History
Among the early Western residents were the Venerables Vappo, Mahanama, Assaji and Bhaddiya. The founder dāyaka (lay supporter) was William Mendis Wijesekera. He and other lay supporters from around Dodanduwa conveyed alms food and other requisites to the hermitage by boat every morning. In 1913 a dānasāla (refectory) was constructed.
It was not until 1914 that the Island Polgasduwa actually came into the legal possession of the Sangha, having been bought and donated from Ven. Nyanatiloka's Swiss supporter, Monsieur Bergier. Since that time, though interrupted by two world wars, Western as well as Sinhalese monks and laymen have lived, studied, practiced, and spread the Dhamma from the Island Hermitage. On the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German monks were first permitted to stay at the Island Hermitage under surveillance. However, after four months, they were taken into civil internment in Sri Lanka and then sent to Australia. When Ven. Nyanatiloka was finally able to return to Sri Lanka in 1926, he found his beloved Island Hermitage in utter ruin and had to rebuild it all anew.
As soon as the restoration was completed and it was making rapid progress the Second World War broke out in 1939. Ven. Nyanatiloka and his German disciples were again interned in camps first in Sri Lanka and then in India. They were allowed to return in 1946. This time the Hermitage remained in a well preserved and even improved condition and now included the adjacent small island of Metiduwa which had already been used for some time, but was now donated by Lady Evadne de Silva, a longtime supporter of Ven. Nyanatiloka.
A detailed account of the history of the Island Hermitage and the monks who lived on it can be found in The Life of Nyanatiloka Thera: The Biography of a Western Buddhist Pioneer, Bhikkhu Nyanatusita & Hellmuth Hecker, Kandy 2008.
Read more about this topic: Island Hermitage
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