Kotahene Soma Maha Thera (December 23, 1898 - February 23, 1960), born as Victor Emmanuel Perera Pulle in Kotahena, Colombo,[1] was a Theravada Buddhist monk, translator and missionary.
Soma Thera was raised as a Sinhalese Catholic and received his education at the Catholic St. Benedict's College in Kotahena, but became a Buddhist in his teenage years after reading the Dhammapada.[1]
In 1934, he went to Japan with his friend G.S. Prelis (later ordained as Kheminda Thera) and translated the Chinese version of the Vimuttimagga into English, which was published as The Path of Freedom. In 1936, both Victor Perera and Prelis went to Burma and received the higher ordination as Theravada Buddhist monks on November 6, 1936[2] in Moulmein under the meditation teacher Jetavana Sayadaw.
During World War II, Soma Thera stayed at the Island Hermitage with Kheminda Thera and Nyanaponika Thera.
Despite suffering from asthma, being a member of the Buddhist Mission of Goodwill he participated in a mission to India in 1940. Soma Thera took part in another mission to Germany in 1957, sponsored by the German Dharmaduta Society, during which the society acquired Das Buddhistische Haus (The Buddhist House) in Berlin, founded by Dr. Paul Dahlke.[3][4] Soma Thera published many books with regard to Buddhism and was an author of the Buddhist Publication Society, writing several booklets of the Bodhi Leaves and The Wheel series.[5]
Soma Thera died of pulmonary thrombosis in 1960.[1]
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