bring back a new ordination which would not be restricted by caste. This new monastic order thrived in the littoral regions outside of Kandy and even made headways into Kandyan territory. While the British government had a preference for Christians, they were not openly hostile to Buddhism, due to their fear that religious controversies might provoke political unrest. During the first two decades of British rule, there was no official British support for Christian missionary societies. Left to their own resources, the efforts of these missionary organizations made their progress in converting the population slowly, though they did grow. Their activities were also very restricted in the Kandyan regions. From the beginning, the missions used education as a means of evangelisation. Education in these schools (which disparaged Buddhism) was a requirement for government office. Christian missionaries also wrote tracts in Sinhalese attacking Buddhism and promoting Christianity. After the 1830s, there was a period in which the British supported Christian missionary work much more actively. This was mainly due to the influence of pro-missionary politicians like Lord Glenelg and Governor Stewart Mackenzie (1837–41), as well as to the agitation of missionary agencies themselves. During this period, missionary organizations were the dominant influence in education, and it was believed that education should aim first and foremost to convert the local elites. Also during this time, the official association of the state with Buddhism was severed, in spite of a popular rebellion in 1848. However, the rebellion did cause the British government to become much more conservative in matters of religion and social change, and in the latter half of the 19th century it backed away from its support of missionary efforts they felt would anger the Sinhalese. The Buddhist revival In the second half of the 19th century, a national Buddhist revival movement began as a response to Christian missionaries and British colonial rule. This movement was empowered by the results of several public debates between Christian priests and Buddhist monks such as Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera and Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera. The big five public debates with Protestant missionaries were held in 1865 (the Baddegama and Waragoda debates), 1866 (Udanwita debate), 1871 (Gampola debate), and 1873 (Panadura debate). Topics of the debates included God, the Soul, the resurrection, Karma, Rebirth, Nirvana and the principle of dependent origination. One of these debates, the famed "Panadura debate" of 1873 was widely seen as a