ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Anagarika Dharmapala reform in relation to the childhood of the hero, his adolescent identity crisis, the moratorium, wherein the identity crisis was temporarily postponed and the final and delayed resolution of the identity crisis through the adoption of a historic role. The life of Dharmapala unfolds the situation when the identity crisis of the individual has significance for the larger society. He cut his associations with his family and sought a new identity under the guidance of another mother figure. Dharmapala’s lack of roots in the traditional social structure – the absence of village, caste or regional identities – impelled him to seek his identity in the great tradition of his imagined Buddhism. Dharmapala insisted that others affirm their identity also. The life and work of Anagarika Dharmapala anticipated much of the social and political life of contemporary Buddhism. In Dharmapala’s lifetime the Colombo elite expanded to include many affluent Buddhists.
