ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the spatial impact of Protestant missionary schools in nineteenth-century Sri Lanka and Buddhist reactions to this. I demonstrate that, although some opposition to missionary schools occurred early in the century, Buddhists did not generally see missionary schools as a threat until they realized the impact of the theological exclusivism of the missionaries on their children, and the potency of intra-Christian competition. After this, exclusivist spatial strategies were adopted by Buddhists in defensive opposition. Buddhist schools were strategically opened to compete spatially with Christian schools and to force their closure. Never were they opened in areas where the missionaries were absent. This took place in the context of considerable asymmetries of power between Christian and Buddhist schools, and these are examined. The chapter adds a spatial dimension to studies of Buddhist revivalism in nineteenth-century Sri Lanka.
