community. The government declared that the activities of the Theravada monks of spreading Buddhism and writing in Nepal Bhasa were illegal, and on 30 July 1944, eight monks including Dhammalok, Pragyananda Mahasthavir and Kumar Kashyap Mahasthavir were expelled from Nepal for refusing to sign a pledge to stop doing so. The exiled monks first went to Kushinagar, India and then to Sarnath. On the full moon day of 31 November 1944 in Sarnath, they founded Dharmodaya Sabha (Society for the Rise of the Teaching) which published books and a magazine on Buddhism titled Dharmodaya. Dhammalok spent his exile in India, Tibet and Bhutan, and returned to Kathmandu on 5 June 1946 after the ban was lifted. From 1946, following pressure from Indian Buddhist societies, the government also allowed publication of literature in Nepal Bhasa after being censored. Dhammalok devoted his later years to writing. He also worked to develop Lumbini and Kapilavastu, the Buddha's birthplace and family home in southern Nepal. Dhammalok died at Ananda Kuti Vihar. Gallery See also Aniruddha Mahathera Banishment of Buddhist monks from Nepal Buddhism in Nepal References 1890 births 1966 deaths People from Kathmandu Nepalese Theravada Buddhists Theravada Buddhist monks Nepalese Buddhist monks Theravada Buddhism writers Nepalese male writers Newar-language writers Nepal Bhasa movement Persecution of Buddhists Nepalese exiles 20th-century Buddhist monks