Weligama Sri Sumangala Thero (1825-1905)[1] was an outstanding scholar bhikkhu with many important publications -Hitopadsesa Atthadassi, Hitopadsesa Padarthavykanaya, Upadesa Vinischaya, Siddanta Sekaraya.
[3][4][5] Weligama Sri Sumangala, a Buddhist High Priest of Ceylon, and a distinguished Oriental scholar whose place it will be hard to fill.
His father intended him to follow the medical profession but a serious illness compelled him to relinquish the plan, while the suffering he experienced at the time led him to abandon wealth and ease and give his life to the service of humanity.
He entered the Buddhist priesthood when only twelve years of age, and received his education under the High Priest Bentota who was one of the most famous Sanskrit scholars of his day.
He lived and dressed as did the Buddhist monks at the time of Buddha more than twenty centuries ago,[1] and was a noble representative of the religion of "The Enlightened One" in its original and purest form.