This commemorative stamp from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) was issued in 1959 to celebrate the Institution of the Pirivena Universities, distinguished Buddhist centres of learning, which had been given university status following the University Act No 45 of 1958, namely Vidyodaya Pirivena, at Maligakanda, Colombo, and the Vidyalankara Pirivena in Kelaniya.
The stamp depicts the Maligakanda Vidyodaya Pirivena on the left – first established in 1873 under the guidance of the Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thero, who is shown in a vignette above his school, with the Vidyalankara Pirivena, established in 1875 by the Kalapaluvawe Dharmarama Thero shown on the right.