Having installed the four monks in the Burmese rest house, Dharmapala opened negotiation with the Mahant for the purchase of a piece of land, and at this point begins the story of his unequal struggle with the second wealthiest landlord in the whole province of Bihar, a struggle in which we hardly know whether to be more astonished at the invincible determination displayed on one side, or at the incredible business on the other.

Weary of all these vacillations, which were only a foretaste of what was yet to come, Dharmapala decided to organize an Inter- national Buddhist Conference, and after his return from a brief visit to Ceylon, the conference had its memorable sitting at Buddha Gaya, on October 31, 1891, on the eve of the Lt. Governor of Bengal’s visit to the holy spot.

Representatives from Ceylon, China, Japan and Chittagong attended and the Japanese delegates informed the conference that the Buddhists of their country would be willing to purchase the temple from the Mahant, in consequence of which it was resolved that a deputation should wait upon him with a proposal to that effect. It was further resolved to call subscriptions from all Buddhist countries for the construction of a monastery for propagation of the faith, and for translation of Buddhist texts into Indian languages.

On October, 25, Dharmapala gave his first public lecture in India, at the Albert Hall, Calcutta, under the presidency of Mr. Narendra Nath Sen, his subject being “Buddhism in its relation to Hinduism”. At the beginning of 1892 the office of the Maha Bodhi Society was shifted to Calcutta, where the Bengali intelligentsia looked with sympathy upon the objects for which it had been founded, and in the month of May Dharmapala started the MAHA BODHI JOURNAL in order to facilitate the interchange of news among Buddhist countries.

Progress was by no means either smooth or easy, however; funds were often lacking and frequently the Society’s sole worker had to choose between buying stamps for posting the journal and food for his evening meal. But the sacrifice was made joyfully, with the reflection that since there was no self-there was no sacrifice.

Inspite of his activities in Calcutta and at Buddha Gaya, Dharmapala found time to attend the annual conventions at Adyar, as well as to establish relations with the Himalayan Buddhists of Darjeeling, to whom he presented some relics of the Buddha, a few leaves from the Bodhi tree, and a Buddhist flag. After the relics had been taken in a colourful procession through the crowded streets to the residence of Raja Tondub Pulger, where a number of Tibetan and Sikkimese dignitaries, both lay and ecclesiastical, had assembled, Dharmapala gave a speech on the ancient decline and modern revival of Buddhism and appealed to Buddhists of Tibet to support the work of the Maha Bodhi Society.