victory for Gunananda Thera. The British government, weary of religious conflict, largely attempted a policy of religious neutrality at this time. During this period, Buddhists formed societies (such as the Society for the Propagation of Buddhism) and centres of learning (Vidyodaya Pirivena and Vidyalankara Pirivena) to promote Buddhism and to print Buddhist literature. A new monastic fraternity was also formed, the Ramanna Nikaya (which split off from the Amarapura Nikaya), which stressed monastic discipline. Indeed, the revival movement was mainly led by these two Nikayas, and the Siam Nikaya in Kandy largely remained uninvolved. During this time the first Buddhist school in Sri Lanka, 'Jinalabdhi Vishodaka' was founded in 1869 and its founder was Sri Piyaratana Tissa Mahanayake Thero In 1880 Henry Steel Olcott arrived in Sri Lanka with Madame Blavatsky of the Theosophical Society, causing much excitement on the island. He had been inspired when he read about the Panadura debate and had exchanged letters with Gunananda. After learning about Buddhism from monks such as Sumangala Thera, Olcott converted to the religion. Olcott and the Sinhalese Buddhist leaders established the Buddhist Theosophical Society in 1880, with the goal of establishing Buddhist schools (there were only three at the time, by 1940, there were 429 Buddhist schools on the island). He sponsored Buddhist colleges such as Ananda College in Colombo and the Dharmaraja College in Kandy. Olcott also collected the Buddhist scriptures which had been translated by Western Indologists and based on these, he composed a ‘Buddhist Catechism’ (1881), which promoted Buddhism as a 'scientific religion' and was used in Buddhist schools until the late 20th century. The Sri Lankan Theosophical society under Olcott also had its own publications to promote Buddhism; the Sinhalese newspaper, Sarasavisandarasa, and its English counterpart, The Buddhist. As a result of their efforts, Vesak became a public holiday, Buddhist registrars of marriage were allowed, and interest in Buddhism increased. Olcott was also part of the committee which designed the new Buddhist flag. The presence of a group of westerners who championed Buddhism also had an energizing effect on the sangha. Another important figure in the revival is Anagarika Dharmapala, initially an interpreter for Olcott, he then travelled around the world preaching Buddhism and associating with clerics, Theosophists, scholars, elites and other interested folks. In Sri Lanka, he preached Buddhism, gave speeches and led the establishment of numerous Buddhist schools, hospitals, seminaries and the Buddhist newspaper