Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurveda Institute:

An illustrious 80 years of academic service

by G. P. Dhanatunga

The School of Ayurveda, Gampaha, was a dream come true on July 19, 1929. The Ayurveda School was originally named Gampaha Siddhayurveda Vidyalaya. In 1982 the name was changed to Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurveda Institute when being registered with the Government. This year 2009 it completes 80 years of yeoman service to the nation. It was in an era when there was no such institution in the island, that young Panditha Gabriel Perera Wickramarachchi had pioneered this adventurous project. The State managed College of Ayurveda, Rajagiriya came into existence later.

Panditha Wickramarachchi returned from India in 1921 after his LAMS (Hons) degree from the prestigious Jamini Bhushana Ashtanga Ayurveda Institution, Calcutta, and joined his father, who was a prominent Ayurveda Physician and worked for a short period. Soon thereafter he started a dispensary of his own in Gampaha. Yet his aspirations were far beyond than being only a physician. He had developed a great desire to set up a school of Ayurveda in Sri Lanka for students with talent and passion for Ayurveda.

This idea of a School of Ayurveda did not receive the expected support of the elders. Yet he ventured on his own and initially purchased a block of land in a scenic setting at Yakkala. The school came up as a complete complex, with a dispensary, and laboratories for the preparation of oral medicines and external applications. The need of hostel facilities for students from distant rural areas was also met. A row of rooms with basic amenities and a kitchen for preparation of food by the students themselves was included. Such was the complex.

It is likely that the idea of starting a School of Ayurveda in Sri Lanka had arisen on his seeing the numerous such institutions in India. His personal experience during his studentship in Calcutta and living in hotels, provided by the institution, to suit the simple living standards of the Indian students, probably formed the roots of his noble thought. In setting up the School of Ayurveda he adopted, the Indian pattern that suited the students of rural areas here, who formed the majority. Panditha Wickramarachchi was wise and right in deciding to keep to the Indian pattern.

Selfless visionary

The School of Ayurveda at Gampaha was entirely a private institution owned and funded by Panditha Wickramarachchi. He personally taught the students assisted by other lecturers as and when required. No fees were charged from the students even for lodging. The practice of free education was really originated in 1929, long before the State conceived of free education in schools.

Panditha Wickramarachchi had set up the School of Ayurveda, Gampaha and also given free training to the students, not in anticipation of any honour. He had done it entirely to satisfy his vision, to see this country resorts to Ayurveda form of medication as in the ancient past. He expected it to be so at least in the distant rural areas of this Land. The training and experience imparted to the students were not merely for them to function only as Physicians. They were given the know-how to run a laboratory, to manufacture quality oral medicines and external applications and supply them to the patients on payment of a nominal fee.

The compound of the school at Gampaha was full of medicinal plants and herbs so that the students could identify them at sight and also know the technique of growing them, in their lands back at home. Panditha Wickramarachchi by habit every morning spends time in the garden of plants and herbs talking to the students of the uses of various plants and herbs and also gives hints on how to nurse them for healthy growth. He expected his students in the course of time to carry out research and to shine better than him. That was the motive of this great, noble selfless visionary.

With the passage of time it is natural for change to take place mainly for development and to meet the needs of the era. From the inception of the Ayurvedic School in 1929 to 1966 the institute was entirely maintained by Panditha Wickramarachchi. Thereafter in keeping with the Ayurveda Act No. 31 of 1961 the State was required to give recognition to and assistance for the development of Ayurveda studies. In this set up the Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurveda Institution was given a Government Grant in 1966. At the same time in recognition of the services of Panditha Wickramarachchi his son, Mr. Winaya-Kantha Wickramarachchi was nominated as a member of the Board of Management which was formed as required by the regulations. Mr. Winaya-Kantha Wickramarachchi in addition to being a member of the Board of Management he functioned as Treasurer for 17 years from 1966, until the Ayurveda Teaching School was taken over by an Act of Parliament and transformed to a semi State Institution in 1982. This occurred 7 years after the death of Panditha Wickramarachchi. Subsequently the government considered it necessary to award an Ayurveda Degree (DSAMS) to those who follow the five year course at the Ayurvedic Institute. To meet this requirement the Government up graded the Institute to University status in 1988 November. The affiliation of it to the Kelaniya Campus took place in 1995, by Act No. 1 of Parliament in 1995.

Apart from the Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurveda Institute at Yakkala, the manufacture and supply of medicinal products is done in yet another separate complex. It is owned and managed by Dr. (Ms) Anusha Wickramarachchi.

Dr. Ms. Anusha Wickramarachchi holds a MBBS qualification and is the second daughter of Mr. Winaya-Kantha Wickramarachchi. The eldest daughter Dr. (Ms) Sujee Kottegoda nee Wickramarachchi, MD is a practising Physician in UK. It is admirable that two grand daughters of Panditha Wickramarachchi had inherited the healing hands of the grandfather.

The third and last daughter of Winaya-Kantha Wickramarachchi, Mrs. Rochelle Wickramarachchi is deeply involved in foreign publicity of the Ayurvedic products and she handles the export trade of the produce to countries such as Japan, Australia, USA, UK, etc. The detailed information of this highly involved business venture is given in the website www.totalayurveda.com

Family traditions

Though Panditha Wickramarachchi is not among the living his son and grand daughters are actively holding on to family traditions to keep the name Panditha Wickramarachchi alive very much like the statue that stands in the premises of the Ayurveda Teaching Institute at Yakkala.

The State had recognised the magnanimity of Panditha Wickramarachchi in donating to the State the entire Ayurveda Teaching Complex at Yakkala and also his selfless service to the nation as a teacher in the institute. After the demise of Panditha Wickramarachchi in 1975 it was considered necessary as a tribute to this great personality, to perpetuate the name Wickramarachchi. This was achieved by renaming the school as Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurveda Institute, in 1982, along with the take over of the complex to semi-Government control. To commemorate the 60th year of the Teaching School and to honour Panditha Wickramarachchi a postal stamp valued at 75 cents was issued on the 14th December 1989.

Even far back in 1957 February he was nominated to the Senate from where he resigned after some time and again got elected to the Senate in 1961 by the Prime Minister Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike. The Vidyodaya Pirivena also in appreciation of the services of Panditha Wickramarachchi conferred on him the title of Ayurveda Chakravarthi.

When you look back at the activities of Ayurveda Chakravarthi Panditha G. P. Wickramarachchi, not only the personal wealth he spent on the school project but imparting to students his knowledge and experience which are priceless, he was not only a philanthropist but a teacher incomparable amongst human beings. Such individuals are seldom found on earth. They are the ones who have tread the path of Bodhisaththas and are in the final journey through Sansara to reach the higher realms. We can well believe that Ayurveda Chakravarthi Panditha G. P. Wickramarachchi has taken birth in a Bhrahma loka and will attain Nibbana in the course of time. It has to be so.