most:
"Freedom is a diamond crown
Religion is a diamond lamp
If (someone is) able to protect these
It's you my child."
More than fifty years after his death he is still remembered as a nation's delight. The role played by S Mahinda Thero in invoking the national pride among the locals through his writings were widely appreciated and till today had been described by some as being more Sri Lankan than the Sri Lankans themselves. His writing along with the revival of Buddhism also promoted patriotism, national pride, equality and national independence.
Here I take a reference of an article "Tibet and Sri Lanka" written by Venerable Dhammika, where a small background about S Mahinda Thero is shared. According to the article S Mahinda Thero was born into a noble family in Gangtok as TashiNamgyal in 1901. This cleared my earlier confusion about the name of S Mahinda Thero, where Gayani wrote he was born Vasilingal, I was rather confused and to similar extent I found the other name of the great reverend where he is referred as Tasilmgal, so these names are nothing but poor version of TashiNamgyal. Nevertheless, of his four brothers one was the Prime Minister of Sikkim, another became a professor of the Tibetan language at Calcutta University, while the third brother like Mahinda became a monk and joined him to Sri Lanka. The monk brother latter got his name Punnaji.