[2][3] Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, a retired United States army officer, came across a report of a religious debate between Buddhist monks and Christian clergy.

With the help of John Bowles Daly, an Irish clergyman and a theosophist, Mahinda College was opened on 1 March 1892 in Galle Fort.

[6] The school was named after Arahat Mahinda, the monk who brought Buddhism to Sri Lanka.Daly left after one year, followed by a number of principals serving for short periods.

Woodward had plans to relocate the college, and purchased land called “Dawatagahawatta” with a view of the Sripada (Adam's peak).

[7] For the 60th anniversary of Mahinda College in 1952, a new physics laboratory was opened by the Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake on 12 September.

[10] The Lover's Quarrel was last won by Mahinda College in 2008, breaking a 30-year-long deadlock of draws which was started in 1978 the year Mahindians recorded their previous win in the big match.