Burgher Families: Bandaranaike

Sri Lankan Sinhalese/Burgher Family Genealogy

Nilaperumal aka Kalukapuge - Family #1001

Bandaranaike family tree

1 Nilaperumal aka Kalukapuge, b: circa 1590, High Priest (Kapurala) of Nawagomuwe Dewale

2 Mohotti Appuhami b:1625, (It may be assumed that during the Dutch period. (1658-1796), they would have chosen to take Western Christian names and also changed their religion from Buddhism to Christianity). Mohotti Appuhamy by Sannas Ola of 11^th Feb 1664, received 6 Amunas of field in Nawagamuwa from the Dissawe P Dupont.

3 Domingo Dias Bandaranaike (Mudaliyar), b:circa 1660 d:1733 + Dona Dominga, d:1723

4 Dona Dinesia Dias Bandaranaike bp:17 Mar 1700 settled in Kandy

4 Dona Louisa Dias Bandaranaike, bp:14/12/1701 + Don Simon de Livera m:15/8/1716 at Yala (3109)

5 Don Balthazar de Livera Wijewickrema Seneviratne, Mudaliyar Hewagam Korale. Atapattu Mudaliyar in 1739. Received medal from Governor Fredrick North for good services in 1803, + Dona Catherina Perera, m:1778

6 Johanna Petrenella de Livera b:1780 + Don Solomon Dias Bandaranaike

6 Christina Louisa de Livera b:1782

6 Justina Monika de Livera b:1786 + Abraham Petrus Dias Bandaranaike

6 Nicholas Johannes de Livera b:1788

6 [12] Simon de Livera b:1779 + [13] Elizebeth Dias Bandaranaike (d/o Don Alexander Dias Bandaranaike), (Grand daughter of Don Francisco Dias Bandaranaike b:1720 Mudaliyar), (Francisco Bandaranaike is the great great great grand father of SWRD Bandaranaike)

7 [10] Cornelius de Livera (b:1808) + [11] Isabella Dias Bandaranaike

8 James de Livera (lawyer) + Fredricka

9 Violet de Livera

9 Jane de Livera

9 Ella de Livera

9 Carita de Livera

9 Edmund de Livera, (wrote the St.Thomas’s College, College Song)

9 Ronald de Livera

10 Ronnie de Livera + Chandrani

11 Gehan de Livera(NZ) + Malkanthi Samarakkody (two children) (3118)

11 Nelun de Livera + Edward Perera (2 children)

11 Shirani de Livera + Ananda Wettasinghe (2 children)

11 Ranil de Livera + Anusha (one child)

9 Percy de Livera

10 Oscar de Livera (STC Mt Lavinia) (Was Ambassador to Pakistan 1985)

10 Michael de Livera

10 Fred de Livera.

10 Audrey de Livera.

10 Bertie de Livera.

10 Jim de Livera.

10 Norman de Livera.

10 Yvonne de Livera.

9 Godwin de Livera (1876-1921)Revenue officer + Charlot Samarakkody daughter of Mudaliyar Samarakkody. (3118)

10 Zizka de Livera died 1974

10 Ivy de Livera.died 19710

10 Iole de Livera + Solomn Samarakkody (Lawyer) (3118)

11 Srikumar Samarakkody (STC Mt Lavinia) (Doctor)+ no children.

11 Srivanka Samarakkody(STC Mt Lavinia) + Welgedera two children.

11 Rajan Samarakkody(STC Mt Lavinia) + 3 children.

11 Indrajith Samarakkody (STC Mt Lavinia) + 2 children.

11 Rohini Samarakkody unmarried

11 Sriyani Samarakkody + Gamini Jayaweera one child

11 Malkanthi Samarakkody + Gehan de Livera, two children

11 Suvendrini Samarakkody

10 Vaughn de Livera.1917-2003 (STC Mt Lavinia) + Chandra Pieris Deraniyagala.

11 Gayan de Livera (STC Mt Lavinia) died unmarried

11 Yasmin de Livera + Ramesh Abeysekera

12 Jehan Abeysekera

12 Yohan Abeysekera

10 Louis Charles de Livera (Carl) (STC Mt Lavinia) Lawyer (1919-1969) + Gertrude Seneviratne (Eng.Inst.Kel.Uni) b:1931 (3108)

11 Sunil de Livera (STC Mt Lavnia) Musicion died unmarried

11 Jagath Manjula de Livera (STC Mt Lavinia), b:1960, (Accountant/Deputy Chief Internal Auditor Urban Development Authority Sri Lanka, 1985-2005), migrated to Melbourne Australia in 2006 +Lakshmi Aulanandam (Lawyer) (5030)

12 Rahul de Livera b:1994 (Aus)

12 Shruti de Livera b:2001(Aus)

11 Lankika de Livera, Journalist b:1964 + Prasanna Panditharatne.

12 Kusan Panditharatne, b:1995 (STC Kollupitiya)

11 2hd spouse of Lankika Erandathi de Livera + Sri Srikumar (Accountant) STC Mt Lavinia

6 2nd spouse of Simon de Livera b:1779 + Dona Florentina Abeysinghe

7 Fredrick de Livera, b:1813)

4 Don Balthazar Wijewickrema Dias Bandaranaike bp:21/3/1707, Mudliyar of Atapattu Dias Bandaranaike + Hettimullage Johanna Dias of Galkissa, m:4 Mar 1731

5 David Balthazar Dias Bandaranaike, b:4/5/1738 + Dona Maria of Panadura on 28/10/1753 and died in 1754

5 PhilomelaDias Bandaranaike (Philomena?) Dias Bandaranaike, b:8 Apr 1742 died April 1746

4 Francina Dias Bandaranaike bp:1710 + Alexander Abeykoon. Mudliyar Siyane Korale, m:Apr 4 1726

4 Goosman Appuhamy, settled in the Kandyan territory

3 Corale

4 Theodoris bap 2 Mar 1714

4 Constantino + Ana Coere, m: 15 May 1728

5 Johanna bp:7 Apr 1731

5 Adriana bp:4 Mar 1730, married at Kelaniya

5 Bearnado bp:17 Aug 1738 + Dona Phillipa, m:2 Dec 1759

5 Simona

4 Don Francisco Dias Wijetunga Bandaranaike, b:1720 Mudaliyar Hewagam Korale. He fled to Kandy in 1760 to join the Singhalese,in the struggle between the Dutch and the Kandyan King, and was rewarded with Mudaliyar for four Pattus. + Dona Maria Perera, b:1722

5 Dominga Dias Bandaranaike bp:6 Dec 1740 + Pascol de Livera Wirekon of Kelaniya

5 2nd spouse of Dominga Dias Bandaranaike bp:1740 + Samanakkody Mudaliyar

6 so

6 son

6 daughter

5 Jacob Dias Bandaranaike, bap 25^th August 1758

5 Madalena bp:8 Dec 1740 + Solomon de Livera Wirekon of Kelanoiya, m:15^th Sep 1758

5 2nd spouse of Madalena bp:8 Dec 1740 + Paules Perera Ekanayake (Mudliyar)

6 daughter

5 Johanna bp:23 Jun 1744 + Hettimulle Guneratne Mudiyansalage Don Hendrick Appuhamy, m:17 Sep 1766

6 Name Not Known

6 Name Not known

5 Conrad Pieter Dias Wijewardena Bandaranaike (Maha Mudliyar) Hina Corale bp:26/7/1747, Maha Mudliyar had received 3 Gold medals-(one for quelling a rebellion, another for planting a Cinnamon Garden and another for cutting a canal) + Louise Jeronimus Atapattu (d of Phillip Jeronimus Atapattu + Louisa Atapattu Ekanayake b:1753, (d/o Don Phillip Jeronymus Atapattu), m:4 Dec 1768

6 Don David Dias Bandaranaike + Juliana Sophiya De Saram Wanigasekera Ekanaike (3126)

    	        7  Christina Pietronella Dias Bandaranaike, bp:29th Oct 1789 + Fonseka Samarakkody Mudaliyar (3118)

        	            8  Daughter (m 1800) + Samuel Amarasekera (3068)

9 Daughter + Adirian Dias Bandaranayaka, Malwana (1001)

9 Daughter + Carolis Livera, Muhandiram Kalutara

9 Daughter + P Gunatilaka, Muhandiram Lockgate Colombo

10 Robert Gunatilaka, President Pasdum Korale

    	        7  Carlo Dias Bandaranaike

6 Maria Dias Bandaranaike + J W Dias Abeysinghe Mohottiar

6 Abraham Petrus Dias Bandaranaike + Justina Monika de Livera, (d/o Balthazar de Livera), m:1809

6 Cornelis Dias Bandaranaike b:1770, d:1869 + Henrietta Samarakoon (d/o Simon Samarakoon Mudaliyar)
7 daughter + (m:22/2/1850) Jhon Gerad Perera Mudaliyar Salpita Korale (his 2nd wife)

6 Corneliya Bandaranaike + Jehan Phillipsz MM

7 Phillipz Gysbertus Panditharatne Mohandiram + Florentina Dias Abeysinghe (d of JW Dias Abeysinghe)

7 2nd spouse of Phillipz Gysbertus Panditharatne Mohandiram + Angenitta Catherina (d/o Perera Ekanayake Mudaliyar)

7 Gertruda Phillipsz + John Dias Bandaranaike Mohandiram

7 John Leonard Wijekoon Panditharatne Phillipsz Mudaliyar + Susana Illangakoon (d of Don David Illangakoon Maha Mudaliyar) (3169)

7 daughter Philipsz + Johannes Jacaobus de Saram Wijesekera Mudaliyar

6 Don Johannes Fransiscus Dias Bandaranayake (Mudaliyar), b:13 Dec 1789-d:21 Jul 1862 + Frederica Agenitta Catherina de Saram (daughter of Louis de Saram, 2^nd Maha Mudaliyar & Leanora Phillipsz Mohandiram), b:1 Mar 1800, m:11-Jun-1815. (3126)

7 Johanna Louisa Dias Bandaranayake b:12-Dec-1820 + John Martinus Paulus Pieris, Mudaliyar, m:Nov-1851 (1005)

8 William Pieris

8 Rosalyn Pieris

8 Harry Pieris

8 Elizebeth Pieris

8 Lydia Pieris

8 Felicia Pieris

8 [14] John Louis Pieris, b:1852, brother of Sir Paul Pieris + [15] Florence Elisa Bandaranaike, b:circa 1865

8 [23] Sir Paul E Pieris, b:1853, educated at STC Mt Lavinia, Writer of Sinhala books and Historian, (He wrote the book Sinhalese families which was published in 1911.) + [24] Lady Hilda Obeyesekere

9 Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala 1900-1976 Director Museum, (Scientist,Zoologist) + Prini Molamure (3117), m:28-Jun-1934

10 Paulus Arjun Mayadun Deraniyagala

10 Ranil Yudisthira Deraniyaga

10 Siran Upendra Deraniyagala

10 Isanth Deraniyagala

9 Justin Pieris Deraniyagala

9 Ralph St Louis Pieris Deraniyagala + Ezlyn Obeyesekere

10 Ralph Deraniyagala (Bando) + Indrani Nugara

11 Arubind Deraniyagala

9 Miriam Pieris Deraniyagala 1908-1999 + Robert de Saram (s/o F R de Saram) (3126)

10 Skanda Ajith de Saram + Sharadha Manorama Muthu Krishna (7010)

11 Tesalia de Saram

11 Sergei Ishviyan de Saram

10 Rohan de Saram (Cello) + Rosemary de Saram

11 Sophia de Saram

11 Suren de Saram

10 Druvi de Saram (Piano) + Sharmini de Fonseka

11 Mandhira de Saram

11 Radhika de Saram

10 Niloo de Saram + Desmond Fernando

11 Jeevani Fernando

10 2nd spouse of Niloo de Saram + Jehan Edwards

8 David George Pieris Deraniyagala + Enid Muriel Dias Bandaranaike (1001)

9 Sumana Pieris

9 Mallika Pieris

9 Indrani Pieris

9 Merrick Pieris

9 [2] Chandra Pieris Deraniyagala + [1] Vaughn de Livera (3109) (STC Mt Lavinia)

10 [3] Gayan de Livera (STC Mt Lavinia) died unmarried

10 [4] Yasmin de Livera + [5] Ramesh Abeysekera

11 [6] Jehan Abeysekera

11 [7] Yohan Abeysekera

7 Conrad (Peter) Petrus Dias Wijewardena Bandaranaike (Maha Mudliyar), b:1842.(Alukuru korale) Received medal from Governor Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon for the period 1883-1890 (for friendship and assistance rendered) + De Saram

8 son

8 son
8 Edwin Dias Bandaranaike

8 son

8 Franciscus Dias Bandaranaike, b: 1862, He was educated at Royal College and St Thomas's College. He + in 1902 Somawathi (daughter of Keppetipola Rate Mahatmaya of Matale). He managed the estates. Ref: 20th Century impressions of Ceylon page 525 of Arnold Wright

8 [15] Florence Elisa Bandaranaike, b:circa 1865 + [14] John Louis Pieris, b:1852, brother of Sir Paul Pieris

6 Isabella Bandaranaike + Paules Ekanayake, Mudliyar Siyane Korale

6 Jacabus (Jacobus?) Dias Wijewardena Bandaranaike, b:1780, (Mudaliyar of Governor Gate & Translator of Supreme Court), d:1866 + Liyanage Catherine Philipsz Panditharatne, m:1806, (d/o of Phillip Philipsz Wijekoon Panditharatne, Maha Mudaliyar and Chief interpreter, & Dona Leonara)

7 Henry Dias Bandaranaike (Sir Harry), 1822-1901, Judge, Supreme Court. Member of Legislative Council, died unmarried. Born:22-Aug-1822. Education under Rev. Canon Dias, Royal Academy, Kings College (London). First Sri Lankan Barrister at Law. Member LC 1861-1864. Represented Ceylon at the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Awarded Gold Medal. First Ceylonese to act for C.J.Morgan 1879, 1888. Called to the Bar, Middle Temple, 1848. First Sinhala Judge of the Supreme Court 1885-1892. Knighted 1893. Died:24-Jun-1901

7 John Charles Dias Bandaranaike + Fanny de Saram

7 Catherine Cecilia Dias Bandaranaike, b:1821, (d of Johannes Franciscus DB)+David Jayathilake Gooneratne Mohottiar of Galle (his 2nd wife)

+ Gooneratne

8 Edmund Rowland Jayathilake Gooneratne, b:6/5/1845, educated at STC Mt Lavinia, Translator, later in 1896 became Mudaliyar, Joined govt service in 1865 as translator in Galle Kachcherie. Held the post of Asst.to AGA Matara.Police Magistrate Balapitiya. Registrar of Lands Galle.Retired in 1897 after 32 yrs of service. In 1883, in recognition of his services he was appointed Mudaliyar. In 1897, participated in Jubilee Celebrations in England, and was presented to Queen Victoria and the King. He owned several plantations in Galle,Matara and Hambantota. Translator later in 1883 became Mudaliyar. + daughter of Mudaliyar J V Illangakoonin 1873. (3169)

                            8 2nd spouse of E R J Gooneratne, b:1845, educated at STC Mt Lavinia, Translator, later in 1896 became Mudaliyar, + Ms Tillakaratne (3 sons and 2 daughters)
                                9  Dr Valantine David Goonaratne, b:1874 STC (Surgeon Galle Hospital) + Clarice de Saram (d/o Peter de Saram 3126)
                                9  Miss Gooneratne + Abraham Dias Abeysinghe, b:1850

7 Catharine Cecilia Dias Bandaranaike 2hd md + Dionysius Andreas Tennakoon.

7 Florence Dias Bandaranaike + James de Alwis

8 [16] Annie Lucy (Florence) de Alwis, 1864-1920 + [17] Felix Reginold Dias Bandaranaike, m:Apr 1890, b:26-Jul-1861, d:30-Jan-1947, educated at St Thomas' College & Royal College (Colombo Academy), Went to England in 1882. Graduated from Cambridge and obtained BA, LLB. Later received the degrees of MA and LLM. Returned to Ceylon in 1888 and became advocate of local bar. Later became Police Magistrate. In 1897 he became District Judge Colombo. m:14-Apr-1890

9 Reginald Felix Dias Bandaranaike, Dr. (Bunny) b:17-Jan-1891, d:26-Oct-1951 + (1) “Princess” De Livera (3109)

10 Michael Dias Bandaranaike + Norah Hunter-Crabbe (UK)

11 Alison Dias Bandaranaike + Wolfram Koch (Austria)

11 Julia Dias Bandaranaike + Stuard Orford

12 Name Not Known

9 2nd spouse of Reginald Felix Dias Bandaranaike, Dr. (Bunny) b:17-Jan-1891, d:26-Oct-1951 + Freda Dias Abeysinghe

10 Christine Manel Dias Bandaranaike 1928-1967 + David Blackler

10 Felix Dias Bandaranaike, b:5-Nov-1930, d:26-Jun-1985 (Minister of Public Administration,Local Govt,Home Affairs& Justice 1970-77) + Muthulakshmi Jayasundera

11 Christine Wickremanayake

9 Annette Lena Dias Bandaranaike, 1894-1982 + Roland William Ilangakoon, First Sinhalese Attorney General, m:1914 (see pics below)

10 Hope Ilangakoon + Quintus Tennekoon

11 Nirmalie Serena Tennekoon (died 198?)

11 Deepthi Christine Tennekoon + Palitha Senanayake

10 Nannette Christine Ilangakoon, d:Aug 5 2006 in Australia + Lyn (ECG) Wickremasinghe (3103), was the GM of Bank of Ceylon in the seventies, is a second cousin of Esmund Wickremasinghe, father of Ranil Wickremasinghe (UNP).

http://www.dailynews.lk/2001/pix/PrintPage.asp?REF=/2006/09/07/main_Obituaries.asp

WICKREMASINGHE - NANETTE CHRISTINE (nee ILANGAKOON) widow of late ECG (Lyn) Wickremasinghe, beloved mother of Git and Ravi, mother-in-law of Una and Yasanthi, grandmother of Ramila, Charith and Roshana, sister of Hope, late Neil, Anthea, Philip and Glen, sister-in-law of Quintus and late Lynnette, Ine, Trissette, Gertrude, late Lota (Evelyn) and Lou, passed away on 05th August 2006. The funeral and thanksgiving service were held in Australia on 14th August 2006. DN Sep 7 2006

11 Githendra Wickremasinghe b:1948 (Royal College, Colombo, 1959-66) + Una (UK)

12 Roshana Wickremasinghe

11 Ravi Wickremasinghe + Yasanthi (Australia)

12 Ramila Wickremasinghe

12 Charith Wickremasinghe

10 Ronald Neil Ilangakoon + Lynnette de Alwis

11 Sheami Ilangakoon + DEW Perera

12 Karen Shanya Ilangakoon-Perera

12 Sheena Tiyani Ilangakoon-Perera

12 David Janik Ilangakoon-Perera

10 Anthea Ilangakoon + Ine

10 Philip Ilangakoon + Trisetta

10 Glendora Ilangakoon, died 197? + Gertrude

9 Samuel James Felix Dias Bandaranaike, Agricultural Department + Esther Ramkeesoon (Trinidad).

10 Sonia Dias Bandaranaike + Dr. Digby William Hall (UK)

11 William Hall

11 Mary Hall

11 James Hall

11 Emma Hall

10 Gwendolyn Dias Bandaranaike, died 2004 + Roland Dias Abeysinghe

11 Yohann Dias Abeyesinghe + Manjari Wickremasinghe Rajapakse

12 Chandhana Dias Abeysinghe

12 Hasulie Dias Abeysinghe

11 Jayanthi Dias Abeyesinghe + Ranjith Weerasinghe

12 Auchithya Weerasinghe

11 Kavinda Dias Abeyesinghe + Shyamini Balasuriya

12 Nadhil Dias Abeysinghe

10 Yasmine Dias Bandaranaike, b:1935, University professor, literary critic, editor, bibliographer, novelist, essayist, and poet. She received her education from Bishop's college and went on to graduate from the University of Ceylon in 1959. She also received a Ph. D in English Literature from Cambridge University in 1962. Gooneratne became a resident of Australia in 1972. In 1981 she was the first, and remains until now, the only person to receive the higher doctoral degree of Doctor of Letters ever awarded by Macquarie University. She now holds a Personal Chair in English Literature at Macquarie University, located in New South Wales. From 1989-1993 she was the Foundation Director of her University's Postcolonial Literatures and Languages Research Center. In 1990 Gooneratne became an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to literature and education and in that same year she was also invited to become the Patron of the Jane Austen Society of Australia. From 1994-95, she served on a committee appointed by the Federal Government to review the Australian system of Honors and Awards from 1994-1995. Since 1995, she has had positions on both the Australia Abroad Council and the Visiting Committee of the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong. In 1998, she became a member of Asialink. She has been a visiting professor or specialist at many different places around the world including the following: Edith Cowan University (Western Australia), University of Michigan (USA), Jawarharlal Nehru University (India), and the University of the South Pacific (Fiji). + Dr. Brendon Goneratne (Australia)

11 Channa Gooneratne

11 Devika Gooneratne

10 son (deceased a few minutes after birth at Bandarawela)

8 [18 Ezline Maria de Alwis + [19] Solomon Christoffell Obeyesekere, MLC, b:12-Feb-1848, d:13-Oct-1927, educated at The Colombo Academy (later Royal College) and STC Mount Lavinia. m:1872

9 [21] Daisy Ezline Obeyesekere, m:1898 + [20] Sir Don Solomon Dias Abeywickrema Jayatilleke Senewiratna Rajakumaruna Kadukeralu Bandaranaike (Maha Mudaliyar) b:22-May-1862, d:31-Jul-1946, Kt. Commander of the most distinguished order of St. Michael and St. George, Horogolla Walauwwa, St Thomas' College, Mohandiram 1882. Mudliyar Siyane Korale, After returning from UK, Governor Arthur Havelock awarded Maha Mudaliyar title and All Island JP. In 1897 went to UK as official representative for diamond jubilee celebration and received medal. In 1902 revisited UK. Received Coronation Medal and KCMG, m:Apr-1898

10 Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike b:8-Jan 1899, d:26-Sep-1959, (Prime Minister of Sri Lanka 1956-59, Assassinated by a Buddhist Monk on September 25, 1959), St Thomas' College, educated as a lawyer in UK, University of Oxford. Became Secretary of Oxford Union in 1923, called to the bar in 1925, Member of the State Council in 1931, Formed the Sinhala Maha Sabha in 1937, Active in the UNP 1945-51 and established the SLFP after 1951, Prime Minister 1956-59, To solve the ethnic issue he signed the Bandaranaike-Chelvanaygam pact, which was repudiated due to a campaign led by the Buddhist Clergy. Made Sinhala the official Language + Sirimavo Ratwatta, b:17/4/1916, d:10/10/2000, m:2-Oct-1940 (First woman Prime Minister in the World, Prime Minister, 1960-65, 1970-77, 1994-2000) (3060) Wikipedia Account of Sirimavo

11 Sunethra Dias Bandaranaike, b:1943 + Kumar Rupasinghe (div)

11 2nd spouse of Sunethra Dias Bandaranaike + Udaya Nanayakkara (div)

11 Chandrika Dias Bandaranaike, b:29/6/1945, Early education at St Bridgets Convent, Colombo, and graduated in Political Science at Sorbonne University in Paris, Formed the Peoples Alliance (PA) Party, President of Sri Lanka 1994-2005 + Vijaya Kumaratunga, Film Actor, Assasinated 1988

12 Yasodhara Kumaratunga + Roger Walker, m:Jun 2007 in UK (see wedding pics below)

12 Vimukthi Kumaratunga

11 Anura Dias Bandaranaike b: Feb-15-1949, Educated at Royal College, Member of Parliament 1977 to 2007, Minister Higher Education 1993, Foreign Minister 2005, Leader of the opposition, Speaker of the House, Minister of Tourism/Heritage 2007

10 Alexandra Camelia Bandaranaike, lived at "Samudragiri" Walauwa in Mount Lavinia + Leo G. De Alwis

11 Shirlene De Alwis + Earle Jayawardena

12 Amal Jayawardena + Waruni

11 Lankasa De Alwis (tenor singer) + Joy Dassenaike (cousins)

12 Ranjith de Alwis

13 Raneesha de Alwis

13 Radeena de Alwis

11 Rukie (Rukmani) de Alwis b:26 Mar 1926 + Percy Eheliyagoda

12 Leo Eheliyagoda + Ramya Wijetunge

12 Rosanth Eheliyagoda

12 Shalimar Eheliyagoda + Uma Kumar Sharma

13 Shanikar Sharma +Migara Alwis- m:2009

13 Aashiana Alwis- June 2011

13 Sandesh Sharma

12 Charmaine Eheliyagoda , Attorney-at-Law, a member of the National Police Commission appointed by H.E.The President of Sri Lanka + Lakshman Madurasinghe, m:1979 held at All Saints Church Hulftsdorp in Aug 1979 + Professor Lakshman Madurasinghe, born in Galle, STC Prep School Kollupitiya 1959-1960 (LKG/UKG), STC Mount Lavinia 1961-71, Attorney at Law, Fellow-CIPD UK

13 Rosanth Lakshan Madurasinghe, graduate of the University of London (England). + Nishani Fernando of Wennappuwa on July 7 2007

13 Romaan Athan Madurasinghe Aug 2008

12 Lankani Eheliyagoda

12 Devika Eheliyagoda

[ see web site at http://ceo.intellect.googlepages.com/familytree ]

10 Anna Florentina De Livera Bandaranaike + A. Obeyesekere

9 Ethel Obeyesekere + William Pieris

9 Forester Obeyesekere, (State Councillor) + Anna Isabel Sykes

10 Boykin Obeyesekere

10 Ezlynne Obeyesekere + Ralph St. L P Deraniyagala

11 Ralph Deraniyagala + Indrani Nugera

12 Arubind Deraniyagala

9 Lillian Obeyesekere + William Illangakoon (3169)

8 Edwin Robert de Alwis + Cecilia Dias Bandaranaike

8 Florence Ellen de Alwis + Peter de Saram

9 Clarice + Valantine Gooneratne

9 Lionel Wellington (Duke) de Saram married Ethel Pieris

10 Helen de Saram + Oscar de Livera

11 Asela de Livera + Sharma Dassenaike

12 Ashan

12 Shanila

10 Philip de Saram

9 Beatrice + Arthur Dassenaike

9 Helen

9 Elsie + Guy Dassenaike

10 Naomi + Titus Abeysundera

11 Hiranthi Abeysundera

11 Shirin Abeysundera

10 Alastair Dassanaike + Erin Perera

10 Territt Dassenaike

10 Yvette + Upali Seneviratne

11 Aanjanee June

11 Upamalee

9 Cyril de Saram + Linda de Alwis

10 Cynthia + Bertie de Alwis

11 Christine

10 Sheila + Basil de Alwis

11 Devinda de Alwis

11 Sharnelle

11 Rohan de Alwis

11 Niloo

10 Neliya

9 Maud (Girlie) + Cyril Thilakeratne

10 Patrick Thilakeratne

10 Patricia Thilakeratne + Eric de Livera

11 Priyanee de Livera

7 Nancy Dias Bandaranaike, b:1823

7 Corneliya Dias Bandaranaike, b:1819 + M H de Alwis, m:1840

7 Henrietta Dias Bandaranaike

7 Mary Dias Bandaranaike

7 [8] Rev Canon Samuel William Dias Bandaranaike + [9] Cornelia Susanna Elizabeth Dias Bandaranaike

8 William Chapman Dias Wijewardena Bandaranaike, b:9/6/1860 (nephew of Sir Harry Dias Bandaranaike and step brother of Sir James Peter Obeyesekere), Born in 1860. Educated at St Thomas' College and Royal College, Colombo. Took charge of the estates and plantation management. + Rachel Asmadale, m:1896 (Niece of T B Panabokke)

9 Copleston.Dias Bandaranaike + Irene de Silva

10 Lakshman Dias Bandaranaike + Manthri Amarasekere (3068)

11 Niranjan Indrajith Dias Bandaranaike

10 Tissa Dias Bandaranaike + Johanna Tworeck

11 Janitha Karina Dias Bandaranaike

11 Mahesha Dias Bandaranaike

10 Leela Dias Bandaranaike + Christopher E Pieris

9 Rani Dias Bandaranaike

[Ref: 20th Centuary Impression by Arnold Wright P525]

8 [17] Felix Reginold Dias Bandaranaike, b:26-Jul-1861, d:30-Jan-1947, educated at St Thomas' College & Royal College (Colombo Academy), Went to England in 1882. Graduated from Cambridge and obtained BA, LLB. Later received the degrees of MA and LLM. Returned to Ceylon in 1888 and became advocate of local bar. Later became Police Magistrate. In 1897 he became District Judge Colombo. + [16] Annie Lucy (Florence) de Alwis, 1864-1920 (third daughter of James de Alwis) m:14-Apr-1890

9 Reginald Felix Dias Bandaranaike, Dr. b:17-Jan-1891, d:26-Oct-1951 + (1) “Princess” De Livera

10 Michael Dias Bandaranaike + Norah Hunter-Crabbe (UK)

11 Alison Dias Bandaranaike + Wolfram Koch (Austria)

11 Julia Dias Bandaranaike + Stuard Orford

12 Name Not Known

9 2nd spouse of Reginald Felix Dias Bandaranaike, Dr. (Bunny) b:17-Jan-1891, d:26-Oct-1951 + Freda Dias Abeysinghe

10 Christine Manel Dias Bandaranaike 1928-1967 + David Blackler

10 Felix Dias Bandaranaike, b:5-Nov-1930, d:26-Jun-1985 (Minister of Public Administration,Local Govt,Home Affairs& Justice 1970-77) + Muthulakshmi Jayasundera

11 Christine Wickremanayake

9 Annette Lena Dias Bandaranaike, 1894-1982 + Roland William Ilangakoon, First Sinhalese Attorney General, m:1914 (see pics below)

10 Hope Ilangakoon + Quintus Tennekoon

11 Nirmalie Serena Tennekoon (died 198?)

11 Deepthi Christine Tennekoon + Palitha Senanayake

http://www.dailynews.lk/2001/pix/PrintPage.asp?REF=/2006/09/07/main_Obituaries.asp

11 Githendra Wickremasinghe, b:1948 (Royal College, Colombo 1959-66) + Una (UK)

12 Roshana Wickremasinghe

11 Ravi Wickremasinghe + Yasanthi (Australia)

12 Ramila Wickremasinghe

12 Charith Wickremasinghe

10 Neil Ilangakoon + Lynnette de Livera

11 Sheami Ilangakoon + DEW Perera

12 Name Not Known

10 Anthea Ilangakoon + Ine

10 Philip Ilangakoon + Trisetta

10 Glendora Ilangakoon, died 197? + Gertrude

9 Samuel James Felix Dias Bandaranaike, Agricultural Department + Esther Ramkeesoon (Trinidad).

10 Sonia Dias Bandaranaike + Dr. Digby William Hall (UK)

11 William Hall

11 Mary Hall

11 James Hall

11 Emma Hall

10 Gwendolyn Dias Bandaranaike, died 2004 + Roland Dias Abeysinghe

11 Yohann Dias Abeyesinghe + Manjari Wickremasinghe Rajapakse

12 Chandhana Dias Abeysinghe

12 Hasulie Dias Abeysinghe

11 Jayanthi Dias Abeyesinghe + Ranjith Weerasinghe

12 Auchithya Weerasinghe

11 Kavinda Dias Abeyesinghe + Shyamini Balasuriya

12 Nadhil Dias Abeysinghe

11 Channa Gooneratne

11 Devika Gooneratne

10 son (deceased a few minutes after birth at Bandarawela)

8 Rosamund Dias Bandaranike + John Henry Illangakoon (Mudaliyar) (3169)

9 Millicent Illangakoon + Oswald C Tillekeratne

10 Romi Tillekeratne, d:Aug 2007 (see obit below) + C J (Bucky) De Saram (3126)

11 Christime De Saram + J M G (Gamini) Perera

11 Christopher De Saram (ex University of Moratuwa)

11 Siromi De Saram (University of Colombo - 2007) + Rev Duleep Fernando
12 Ruwan Fernando

DE SARAM - MRS. R.M. (ROMI) nee TILLEKERATNE Daughter of the late O.C. Tillekeratne and the late Millicent (nee Ilangakoon), relict of C.J. (Bucky) de Saram, beloved mother of Christine, Christopher (formerly of the University of Moratuwa), and Siromi (University of Colombo), mother-in-law of the late J.M.G. (Gamini) Perera and the Rev. Duleep Fernando, loving grandmother of Ianthe, Rukshani, Ruwan and Avanka, expired. Cortege leaves residence No.14, Deal Place A, Colombo 3, on Wednesday 8th August 2007 at 4.00 p.m. for interment at General Cemetery Kanatte, Borella (Anglican Section) at 5.00 p.m. DN Tue Aug 7 2007

9 J W Ronald Illangakoon + Annette Lena Dias Bandaranaike, 1894-1982

9 Don Juan Samuel (Mike) Illangakoon + Florence Elapata

9 Sepala Illangakoon

9 Blanche Illangakoon

9 Hilda Illangakoon

9 Opatissa Illangakoon + Yolande Obeyesekere

9 William Illangakoon (chin) Mudaliyar + Lillian Obeyesekere

10 Surangani Illangakoon

10 Pani Illangakoon + Effi Samarakkody (3118)

11 Pani Illangakoon (2)

10 Mahnil Lilette Illangakoon + Roland Hugh Dias Abeysinghe

11 Ayunli Dias Abeysinghe

11 Jayanthi Dias Abeysinghe

8 Amy Dias Badaranaike (1865-1944) + Walter Dias Bandaranaike (Mudliyar)

9 [21] Estelle Dias Bandaranaike + [22] James Peter Obeyesekere II, Maha Mudaliyar (3051)

10 James Peter Obeyesekere III + Sivagami Dassanaike

11 James Peter Obeyesekere Jr

11 Chantal Obeyesekere

9 Evelyn Dias Bandaranaike + George R de Silva ( MP)

9 Stephan Dias Bandaranaike + Ethel Dias Abeysinghe

10 Leonard Dias Bandaranaike, d:20 Apr 2002 + Etienne Dias Bandaranaike, d:14 Feb 2004 (grand daughter of Walter Dias Bandaranaike) She married Hugh Rupasinghe and had a son, Harsha Rupasinghe.

11 Rev Suresh Dias Bandaranaike

11 Rosanara Dias Bandaranaike + Sunil Bandaranaike

10 [28] Ruby Dias Bandaranaike + [27] Danton Obeyesekere

11 Arjuna Obeyesekere

11 Shireen Obeyesekere

11 Indra Obeyesekere

11 Ajith Obeyesekere

10 Alick Dias Bandaranaike d:Aug 1 2007, (see obit below) + Delicia (Dela)

11 Arun Dias Bandaranaike, (Radio & TV presenter, Sports Commentator, Colombo, Sri Lanka)

10 2^nd spouse of Alick Dias Bandaranaike + Name Not Known

[Ref: 20th Centuary Impression by Arnold Wright P525]

                5  Don Daniel Dias Banaranaike (Mohandiram Siyane Korale) bap 16/2/1748 + Dona Clara Amarasekere, m:Jan-13-1773 (3068)
                    6 William Adrian Dias Bandaranaike b:1776, (Interpreter to the British when King Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe was captured in 1815)
                         7  Adrian Dias Bandaranaike, b:1800
                              8  Johanna Dias Bandaranaike, b:1830 + J J de Silva
                                   9  James Alexander de Silva b:1867

                    6  Don Solomon Dias Bandaranayake, Mudaliyar of Siyane Korale, 1^st Udagaha Mudaliyar,b:1774 d15/9/ 1859.
                        1^st married (m:17/6/1805) Johanna Petrenella de Livera (d/o Balthazar de Livera Mudaliyar)
                        2nd married in 1839 Corneliya de Saram b1820

d:Sep-15-1859, He assisted as interpreter on 10^th Feb 1815 when Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe the last King of Kandy was taken to Colombo, and then, who was later taken to India. He was present at the signing of the Kandyan Convention with the British on 2hd March 1815. Don Solomon Dias Bandaranaike was Mudaliyar for 2 Patthus of Siyane Korale East, near the Kandyan border. He received a Gold Medal and land grants in 1803 for his services. He marshaled labor through the Rajakariya System and built the Colombo Kandy Road. He received a gold medal from Governor Brownrigg in 1818. + Cornelia Philipsz Panditharatne de Saram b:1820, (grand-daughter of Susanna Scharff & Rev Henricus Philipsz), m:1839 (1002,1006)

7 Elizabeth Dias Bandaranaike + J M Paulus Pieris Siriwardena

7 Peter Dias Bandaranaike (Mohandiram)

7 Harriet Dias Bandaranaike + Samaradiwakera

7 Johanna Dias Bandaranaike

7 Corneliya Susanna Dias Bandaranaike + (First Bed) D B F Obeyesekere (3051)

8 [19] Sir Solomon Christoffeild Obeyesekere, b:12 Feb 1848, d:13 Oct 1927), MLC, STC Mt. Lavinia, Sinhalese representative in the Legislative Council + [18] Lady Ezline Maria de Alwis

9 [21] Daisy Ezline Obeyesekere, b:1898 + [20] Sir Don Solomon Dias Abeywickrema Jayatilleke Senewiratna Rajakumaruna Kadukeralu Bandaranaike (Maha Mudaliyar) b:22-May-1862, d:31-Jul-1946, Kt. Commander of the most distinguished order of St. Michael and St. George, Horogolla Walauwwa, St Thomas' College, Mohandiram 1882. Mudliyar Siyane Korale, After returning from UK, Governor Arthur Havelock awarded Maha Mudaliyar title and All Island JP. In 1897 went to UK as official representative for diamond jubilee celebration and received medal. In 1902 revisited UK. Received Coronation Medal and KCMG, m:Apr-1898

11 Sunethra Dias Bandaranaike, b:1943 + Kumar Rupasinghe (div)

11 2nd spouse of Sunethra Dias Bandaranaike + Udaya Nanayakkara (div)

12 Yasodhara Kumaratunga + Roger Walker, m:Jun 2007 in UK (see wedding pics below)

12 Vimukthi Kumaratunga

11 Anura Dias Bandaranaike b: Feb-15-1949, d:Mar 15, 2008, Educated at Royal College, Member of Parliament 1977 to 2007, Minister Higher Education 1993, Foreign Minister 2005, Leader of the opposition, Speaker of the House, Minister of Tourism/Heritage 2007

10 Alexandra Camelia Bandaranaike, lived at "Samudragiri" Walauwa in Mount Lavinia + Leo G. De Alwis

11 Shirlene De Alwis + Earle Jayawardena

12 Amal Jayawardena + Waruni

11 Lankasa De Alwis (tenor singer) + Joy Dassenaike (cousins)

12 Ranjith de Alwis

13 Raneesha de Alwis

13 Radeena de Alwis

11 Rukie (Rukmani) de Alwis b:26 Mar 1926 + Percy Eheliyagoda

12 Leo Eheliyagoda + Ramya Wijetunge

12 Rosanth Eheliyagoda

12 Shalimar Eheliyagoda + Uma Kumar Sharma

13 Shanikar Sharma +Migara Alwis- m:2009

13 Aashiana Alwis- June 2011

13 Sandesh Sharma

13 Rosanth Lakshan Madurasinghe, graduate of the University of London (England). + Nishani Fernando of Wennappuwa on July 7 2007

13 Romaan Athan Madurasinghe Aug 2008

12 Lankani Eheliyagoda

12 Devika Eheliyagoda

[ see web site at http://ceo.intellect.googlepages.com/familytree ]

10 Anna Florentina Bandaranaike + Abraham de Livera

11 Christopher de Livera + Nimal Pieris

12 Shanaka de Livera + Samanda

13 Sajin de Livera

13 Shealan de Livera

12 Priyan de Livera

12 Asanthi de Livera + Oswin de Alwis

11 May de Livera

10 2nd spouse of Anna Florentina Bandaranaike + (2nd bed) Obeyesekere (3051)

9 Ethel Obeyesekere + William Pieris

9 Forester Obeyesekere, (State Councillor) + Isabel Sykes

10 Boykin Obeyesekere

10 Ezlynne Obeyesekere + Ralph St. L P Deraniyagala

11 Ralph Deraniyagala + Indrani Nugera

12 Arubind Deraniyagala

9 Lillian Obeyesekere + William Illangakoon (3169)

8 [25] James Peter Obeyesekere I + [26] Corneliya Henrietta Dias Bandaranaike (Missie)

9 [24] Lady Hilda Obeyesekere + [23] Sir Paules Edward Pieris, (Civil Servent, Historian), b:1853, educated at STC Mt Lavinia, Writer of Sinhala books and Historian, (He wrote the book Sinhalese families which was published in 1911.)

10 Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala 1900-1976 Director Museum, (Scientist,Zoologist) + Prini Molamure (3117), m:28-Jun-1934

11 Paulus Arjun Mayadun Deraniyagala

11 Ranil Yudisthira Deraniyaga

11 Siran Upendra Deraniyagala

11 Isanth Deraniyagala

10 Justin Pieris Deraniyagala

10 Ralph St Louis Pieris Deraniyagala + Ezlyn Obeyesekere

11 Ralph Deraniyagala (Bando) + Indrani Nugara

12 Arubind Deraniyagala

10 Miriam Pieris Deraniyagala 1908-1999 + Robert de Saram (s/o F R de Saram) (3126)

11 Skanda Ajith de Saram + Sharadha Manorama Muthu Krishna (7010)

12 Tesalia de Saram

12 Sergei Ishviyan de Saram

11 Rohan de Saram (Cello) + Rosemary de Saram

12 Sophia de Saram

12 Suren de Saram

11 Druvi de Saram (Piano) + Sharmini de Fonseka

12 Mandhira de Saram

12 Radhika de Saram

11 Niloo de Saram + Desmond Fernando

12 Jeevani Fernando

11 2nd spouse of Niloo de Saram + Jehan Edwards

9 ***[22] Sir James Peter Obeyesekere II, Kt, M.A, Maha Mudaliyar & Chief Interpreter to his Excellency the Governor of Ceylon. Barrister at-Law, Advocate of the Supreme Court, Justice of Peace, District Commissioner. 1879-1968, Educated at STC Mt Lavina + [21] Amy Estelle Dias Bandaranaike (1001)

10 James Peter Obeyesekere III (Late MP Attanagalla, Deputy Minister of Health and Finance and Senator 1960-65, Royal College, Cambridge. Qualified as a pilot, Batadola Walauwwe Nittambuwa, Royal College, Colombo 7, d:23 Oct 2007 + Sivagami Dassanaike (Siva Obeyesekere-Minister of Health 1970) Founder of Laksala

OBEYESEKERE - DESHAMANYA JAMES PETER (Late MP Attanagalla, Deputy Minister of Health and Finance and Senator), Only son of late Sir James Peter Obeyesekere Maha Mudaliyar and Lady Amy Estelle Obeyesekere, dearly loved husband of Siva, father of Peter and Chantal, father-in-law of Dijen de Saram, grandfather of Dhevan and Chiara. Remains will lie at Batadola Walauwe, Nittambuwa from 12.00 noon on Wednesday 24th to 12.00 noon on Thursday 25th October and in Colombo from 2.00 p.m. on Thursday 25th to Saturday 27th October. Cortege leaves "Maligawa", 19, Rajakeeya Mawatha, Colombo 07 at 1.00 p.m. Saturday 27th. Cremation at General Cemetery Kanatte at 2.00 p.m. DN Wed Oct 24 2007

11 James Peter Obeyesekere IV Jr.

12 C H Obeyesekere b:9 May 2005

11 Chantal Obeyesekere + Dijen de Saram (3126)

12 Devan de Saram

12 Chiara de Saram

9 Donald Obeyesekere + Johanna Ethel Perera

10 [27] Danton Obeyesekere + [28] Ruby Dias Bandaranaike (sister of Alick Dias Bandaranaike, d:Aug 1 2007, see obit below, & Bernard DB, aunt of Arun DB)

11 Arjuna Obeyesekere

11 Shireen Obeyesekere

11 Indra Obeyesekere

11 Ajith Obeyesekere

10 Corneliya Obeyesekere + Henry Ashmore Pieris

11 Sita Pieris

11 Wimala Pieris

11 Hemal Pieris

11 H S Mevan Pieris (Cricketer STC Mt Lavinia)

10 Asoka Obeyesekere + Eliza Hilda Dias Bandaranaike, d:May 2011OBEYSEKERE - ELIZA HILDA - Wife of the late Asoka, mother of Stanley, mother-in-law of Nelun, grandmother of Hasha, Asoka and Anouk, sister of Sam (SD) Bandaranayake and the late Peter, Hector, Ann and Edwin Dias Bandaranayake, expired. Cortege leaves residence11/5, Rajakeeya Mawatha, Colombo 7 at 4.15 p.m. on Tuesday 31st May, Cremation at General Cemetery, Kanatte at 5.00 p.m. DN May 30 2011

10 Fredrick Obeyesekere

10 Amelia Obeyesekere, 1915-2004 + Louis Pieris

11 Surani Pieris Deraniyagala

11 Ravindra Pieris Deraniyagala

11 Chrisanthi Pieris Deraniyagala

11 Rajini Pieris Deraniyagala

11 Savithri Pieris Deraniyagala

10 Alexander Obeyesekere + Mrs Marrs

9 Stanly Obeyesekere + Brenda de Saram (3126)

10 Nedra Obeyesekere + Colonel F C de Saram (Derrick) (3126)

11 Tara de Saram (National Swimmer) + Ralph Bolling

12 Julian Bolling (National Swimmer)

12 David Bolling (National Swimmer)

12 Jeramy Bolling (National Swimmer)

11 Oosha de Saram (Swimming, Tennis) + Dunkirk Neilendran Chanmugam, Board of The Maharajah Organization, s/o Edgar Jeyomanie Chanmugam b:29 Jul 1894, d: 25 May 1963 & Constance Letitia Mant (alias "Pansy", Principal & Founder of Tiny Tots Pre School, d/o Henry Mant d:7 Dec 1980 & Lily Gracelyn d:11 Apr 1949)

12 Anouk Chanmugam (Golf) + George Ajit Zal Chitty (SL Rifle Shooting Team at Olympics)

13 Aaron Zavareh Chitty

13 Ayla Sharik Chitty

12 Dipika Rukshana Chanmugam (Swimmer) + William Appleton Jnr.

12 Devin Nijanthan Chanmugam (Swimmer)

10 Yolande Obeyesekere + Oopatissa Illangakoon (3169)

7 2nd spouse of [9] Cornelia Susanna Elizabeth Dias Bandaranayake + [8] Rev. Canon Samuel William Dias Bandaranaike (Colombo)

8 William Chapman Dias Wijewardena Bandaranaike b:9/6/1860 (nephew of Sir Harry Dias Bandaranaike and step brother of Sir James Peter Obeyesekere), Born in 1860. Educated at St Thomas' College and Royal College, Colombo. Took charge of the estates and plantation management. + Rachel Asmadale, m:1896 (Niece of T B Panabokke)

9 Copleston.Dias Bandaranaike, b:1882 + Irene de Silva, m:1910

10 Lakshman Dias Bandaranaike + Manthri Amarasekera (3068)

11 Niranjan Indrajith Dias Bandaranaike

10 Tissa Dias Bandaranaike + Johanna Tworeck

11 Janitha Karina Dias Bandaranaike

11 Mahesha Dias Bandaranaike

10 Leela Dias Bandaranaike + Christopher E Pieris

9 Rani Dias Bandaranaike

[Ref: 20th Centuary Impression by Arnold Wright P525]

8 Felix Reginald Dias Bandaranaike, b:26-Jul-1861, d:30-Jan-1947, educated at Royal & St Thomas’ College), Qualifications Cambridge BA,LLB degree. Became District Judge Colombo in 1897, Legal profession + Annie Lucy (Florence) D' Alwis (third daughter of James de Alwis) m:14 Apr-1890

9 Reginald Felix Dias Bandaranaike, Dr. b:17-Jan-1891, d:26-Oct-1951 + (1) “Princess” Joy De Livera

10 Michael Dias Bandaranaike + Norah Hunter-Crabbe (UK)

11 Alison Dias Bandaranaike + Wolfram Koch (Austria)

11 Julia Dias Bandaranaike + Stuard Orford

12 Name Not Known

9 2nd spouse of Reginald Felix Dias Bandaranaike, Dr. b:17-Jan-1891, d:26-Oct-1951 +(2) Freda Dias Abeyesinghe

10 Felix Dias Bandaranaike, b:5-Nov-1930, d:26-Jun-1985 (Minister of Public Administration,Local Govt,Home Affairs& Justice 1970-77) + Muthulakshmi Jayasundera

11 Christine Dias Bandaranaike + Wickremanayake

10 Christine Manel Dias Bandaranaike, 1928-1967 + David Blackler

9 Annette Lena Dias Bandaranaike, 1894-1982 + Roland William Ilangakoon (3169)

10 Hope Esther Ilangakoon + Quintus Tennekoon

11 Nirmalie Serena Tennekoon (died 198?)

11 Deepthi Christine Tennekoon + Palitha Senanayake

http://www.dailynews.lk/2001/pix/PrintPage.asp?REF=/2006/09/07/main_Obituaries.asp

11 Dr Ranmohan Githendra Wickremasinghe + Una (UK)

12 Roshana Wickremasinghe

11 Ravindra Wickremasinghe + Yasanthi (family Name Not Known) (Australia)

12 Ramila Wickremasinghe

12 Charith Wickremasinghe

10 Ronald Neil Ilangakoon + Lynnette de Alwis

11 Sheami Ilangakoon + DEW Perera

12 Karen Shanya Ilangakoon-Perera

12 Sheena Tiyani Ilangakoon-Perera

12 David Janik Ilangakoon-Perera

10 Glencora Anne Illangakoon (died 197?)

10 Philip Ralph Illangakoon + Trisetta

10 Anthea Veronica Illangakoon + Ine

9 Samuel (Sammy) James Felix Dias Bandaranaike, 1902-1969, Agricultural Department + Esther Ramkeesoon (Trinidad).

10 Sonia Dias Bandaranaike + Dr. Digby William Hall (UK)

11 William Gamini Hall

11 Mary Hall

11 James Hall

11 Emma Hall

10 Gwendolyn Dias Bandaranaike, died 2004 + Roland Dias Abeysinghe

11 Yohann Dias Abeyesinghe + Manjari Wickremasinghe Rajapakse

12 Chandhana Dias Abeysinghe

12 Hasulie Dias Abeysinghe

11 Jayanthi Dias Abeyesinghe + Ranjith Weerasinghe

12 Auchithya Weerasinghe

11 Kavinda Dias Abeyesinghe + Shyamini Balasuriya

12 Nadhil Dias Abeysinghe

11 Channa Brendon Gooneratne

11 Esther Devika Gooneratne

10 son (deceased a few minutes after birth at Bandarawela)

8 Rosamund Dias Bandaranike + John Henry Illangakoon (Mudaliyar) (3169)

9 Millicent Illangakoon + Oswald C Tillekeratne

10 Romi Tillekeratne, d:Aug 2007 (see obit below) + C J (Bucky) De Saram (3126)

11 Christime De Saram + J M G (Gamini) Perera

11 Christopher De Saram (ex University of Moratuwa)

11 Siromi De Saram (University of Colombo - 2007) + Rev Duleep Fernando
12 Ruwan Fernando

9 J W Ronald Illangakoon + Annette Lena Dias Bandaranaike, 1894-1982

9 Don Juan Samuel (Mike) Illangakoon + Florence Elapata

10 Lyn Illangakoon (ex-Warden STC) + Pathma Elikewela

11 Anoma Illangakoon + Indra Obeyesekere

11 Cyraine Illangakoon + Pertu Laakso

                                      11 Michael Illangakoon + Shivani Wanniarachchi
                                           12  Deshan Ilangakoon
                                           12  Yasara Ilangakoon
                                   10  Merril Ilangakoon + Gertrude
                                      11  Gihan Ilangakoon
                                   10  Carl Sepala Ilangakoon (Planters Association) STC (1923-2009) + Sunethra Senevratne
                                      11  Yevindra Ilangakoon + Ymara Dharmaratne
                                           12  Yenushka Ilangakoon
                                           12  Yovan Ilangakoon
                                      11  Riyanjani Ilangakoon+Dhamitha Perera
                                            12  Shamitha Perera
                                            12  Preshith Perera
                                            12  Rishan Perera

                                9  Blanche Illangakoon
                                9  Hilda Illangakoon
                                9  Opatissa Illangakoon + Yolande Obeyesekere
                                9  William Illangakoon (chin) Mudaliyar + Lillian Obeyesekere
                                   10 Surangani Illangakoon
                                   10 Panini Illangakoon + Effi Samarakkody (3118)
                                       11 Pani Illangakoon (2)
                                   10  Panini Ilangakoon (MP forWeligama) + (2) Lily Goonasekere
                                       11  Dr Gamini Ilangakoon + Deepthi
                                            12  Sanka Ilangakoon
                                            12  Sulakna Ilangakoon

10 Mahnil Lilette Illangakoon + Roland Hugh Dias Abeysinghe

11 Ayunli Dias Abeysinghe

11 Jayanthi Dias Abeysinghe

8 Amy Dias Badaranaike (1865-1944) + Walter Dias Bandaranaike (Mudliyar), m:1890

9 [21] Amy Estelle Dias Bandaranaike + [22] James Peter Obeyesekere II, Maha Mudaliyar (3051)
10 James Peter Obeyesekere III (Late MP Attanagalla, Deputy Minister of Health and Finance and Senator 1960-65, Royal College, Cambridge. Qualified as a pilot, Batadola Walauwwe Nittambuwa, Royal College, Colombo 7, d:23 Oct 2007 + Sivagami Dassanaike (Siva Obeyesekere-Minister of Health 1970) Founder of Laksala

11 James Peter Obeyesekere IV Jr.

12 C H Obeyesekere b:9 May 2005

11 Chantal Obeyesekere + Dijen de Saram (3126)

12 Devan de Saram

12 Chiara de Saram

9 Evelyn Dias Bandaranaike + George R de Silva( MP)

9 Stephan Dias Bandaranaike + Ethel Dias Abeysinghe

10 Leonard Dias Bandaranaike, d:20 Apr 2002 + Etienne Dias Bandaranaike, d:14 Feb 2004 (grand daughter of Walter Dias Bandaranaike) She married Hugh Rupasinghe and had a son, Harsha Rupasinghe.

11 Rev Suresh Dias Bandaranaike

11 Rosanara Dias Bandaranaike + Sunil Bandaranaike

10 [28] Ruby Dias Bandaranaike + [27] Danton Obeyesekere

11 Arjuna Obeyesekere

11 Shireen Obeyesekere

11 Indra Obeyesekere

11 Ajith Obeyesekere

10 Alick Dias Bandaranaike d:Aug 1 2007, (see obit below) + Delicia (Dela)

11 Arun Dias Bandaranaike, (Radio & TV presenter, Sports Commentator, Colombo, Sri Lanka)

10 2^nd spouse of Alick Dias Bandaranaike + Name Not Known

[Ref: 20th Centuary Impression by Arnold Wright P525]

7 Don Christoffel Henricus Dias Abeywickrema Jayatilake Seneviratne Bandaranaike, b:1826 (Mudaliyar, Governers Gate, 2nd Udagaha Mudaliyar) b:1826 + Anna Florentina Philipsz Panditharatne

8 Alice Dias Bandaranaike 1860-1910 + John Louis Perera

8 Amy Dias Bandaranaike + Eduardo Roversi, m:1885

9 Hilda Roversi

9 Elena Roversi

9 Neville Roversi

8 Elizebeth Dias Bandaranaike + Walter de Livera

9 Joy (Princess) de Livera + R.Felix Dias Bandaranaike, b:17-Jan-1891, d:1950

9 Manique de Livera

8 Charlotte Dias Bandaranaike, b:1860 + Solomon Seneviratne, (see pic below) b:1860, educated at Queen's College and The Colombo Academy (later Royal College, (s/o Don Hermanis Seneviratne, Mohandiram of Siyane Korale, grandson of Don Carolis Seneviratne, Mudaliyar of Kalutara, great grandson of Don Louis Seneviratne, Modaliyar of the same place.), m:1885 (3108)

9 Stevan Senewiratne + Lilian de Alwis

10 Terrance Senewiratne

9 Eric Senewiratne + Ray Dassenaike

9 Noel Senewiratne + Violet Dias Bandaranaike

10 Erin Senewiratne

10 Unis Senewiratne

10 Nissanka Senewiratne.

10 Daphne Senewiratne + Olive Abeynaike

11 Ranil Abeynaike

10 Lionel Senewiratne + Surangani Senewiratne

9 Charlie Senewiratne + Roxina de Alwis

10 Eddie Senewiratne + Lorna de Saram (3126)

11 Anoja Senewiratne + Dr Guneratne

12 Guneratne

11 Anil Senewiratne

9 Phillip Senewiratne + Nannie Samarakkody (3118)

10 Dr Brian Senewiratne + Alagaratna

11 Romesh Senewiratne

11 Sherine Senewiratne

10 Phoebe Senewiratne + Nanda Yatawara

11 Kavan Yatawara

11 Lakshman Yatawara

11 Neliya Yatawara

9 Francis Senewiratne + Neeta Dias Bandaranaike

10 Sakuntala Senewiratne

10 Sieeva Senewiratne

10 Surangani Senewiratne + Lionel Senewiratne

9 2^nd spouse of Francis Senewiratne + Grace Thilakaratne

10 Ranjith Senewiratne

10 Nimal Senewiratne + Geetha

11 Amanda Senewiratne

11 Eshan Senewiratne

10 Niranjala Senewiratne + Kalinda Doranagoda

11 Shamila Doranagoda + Duminda Maligaspe

12 Dinuri Maligaspe

10 Priyani Senewiratne + Mohan Samarakkody

11 Sandeepani Samarakkody + Alutwala

11 Yasamali Samarakkody

8 [29] Susanna Dias Bandaranaike + [30] Johannes Obeysekera

9 Sir James Peter Obeysekera + Susanna Cornelia Dias Bandaranaike

10 Sir Donald Obeysekera + Johanna Perera

9 Sir Solomon Obeysekera + Eslin Alwis

10 Forester Obeysekera (State Councillor) + Anna Isabel Sykes

11 Boykin Obeyesekere

11 Ezlynne Obeyesekere + Ralph St. L P Deraniyagala

12 Ralph Deraniyagala + Indrani Nugera

13 Arubind Deraniyagala

10 Lillian Obeyesekere + William Illangakoon

8 [20] Sir Don Solomon Dias Abeywickrema Jayatilleke Senewiratna Rajakumaruna Kadukeralu Bandaranaike, 1862-1946 (Maha Mudaliyar) b:22-May-1862, d:31-Jul-1946, Kt. Commander of the most distinguished order of St. Michael and St. George, Horogolla Walauwwa, St Thomas' College, Mohandiram 1882. Mudliyar Siyane Korale, After returning from UK, Governor Arthur Havelock awarded Maha Mudaliyar title and All Island JP. In 1897 went to UK as official representative for diamond jubilee celebration and received medal. In 1902 revisited UK. Received Coronation Medal and KCMG + [21] Lady Daisy Ezline Obeyesekere (d/o Christoffel & Lady Obeyesekere) m:Apr-1898

9 Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike b:8-Jan 1899, d:26-Sep-1959, (Prime Minister of Sri Lanka 1956-59, Assassinated by a Buddhist Monk on September 25, 1959), St Thomas' College, educated as a lawyer in UK, University of Oxford. Became Secretary of Oxford Union in 1923, called to the bar in 1925, Member of the State Council in 1931, Formed the Sinhala Maha Sabha in 1937, Active in the UNP 1945-51 and established the SLFP after 1951, Prime Minister 1956-59, To solve the ethnic issue he signed the Bandaranaike-Chelvanaygam pact, which was repudiated due to a campaign led by the Buddhist Clergy. Made Sinhala the official Language + Sirimavo Ratwatta, b:17/4/1916, d:10/10/2000, m:2-Oct-1940 (First woman Prime Minister in the World, Prime Minister, 1960-65, 1970-77, 1994-2000) (3060) Wikipedia Account of Sirimavo

10 Sunethra Dias Bandaranaike, b:1943 + Kumar Rupasinghe (div)

10 2nd spouse of Sunethra Dias Bandaranaike + Udaya Nanayakkara (div)

10 Chandrika Dias Bandaranaike, b:29/6/1945, Early education at St Bridgets Convent, Colombo, and graduated in Political Science at Sorbonne University in Paris, Formed the Peoples Alliance (PA) Party, President of Sri Lanka 1994-2005 + Vijaya Kumaratunga, Film Actor, Assasinated 1988

11 Yasodhara Kumaratunga + Roger Walker (UK), m:Jun 2007 in UK (see wedding pics below)

11 Vimukthi Kumaratunga

10 Anura Dias Bandaranaike b: Feb-15-1949, d:Mar 15, 2008, Educated at Royal College, Member of Parliament 1977 to 2007, Minister Higher Education 1993, Foreign Minister 2005, Leader of the opposition, Speaker of the House, Minister of Tourism/Heritage 2007

9 Alexandra Camelia Bandaranaike, lived at "Samudragiri" Walauwa in Mount Lavinia + Leo G. De Alwis

10 Shirlene De Alwis + Earle Jayawardena

11 Amal Jayawardena

10 Lankasa De Alwis (tenor singer) + Joy Dassenaike (cousins)

11 Ranjith de Alwis

12 Raneesha de Alwis

12 Radeena de Alwis

10 Rukie (Rukmani) de Alwis b:26 Mar 1926 + Percy Eheliyagoda

11 Leo Eheliyagoda + Ramya Wijetunge

12 Rosanth Eheliyagoda

11 Shalimar Eheliyagoda + Uma Kumar Sharma

12 Shanikar Sharma

12 Sandesh Sharma

11 Charmaine Eheliyagoda , Attorney-at-Law, a member of the National Police Commission appointed by H.E.The President of Sri Lanka + Lakshman Madurasinghe, m:1979 held at All Saints Church Hulftsdorp in Aug 1979 + Professor Lakshman Madurasinghe, born in Galle, STC Prep School Kollupitiya 1959-1960 (LKG/UKG), STC Mount Lavinia 1961-71, Attorney at Law, CIPD UK

12 Rosanth Lakshan Madurasinghe, graduate of the University of London (England). + Nishani Fernando of Wennappuwa on July 7 2007

11 Lankani Eheliyagoda

11 Devika Eheliyagoda

[ see Family Photo 2005 & weblog at http://ceo.intellect.googlepages.com/familytree ]

9 Anna Florentina Bandaranaike + Abraham de Livera

10 Christopher de Livera + Nimal Pieris

11 Shanaka de Livera + Samanda

12 Sajin de Livera

12 Shealan de Livera

11 Priyan de Livera

11 Asanthi de Livera + Oswin de Alwis

10 May de Livera

9 2nd spouse of Anna Florentina Bandaranaike + (2nd bed) Obeyesekere

8 Elizabeth Dias Bandaranaike + Walter de Livera, b:1863, (Royal College), Police Magistrate in 1898), m:1898

9 "Princess" de Livera (Joy), b:1900 + Reginold Felix Dias Bandaranaike, b:1891, d:1950, m:1921 (1001)

10 Reginold Walter Dias Bandaranaike + Norah Hunter Crabb

11 Alison Dias Bandaranaike + Wolfram Kock (Austria)

11 Julia Dias Bandaranaike + Stuart Orford (UK)

12 Name Not Known

9 Manique de Livera, b:1892

6 Don Florentina Dias Bandaranaike + Don Hendrick de Alwis Mudaliyar of Kandy Kachcheri on 30/6/1811.

7 Sieckbertus Daniel de Alwis who was baptised on 7/8/1814

6 Louisa Dias Bandaranaike b:30/1/1785 + Johannes de Livera, (son of Marappuli Appuhamilage Hendrick de Livera), m:21-Jun-1812 (3109)

7 Solomon de Livera, b:24/9/1814

5 Don Alexander Dias Bandaranaike, bp:6 Sep 1751

6 [13] Elizabeth Dias Bandaranaike + [12] Simon de Livera b:1779 (3109)

7 [11] Cornelius de Livera (b:1808) + [10] Isabella Dias Bandaranaike

8 James de Livera (lawyer) + Fredricka

9 Violet de Livera

9 Jane de Livera

9 Ella de Livera

9 Carita de Livera

9 Edmund de Livera, (wrote the St.Thomas’s College Song)

9 Ronald de Livera

10 Ronnie de Livera + Chandrani

11 Gehan de Livera (NZ) + Malkanthi Samarakkody (two children) (3118)

11 Nelun de Livera + Edward Perera (2 children)

11 Shirani de Livera + Ananda Wettasinghe (2 children)

11 Ranil de Livera + Anusha (one child)

9 Percy de Livera

10 Oscar de Livera (STC Mt Lavinia) (Was Ambassador to Pakistan 1985)

10 Michael de Livera

10 Fred de Livera

10 Audrey de Livera

10 Bertie de Livera

10 Jim de Livera

10 Norman de Livera

10 Yvonne de Livera

9 Godwin de Livera (1876-1921)Revenue Officer + Charlot Samarakkody daughter of Mudaliyar Samarakkody (3118)

10 Zizka de Livera died 1974

10 Ivy de Livera, died 1978

10 Iole de Livera + Solomn Samarakkody (Lawyer) (3118)

11 Srikumar Samarakkody (STC Mt Lavinia) (Doctor)+ no children.

11 Srivanka Samarakkody (STC Mt Lavinia) + Welgedera two children.

11 Rajan Samarakkody (STC Mt Lavinia) + 3 children.

11 Indrajith Samarakkody (STC Mt Lavinia) + 2 children.

11 Rohini Samarakkody unmarried

11 Sriyani Samarakkody + Gamini Jayaweera one child

11 Malkanthi Samarakkody + Gehan de Livera, two children

11 Suvendrini Samarakkody

10 [1] Vaughn de Livera 1917-2003 (STC Mt Lavinia) + [2] Chandra Pieris Deraniyagala

11 [3] Gayan de Livera (STC Mt Lavinia) died unmarried

11 [4] Yasmin de Livera + [5] Ramesh Abeysekera

12 [6] Jehan Abeysekera

12 [7] Yohan Abeysekera

10 Louis Charles de Livera (Carl) (STC Mt Lavinia) Lawyer (1919-1969) + Gertrude Hemawathi Seneviratne (Eng.Inst.Kel.Uni)b1931

11 Sunil de Livera (STC Mt Lavnia) Musician died unmarried

11 Manjula de Livera (STC Mt Lavinia), b:1960, Accountant UDA (SL/Aus) + Lakshmi Aulanandam (Lawyer)

12 Rahul Lakshan de Livera b:1994 (Aus)

12 Shruti Manisha de Livera b:2001(Aus)

11 Lankika Erandathi de Livera, Journalist b:1964 + Prasanna Panditharatne.

12 Kusan Panditharatne, b:1995 (STC Kollupitiya)

11 2hd spouse of Lankika Erandathi de Livera + Sri Srikumar (Accountant) STC Mt Lavinia

5 Hendrick Dias Bandaranaike (Mohandiram Siyane Korale) bp:1 Sep 1752 + Elizebeth Pieris Siriwardena, bp:19/8/1763 (1005)

6 son

5 Ana Dias Bandaranaike, bp:30 Aug 1754, died after May 3 1828 + Don Simon Perera Mudaliyar

6 Hendrick Perera

5 2nd spouse of Ana Dias Bandaranaike b:1754 + Don Balthazar de Livera, Mudliyar Hewagam Korale, (no issue)

5 Jacob Dias Bandaranaike, b:1758

5 David Mohandiram Dias Bandaranaike, b:1760

6 Miss Bandaranaike + Carolis Amarasekera, Muhandiram, Hapitigam Korale-1810 (3068)

4 2nd spouse of Don Francisco Dias Wijetunga Bandaranaike, b:1720 Mudaliyar Hewagam Korale + Dona Catherine Thilakaratne Abeysiriwardena (daughter of Don Simon Tillekeratne Abeysiriwardena, Mudaliyar of Kandaboda Pattuwa, Matara) from Galkissa

Translation of a sinhala paragraph from page 32 in Paul Pieris's book goes as follows:-

"Dona Catharina from Galkissa, was the 2nd wife of Don Fransiscus Dias Bandaranaike. They had a daughter named Dona Corneliya. baptised on 3/12/1775, Don Davith was the son of Liendran de Saram Karunaratne andJohanna Maria Perera. On 24th October 1790 Dona Corneliya married Davith de Saram Karunaratne. On 12th November 1790 Dona Corneliya had died of an illness."

5 Dona Corneliya Bandaranaike, b:1775, bp:3 Dec 1775, d:12 Nov 1790 after suffering an illness + Davith de Saram Karunaratne (s/o Liendran de Saram Karunaratne and Johanna Maria Perera), m:24 Oct 1790 (3126)

Also noted: Cecilia Dias Bandaranaike (1864-1915) married Edwin Robert de Alwis

9 Bandaranaike + Ekanayake of Matara

10 Peter Dias Bandaranaike + Dhamma

11 Dulari Manisha Dias Bandaranaike

12 Danitha

12 Anusha

12 Nilusha

10 Anne Dias Bandaranaike

10 Edwin Dias Bandaranaike

10 Hector Dias Bandaranaike

10 Eliza Dias Bandaranaike + Obeysekere

10 S D Bandaranaike (MP Gampaha) (STC Matara) b:1/12/1917

11 Pandu Bandaranaike (DyMinister)

11 Subhas Bandaranaike

Also noted cont.

a) Reginold Edward Dias Bandaranaike b1878 (stc)(surveyor),son of DrWilliam Dias Bandaranaike,nephew of Conrad Peter Dias Bandaranaike.+(m1906) Flora Ethel Tennakoon (d of CE Tennakoon Rate Mahatmaya) they had a child.

b) Johanna Dias Bandaranaike,daughter of William Adrian Dias Bandaranaike(mohandiram)+JJ de Silva Gravet Mohandiram.

c) Jhon Dias Bandaranaike+Gertrude Panditharatne

d) Charles Fredrick Bandaranaike-alive 1862

e) Carolis Andrias Bandaranaike

f) Ceylon Light Infantry Officer-Stephan Walter Dias Bandaranaike(1920)

References-Sinhalese families by PE Pieris (published 1911)

Internet

Chieftains of Ceylon

20^th Centuary impressions of Ceylon by Arnold Wright.

"Relative Merits" by Yasmine Gooneratne

Data updated and submitted by

Manjula De Livera

References-Sinhalese families by PE Peiris (published 1911)

Internet

Chieftains of Ceylon.

20^th Centuary impressions of Ceylon by Arnold Wright.

Relative Merits by Yasmine Gooneratne

Manjula de Livera.

Email-manjulafamily@yahoo.com.au

Mar24 2011

Kandyan Convention

The Kandyan convention was signed with the British on 2hd March 1815. Don Solomon Dias Bandaranaike Mudaliyar, Adrian Jayawardena Tombi Mdaliyar, Abraham de Saram Mudaliyar were present, with others.

obituary: DN Wed Aug 8 2007

DIAS BANDARANAIKE - ALICK Brother of late Leonard, expired August first. Burial took place on August 2nd. He is survived by his wife Delicia (Dela) and son Arun and sister Ruby Obeyesekere. Friends and relatives, please accept this intimation. 49, Kelanimulla, Angoda

Obituary: DN Aug 7 2007

DE SARAM - ROMI (MRS R.M.) nee Tillekeratne Daughter of the late O.C. Tillekeratne and the late Millicent (nee Ilangakoon), relict of C.J. (Bucky) de Saram, beloved mother of Christine, Christopher (formerly of the University of Moratuwa), and Siromi (University of Colombo), mother-in-law of the late J.M.G. (Gamini) Perera and the Rev. Duleep Fernando, loving grandmother of Ianthe, Rukshani, Ruwan and Avanka, expired. Cortege leaves residence No.14, Deal Place A, Colombo 3, on Wednesday 8th August 2007 at 4.00 p.m. for interment at General Cemetery Kanatte, Borella (Anglican section) at 5.00 p.m.

Obit: Fri Sep 21 2007

DIAS BANDARANAYAKE - MERLYN Beloved wife of late Edward Reginald, loving mother of Sarath (Seylan Bank), Manohari (U.K), mother-in-law of Nirmala, Leonard, grandmother of Shihara, Dilup, passed away. Funeral at 4.30 p.m. on Saturday 22nd Sep. 2007 at St. Judes Church Cemetery, Indigolla. 74/06/E, Indigolla, Gampaha.

The Bandaranaikes from the House of Nilaperumalby James T.Rutnam with Additional Notes - 18 July 2002

SWRD Bandaranaike & Sirimavo Ratwatte-Bandaranaike, Chandrika Dias Bandaranaike-Kumaratunga, Sunethra Dias Bandaranaike, Anura

Family

Anura & Chandrika Chandrika Sirimavo Sir Solomon Felix Dias B

CBK with kids

CBK with Presidents George W Bush Snr & Bill Clinton, CBK with Chinese PM, CBK with Mahinda

CBK with Indian PM Vajpayee, Sri Lanka Cabinet Cabinet 2002

CBK & Vijaya

Statue of SWRD at Galle Gace CBK at SAARC 2004

Anura as Speaker of the House

The Kandyan convention was signed with the British on 2hd March 1815.

Don Solomon Dias Bandaranaike Mudaliyar, Adrian Jayawardena Tombi Mdaliyar,

Abraham de Saram Mudaliyar were present, with others.

Anura Dias Bandaranaike 1949-2008

Wedding Pictures of Yasodhara Kumaratunge in the UK - June 2007

Rohan de Saram (Cello)

A genealogical research paper authored by James Thevathasan Rutnam (1905-1988) on the origins of Bandaranaike clan in the colonial Ceylon. James Rutnam’s paper originally appeared in the Colombo Tribune weekly of July 19, 1957. When the paper appeared in print, SWRD Bandaranaike (1899-1959) was the prime minister of Ceylon.Our former prime minister's (S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike's, 1956-58) direct male ancestor, of whose connection some members of his family used to take pride (see Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon edited by Arnold Wright, (1907) p. 525) was Nilaperumal aka Kalukapuge, a Tamil from south India who arrived in Ceylon in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. He was described as a `high priest' of a temple in Ceylon. He was the first Kapurala in his family of the Nawagomuwe dewale, with the fortunes of which the Bandaranayakes were long associated. Kalukapuge was a name which the family used to affect in the past. It is the Sinhalese version ofNilaperumalage, the ge name of the Bandaranayakes.

Don Francisco (Franciscus?) Dias Wijetunga Bandaranayake, Mudaliyar of the Hewagam korale, who was born about 1720, was a direct descendant in the male line of Nilaperumal. He was one of those who supplanted the `original Mudaliyars,'' when the latter `fled to Kandy' in 1760 to join the Sinhalese in the struggle between the Dutch and the Kandyan King. The reward for this defection was the office of Mudaliyar of the four Pattus.

Francisco first married Dona Maria Perera. They had six sons and four daughters. Their fourth son was Coenrad Pieter Dias Bandaranayake Snr, Maha Mudaliyar, who was the grandfather of another Maha Mudaliyar of the same name (except for Pieter being spelled Peter), who served under the British. Francisco's fifth son was Daniel Bandaranayake, Mohandiram of Siyane korale. He was baptised on February 16, 1748 and married on January 13, 1773. He was the father of Don Solomon Dias Bandaranayake, Mudaliyar of Siyane Korale.

Don Solomon married a grand-daughter of Susanna Scharff, who died on June 15, 1781 and was buried in the Dutch (formerly Portuguese) church in the Fort at the site of the present Gordon Gardens, but whose tombstone now lies in the Wolfendhal Dutch Reformed Church, Colombo. The coat of arms of the Scharff family is engraved on this tombstone, the distinguishing mark of which is a `right arm holding a sabre.' This is part of the heraldic arms of the Bandaranayakes. Susanna Scharff was a daughter of a lieutenant, Jan Christoffel Scharff, who served under the Dutch East India Company.

The names of the Scharff family are given in the journal of the Dutch Burgher Union, Volume VIII, (p. 6.). J.C. Scharff hailed from Sangerhausen, Upper Saxony, Thuringia, in Germany. He married, at Colombo on March 21, 1734, a lady by the name of Elizabeth de Saram. Susanna was baptised at Colombo on December 1743 8, and married, in Colombo on November 4, 1759, the Reverend Henricus Philipsz (1733-1790), a Sinhalese Christian minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in Ceylon. An account of this minister appears in De Bruyn's History Of The Reformed Church In The Dutch East Indies, written in Dutch. He died on May 19, 1790. His tombstone now lies in the Wolfendhal Dutch Reformed church, but not beside his wife Susanna 's tombstone, by whom, evidently, it was originally erected at the church in Fort, Colombo.

Rev. H. Philipsz, who had his education in Holland, was a learned and outstanding Christian scholar. He was a son of a Maha Mudaliyar under the Dutch, and a grandson of a schoolmaster of Cotta by the name of D. Philippe.Rev. Philipsz's brother Abraham Philipsz too was a Maha Mudaliyar under the Dutch. It was Abraham's son Johannes Gottfried Philipsz, one of Chief Justice Sir Alexander Johnston's proteges and interpreters, who was appointed the first Sinhalese member of the first legislative council of Ceylon in 1743. He died on July 1800. I have a long and somewhat obsequious letter written by Johannes Gottfried Philipsz to Sir Alexander Johnston whom he addresses as `my lord and protector.' I discovered it among the collection of the Johnston papers which I obtained in England in 1954.

It is interesting to note that Philipsz's colleague, A. Coomaraswamy, a Tamil interpreter under the British who became the first Tamil member of the same legislative council, was a son of Arumugapillai, an immigrant from South India who came to Gurudavil in the Jaffna peninsula. A. Coomaraswamy was the father of Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy and of Sellatchi, the mother of the Ponnambalam brothers, Coomaraswamy, Ramanathan andArunachalam.

It has been said that Governor Maitland `feared' the Mudaliyars. But the word `fear' in this context, has apparently been used in a special sense. For the evidence of contemporary records shows that there was no class of people in Ceylon so addicted to fawning, flattering and sycophantising (sic) in its relationship with its masters as that of the Mudaliyars. It must of course be borne in mind that the times in which they lived were different from ours. There was no middle class. There were the exploiters and the exploited, the foreign masters and their native subjects, the rulers and the oppressed. Into this pattern of political and economic society entered the Mudaliyar, using all the craft and cunning, the art and artifice of the adventurer and social climber, with his stock-in-trade of jealousy-ridden hypocritical flattery and sneaky ways. Little wonder then that we find most of the Mudaliyars `professing Christians,' because no one was qualified to hold office unless he was a Christian. And little wonder too if the authorities saw through this hypocrisy, and `feared' the machinations of the enemy within their gates.

In this connection, in Hugh Cleghron's `minute' or memorandum on the administration of justice and of revenue in Ceylon under the Dutch government (1799) written at a critical period of our history, at the very time when Dutch rule had ended and British rule begun, is worthy of note. Cleghron observed: "If the poverty and indolence of the natives of this country were to be traced to their true cause, these would be found to originate in the insecurity of their little property, which is at the mercy of the Moodeliar, (sic). That few or no appeals have been made against his decisions is to me a stronger proof of the dread of his oppression, than of respect for his justice."

Governor North too has left for posterity his observations on the Mudaliyars in his letter to Marquis Wellesley dated October 27, 1798, the original of which is among the Wellesley manuscript in the additional manuscripts section of the British museum in London. Governor North stated, "the Maha Moodliar is always resident near the person of the governor. He never sits down in my presence, nor appears before me in shoes, but is in fact the grand vizier of Ceylon. Every order I give him is immediately executed, and whatever takes place on the island is communicated by him to me. The only pecuniary reward which he and the inferior Moodliars look to from the government are small `accomodessans.' Their great object is to gain marks of distinction, such as sabres, gold chains, medals, etc., of which they are highly vain and by which the Dutch governors well knew how to secure their attachment." (Journal of the Ceylon branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series, Volume 3 (1953), p. 143 n. 20).

The above is a faithful contemporary description of things as they were. Although these medal-collecting Mudaliyars went without shoes and bowed times without number before their governors, the Mudaliyars too in turn exacted, without any compunction or human consideration whatsoever, a cringing servility from the inarticulate masses of the people, between whom and the rulers they placed themselves as permanent barriers. Indeed they would seem to have donned jackboots when they went out and trampled on the rights of the dumb masses.

The people were forced to approach these recently exalted brown slave-drivers, using the most self-degrading and abject terms of address. A relic of this barbarism can still be detected in certain households, happily fast disappearing, the members of which delude themselves into believing that they had sprung from a highborn, low-country Sinhalese aristocracy which we now know was neither high-born nor Sinhalese.

Some of these misguided souls still insist on being addressed as "hamu" by their servants. Handsomely are these servants paid for this performance. Unfortunately the nouveaux riche and members of other rival social groups and castes (which the earlier hamus despised) too appear to have entered into this competitive trade of self-laudatory hamu--making, with disastrous results to all contestants. Hence the slow disappearance of the hamu in the present social set-up.

As in other feudal societies, the Ceylonese masses of the time had no rights. Generally they were led, like dumb-driven cattle. When the Madrasi Dubashes made themselves obnoxious during the brief period when the East India Company administered Ceylon from Madras, the displaced local mudaliyars seized the opportunity to whip up a feeling among the people that, after all, the known devil was better than the unknown.

There were, however, Mudaliyars and Mudaliyars.. The Philipsze's had a tradition of learning inherited from their humble, nonetheless much esteemed, pedagogic origins, and a consequential understanding of true human values. They were also fortified by genuinely religious Christian convictions, unlike most of their fellows who were bogus Christians who sold their conscience for messes of pottage. With these qualities ingrained in their character, the Philipsze's contributed not a little to raise the tone of the small coterie of courtiers that danced attendance, albeit barefoot, round the gubernatorial throne.

It is this tradition of public service, which was born apparently of the best in east and west and which distinguished the Philipszes, that has enriched the blood and lent lustre to the lineage of our prime minister, Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike.

The Reverend Henricus Philipsz and Susanna Scharff were the parents of some eight children, the eldest of whom was also a Christian minister by the name of Reverend Gerardus Philipsz. There is a reference to him in Cordiner's Ceylon, Volume 1 page 88. He married Johanna Adriana, the eleventh child of Petrus van Dort, son of Cornelius van Dort and his wife Johanna Paulus. Some of the sketches done by J.L.K. van Dort were recently published by Lady Hilda Pieris, wife of Sir Paul E. Pieris.

The sixth child of Susanna Scharff and Rev. Henricus Philipsz, Johanna Elizabeth Philipsz, was born in 1772 and married on September 15 1799, Diederich Wilhelm Spittel, the father of Gerardus Adrian Spittel, whose son Frederick George Spittel was the father of our well-known surgeon and author, Richard Lionel Spittel. Diederich Wilhelm Spittel's father, John Lourens Spittel also came, like the Scharffs, from Germany, from Weimar in Saxony.

Another daughter of Susanna Scharff, her third child, being the name of Cornelia Honrica (Henrietta?) married firstly at Colombo on the July 27 1789, Adolf Martin Heyman, an ensign in the Dutch service, a native of Leuwenstein. A silver tobacco box belonging to this lady, with the name `Heyman' inscribed on it, was in the possession of Sir Paul E. Pieris. This lady lost her husband sometime afterward and married secondly, Christoffel de Saram, fourth Maha Mudaliyar, the holder of a new office then created by the British to exalt their interpreter who worked in the office of the commissioner of revenue. A son of this union was Johannes Henricus de Saramwho at the age of fourteen was taken by Governor Maitland to England in 1811 to study for the Christian ministry.

Christoffel de Saram and son Rev Johannes Henricus de Saram

He was described in a letter written by his companion Balthazar de Saram, a member of a different family of Sarams, one attuned by family upbringing to western ways and habits, "having been from his infancy reared up in his own family whose only deviation from the manners, language and costume of the Dutch was his father's native dress." I have seen this correspondence in the original at the public record office in London. Cornelia Henrica (Henrietta) de Saram, nee Philipsz, who died on April 9 1824, is also commemorated by a tombstone at the Dutch Reformed church at Wolfendhal.

Before he left England, the young Christian minister Rev. Johannes Henricus de Saram, married an European lady, Frances Treherne. The marriage was solemnized in London in the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields on June 9, 1820.

It was this young man's sister Cornelia, a grand-daughter of Susanna Scharff, who married Don Solomon Dias Bandaranayake, Mudaliyar of Siyane korale.

Change of spelling

Don Solomon's branch of the family of Bandaranayakes from now onwards appear to spell its name as Bandaranaike. Don Solomon lived to a ripe old age. It should be recorded here that he was a great servant of the British crown. It was this Solomon Dias Bandaranaike who received a government grant of one hundred and eighty acres of land. He was also the recipient of a medal from Governor Brownrigg with the citation "as a reward for eminent service during the Kandyan rebellion, AD 1818. Don Solomon's photograph appeared in volume two of Tennent's Ceylon. He died on September 15, 1859.

Don Solomon's son, Don Christoffel Henricus Dias Bandaranaike, who was born in 1826, succeeded his father. He married a Kingswoman, Anna Florentina Philipsz, daughter of Philipsz Gysbertus Panditaratne and granddaughter of Johannes Gottfried Philipsz, whose family had by then adopted for general use the cognomen Panditaratne. To this couple was born an only son, who later became famous in the service of successive British governors. He has recorded an account of his intimate associations with kings, princes, dukes and governors and men and women distinguished in various orders of chivalry, in his autobiography Remembered Yesterdays. But unfortunately his book does not make us any the wiser about his own family story.

With remarkable extravagance of language he styled himself Sir Don Solomon Dias Abeywickrema Jayatilleke Senewiratna Rajakumaruna Kadukeralu Bandaranaike, knight commander of the most distinguished order of St. Michael and St. George. He was born on 22 May 1862 and married Daisy Eslin Obeyesekere (d/o Christoffel & Lady Obeyesekere) in April-1898. He passed away on 31 July 1946.

To this Christian Knight of St. George, a scion of the house of Nilaperumal (aka Kalukapuge) and a cadet of the families of Phillipsz and Scharff, was born, Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, on Jan 8 1899, who went on to become the prime minister of Ceylon in 1956, and who determined for himself a new course in Ceylon history. It is said that the first known ancestor, Nilaperumal. having divested himself on the habits and habiliments and religion of his own immediate forebears. arrived from South India in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. He was also the High Priest of a Temple in Ceylon. Was the first Kapurala in his family of theNawagomuwe Dewale. The family is also known by the Singhalese name of Kalukapuge. The family later adopted a variation f the name "Bandara" & "Nayake", which was the title of an office held by the Devale Chiefs.

Sir Don Solomon Dias Bandaranaike, was a heavy hitting civil servant whose ancestral home was in the south of the island in Horagolla, Veyangoda. He was also the advisor to a succession of British Governors and was closely involved in organizing the visit, to Sri Lanka, of the Duke & Duchess of York, who went on to become King George V and Queen Mary.

In his day, he was a keen aficionado of thoroughbred racing and regularly attended meetings at the Colombo Turf Club, where on his death in 1946, the Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranaike cup became an annual feature. The Bandaranaike family had long been a part of the upper echelons of Ceylonese society. The family continued to farm vast tracts of land in Attanagalla and Balangoda, that had been passed down through their generations over hundreds of years.

His son, Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, who in later years and even today is referred to by his initials, "SWRD", was born of two intellectual parents. Young, SWRD, was always expected to become something and did not disappoint. His early formal education was at St Thomas' College in Colombo, where the future Prime Minister achieved outstanding results. His parents and teachers believed that he possessed the right attributes to pursue a career in medicine or law. Sir Solomon hoped that his son may follow him into the Diplomatic Corps. Eventually SWRD went on to become a product of the elite Oxford University in the UK. He was a close associate of Anthony Eden, who later went on to become the Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was also Union Secretary and later Junior Treasurer, of the prestigious Oxford Union and acclaimed as a highly vocal and respected orator and was later given the nickname "Golden Tongue".

On SWRDS's return to Ceylon, in 1925, he took to the bar and began practicing law while pursuing hobbies such as horse riding, archery and devouring upwards of ten books each week, "my father simply absorbed books", recalls his daughter Chandrika, later became a Member of the State Council and wrote his own first-hand account of his days at Oxford, later published in the Ceylon Causerie. He first joined the United National Party (UNP), the largest political party in Ceylon at that time, which had emerged as an umbrella nationalist party during the final decades of the Colonial era. It was similar, in some respects, to the Indian national Congress and was referred to humorously as the "Uncle-Nephew Party" because of the kinship ties within its hierarchy. SWRD and Don Stephen (DS) Senanayake, both went on to serve Sri Lanka as Prime Minister in later years. Senanayake (DS) was born on Oct 20 1884 in the Hapitigama Korale of the Western District of Negombo and was some fifteen senior to SWRD. Although the pair may have been a generation apart in years but they formed an ideological partnership that modern observers have compared to the Blair-Brown axis in Britain today (2006). Although fissures did appear in this relationship in later years, yet, during Ceylon's passage towards independence in the 1920's and the 1930's, this Senanayake-Bandaranaike partnership was a very significant and powerful political force.

The political period in Ceylon, from 1931 until the end of the Second World War, represented a significant step towards self governance for the emerging nation. The State Council consisted of 50 elected representatives with a further three British Officers and Seven Lankan Ministers, forming a Cabinet. Even though the British appointees retained control of the key portfolios for Defence, External Affaires, Finance & Legal Affairs, the State Council now functioned in both an Executive and Legislative capacity. This defining time also saw new political parties begin to emerge, including several left leaning groups, such as the Labor Party, founded in 1931 by A E Gunasinha, and the short lived Ceylon Equal Society Party, the Bolshevik Leninist Party, and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka.

The different communities and sects were, for the first time, able to form their own representative parties, including The Burgher Political Association in 1938, The Ceylon Indian Congress in 1939, and The All Ceylon Tamil Congress in 1944. From the outset, the latter party pressed the case for a Tamil Kingdom as the only acceptable form of constitutional reform in Ceylon. Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, founder of The Tamil League, stated, "... the Tamil League consider that our aims should be to keep alive and propagate the Tamil ideals, which have through ages past made the Tamils what they are. We should ... promote the solidarity of what we have been proud to call - Tamil Eelam (the name of the proposed Tamil State in the North and the East of the Country)".

On the other side of the ideological divide amongst the Sinhalese majority a form of broad nationalism arose centering around Buddhism and its core values. The strongest association was the Greatest Council of the Sinhalese orSinhala Maha Sabha (SMS), founded by SWRD in 1937, and as the party's founder he was immediately thrust center-stage. Some historians have condemned this party as being somewhat radically Buddhist, but its leader never wrote or spoke a word that was anything less than conciliatory towards he many communities that were present in Ceylon. A typical example of his approach came in a speech delivered by SWRD to the annual party congress staged in Veyangoda on Sep 5 1942 during which he stated that the SMS's purpose was twofold, viz, to unite the Sinhalese and to work in cooperation with other communities.

SWRD was speaking during a time of international crisis and creeping change that would transform Ceylon forever. WWII raged on. Singapore had fallen to the Japanese in Feb 1942 and after this disaster for the allies, Sri Lanka became HQ for British Operations in South East Asia. Trincomalee Port, so often a Portuguese, Dutch, and British prize in Colonial times, was now of strategic importance for the defense of the Indian Ocean and the entire region. Ceylon's strategic placement meant that it was also a high-level Japanese target. The British fought several desperate air battles over Colombo and Trincomalee, but Ceylon was never seriously threatened.

In 1944, after a period of discussion within the Board of Ministers in Ceylon, Bandaranaike introduced into the State Council the Constitution Bill, more commonly known as "The Sri Lankan Bill". Predictably, State Council Members representing SMS supported a bill that was kind to a Sinhalese majority, but SWRD and his allies were consensus builders, and, support in the State Council was broad ranging and drawn from all communities. Other party blocks supporting the bill were the Muslim League and the Ceylon National Congress, while one member of the Ceylon Tamil Congress also supported this effort. The bill was passed by a large majority but was torpedoed by the British. SWRD's SMS Executive Committee protested to London but the British had their own plans for Ceylonese independence and local complainst held little sway in London.

As the cessation of WWII hostilities approached, the Constitution was amended to incorporate a provision that gave Ceylon dominion status within the British Empire. A British model became central to the Ceylonese Bill, implementing a parliamentary system with a bi-camarel legislature. This created a House of Representatives directly elected by popular vote that would, with British input, nominate the members of an Upper House. Britan's Soverign would then appoint The Governor General on the advise of the powerful person in the Ceylonese Government - The Prime Minister.

The Second World War had ultimately been beneficial for Ceylon. The rich ground of her plantations had been utilized for rubber production, which enabled the country to save a surplus in hard currency and speculate on future revenues from this ready-made industry. Elsewhere on the island, the British had spent millions building hospitals and modern amenities. These were originally intended for Britain's own Colonial and Military use, but when the Japanese eventually surrendered, these facilities became surplus to requirements and were bequeathed to the country. This inherited infrastructure went a long way to improving the standard of living in post-war Ceylon.

Ceylon was now prime for independence and the movement towards a new political system was inescapable. SWRD was now one of the most distinguished democratic leaders in the island, was preparing to take his place in history as a fundamental part of that process.

Johanna Louisa Dias Bandaranayake, a direct descendant of Nilaperumal and Scharff, was married to John Martinus Pieris. Of this union was born the well-known historian and author of several books on `Sinhalese Families,' Sir Paul E. Pieris. Sir Paul's grandfather Johan Louis Pieris was the mace-bearer at the supreme court, when it was presided over by the great chief justice, Sir Alexander Johnston. Johan Louis Pieris was the son ofWilhelmus Pieris, who died on August 24, 1816. Wilhelmus Pieris' father was Louis Pieris, a proponent in the Dutch Reformed Church. Louis Pieris had a brother, Dernigellege Pauloe Pieris Samarasinghe. Louis Pieris's father (Manuel?) hailed from Attidiya near Colombo. He as a member of the Lascarins (Sinhalese foot-soldiers) under the Dutch, and was the recipient of several paraveni lands as a reward for his services. He (Manuel) has a brother by the name of Deringellege Joan (John?) Fernando, whose grandson Abraham Pieris was also a proponent in the Dutch Reformed Church.

Post-script by Sachi Sri Kantha

One of S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike’s nieces and academics, Yasmine Gooneratne nee Bandaranaike, wrote a readable book, Relative Merits: A Personal Memoir of the Bandaranaike Family of Sri Lanka (C.Hurst & Co, London, 1986). I quote the following two paragraphs from its foreword, entitled, ‘Ancestors’.

“…an Indian officer ‘of high standing’ who, serving under the Kings of Kandy and bearing the name Neela Perumal, was made high priest of the Temple of the God Saman, and commanded to take the name of Nayaka Pandaram (Chief Record Keeper) in 1454. If this tradition has truth in, we may surmise that the Indian name of Nayaka Pandaram came in time to adopt the form of Pandara Nayaka. By the time it had turned into the Sinhalese Bandaranaike, the Hinduism of its bearers had been replaced by Buddhism; just as we know, from written genealogical records dating back to the early seventeenth century, that Buddhism was itself replaced in the family by Christianity in its Catholic and later in its Protestant forms. However, the occupations of scribe seems to have descended in the family down the centuries, together with a tradition of service to the Court.

The pandaram of India are a Brahman sub-caste of genealogists and keepers of Court and family records, and the retinues of Indian princesses who came to the island in early times, to be married to a King or Prince in Kandy, must have included many such among the ‘nobles as well as commoners duly absorbed in the vast statecraft of the Kingdom and in the hierarchy of the Court and palace personnel’. From very early times Mantai, or Mantota, had been the port of entrance to arrivals in Sri Lanka from South India…” (pages 3-4)

Yasmine Gooneratne had cited the original research of James Rutnam in her bibliography. But unlike Rutnam, she has presented a soothing positive spin on the mind set of her ancestor Mudaliyars who served the colonial Dutch and British masters by converting to Christianity to grab lands from the Sinhalese commoners. I also find her job description of her ancestral Sinhalese Mudaliyar class in the 17th to 19th centuries as far from accurate. In one ornamental paragraph of the same foreword on her ancestors, Yasmine Gooneratne has written:

“The title of Mudaliyar seems to have distinguished leaders of groups of fighting men from a particular district who shared common bonds of caste. Such leaders, by virtue of their place in the social structure of their time and country, were necessarily influential in their ancestral villages. They were able soldiers and resourceful diplomats, accustomed to be first among equals, and would probably have had a long and well-known tradition of family loyalty to their sovereign. The military duties traditionally carried out by them were continued during the intermittent warfare that marked the period of Portuguese rule in the island. At the close of that period, the role of the Mudaliyars was still military in character, but the confidence of their superior officers and the experience they had gained in participating in the administration of what had been, in fact, a military regime, together with their new interests as landlords and cultivators of large tracts of property, are all factors likely to have made them ready for administrative responsibility.” (page 6)

One should note that Yasmine Gooneratne has not identified the caste name in the first sentence of the above paragraph. Politically correct indeed. Paying obeisance to one’s ancestors is a time-honored practice among the Orientals. But, exaggerating and embellishing the roles played by one’s ancestors is hardly acceptable in academic research. The Sinhalese Mudaliyar class was no “able soldiers and resourceful diplomats”. Rather, they were cowardly weather-vanes, political turn-coats and servile fart-catchers to the colonial masters of Ceylon. It is also a puzzle for me, how come the descendants of Nilaperumal, a pandaram Brahman sub-caste, demoted themselves to ‘fighting men’ of military caste (?) in a few centuries.

If I’m not wrong, Yasmine Gooneratne is a specialist in English literature and not in Tamil literature. In the glossary she has provided at the end of her book, she has described the term ‘Mudaliyar, Modeliar’ as a Sinhalese word referring to Sinhalese official of high rank. The origin of the now commonly used Sinhalese terms Mudaliyar and Mudalaali lies in the Tamil root word, Mudal, which means capital in terms of ‘property wealth’ and not ‘the seat of government’. Thus, the word Mudaliyar refers to a person endowed with capital wealth, and Mudalaali (Mudal = capital; Aali = ruler) refers to a person who rules the capital wealth. ‘Number One’ person is another variant of the Tamil root Mudal. Thus, it could have meant ‘Number One’ fart catcher of the ‘sovereign’, and not reflected any of the military merits attributed to the Mudaliyar class by Yasmine Gooneratne.

http://www.tamilnation.org/forum/sachisrikantha/bandaranaikes.htm

Three story extracts

Yasmine Gooneratne

'Into Battle', from Relative Merits: A Personal Memoir of the Bandaranaike Family of Sri Lanka

As we made our way back to Colombo through deserted and littered streets with the Hensmans, their two children, and their hurriedly packed suitcases in the car, we learned that Menike, a Sinhalese friend, had warned them that their house was to be attacked that night. The attackers? The Sinhalese neighbours with whom they had been living until the rioting began - in such seeming amity. Ordinarily a man of peace, Dick Hensman had decided to greet any uninvited visitors with petrol bombs rather than abandon his home or see his family hurt and humiliated. It appeared that Daddy - of all people! - had managed to convince him that no good would come of this attitude.

The Hensman family stayed with us at Maha Nuge Gardens for the duration of the riots. Life during that period had its problems for us all. Dick, for instance, had to simplify his political and philosophical ideas so that my parents could follow them, and Daddy had to tone down his communal jokes. But it was, all in all, a remarkable experience, and the only time in my life that I have seen my father get the better of his own readiness to march, all guns blazing, into the thick of the fiercest battle.

"Walk in, gentlemen, pray walk in," cries Charles Surface, opening his picture gallery to the auctioneers in Sheridan's play The School For Scandal; "here they are, the family of the Surfaces, up to the Conquest!" "And, in my opinion, a goodly collection," replies his uncle Sir Oliver Surface, unrecognisable in his disguise; "Ah! we shall never see such figures of men again." To which Charles replies: "I hope not." Reviewing the public faces and the private lives of some of the best-known members of my family in this and the preceding chapter, I wish I had my father's capacity for ancestor-worship. Like Sir Oliver Surface, Daddy had unshakeable faith in the virtue and moral probity of his forebears. While I was growing up and receiving my opinions almost ready-made from my parents, our kinsmen seemed to me to be much larger than life, their intentions more honourable, their achievements more important, their merest condescensions more generous than those of others, mere mortals, of the same generation. For Daddy there would have been something very like sacrilege in the mere idea of drawing aside the heavy curtains of their shrines, and letting the daylight in.

"What parchment have we here?" continues the unrepentant Charles Surface. "Richard heir to Thomas. Oh, our genealogy in full. Here, Careless - you shall have no common bit of mahogany, here's the family tree for you, you rogue, - this shall be your hammer, and now you may knock down my ancestors with their own pedigree." To which the scandalized Sir Oliver responds, aside: "What an unnatural rogue! - an ex post facto parricide!" Daddy would certainly have agreed with Sir Oliver. And how pleasant it would be to have somehow retained, despite one's maturing, those delightfully uncomplicated early attitudes.

But the members of our clan resemble not at all the "stiff and awkward" portraits in the Surface picture gallery, who were, according to Charles, "like nothing in human nature." On the contrary, the Bandaranaikes seem to me to be - as Sir Solomon once wrote affectionately of his wayward sister Amy - strong and extraordinary personalities, always intensely human. One can only regard them in their private and their public lives, in peace or in the midst of bitter controversy, in their virtues, faults, and contradictions of character, in life and in death, as Cox Sproule wrote humorously of Grandpapa in a mock-epitaph:

Here lies the last of genial Reginald Felix
Who has gone aloft to explain his mundane delicts
Let"s hope the High Court Judge will show no bias
When rendering judgment in re Dias.

Whether one agrees with their views or not (and it isn't possible for me to sympathize with Great-Grandpapa James's views on women's education, the prejudices about race and caste into which my lovable father sank in his later years, or my mother's inclination to value wealth and property above personal relationships), they have the courage of their convictions. Some among them, James especially, have the right approach to literature. "O Poets! the victory gained through your own wisdom is much more to be desired than the victory which comes to those who have captured a four-fold army," he wrote, in his "Verses on Criticism." And again, "It is not proper to compare a poetaster with a poet: can a firefly shine in the eye of the sun?" The idea that poetry and virtue always go together, Dr Johnson once wrote, "is an opinion so pleasing that I can forgive him who resolves to think it true." I must hope to be forgiven for "thinking it true" of James D'Alwis, that fiery little man who locked up his daughters to preserve their ignorance, yet thought like a patriot and wrote like an erudite angel.

Lucky James: he died as he had lived, his pen in his hand. I could wish that Death, when it came to my father, had found him as he had been during most of his life, in fighting form. But he was taken by surprise in the end, trapped and ambushed in a way that he could do nothing about.

On the morning after Daddy died, Gwen went to the General Hospital to formally identify his body and take charge of it for burial. She had expected, I think, to find him laid out on a bed in a private ward. But since his fatal heart attack had occurred before he could be admitted to the Intensive Care section, while in fact he was still being wheeled towards it, his body had been kept overnight in the hospital mortuary. She went there, accompanied by an attendant.

When I met my sister later that day, she was still shaking a little. The atmosphere of the non-paying wards in the General Hospitals of Colombo and Kandy is one I know well from the time Brendon was a medical officer walking the corridors. The overpowering odours of disease and disinfectant, and the sensation of helplessness before a grim anonymity that are the ordinary lot of those who enter the non-paying wards for treatment were unfamiliar to Gwen, and were encountered by my father only at his death: and he was by then in no condition to shoot them down or to write letters of complaint in triplicate to the department concerned. The attendant, lounging beside my sister in the off-hand way of hospital workers, had casually twitched a grimy sheet aside, and swung our father into view for her identification. Wrapped in a creased checked sarong that wasn't his own, a torn vest covering part of his chest, his untidy grey hair falling forward over the slack, dead face, Gwen had found Daddy almost impossible to recognize.

"He looked", she told me, her voice trembling in unbelief, "just like an ordinary person."

'Growing Up Like Flowers', from Relative Merits

When Prini Molamure married my uncle Paul Deraniyagala in the early 1930s and the couple made their wedding visits to the homes of his relations, she was treated at Rajagiriya Walauwa to a rendering of "The Ash Grove" by a daughter of the house, my Aunt Amelia Obeyesekere (later Mrs Louis Pieris). In the 1950s, when my sisters and I were taken calling by our parents, the Victorians were still popular, and we heard the son of the house give forth a vigorous delivery of Laurence Hope's "Temple Bells". The singer on this second occasion was Lankasa de Alwis, the son of Auntie Alex and Uncle Leo, and every soulful throb of his tenor voice rocked his mother"s drawing-room at Samudragiri with simulated passion:

The temple bells are ringing,
And the young green corn is springing,
And the marriage month is drawing very near.
I lie hidden in the grass,
And I count the moments pass,
For the month of marriages is very near . . .

No doubt the fact that young Lankasa was himself to be married in a very few months to his cousin Joy Dassenaike lent his performance additional brio. Nothing so explicit had ever sullied the chaste ears of an earlier generation, who hadn't been encouraged to listen to, much less sing, anything that might have damaged the fine, fresh bloom of female ignorance. Though the clan's more gifted sons were sent to British universities, its daughters were kept at home, where they were carefully guarded from intellectual contamination of any kind and were taught, at the merest mention of men or of marriage, to drop their gaze modestly to the floor. Most of my elders, the womenfolk as well as the men, would have agreed quite seriously with Jane Austen's ironic maxim that a woman who has the misfortune of knowing anything at all should conceal it as well as she can.

Marriage within the clan was, of course, the wished-for consummation of every young woman's desire. It was the goal to which all her accomplishments - her music, her embroidery and lace-making, her considerable training in the domestic arts - led in the end, all that was necessary to make her a happy (or, at any rate, a married) woman. And as we grew up we were surrounded by ladies, young matrons, mothers of large families, dowagers by the dozen, who had achieved that goal and were living, to all appearances, comfortably ever after. Not every one achieved it, however: and this through no fault of their own, for most of my mother's contemporaries in the clan were perfectly conventional in outlook.

Devoted to the works of Tennyson and Florence Barclay, irreproachably docile by temperament and upbringing, they would have made ideal wives for a Bandaranaike, an Obeyesekere or a Pieris. And yet there were spinsters in plenty in the clan families I encountered after 1946, coveys of unmarried aunts who seemed to be rapidly losing their youthful charm. Some of these aunts were sweet-voiced and gentle. They would reach up at parties to peck us affectionately on the cheek or fondle our chins, and twitter wonderingly, "Goodness, this is Sammy's daughter - my, how this child has grown!"

Looking down into their large, soft brown eyes you would never discover the least resentment at having been cheated by fate of a home of their own, of a husband and of children. It seemed that there was enough in their quiet lives, which were spent in the homes of aged parents or married brothers and sisters, to occupy all their time and guarantee their happiness.

But there were others who were not, most definitely not, content. One of my father's cousins brooded, like some dangerous, sharp-beaked hawk, among the dowdy grey doves in those comfortable drawing rooms. She created a restless, angry atmosphere about her that was quite different from the ripples of tranquil ease that seemed to flow from the others. She attended Sunday services at Church dramatically draped in a black lace veil through which an angular profile and a pair of flashing dark eyes could be clearly seen, fascinating any small child who had nothing to do during the celebration of Communion but stare cautiously at her across the aisle.

She lived quite alone, in one of Colombo's pleasantest suburbs, waited on by family retainers. Without anyone actually having to tell us, we gathered that it was wise to be on our best behavior in her presence, an impression assisted by her appearance: for her black veil connected her in my imagination with the Wicked Witch in Disney's Snow White, who used to haunt my childish dreams. As I grew into adolescence, I recognized in my terrifying aunt the presence of a style and self-assurance unusual among the shy, retiring women in our family, as well as the remains of what must once have been considerable and striking beauty.

My Aunt was the only daughter of a very wealthy branch of Daddy's family. Beautiful though she was, and well-educated (to an extent quite unusual in her branch of the clan), she had accepted the idea planted in her mind by her relations that her only attraction lay, and had always lain, in her wealth.

I often watched my aunt in conversation with my mother and with other relations, and I thought she had one of the most delightful smiles I had ever seen, and a lively, self-deprecating sense of humor. That was when the shadow that lay over her life lifted a little. In middle age she adopted as her own, from a village near Colombo, a child of about my own age. The tragedy of my aunt's experience, however, in being conditioned to undervalue her own personality and talents has been repeated more than once since then among the heiresses of my nieces' generation.

In our clan love was a subject about which we were supposed to know and inquire nothing until marriage brought enlightenment to us in the nicest, and indeed the only, possible way. It seems a little strange now, considering that there are only four years between my sister Sonia and myself, that we didn't share our speculations on the subject. For everywhere about us, as children, were the evidences of love. There were, for instance, the family of eight blunt-nosed, blinded puppies that Juno (the happy young pedigree Alsatian that was Sonia's especial pet) produced quite without warning: or so it seemed to me. None of them resembled Juno in the least. There were the eggs Sonia found in a sparrow's nest built in a clay pot that the servants had fixed on the outer wall of the kitchen: we took turns climbing a ladder, to peep in at the small, spotted ovals. There were, too, those other eggs that my father sometimes took me along to see in his laboratory at the Agricultural Department office. He would pull out the drawer of an incubator, and I would look down on a dozen bedraggled little chicks, staggering unsteadily about in a battle-field of broken egg-shells. The process by which eggs came to be laid and puppies born was a closed book to me. No one explained, not even my sisters (if, indeed, they knew). As for human babies, the process of their creation was an impenetrable mystery which even school lessons did nothing to resolve.

I had spent a rather unhappy term boarding at Bishop's at the age of nine, during a short illness of my mother's. Although my sisters were boarders too, they were in the Middle and Senior schools respectively, and their status as monitors and prefects made them seem as remote from me as if we had been on different planets. I was glad to return home when my mother's health improved, and to my great relief I never had to repeat the experience of boarding-school life. Miss Marguerite Cockburn taught Hygiene and Physiology to the Fourth Form at Bishop's College. She was middle-sized, with short-cropped smooth black hair, and very thick lenses to her spectacles through which her eyes gleamed in what we thought was a very sinister way. On my first day in her Physiology class, I found on my desk two pieces of sticking plaster, each three inches long. There were similar pieces of sticking plaster on every other desk in the classroom.

"Take out your Hygiene and Physiology books, girls," said Miss Cockburn from her perch on the high dais, "and turn to Chapter Twenty One."

Our Hygiene and Physiology textbook had very small print. You could see there was a lot of information there. Chapter Twenty One, which was the last in the book, turned out to be very long, with diagrams on nearly every page, and was titled "The Reproductive Organs of the Human Male."

"This chapter will not be part of our syllabus for this year, girls," said Miss Cockburn. "We are therefore not to read or study it. So you will take those strips of sticking plaster you see on your desks, and in two separate places exactly four inches apart you will stick page one of Chapter Twenty One to the end-paper that is just inside the back cover of the book." She stepped off the dais and walked up and down between the rows of desks, looking over our shoulders to make sure that her instructions were being carried out. And so we learned in the Fourth Form to lock the reproductive organs of the human male safely out of sight, where they could not be studied and could therefore do us no harm.

When two of my classmates took me aside during the drink-interval at school one day, and confided amid giggles their discoveries about something men and women did together that caused babies to be born, I didn't believe them. I tried to imagine taking place between my parents, or between my uncles and aunts, the very odd behavior that had been described to me, but I found it impossible, especially where my mother was concerned. If the subject of sex ever arose in our house (as it occasionally did, brought in usually on the wings of some family scandal), and if our insistence seemed likely to coax an explanation out of Daddy, he was invariably stopped before he'd got very far by a look from the other end of the table. I knew that look well. It was a look of glacial disgust that closely resembled Miss Cockburn's habitual expression when she was teaching us Physiology.

It reflected, as I afterwards realized, an attitude to sex that was common among women of the clan who were very much older than my mother - late Victorians, in fact. When my Aunt Miriam de Saram delighted us all by having twins, we heard from her own lips of her mother's reaction to the news. "Really, Miriam, it's disgraceful. At your age!" stately Lady Hilda Pieris had said. Miriam sat up in bed looking superbly arrogant as she mimicked her straight-backed mamma, then dissolved into peals of laughter over the remark. I admired the tiny babies asleep in their cots, and pretended I wasn't listening. Miriam had just turned forty. I waited for my mother's answering laughter: it came, but it didn't ring true. You could see she thought Auntie Hilda had been quite right. But why was it disgraceful to have babies after one was forty? Did one have any say in the matter at all? No one ever explained.

Where do you come from, Baby dear?
Out of the Everywhere, into the Here!

began one book coyly, that I had found on my parents' bookshelves. Not much help there. Every Woman"s Home Doctor, an immense crimson covered volume to which my mother referred in all medical emergencies, was filled with photographs of Englishwomen with bobbed hair, smiling radiantly as they leaped about in gym slips doing exercises in the sunshine. This book also provided photographs of an ideal sick-room, and of the equipment need for bathing a baby, but about the arrival of the baby itself there was no information that I could find.

Some babies, it seemed, arrived too early. This, too, was Disgraceful. Or so an anonymous letter-writer said, sending to every family in the clan over the signature of "Careful Observer" all relevant details when a recently-married cousin had her first baby some weeks before it would normally have been expected. Others didn't arrive at all: and when this occurred, my mother and my aunts would look meaningfully at one another, and pityingly at the young wife concerned, and ask each other the all-important question, "Whose fault is it?" My own baby brother had arrived early. This wasn't Disgraceful, but Sad, since he had only lived a quarter of an hour after he drew his first breath; and I remember very well the wreath of blue hydrangeas Daddy gave me to place on the coffin, no bigger than a dressing-table drawer, that we followed to the churchyard at Bandarawela.

Most of these arrivals and non-arrivals (my brother's excepted) were, as far as Daddy was concerned, neither Disgraceful nor Sad but Comic. On several occasions he greeted the news with huge delight, and promptly celebrated the event with ribald verses . . .

Diary entry from A Change of Skies

Kanangra Station,
Badagini, Western Australia
26 JANUARY 1887

I have recently discovered that I am not the first person from my part of the world to visit this place, the name of which, when I heard it for the first time, awakened immediately my interest & indeed (I must confess it) my amusement.

"What's the joke, Ed?" asked my fellow stockman on this property, Joe Sammon.

"Badagini means hunger, " said I. "Literally, fire in the belly."

When Joe told me of the circumstances in which such a name had been assigned to the district, that it memorialized a group of Sinhalese workers who had found themselves alone & without food in this dry and desolate place some 30 yrs ago, my amusement was quickly at an end.

The tale Joe told me is a bitter one, and I set it down here more to relieve the burden it placed upon my mind and heart when I heard it than for any pleasure I hope to derive from ever viewing these pages again at some future time.

My poor countrymen who lived here for a while and died (for indeed, only 11 from a party of 32 survived the misery of that time) had been brought to this district from Queensland by the rumor of employment on a cattle property here. Some of them had experience of the care of livestock in their homeland, others (no doubt like Davith's father in Bundaberg) had run cattle on their small properties in Queensland, & many had added to their store of knowledge through converse with the native stockmen of these parts who have, it is said, an affinity to the land that their tribes roamed freely in times past which is so great as to be beyond ordinary comprehension, & who are said to be especially skilled in the management of horses.

All would have been well had it not been for a very great drought at that time which turned the district for hundreds of miles around into something resembling a desert. Water dried up in the creeks, & where there had in good times been lakes of fresh water alive with fish, there was now but cracked earth.

The Sinhalese had no skills which could help them survive in these unnatural conditions. Cattle & men alike, Joe tells me, dropped in their tracks, such was the terrible heat of the sun; & landowners & their stockmen together walked off their holdings. Those among the workers who could still stand upright struggled, after a time, with difficulty from their camp to the roadside, where they lay down in the dust; & as the pony carts passed by, carrying settlers and their families out of the area into towns where they could at least find water and, if they were fortunate, payment for day labor, these poor folk stretched out their hands to the passing carts and cried out in their own tongue, "Badagini! Badagini! O help us, who will help us?"

I, who have sometimes heard that cry in the poorest quarters of the towns of Matara & Galle, could not, I fear, hide my tears when I heard this terrible tale.

How did it happen that they were not assisted? I asked Joe, in whose father's time these events had taken place. He shrugged, & lit his pipe. "No-one asked them to come out here in the first place, mate," he replied. "When the bad weather struck, it was a case of each man for himself. Has to be, in country like this. It was a terrible time for the animals in the district, but a sad time for the humans, too, I reckon, when a man or a woman don't stretch out a hand to help a fellow creature fallen in the dust."

All that night, as I lay in the dark, watching the moon rise behind the barns & sheds, it seemed to me I heard that terrible cry rising into a hot wind in an alien & hostile land - Badagini! Badagini!

30 JANUARY 1887

Reflecting on the years I have spent in this country, & in particular on the difference between my poor compatriots' experience & my own, I feel I must revise a statement made some time earlier as to the scarcity here of good company, for I have met with good fortune & great kindness in many places, & especially from my friend Joe. Despite the differences in our background & education (and I should also say in view of the comforts that await me at home, our respective hopes of future prosperity) we have been good companions.

For two days past, water from swollen creeks in this region has inundated many properties including this which yields me my present employment. In moving panic-stricken livestock, cattle as well as horses, to high ground where they will, it is to be hoped, be safe from the rising flood waters, I have discovered in myself courage I never knew that I possessed, & skills which I would formerly have sought elsewhere than in my own two hands.

Joe has taught me much, not only concerning the beasts he loves & governs with such skill, but of human nature. It is not possible that we shd correspond, despite which I trust he will think of me often with his customary good-hearted kindness. But I have seen enough, & learned enough of myself too, to understand that a life lived here is not for me.

The crude cooking of raw, unseasoned meat over burning coals (which passes generally for the culinary art in these isolated places) is, for example, something I would find hard to bear during a longer sojourn than I intend to make. The result is often charred, & where not so, it is generally raw, the blood still running from it. The smell of it, not to put too fine a point on the matter, is vile.

While I was resident on Mr Nott-Herring's sugar cane property in Queensland, Davith employed a portion of the curry leaves, spices & pepper he had brought with him in the dray to render my meat palatable. But here, alas, there is no Davith, only poor Joe & his companions, whose habit it is to fall upon their rough victuals with every sign of enjoyment, & to wonder much at my own reluctance to keep them company at table.

Indeed, there are many things about me which I perceive perplex my friend Joe. It was but last night that he, guessing my Journal to be a logbook of some kind since I write something in it every night, looked into it over my shoulder out of curiosity. He found what I was writing opaque and incomprehensible, but here & there upon the page he recognized his own name.

"So you're writing about me, eh? J.O.E. Joe. I know. That's me. What have you said about me, eh?"

"That I shall think of you often when I leave this place. That you have been kind to me. A good friend," I said. "A mate. And that I hope you will think of me in the same way."

"What's this other stuff you've got down here? Don't look like English to me."

I looked at the page to which he had turned, open on the kitchen table in our shack.

"That's Greek; and that, over there, is written in English letters, but it's Latin, a language men spoke long ago in Italy."

"Italy, eh? Didn't tell me you was a bloody dago."

"I'm not. But the man who wrote that was."

"What's he say, then?"

I read the passage aloud to Joe.

"No, no, no. What's he say in bloody English?"

" 'He who crosses the ocean may change the skies above him, but not the color of his soul.' "

Macquarie University

YASMINE GOONERATNE nee Bandaranaike http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Gooneratne.html

Biography

Novelist, Poet, and critic Yasmine Gooneratne, a graduate of Bishop's college, went on to graduate from the University of Ceylon in 1959 and also received a PhD in English Literature from Cambridge University in 1962. Gooneratne became a resident of Australia in 1972. In 1981 she was the first, and remains until now, the only person to receive the higher doctoral degree of Doctor of Letters ever awarded by Macquarie University. She now holds a Personal Chair in English Literature at Macquarie University, which is located in New South Wales. From 1989-1993 she was the Foundation Director of her Universityís Postcolonial Literatures and Languages Research Center. In 1990 Gooneratne became an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to literature and education and in that same year she was also invited to become the Patron of the Jane Austen Society of Australia. Gooneratne also had a place on a committee appointed by the Federal Government to review the Australian system of Honors and Awards from 1994-1995. Since 1995, she has had positions on both the Australia Abroad Council and the Visiting Committee of the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong. In 1998, she became a member of Asialink. She has been a visiting professor or specialist at many different places around the world including the following: Edith Cowan University (Western Australia), University of Michigan (USA), Jawarharlal Nehru University (India), and the University of the South Pacific (Fiji).

Yasmine Gooneratne is married to Dr. Brendan Gooneratne who is a physician, environmentalist, and historian. They married in 1962 and now have two children, a son and a daughter, and currently live in Sydney, Australia.

Achievements and Awards

Gooneratne has 16 published books that include critical studies of Jane Austen, Alexander Pope, and contemporary novelist and screen writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. She has also written volumes of literary essays as well as poems, short stories, a family memoir, and two novels. In 1991, she was awarded a Writer's Fellowship at Varuna Writerís Center where she edited the final draft of one of her novels, A Change of Skies. This novel later won the Marjorie Barnard Literary Award for Fiction in 1992 and was shortlisted for the 1991 Commonwealth Writers Prize. Her second novel, Pleasures of Conquest, was shortlisted for the 1996 Commonwealth Writers Prize. She has also contributed various articles, poetry, short stories, and other writings to many different anthologies and journals. Many of her works have been presented on television, radio, and at public readings around Australia and many other parts of the world. Her achievements are recorded in Who's Who of Australia 1997 and in The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature.

Themes

Gooneratne encompasses various themes in her writing. One theme that continually appears in her works is a reflection upon how the past affects the future. She relays many of her own experiences to make her points more personal and more real to the reader. An example of this is Relative Merits, which is a personal memoir that is based on interviews with her family members and on her own memories of her family's life. She takes her family's past and ties in how her well-known family has affected Sri Lanka's history. Another theme includes aspects of immigration and adjustment to new lands. This theme is exemplified in A Change of Skies, which deals with a Sri Lanka family moving to Australia. This novel focuses on the experiences of Asian immigrants and how they adjust to living in the new environment of Australia. Changes in history are also themes of her works. Gooneratne's second novel, The Pleasures of Conquest, deals with relationships between Europe and Asia as Ceylon undergoes a transformation from a British colony to an independent Sri Lanka.

Gooneratne's poetry also has many different themes. One major theme of her poetry is poetry itself. She refers to different parts of poetry, like verses and lines, in many of her poems. She makes the words seem powerful and alive. "The Scribble" describes how a young girl sees that as she gets older "that words grow sedate, / long may she find/ verse in the wind, / rhyme run in the rivers, / words hum and quiver." "6,000 Ft. Death Dive" explains how a woman dies and at the same time compares the power and freedom of death to writing. As Gooneratne writes, "from poetry to plummet till we splash/ down in a terse, laconic paragraph." In "The Cave," she writes, "Build on, poets, / out of ourselves, our pain/ and our delight, / we build our own support." In this poem she is encouraging poets to express themselves and know that someday they will "tremble on/ the blazing summit of our own creation." Another important theme is the different aspects of immigration that are also continually mentioned in her poems. In "Newsletter," she mentions Australia and "the island-shaped wastes common to immigrant hearts," indicating the love the immigrants have for their new land. She explores both perspectives of foreigners in other lands. In "Business People," she describes how tourists love the beauty of the land, but do not care to know the terrors of its past. She writes, "They scan the catalogue, write out a cheque and for the price fixed-thirty dollars-/buy my poor country." As "bits and pieces" of her land are carried away by the newcomers she says "our children/ have become a nation of beggars."

Email Quotations From Gooneratne

"Each book or article I have written engages with a particular idea or set of ideas that gripped my imagination at the time that I was writing it. A few examples include the following: Relative Merits (1986) seeks to preserve for posterity my memories of my family, and to give the reader some sense of that family's special qualities and its place in Sri Lanka's cultural history; A Change of Skies (1991) focuses on the experiences of Asian visitors/immigrants in Australia; and The Pleasures of Conquest (1995) is centered on historical and contemporary relationships between East and West. If I were to ask myself whether there has been some single idea I (must have) wanted to convey to an audience through these different works, I would say that it is a belief in the worth of human beings as individuals, irrespective of all attempts to stereotype or categorize them in terms of class, race, caste, color, intellectual ability, gender, or religious belief."

"The biggest influence on my writing as regards to subject matter has inevitably been the fact that I had the good fortune to have been born in Sri Lanka, and to grow up and be educated there at a "golden" period in the island's cultural life. The biggest influence on my writing regarding style is probably a lifelong admiration for the writings of certain English authors of the 18th and 19th centuries, including Alexander Pope, Dr. Samuel Johnson, and Jane Austen."

"There are several authors I deeply admire. Among them are V.S. Naipaul, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, R.K. Narayan, and the authors I have previously mentioned. My favorite author is Jane Austen, partly because her ideas about love and life (as expressed in her novels and letters) have shaped my own, and partly because her disciplined and ironic style provides an exemplary model for any writer who feels (as she did) deeply about the conditions under which life must be lived."

"My favorite among my own books is Relative Merits. Why? Partly because I am most myself in it; and partly because recreating in it my memories and impressions of family members whom I knew well opened the way for me to create fictional characters of my own later on in novels and stories."

"Biggest accomplishment: My teaching. At the age of 15, I had the good fortune to attract the interest and friendship of two wonderful teachers: Pauline Swan and her husband C.R. Hensman. Without their interest and encouragement I would probably not have gone into academic life. I would like to believe that I, too, have been in influence for good in the intellectual lives of students in Sri Lanka (where I taught for 11 years) and in Australia (where I have taught for 26 years). I hope, above all, that I have been successful (like the Hensmans) in passing on to students and readers my own love of literature and my commitment to it."

Selected Bibliography

Works By Gooneratne

--The Pleasures of Conquest. Milsons Point: Vintage, 1996.

--"In the East My Pleasure: A Postcolonial Love Story." SPAN 34-35 (1992-1993): 269-279.

--"Navaranjini Takes Note of Signs and Visions." Wilder Shores: Womenís Travel Stories of Australia and Beyond. Ed. Robin Lucas and Clare Foster. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1992. 36-41.

--A Change of Skies. Chippendale, NSW: Picador, 1991.

--Relative Merits: A personal memoir of the Bandaranaike family of Sri Lanka. 1986-1987.

--Word, Bird, Motif: Poems. (1970)

--The Lizard's Cry and Other Poems (1972)

--New Ceylon Writing (1973)

--Stories from Sri Lanka (1979)

--Poems from India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, & Singapore (1979)

--6,000 Ft. Death Dive. Colombo (1981)

Selected Criticism and Autobiography by Gooneratne

--Relative Merits: A Personal Memoir of the Bandaranaike Family of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst, 1986.

--"Asian Culture and Asian Identity." Hecate 22.2 (1996): 49-55.

--"Why I Write." Kunapipi 16.1 (1994): 166-167.

--"Flowering, Finally in Alien Soil." Weekend Australian Magazine 22-23 October 1988: 9.

--"Constructing the Characters of Women in A Change of Skies." Australian Womenís Book Review 4.3 (1992): 13-15.

Her unassuming ways made her stand tall among her peers - Sunday Times Feb 4 2007

~ Nanette Ilangakoon Wickremasinghe

“Much will be required of those to whom much is given” This scriptural injunction is, I believe, applicable to Nanette my best and dearest friend with whom I shared a lifelong relationship of affection, understanding and trust.

Meeting as teenagers in the common room at College House on the first day of term so many years ago, it was a rare case of instant bonding between three young people from three different backgrounds – even ethnicity – the only common denominator being their faith. It did not strike us then, but in hindsight, I realize that shared values, identity of purpose in the pursuit of our studies, and a shared perspective on how to shape our lives, helped to establish this friendship which was to last a lifetime.

It was on the strength of this association that I feel obliged to narrate the story of Nanette’s life and the manner in which she fulfilled all that was required of her as one exceptionally endowed – not merely in the matter of her distinguished lineage, but also inherent superior intellect and what’s more her extraordinary gifts of compassionate love and concern for others.

Given these endowments it was expected that she would be enmeshed in an aura of exclusivity but I could vouch for the fact that she was, in all instances unassuming and simple to the core. Precisely for this reason she stood tall among her peers and won for herself both respect and admiration.

It is meaningful to review her life (and ours) from those early days. Those were exciting times. University life had its challenges. Ragging was not unknown, but except in rare instances, carried out in gentlemanly fashion. The motive was to tease and not to hurt. And so the appellation we got The Unholy Three did not bother us much (Greenhorns that we were at the time we did not recognize the innuendo).

Our initiation into the Arts and Sciences was in the regular curriculum, but what mattered most was the transition from our adolescence, nurtured within the narrow confines of the convent schools in which we were tutored, into adulthood in the milieu of a free and open co-ed institution. We were subconsciously faced with the realization that we were solely responsible for our lives and that all our actions were subject to the closest scrutiny. Needless to say these prescriptions prepared us for the long and arduous journey of life.

After four years of study and the concomitant widening of our horizons we stepped out from the somewhat rarefied atmosphere of the University into the world of everyday existence. Choices had to be made and careers undertaken. Marriage with its total commitment was a necessity. Although Nanette had many admirers it was the unobtrusive Lyn who, deservedly won the prize. They had a happy life together and started to raise a family.

Life as we all know is never easy. Childhood illnesses, problems of psychological adjustments and the like, took its toll on Nanette’s health for a time, but she bravely overcame all these disruptions and her life became one of service not only to her own husband and children, but also to her mother and to the families of her dear siblings.

In times of illness and anxiety she cared for them as though they were her very own. I still remember the daily bulletins she sent me regarding the progress and regress of the terminal illness of one in her extended family and when the inevitable came to pass she was as distraught as the mother of the girl who could not be saved.

This same compassion she extended to friends who had insurmountable family problems, offering the shelter and comfort of her own home till the crises blew over. To me and Blossom the third member of the unholy triad, she was an unfailing source of inspiration, always accepting and upholding each other in all our strengths and weaknesses. For this is what friendship is all about – the caring and sharing in all the joys and sorrows of life.

As for herself she lived life to the full — ably supporting and guiding her two children in the educational sphere, and her husband in his daily endeavours. When Lyn reached the zenith of his career she rose to the occasion by carrying out the relevant social responsibilities with grace and charm.

But life inexorably draws to a close. When Lyn passed away she was very lonely and unable to cope. Ravi came to her rescue and persuaded her to come and live with his family in the land of their adoption. With her indomitable spirit she acceded, and began to lead a new life Down Under. What gave her true happiness was to teach and nurture her two grandchildren as only a person of her scholarship and competence could do. Suffice it that she could achieve this objective in the space of a few fruitful years. She was, in fact, fulfilling all the obligations required of one so richly endowed and she could now rest from her labours in peace and comfort. It was at this time an undreamt of illness struck bringing with it relentless anxiety and distress to her and her family. Jit and Ravi supported her with due filial love and devotion.

Our faith does not promise the absence of pain and suffering to even the best of men and women, and this pain she had to endure. This she did with courage and resignation.

Nanette had now begun her journey homewards — to the Promised Land — and so it was goodbye. You are sorely missed by all those whose lives you touched.

You have inspired us all.

By Renee

http://notices.smh.com.au/death/20047/notice.aspx

Family Pictures of the Bandaranaike Families

l-r: Annette Dias Bandaranaike in London circa 1900, Annette Dias Bandaranaike & Ronald Illangakoon, first Sinhalese AG, at their marriage 1914, Old Nuga Tree in the Oberoi Hotel compound is seen, standing tall, at the back

l-r: The Wickremasinghe family, Wellawatte, Christmas 1953. My (Git Wickremasinghe) father is seated at right. I am the kid on the ground, A gathering of Wickremasinghes and Bandaranaikes. 3^rd from left standing is Dr Sumitra Wickremasinghe, now a top surgeon in Melbourne, Australia

Self (Git Wickremasinghe) with rabbit, ca 1954, The Martensteyn family of Bandarawela - a very distinguished Burgher clan in Ceylon

self (Git Wickremasinghe) enjoying he sands of the Mt Lavinia beach, ca 1954

Pics sent by Dr. Git Wickremasinghe in UK

Dr R. Gitendra Wickremasinghe

Senior Lecturer,

Department of Haematology,

Royal Free and University College Medical School,

Rowland Hill Street,

London NW3 2PF,

UK.

r.wickremasinghe@medsch.ucl.ac.uk

Glimpse of History from ANCL Archives : Sunday Observer Mar 4 2007

Sirimavo R. D. Bandaranaike - an outstanding stateswoman

To mark International Women's Day on March 08 :

by Indeewara Thilakarathne

With Prime Minister Indira Ghandhi

Opening of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' meeting in Australia(Mrs Bandaranaike in a chat with Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies and Nkrumah of Ghana

The stamp in honour of the World's First woman Prime Minister

In Conversation with German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt

Before casting her vote

Sirima R.D Bandaranaike

SIRIMAVO R. D. BANDARANAIKE (Born April 17, 1916) was the world's first elected woman Prime Minister, and a founder leader of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM).

Apart from becoming the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka three times, she was also an illustrious stateswoman who had not only signed the historic Sirima-Shasthri pact to find a political solution to the problem of Tamils of Indian origin but also effectively intervened to solve the Sino-Indian dispute. She represented Sri Lanka at various international fora including the United Nations Organisations and the Non-Aligned Movement.

She also brought a resolution before the UN asking that the Indian Ocean be made a Peace Zone. She had the rare distinction of rubbing shoulders with outstanding world leaders like Indira Gandhi of India, Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia.

Before becoming the Prime Minister in 1994 she took her oaths as the Minister without Portfolio on August 19, 1994, and donated her salary to the Treasury. She worked as an advisor to the Cabinet of Ministers of her daughter's government.

Indian Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had very close family connections with the Bandaranaike family and as a result the Indo-Sri Lanka relations during her rule was unique.

Her friendly and cordial approach helped to find solutions to festering problems. Such as the Sirima-Shasthri agreement between Mrs. Bandaranaike and Lal Bahadur Shasthri which helped to sign an accord with India. It was solely due to her efforts that an amicable settlement favourable to Sri Lanka was reached on the question of Kachchativu, a tiny island between the South Coast of India and Sri Lanka's North Coast . Now the island belongs to Sri Lanka.

Once when border issues between India and China showed signs of corruption, Mrs. Bandaranaike separately met the leaders and brought pacification.

She ruled the country from July 1960 to March 1965 and then from 1970 to 1977. For nearly 12 years Mrs. Bandaranaike ruled the country. During the height of terror in 1988 she polled 2,289,868 votes (44.9 per cent) as the presidential candidate at the elections held on December 19, 1988. Former President Ranasinghe Premadasa who won the election polled only 50.4 per cent. Mr. Ossie Abeyagoonasekera received 4.5 per cent votes.

As the daughter of Barnes Ratwatte Dissawwa and Ratwatte Kumarihamy, she received her education at St Bridget's Convent, Colombo.

In 1940, she married Mr. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike the then Minister of Local Government and Health, who later became Prime Minister of the country in 1956 and continued till September 1959, when he was assassinated.

Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike was appointed Prime Minister (as a member of the Senate) and contested her first seat in Parliament in March 1965 from the electorate of Attanagalle - and was returned by a majority of votes and later became the Leader of the Opposition.

She had given leadership to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the party founded by her late husband both in good times and bad times.

Prime Minister Sirimavo R.D.Bandaranaike addressing the Bandung Summit

TRIBUTES Sunday Times October 15, 2000

Queen B

For more than forty years, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, held centre stage in Sri Lankan politics. Catapulted into the limelight in1959 following the shock assassination of her brilliant politician husband Prime Minister S.W.R.D Bandaranaike, the diffident housewife from Horagolla, disparagingly called the 'weeping widow' by her critics, soon proved her mettle.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike put little Sri Lanka on the international map when in 1960 at the age of 44, she became the world's first woman prime minister. She held office from 1960-65, then again from 1970-77 presiding over the country's change into a Republic and finally became prime minister for the third time in 1994, this time with her daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga as the country's executive president. Ill-health however, dogged her last years and in August this year, she relinquished public office.

In the 1960s, Mrs.Bandaranaike wowed the world with her presence as the only female leader amongst an international stage dominated by a galaxy of prominent men, especially from the Non-Aligned Movement among whom were India's Jawaharlal Nehru, Egypt's Gamal Abdul Nasser,Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito and Indonesia's Gen.Sukharno. She maintained excellent ties with neighbouring countries and shared a close personal friendship with Indian premier Indira Gandhi. She was also close to the Chinese leaders Mao Tse Tung and Chou-en-lai. In 1976, she hosted the Non-Aligned Summit in Colombo and this was considered the pinnacle of her career in international affairs.

During the Bangladesh war in 1971,she permitted Pakistani flights to re-fuel at Colombo and yet kept the confidence of Mrs.Gandhi. Another notable achievement was when she obtained for Sri Lanka sovereignty over the barren but disputed island of Kachchativu situated between India and Sri Lanka.

Whilst she shone on the international stage, at home, though her career was chequered.

She faced a military coup in 1962 and swiftly quelled the JVP insurgency in 1971.

Her takeover of Lake House and closure of the Independent Newspapers Group were, however, blots on her record. On the economic front, propelled by her Marxist allies, she implemented unpopular left-oriented economic and social policies which brought about an era of shortages and queues.

In 1975,she removed the Marxists from her coalition and began pushing right-wing policies but it was too late and the opposition UNP swept to a landslide victory in 1977.

In what was possibly the darkest hour of her political life, the UNP under President J.R. Jayewardene cruelly stripped her of her civic rights, forcing her out of politics for what was loosely called "abuse of power" in 1980.

Five years later, the grand old lady once again led the SLFP to power and was sworn in as Prime Minister by her daughter Chandrika.

Her death marks the end of a remarkable career of a woman who emerged from her husband's shadow to write her name in this country's history as a stateswoman of courage and integrity.

Family ties...

The Bandaranaike-Ratwatte wedding

Early Days : with
husband SWRD and her daughters

"I attended the wedding of 'Young Banda' to Miss Ratwatte (daughter of Disawa Barnes Ratwatte and niece of the late Sir Cudah) at Balangoda and a week later, their ceremonial homecoming to Sir Solomon Bandaranaike's residence near Veyangoda. This marriage is A proud
mother : With Sunethra, Chandrika and Anura

A proud
mother : With Sunethra, Chandrika and Anura

of great sociological and political importance. Whatever opinion one may hold of young Bandaranaike as Minister for Local Administration, or as founder and leader of the Sinhala Maha Sabha or as a pervert for political purposes from Christianity to Buddhism or as a master of nationalist rhetoric, one is bound to admit that he has taken to himself a wife who appears Turning point :
SWRD assassinated

thoroughly nice, placid and sensible and that this union between a first-rank family of the lowlands with a first-rank family of the Kandyan highlands represents an accretion of considerable political influence to the Sinhala Maha Sabha."

Remembering SWRD :
The family at Horagolla

Extract from 'Things Ceylonese': twelfth periodical report by Sir Andrew Caldecott for CO (Colonial Office) from British Documents on the End of Empire edited by K.M de Silva.

Mother of the nation...

Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike had.... achieved distinction on her own account by becoming the world's first woman Prime Minister. But rather more important than the accident by which she preceded Mrs Indira Gandhi, Mrs Golda Meir and Mrs Margaret Thatcher to a winning post set up by keepers of world records is the fact, undisputed I should imagine by those who follow Lankan politics, that she is the most formidable and charismatic leader the country has ever seen. A woman of Being sworn in by her daughter as Prime Minister for the
time

Being sworn in by her daughter as Prime Minister for the
time

unusually strong will and possessed of a sturdy resolution that her later career has given her frequent opportunity to display, she did not allow public criticism to deter her from what she doubtless saw as her duty both to her children and to her husband's memory.

The French newspapers in Lausanne where I found myself in 1960 carried pictures of Sirimavo, her face pale, her eyes rimmed with dark shadows, campaigning from public platforms for the Sri Lanka In times of war : comforting an injured soldier

In times of war : comforting an injured soldier

Freedom Party. They used the terms volupteuse and seducteuse to describe the placid lady I had last seen at Horagolla Walauwa acknowledging with conventionally folded hands the greetings of her husband's supporters and later quietly but efficiently organising the midday meal that fed hundreds of rejoicing SLFP partisans gathered to celebrate uncle Solomon's 'famous victory'.

Most conservative members of our clan, ...reacted with deep misgivings .......when on the death of her husband, Sirimavo was persuaded by senior members of his party to enter politics. Even uncle Cartoon

Paul Deraniyagala who had been Solomon's best man when he married Sirimavo shook his head gravely over the idea of his cousin's widow in national politics..

"She can't achieve anything by it," said Uncle Paulie. "What does she know of politics. In Solla's time, Sirima presided over nothing fiercer than the kitchen fire. And think what Ceylon's like-would people ever tolerate a woman at the top? She'll end up by spoiling her personal reputation and ruining the family name."

"When human life is involved, all else is secondary"

Early in her political life, Mrs Bandaranaike spearheaded the Non-Aligned Movement and in this speech to the Non-Aligned Conference in Belgrade in 1961 she addressed the assembly appealing for peace not just as leader, but as a woman and mother. Extracts:

I consider it a great honour to represent my country at this Conference which could prove to be of historic significance in the cause of world peace. I am happy to attend this great assembly not only as a representative of my country but also as a woman and a mother who can understand the thoughts and feelings of those millions of women, the mothers of this world, who are deeply concerned with the preservation of the human race.

I am also happy that we have chosen to hold the Conference in this beautiful city of Belgrade not only because of the warmth and hospitality of the Yugoslav people of which there is so much evidence but also because in holding it in a European city we have demonstrated to the world that the ideals and hopes which we all share are not confined to a continent or region but reflect an awareness on the At the NAM summit, Belgrade - 1961

part of human beings, wherever they may be, of the urgent need for international peace and security.

We in Ceylon count ourselves fortunate that the people of our land were spared the horrors of two World Wars and that we were able to throw off the shackles of colonial power without strife or bloodshed. But it was not until eight years after the attainment of independence, when my late husband was elected Prime Minister, that the foreign bases were taken over and a definite and positive policy of non-alignment with power blocs adopted in foreign affairs.

This Conference at Belgrade has not been convened, however, for the consideration of specific problems peculiar to individual nations; we are gathered here in the firm belief that the positive policy of non-alignment with power blocs followed by each of our several countries and that our common dedication to the cause of peace and peaceful co-existence gives us the right to raise our voices in common decisions and declarations in a world divided into power blocs and moving rapidly towards the brink of a nuclear war.

Many of the Heads of States and Heads of Governments who addressed this Conference in plenary session have emphasized the point that our group of nations do not propose to become a third bloc or a third force. None of us can really disagree with that view, for that would be inconsistent with the very idea of non-alignment. But it is important to remember that in our anxiety to avoid becoming a third force we must not allow our spirit of unity and purpose which has been so evident at this Conference to disintegrate and fall apart.

We believe that the ideals which have drawn us together will continue to inspire our thinking on international problems. We must recognise, however, that national policy is seldom divorced from national interest and that it is in the nature of international politics that competitive interests should arise. It would be unreal for us to believe that such conflicts of interest can be resolved by any appeal to principle alone. It would be equally unreal, and indeed positively dangerous, to allow these conflicts to remain unresolved. It is in this spirit that I would like to express our thoughts on some of the problems which confront us.

None of the countries of the world, big or small, rich or poor, can afford to look with indifference at the increasing international tension and at the steady deterioration in mutual trust and understanding among the committed nations of the world, particularly the Big Powers. The present crisis in Berlin must be reviewed not as a separate question but as part of the larger problem of a divided Germany and against the background of the failure of the Great Powers to agree on a firm peace settlement for that country.

The tensions which have grown in various parts of the world in recent years can be traced to the clash of interest between the two power blocs. The fact remains that the German problem is one of the legacies of the last war, and the earlier this question is resolved of uniting the two sections, the better it will be for peace and understanding among nations.

Disarmament is a crucial question of our times. An early settlement of this question will be of paramount importance in building confidence among nations and in decreasing the dangers of war. It would also be an important milestone in the improvement of relations between nations and would mark the end of two-power blocs with all this portends for the future peace and security of the world. Vast sums of money that are expended in manufacturing these weapons of destruction could usefully be spent on economic and social development in various countries of the world.

As countries having a vested interest in peace we should make an immediate appeal to the big powers to resume negotiations with a view to the achievement of complete and general disarmament. In my view, it would help these negotiations if a certain number of the non-aligned countries are also included in the Disarmament Commission.

This Conference of non-aligned states does not in any way act contrary to the aims and objectives for which the United Nations stands. On the contrary, this Conference supports and supplements the work of the United Nations. The United Nations stands for the maintenance of international peace and security and it is in the interest of all concerned, particularly the small countries, to maintain and strengthen this organisation.

We would prefer basic changes in the UN Charter in order to strengthen this organisation, but disagreement among the big powers makes this difficult. The failure to seat the representative of the People's Republic of China has contributed to this impasse. It is our earnest hope that wise counsels will prevail and that China will take her legitimate seat in the United Nations.

The composition of the Security Council and the other institutions of the United Nations does not adequately reflect the present membership of the United Nations. When a satisfactory solution is reached as regards the representation of the People's Republic of China we feel a reallocation of seats could be made in those bodies so that greater representation might be given to the Asian-African Group.

Before I conclude I should like to express my firm conviction that there is no single country in the world at this moment that looks forward to the prospects of war without dismay. I do not for one moment believe that there is a single mother in the world who could bear to contemplate the possible danger of her children being exposed to atomic radiation and slow and lingering death, if not swift annihilation.

The statesmen of the great powers, who have been placed in positions of trust and authority by millions of ordinary people who do not want war, have no right to assume that they have a mandate to precipitate a nuclear war and immense destructive power either to defend a way of life or to extend a political ideology.

If I may attempt to assess the contribution that the non-aligned countries can make at this time, I would say that our endeavour should be to influence world opinion to such an extent that governments, however powerful, cannot regard warfare as an alternative to negotiation. Too much is at stake today to allow us the luxury of considerations of prestige and honour. When human life is involved all else is secondary. Let us in our deliberations make this clear in no uncertain terms

Her eyes

The eyes, they say are the most precious gifts for a human. Then the eyes of the world's first lady premier, and mother of the nation as she is considered by many Sri Lankans, would be priceless gifts.

According to a wish she had expressed some time ago, the late Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike's corneas were donated to two eye patients who were awaiting corneal grafting at the Eye Hospital, Colombo. "Despite her age the eyes were in good condition", said the Director of Eye Hospital Dr. Sarath Abeysinghe.

Both corneas were removed and one transplanted on the very day Mrs. Bandaranaike passed away, and the other the next morning, by two consultant eye surgeons of the Eye Hospital.

"Luckily there were two patients awaiting corneal grafting at the Eye Hospital. Otherwise the eyes would have been sent abroad," said Dr. Abeysinghe. -UG

A tribute from London

Sirima will be missed

By Neville de Silva

The death of Sirima Bandaranaike on Tuesday came as quite a shock to most persons of Sri Lankan origin living here.

A stereotypical Western idea in former times was that Asian or Oriental women were virtual chattels and that their place was in the kitchen unlike their Occidental counterparts who played a prominent role in society and politics.

When Mrs Bandaranaike became Prime Minister in 1960 the mould that perpetuated such thinking was broken.Yet Western media and academics had a way of belittling that achievement. They argued that Mrs Bandaranaike became Prime Minister only because of the assassination of her husband.

But once she was thrust into the forefront of politics, she learned it fast and actually took to it quite professionally.

If Mrs Bandaranaike's entry into politics, as the world's first woman Prime Minister did not entirely rebut the argument, that Oriental women were still behind their Western counterparts in liberating themselves of their traditional role as housewives, it did focus much more academic and media attention on the status and role of Asian and African women in society.

Much to the amazement of Western people they began to discover that there were many women in our universities and other tertiary institutions such as the Law College and, that in some disciplines, women outnumbered the men.

I remember an occasion in 1971 when Betty Friedan (if my memory has not deserted me for a moment) a guru of America's women's lib came to the University of Hawaii to talk of her favourite subject-women's liberation. She talked of her interesting meeting with Indira Gandhi whom she referred to as the world's first woman Prime Minister much to the joy of the Indian students gathered.

When she did stop to take a breath, I managed to intervene and point out to her that Indira Gandhi was not the world's first woman prime minister. She hesitated for a couple of minutes and then went on as though ignorance was indeed bliss.

If an American women's lib leader did not know Mrs Bandaranaike by reputation, certainly lowly immigration officials in the former German Democratic Republic, commonly called East Germany, did.

Rex de Silva, formerly the Editor of the Sun newspaper and now editing the Borneo Bulletin in Brunei, and I had just crossed Checkpoint Charlie in West Berlin and were trying to enter the eastern sector, as the Americans called it.

This was in 1966 and both of us were attending a journalism institute, which was located a hundred yards away from the notorious Berlin Wall and opposite Checkpoint Charlie.

After handing over our passports to the East German officials, we were waiting for clearance when Rex and I were greeted very warmly by one of them who said "Aah Ceylon.. Frau Bandaranaike.... The (tea)" and immediately cleared us. The point I'm trying to make is that Mrs Bandaranaike was well known in the socialist bloc and the developing world.

If Mr Bandaranaike made foreign policy a key plank during his unfortunately short term as Prime Minister, Sirima Bandaranaike continued that interest and gave serious thought and much time to foreign policy and to build a professional diplomatic service.

Another trait in her was that she was always helpful to journalists, if she could be so, without divulging sensitive information. I've often had occasion to interview her at the airport either when she was leaving or arriving.

I remember one occasion when she was leaving for India from the Ratmalana airport. She was heading for the plane accompanied by Governor General William Gopallawa and Maithripala Senanayake. I walked across the tarmac much to surprise of the security officials and other journalists and interviewed her right there.

Thank heaven there was no overpowering security presence then. Thank heaven for journalism that Mrs Bandaranaike considered this was part of the job and how I got my interview was my business.

Even when I used to come home from Hong Kong for a short holiday, she would never refused to give me an appointment if I telephoned asking for one.

And even in those physically fragile years, her mind was still acute. Once when I called on her a few months before Hong Kong returned to China, she was very interested to know what could happen, whether Hong Kong would continue to be like what it was then.

Sirima Bandaranaike will be missed.

In her own words…

In an interview with The Sunday Times on her 79th birthday on April 16, 1995, Mrs Bandaranaike, then Prime Minister for the third time, spoke to Roshan Pieris on the events that shaped her life. Extracts:

On her wedding:

"Just like any young girl, I was excited about it. There were elaborate preparations made as my husband was then a politician of stature and the Ratwatte family (she was a Miss Ratwatte) was keeping to all the traditions we were heir to."

On her husband's death:

"Poignant and harsh memories still remain when I recollect that distant day, of the way in which my husband was shot in his own home and the manner of his death. And there were my three children Anura the youngest, only around eleven and my daughters teenagers."

On the difficult times in her political life:

"I guided the country through a coup planned to topple my government when I first took over. In 1962, many a UNP politician's unseen hand and that of many a man in the Forces was ranged against me. But I overcame it all. But what I am most proud of looking back, is that during one of the most trying periods in recent history I guided our country.

The JVP uprising was the first terrorist insurrection in this country directly attacking the government. It was an outstandingly difficult time. But I kept my cool.

It is true some youth died in the crossfire but I am proud to say no one was deliberately killed or abducted or burnt with tyres round their bodies or mutilated. I asked the misled youngsters, both men and women to surrender.

I told them as a mother I felt for them and felt sorry that they should have been so falsely misled with grandiose ideas of power.

On the Non-Aligned Movement:

I will always remember the start of the Non-aligned Movement by Tito, Nehru, Nasser and myself and the honour of hosting the movement's 5th summit in Sri Lanka in 1976.

On foreign policy:

A close friendship
with Indira Gandhi.... and her father Nehru (below)

I am proud that we maintained good relations with our immediate neighbours and that Sri Lanka's stature in global politics was high. In retrospect there is also the solving of the Indo-Sri Lanka problem, vis-a-vis the Sirima-Shashtri pact and finally getting Kachchativu, a bone of contention between the two countries (India and Sri Lanka) for Sri Lanka.

On the future:

I still feel I have a role to play in guiding and advising the government.

I am glad that history has been kind in making my husband, myself and now my daughter, leaders of this country.

I hope there will be peace as we had upto 1977 and that my country will once again be able to live in peace, devoid of violence between ethnic groups and that the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country will remain intact.

I pray for peace and prosperity for this country I serve and love so that future generations will call her blessed.

May the Triple Gem bless all her people irrespective of race, caste or creed. That is my most ardent Greeting Prince Charles on Sri Lanka's
fiftieth Independence Day

Greeting Prince Charles on Sri Lanka's
fiftieth Independence Day

wish.

Today marks the seventh death anniversary of Dr. Jaya Pathirana, former Advocate of the Supreme Court of Ceylon, Member of Parliament for Kurunegala (1961-1965) and judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. The following excerpts of an article on S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike by Dr. Pathirana is published as a mark of respect for the late judge who is remembered as “a fearless and honest judge’.

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the great democrat

Dr. Jaya Pathirana DN Fri May 25 2007

TRIBUTE: Unlike when independence of a country, which had been subject to colonial rule, had been won after a national liberation struggle of the people, in those countries where independence had been achieved from colonial rule after a negotiated transfer of power, the departing colonial power invariably handed over the reins of Government to the very elite with which it had made its compact.

The new ruling elite and the departing colonial power invariably had common interests. The transition to independence merely facilitated with greater efficiency the advancement of their respective socio-economic

Dr. Jaya Pathirana

interests. The mass of the exploited and suffering people seldom became the beneficiaries of independence at least during its initial period.

Mr. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike had the far sighted vision to warn the country when we achieved independence in 1948 that unless the mass of the people-symbolically referred to as the Common Man-was given the benefits of freedom, freedom meant nothing.

He gave this warning on the 10th of February, 1948 in the speech he delivered as Leader of the House at the opening of the first session of Parliament after the attainment of independence.

With his characteristically oratorical skill he said: “We must not and we cannot allow our newly regained freedom to run the risk of remaining merely a theoretical concept, a thing dead and without real meaning for the mass of the people. We must see that it quickens into a life of the greater happiness and prosperity for us all. Political freedom comes alive only when it is utilized to achieve other freedoms - freedom from poverty, freedom from disease, freedom from ignorance, freedom from fear.”

These freedoms were embodied in the famous Atlantic Charter by Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt during the Second World War.

The social revolution which he brought about after the 1956 general election, elected him to power through the peaceful process of the ballot, ushered in the age of the Common Man.

It is this outstanding and epoch-making contribution he made to the people of our country which had a tremendous impact on its social and economic life that is universally recognised and respected by the people of our country.

This accounts for the fact that even the generation that was born after his death in 1959 continues to gratefully pay homage and tribute to this great son of Sri Lanka, who opened the door to the ordinary people of our country to enjoy the benefits of freedom and independence, and equal opportunities for all its citizens.

Faith in dignity

His basic faith in the dignity of the common man in turn instilled in him abiding faith in the democratic way of life. He was a dedicated democrat and one of the greatest democrats of our country.

He was fully aware of the struggle of democracy through the ages to survive and carry on against the more disciplined forces of totalitarianism. To him “democracy has provided that form of government, that form of society under which mankind has made the greatest progress.”

On one occasion, he remarked, referring to the necessity to keep democracy alive - “We’ll have to fan the flickeing flame of democracy, so that each individual is assured of those freedoms, for which democracy has always stood, and which safeguard man’s self respect and secure decent, honest and fair dealing between man and man.”

The crucial turning point in his political career came on 17th July, 1951 when he resigned his portfolio under the then ruling government, crossed the floor of the House of Representative and thereafter founded the Sri Lanka Freedom Party on the 2nd of September 1951.

While this decision of his brought strong criticism from his political adversaries, paradoxically, it turned out to be historic and invigorated democracy in Sri Lanka in that it gave the country for the first time a democratic alternative to the then ruling party.

The appearance of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in the political arena of the country did a service to the country and the cause of democracy by providing the people of our country the opportunity by the free and fair exercise of the vote to change the Government and elect another democratic alternative in its place without resort to violence or revolution.

The democratic structure of the country was preserved and its stability and continuity ensured thereby.

Perhaps if Mr. Bandaranaike had not provided this democratic alternative, the history of this country may have taken a different course and eventually have followed the pattern of some of the African States by establishing some type of government without a democratic base.

While Mr. Bandaranaike was a firm believer in individual freedoms like freedom of speech, assembly, press, worship etc.., he felt deeply that the content of democracy would lose its essence unless it recognised the collective freedom like freedom from poverty, freedom from disease, freedom from ignorance and freedom from fear and those fundamental rights about which the socialist community had laid special emphasis like the right to work and right to live, the latter gaining momentum after the threat to human survival from the nuclear holocaust.

To him, therefore, democracy was an amalgam of a number of individual rights and collective freedoms.

Mr. Bandaranaike addressing the Indian Council of World Affairs in 1957 gave his answer:

“One of the problems of democracy today is to reconcile individual freedoms with the collective freedoms. At an early period the stress was laid on individual freedoms. Today the emphasis has shifted to the collective freedoms and one of the problems of democracy is to effect a harmonization and reconciliation between the two needs. It may be that some of the individual freedoms as they were conceived of earlier may have to be somewhat restricted in the interest of the collective freedoms. This is one of the problems that faces democracy.”

Mr. Bandaranaike’s great contemporary and friend, Jawaharlal Nehru, was in agreement with him when he said: “The lesser liberties may often need limitation in the interest of the larger freedoms.”

The individual liberties and collective freedoms were enshrined for the first time in the 1977 Constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka where emphasis was more on the collective freedoms.

To Mr. Bandaranaike, a truly democratic society in a country which had emerged into freedom after long years of colonial rule could be achieved only if every vestige of the hang-over of colonialism in all its exploitative forms is eradicated.

He believed that these countries came under colonial domination, especially in the region of the Indian Ocean, due to the intrusion of great power rivalry into our region.

Any attempt after these countries achieved their independence to bring them under one or other of the rival power blocs would again jeopardize their freedom and independence especially as these countries were economically and militarily weak and had their own internal domestic problems, especially those which undermined their national unity.

One of the essential criteria of non-alignment is that a country should not grant or permit bases to any foreign power. In the context of the strategic importance of Sri Lanka, the presence of foreign bases would make the country extremely vulnerable in any future war.

When Mr. Bandaranaike took office as Prime Minister in 1956, it was almost ten years after independence, but still the Metropolitan power, Great Britain, had her naval base in Trincomalee and the Air Force Base at Katunayake, under British control.

This was an erosion of our status as an independent country. In order to give positive and effective expressions to our country’s new foreign policy based on Non-aligned and neutralism. Mr. Bandaranaike successfully negotiated with the British Government the handing over of these two bases to Sri Lanka in 1957.

The last vestiges of foreign occupation were removed and Mr. Bandaranaike was rightly constrained to remark at the ceremony of handing back of the Airport at Katunayake - “Today our independence is complete”.

The dignity, cordiality, and good grace with which Mr. Bandaranaike negotiated with the British Government, the handing back of these bases, is a shining example of how controversial problems that confront countries could be solved in the spirit of friendship.

It was Mr. Bandaranaike, who for the first time, established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries after we gained independence in 1948.

To Mr. Bandaranaike, non-alignment in our foreign relations did not mean “neutralist” or “uncommitted”. On the contrary, he told Marshal Tito when he visited our country, “We are very much committed we are committed to the hilt - to peace in a positive form, to friendship among nations, to peace and prosperity and happiness of all mankind.”

Important events

When Mr. Bandaranaike was Prime Minister, two important events took place which nearly brought the world to the brink of war. One was the entry of Soviet troops into Hungary and the other the Tripartite invasion of Egypt by Israel, Britain and France over the decision of Egypt to nationalize the Suez Canal Co... Mr. Bandaranaike took positive positions on both these matters without just being a spectator of events which were drifting into a world war. During the Suez crisis, Mr. Bandaranaike was on a visit to England and the UN Assembly.

He told his friend, the British Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, and the British Foreign Secretary, Selwyn Lloyd, that the Tripartite forces must unconditionally withdraw their forces from Egypt.

He supported the sovereign right of the Egyptian people to nationalize the Suez Canal Co., whilst at the same time recognising international rights regarding the use of the Suez Canal. His firm’s attitude over the Suez crisis earned him a very appreciative tribute from Gamal Abdul Nasser, the President of Egypt.

Mr Bandaranaike showed his independence in dealing with the two crises. As he later quite rightly and justifiably remarked, “we can tell the Soviet Union, it was wrong, and we equally have the right to tell the Tripartite powers that they are wrong.”

To him the main essential pre-requisite for solving the problems of the world was the necessity for peace, as problems could no longer be solved through war especially after the discovery of the atom bomb, war would mean total destruction of mankind. In one of his speeches he spelled out his formula for peace which has its full relevance today.

He said: “I feel that, as never before in our history, we have to recognize the dignity and brotherhood of man, that we are all one, whatever may be our religion, colour or race or idealogy. We are all one today.

We cannot permit our likes of one another, racial, ideological, linguistic, economic, social or otherwise to reach the point when we feel that we cannot live together. The whole world is very close together today, and whether we like it or not, either we have to live together or surely we shall perish together.”

Time, however, was not on his side to complete the goals he set out to achieve, for an assassin’s bullet prematurely cut short his life on 26th September, 1959. He may not be with us today, but the Bandaranaike image has survived and lives.

Today in every city, town, village and in every nook and corner of our island home, a grateful people bow their heads in reverence to his memory and pay their tribute and homage to this great son of Sri Lanka.

Serving well at 80!
By Baron de Livera 2006

Rukmani Eheliyagoda nee de Alwis celebrates her 80th birthday today, March 26. Always cheerful and smiling, Rukie as she is affectionately known, had her schooling at St. Bridget’s Convent and still supports her alma mater, keeping in touch with all school activities. She formed the ‘Action Group’ of old Bridgeteens 12 years ago and while undertaking charity work, they also meet every month and reminisce about their antics in the convent boarding and outside.

Rukie had a fairytale wedding when she married Percy Eheliyagoda in 1952. They had five children including two sets of twin girls. “The joy of my life was dressing up these four ‘dolls;” she said.All four daughters attended St. Bridget’s as well. Until recently, she played football with her grandsons and excelled in her favourite sport table tennis.

“My only granddaughter Shanika is in the UK studying medicine and if I could live a few more years until she passes out as a doctor I will be happy,” she says.

At Horagolla Walauwa in 1942 with; F.R Dias, Aunty Alex, Grand Dad Solomon Dias Bandaranaike, Lady Estelle Obeyesekere, Annette Illanggakoon , Mrs Sirimavo Dias Bandaranaike and Charlie Seneviratne

Front row; Aunty Rukie, Tootie, & Aunt May de Livera

[pic sent by Charmaine Eheliyagoda & Professor Lakshman Madurasinghe]

Recent Family Photograph of the Family - Charmaine Eheliyagoda - 2005

[pic sent by Charmaine Eheliyagoda & Professor Lakshman Madurasinghe]

Spaces of possibility for equality, intellect and love

The Sweet and Simple Kind
Author: Yasmine Gooneratne
Publishing House: Perera Hussein
Available at leading bookshops
Price: Rs. 1,000

REVIEW: Sharanya Jayawickrama - DN Wed Aug 8 2007

FICTION: Set in Ceylon in the transformative moments immediately before and after Independence in 1948, Yasmine Gooneratne’s novel The Sweet and Simple Kind, recently short-listed for the 2007 Commonwealth Writers Prize, presents a narrative trajectory of love, loss and remembrance.
A novel divided into four parts, it presents us with the intertwined stories for Latha and Tsunami Wijesinha, distant cousins and close childhood friends, as they more through formative periods in their lives.
To her various aunts and to the mothers of prospective husbands, Latha appears winningly “sweet and simple”, yet she possesses a clear intellect, a maturity of sense and a keen love of English literature (revelling in particular, like the author, in a partiality to Jane Austen novels).
In some ways, the novel reads as homage to Austen, with its female-centred and socially embedded narrative; like Austen’s books, it ends with marriage, yet not before considering what marriage means for intellectually and emotionally independent women, and for inter-community relations in the newly independent island.
It is Latha who provides the organising consciousness of the novel, for it is she who presciently grasps the meaning of her cousin’s unusual name, although she is as yet unsure whether Tsunami is “an earthquake waiting to happen” or “the one the earthquake hits” (p.53). With this play on names, Gooneratne ties the gentler world of 1950s and 1960s Ceylon to the ruptures of the present day.

Unhurried style

Gooneratne writes this novel in an unhurried style, which effectively contributes to the gradual construction of the world of the novel through an accumulation of details and characters, so that a listing of dishes feasted upon at tsunami’s home at Lucas Falls, or a description of everyday life at Peradeniya University adds to the accrued atmosphere of lived moments in time.

Pace of memory

The pace of the narrative also reflects the pace of memory as it documents the world of “a patrician elite in which old money and privilege had frequently joined forces with political power” (p. 195). The first part of the novel is set in the main at Lucas Falls, the home of the wealthier branch of the Wijesinha family.
Tsunami’s father Rowland Wijesinha had been the A.D.C. in the time of the adulterous British Governor Millbanke, until the mysterious death of Lady Millbanke brings an end to this particular episode of colonial habitation.
The estate is bought by a young British planter whose fortunes thrive on tea cultivation until he eventually sells the property to a wealthy Sinhalese mudaliyar, from whom the present Wijesinha can descend.
The ghost of Lady Millbanke is said to haunt particular corridors of the historic house, her spectral presence neatly tying together colonial deceit with the intrigues of Independence and the treachery of the post-colonial era.
Lucas Falls, a fallen paradise within which the stories of a family register the traces of colonial history and prefigure the neo-colonial future, is for Latha a life lived in displacement: she spends there formative moments of her childhood, away from her own genial father and conservative mother, keeping secret the English porcelain baths, rose-patterned quilts, and coloured squares of a Monopoly board that make her dream of far-away London.
Here, Latha attends Sunday services at church with her Christian relatives and participates in the imperialistic renaming of the ayah, chauffeur and other domestic staff as characters from the verse of Longfellow and Pope.

Symbols

However, Lucas Falls also offers symbols of the plural life of the times, centring around the figure of Helen Ratnam, the Indian-born mother of tsunami and her siblings. Helen is an inspired and talented artist who favours vibrant colours and free-flowing lines; as mistress of Lucas Falls she must take on certain domestic duties which require her to channel her energies differently.
While she is unable to tutor the young girls in Sinhala, an increasingly urgent knowledge for the youth of Independence, she instead teaches them to quilt, an unorthodox skill in Ceylon but one learnt by Helen from an English teacher at her Delhi school.
This is her means to “extend the beauty of her husband’s ancestral home” (p.56) and she allows the young girls to tack and hem the bright diamonds and hexagons in place while she reads to them from her own childhood favourites including As You Like It, David Copperfield and Pride and Prejudice.

Homespun artist

This homespun artist also plants wild flowers in a corner of the Lucas Falls grounds, which comes to be lovingly known to Latha as the ‘Indian garden’.
Its previous mistress, the tea planter’s wife, had directed the laying out of the roses, lilies, hollyhocks, mazes, bowers and avenues which point to the imposition on the tropical land of an obsessive memory of England.
Helen transforms this selected corner into a space for the nurturing of wild flowers, reflecting the way that Lucas Falls during her time is a space that allows the blossoming of open minds.
However, the ties that bind this large and unconventional family, whose free opinion first unsettles and then nourishes Latha, soon begin to fray, a process that prefigures the fragility of an open society and the alienation of “outsiders” and non-conformists within the increasing politicisation of an exclusivist Sinhala Buddhist national identity.
1948 is the year marking Independence, the year of the Citizenship Act that disenfranchise Indian Tamils working on the tea estates, and the year which marks the fracturing of the family, as Gooneratne begins to portray the privately devastating oscillation caused by seismic shifts in public life.

Transformations

Lucas Falls continues to reflect the transformations taking place in the nation at large, becoming a space that records the rewriting of history through polarised “race-memory”.
The colonial plantation house takes on another life, renamed as the Wijesinha maha walauwa, the requisite ancestral house tying the claims of an opportunistic family to heritage and land.
Helen’s artworks are swiftly replaced with images of Sigiriya frescoes, elephants carved from ebony and ivory, and a gilded papier-mache frieze of Prince Dutu Gemunu adorned in full battle regalia.
These overt national markers promote the new identity of Rowland Wijesinha as nationalist politician, who exchanges European dress for national costume, self-indulgently woven from fines silk.
The hypocrisy of such self-serving Sinhala Buddhist nationalism is nicely observed when, following a trip to the US, the new mistress of the house deems it proper that Bibles should be visibly positioned because “every well-appointed guest room should have one”. (p. 438)
Latha and Tsunami’s sojourn at the new University of Peradeniya occupies the central part of he novel as a significant transformative space for consciousness and identity, experienced by the young women students in a potentially transitional moment for the young nation.

Strong aroma

Arriving in Peradeniya in the first class carriage of the train, Latha takes her seat on the campus coach next to a girl from whose hair rises the strong aroma of coconut oil.
Gingerly glancing at her new companion in the close atmosphere of the coach, Latha notes that she is wearing a brightly flowered skirt and rubber slippers, and that she holds “a paper parcel with oil stains on it that smelt of stale masalavadai” (p. 210).
However, when the coach enters an avenue of ancient overhanging mara trees, from which garlands of golden ehela bestow their blossoms on the lush grass beneath, Latha’s misgivings dissolve, for it is this girl who lyrically voices the shared experience of beauty and idealism that will envelop the students in their new world.
Latha looks at her companion with new respect and reflects: “(I)t’s true... We are moving together, this stranger and I, and all of us in this coach, through a shower of gold (p.211).
This moment captures the affectionate and idealistic tone that infuses Gooneratne’s narrative as it seeks to recreate spaces of possibility for equality, intellect and love.
Like the plump cardamom pod that Latha’s father rolls around his tongue near the end of the novel, whose flavour has been distilled and almost dissipated as it cooks slowly in a pot of saffron rice, the novel memorialises what is now “no more than an exquisite rumour, a mere hint of its own presence”, a memory of sweetness and the loss of simplicity.
This review first appeared in the May/June 2007 issue of Confluence (UK)

Bandaranaike

The Great son of Sri Lanka

Premasara EPASINGHE - DN Thu Jan 8 2009

Today (January 8, 2009) falls the hundred and tenth (110) birth anniversary of Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, the fourth Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, patriot and great national leader. He was born on January 8, 1899, the only son of late Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranaike, Maha Mudliyar of Ceylon, under the British Colonial rule. S. W. R. D. came from a distinguished aristocracy of Ceylon.

Lives of Great Men all remind us We can make our lives sublime. And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time. - Wordsworth

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, had his education at S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, one of the leading public schools. He came under the direct influence of the very famous Warden Stone, a Classics scholar. After a brilliant academic career, he proceeded to Christ Church College, Oxford. At the Oxford University, he showed his prowess as a brilliant student, orator and debator. Young Bandaranaike, shone like a bright star in the firmament and he was elected Secretary of the Oxford Union by defeating Malcolm McDonald, a former Secretary for Dominions in the then British Cabient. Among Bandaranaike’s contemporaries at Oxford University, was the former British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden.

Successful career

After serving the Bar in England, in 1925, he returned to Ceylon and began a successful legal career. But, he was more interested in serving the people and took to politics, when he was only, 26 years. He became a member of the Ceylon National Congress and soon became one of its joint secretaries.


S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike with D. S. Senanayake	Indian President Dr. Rajendra Prasad’s arrival in Lanka	S. W. R. D., Sirimavo and Sir Oliver Gunetilleke

The year 1927, was vital for Bandaranaike. He realised that to win the hearts of the people, he must address the public in Sinhala. This brilliant young man, learned Sinhala in no time and became a fine speaker both in Sinhala and English. After his return to Ceylon from Oxford, he was free to choose one of the three courses. I presume firstly; a life of luxury and leisure at Horagolla Walauwa, secondly; a distinguished legal career at the Bar; thirdly the hardest of all life of service to the people. He chose the last and the hardest way as he followed, the socialis and democratic “middle path.”

His services were not limited to the legislature alone. He engaged himself practically in all social service activities as well. He entered politics by contesting Maradana Ward, in the Colombo Municipality and defeated the then Labour Leader A. E. Goonesinghe. With the inauguration of the State Council, Bandaranaike returned uncontested for Veyangoda seat and in 1936 he was re-elected, uncontested and became the Minister of Local Government. Under the Soulbury Constitution, Bandaranaike entered Parliament in 1947 by a record majority from his Pocket-Burrow-Attanagalla. Prime Minister D. S. Sananayake appointed him as the Minister of Health and Local Government. He also became the Leader of the House.

political differences

The political differences he had with D. S. Senanayake and the United National Party, paved the way for his resignation. This marked the begining of the political change - “The dawn of the Era of the common man.”

I consider, July 12, 1951 and July 17, 1951, as the dates that laid the foundation, for the present era, in the Political History of this country. It marked the birth of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, led by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike. On July 12th, SWRD, left DSS Government and crossed over to the Opposition. Like his shadow, the great national leader from Giruwapattuwa, D. A. Rajapaksa (Beliatta) followed SWRD andsat in the Opposition.

Attanagalla

He was a man who adorned the Legislature of this country for over 25 years. He was a gentleman par excellence, fine human being and a warm hearted man.

In 1952, elections, he won the Attanagalla Electorate by a majority of 32,544 votes by defeating the UNP candidate A. W. G. Seneviratne. His Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People’s United Front) coalition, brought him to power. He united the all progressive forces - Sangha - Veda - Guru - Govi - Kamkaru and routed the English oriented westernised United National Party. We must mention here, that from 1926 to 1956 in his political career, he never lost an election.

He was defeated by “Mara”, (death) September 26, 1959, at the hands of an assassin.

Silver Tongue orator

As an orator, he was unrivalled. He was popularly known as the Silver Tongued Orator. In his brilliant speeches he quoted Latin and Greek at the most appropriate times. Law and Literature fascinated him. He was a vociferious reader. Burke and Pitt, Lincoln and Gokhale polished his powers of speech. SWRD was a master of the spoken word.

I give below, a few lines from his memorable address of thanks as the leader of the House of Representatives he delivered on February 10, 1948, in reply to the speech from the throne by HRH the Duke of Gloucester. This was considered a brilliant piece of oratory in the world.

Political freedom comes alive, only when it is utilised to achieve other freedoms - freedom from poverty; freedom from disease; freedom from ignorance; freedom from fear. Nor is that all. We have to fan the flickering flames of Democracy, so that each individual is assured of the freedoms for which Democracy has always stood, and which safeguard man’s self-respect and secure decent, honest and fair dealing between man and man. Those are the high tasks that we shall all, to the best of our ability, try to perform with diligence, devotion and efficiency.”

noblest son

Bandaranaike was one of the noblest sons of Sri Lanka. He was really brilliant. His mental alacrity was really amazing. Further, the quickness of perception and the way in which he was able to master a subject was astounding.

This great leader and patriot fought for the freedom of the country and he found one of the most honoured places in the Hall of Fame.

During the brief spell of his premiership he opened the doors toward the well-being of the common masses. In the field of education, the establishment of the Vidyodaya (Sri Jayewardenepura) and Vidyalankara (Kelaniya) Universities created the opportunity to a large sector of village students to pursue higher studies.

The nationalisation of transport, taking over of Trincomalee and Katunayake bases from the British Government, State patronage of the age old Ayurveda system and the establishment of a Ministry for Cultural Affairs are some of the remarkable achievements of this great man.

His life was gentle and the elements so mixed in him, that nature might stand up and say to the world.

This was a man.

SWRD: Turning servants into masters

Doyen of journalists pays tribute to the Master Builder of the New Sri Lanka
By D.B. Dhanapala - DM Wed Sep 26 2007

In the 1930s I described Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike as a man with a future behind him.
It was a time when in that Mecca of mediocrities called the State Council of Ceylon he stood out as an infidel, with cleverness as his creed and smartness as the manner of his mind.
He had what is called ‘back-ground;. That in itself was not anything unique. Many of those in the State Council could with an engaging gesture, point in a leisurely way towards some kind of estimable association, family prestige and good education. But Bandaranaike combined ‘back ground’ with brilliance; a familiar name with unfamiliar talent.

He certainly was one of the three best speakers we had then in Ceylon. Never at a loss or a word with a fluency and a diction that even Radhakrishnan might envy, he would reel off one perfect period after another with an astounding ease that baffled slow-witted men like me.

When he rose of an evening especially immediately after one of our fathers of repetition, his speeches shone like burnished gold in the sunlight.

For a moment or two lie would play, with velvet pawed syllables, with his opponent — he might even throw him the sop of a left-handed compliment.

Then he seemed to roll up his sleeves and get down to business. He hurled choice epithets at the subject. He stabbed the foe with jewelled phrases, made on the spur of the moment — but made to hurt, all the same.
He would pat a favourite — or better perhaps himself—on the back And then lie rode away in it storm of oratory, all spontaneity and splendour with the distant thud of his galloping prose resounding in our ears.
It was neither lightning nor thunder; nor was it an earth-quake. It was just the Member for Veyangoda.
But his speeches were not faultless. He had the heavy habit of talking in italics — at the top of his voice. And he underlined almost every other word of the italics at the top of his voice. And he underlined almost every other word of the italics with an absolutely unnecessary emphasis. The effect of stressing too much was not stressing anything at all!

With this distressing disease of underlining his megaphone voice lie combined an irritating appreciation of himself at every turn of phrase and parenthesis. Maybe, he paused for just a moment looked round for applause ; then, finding not enough forthcoming, remedied the defect himself by giving a little chuckle of appreciation thing between the clucking of a hen after laying and the laugh of a juggler on doing a celebrated trick.

He talked in jeweled prose well enunciated. But the magic was entirely in the fine phrasing; the appeal, in the strong epithet.

He knew how to say it. I only he had known then what to say!

Not that there were no occasions when he did know to a point of cruelty the right thin to utter. Hurt his vanity and he started to the quick. Give him a personal pinprick to see how quick he was on the uptake. Pat came the retort, crushing in vengeance, killing in venom.

He was the maser of the retort discounrteous, the apostle of the sharp invective in the country.
I remember once Dr. S.A. Wickremasinghe, the Communist Leader, after attacking the Member for Veyangoda pretended not to be interested when Bandaranaike’s urn came for counter-attack. Some Member, with the instinct of the sportsman, pointed out that Dr. Wickremasinghe was asleep!

With a sneer the enraged Member for Veyangoda turned to the interrupter and, with high hauteur, said, “Let sleeping dogs lie”!

On another occasion Dr. N. M. Perera, the Trotskyte Leader, during a Budget Debate, said that Bandaranaike could not help being merely the ‘famous son of a famous father.”

The words of the merciless retort in reply was dipped in the poison of the Borgias when Bandaranaike alluded to his opponent as the ‘obscure son of a still more obscure father.”

It was but natural that Bandaranaike should feel wronged when referred to as typical of the headmen ‘aristocracy’.

He had with a good deal of difficult said goodbye to all that — the traditions of the feudatory overlord, the pompous prestige of the hireling chieftains, the dignity of the magic circles.

But I believe the phrase hurt more because there was the ring of truth in the idea.

Although brought up from childhood in an atmosphere of salaams and a cheap sense of superiority of birth and breeding that comes of class consciousness, not allowed to mix with other boys of his own age — except for a year or so at St. Thomas’ College — it is true he had the courage to throw overboard the trappings of pompous position. In this he wisely chose to be human rather than be comic in a fast-changing world. He preferred to be a symbol of the future to being an anachronism of the English Squire legend of the father, Maha Mudaliyar Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranaike, in a modern world. The son had the independence of mind to kick the white gods from across the seas at whose altar the father had always offered pooja with great profit.

He chose his own religion, Buddhism, instead of taking it ready-made and chosen for him.

But taking to a simple dress, writing well but not too wisely on the ‘‘Ploughshare and Socialism’’, even embracing Buddhism — however sensible and suitable these were — had not changed, it appeared, the spots of the leopard.

The change seemed to be entirely academic in interest; perfect as a mental pose.

In and out of the Sate Council it seemed to be a kind of mission then with Bandaranaike to found parties and societies, to plan circles and cliques.

If these did no good, they did no harm either.

Party-mindedness would be the best thin for politics if guided by principles and ideals. But the only principle he had then in mind for these boy scout troops of politics was his own personality; the only ideal his own idol as the figure-head.

He was not in search of followers, intelligent men who would be loyal to police and principle. His search was it seemed, really for flatterers who would do his bidding.

Politically, he seemed to be the petty chieftain with a pocket borough mentality, in search of legislative hirelings and henchmen and not followers.

That was why his parties never then achieved fruition; his societies existed only on paper. If he had then the gold of sincerity to cover the currency notes of brilliant promises he issued, he would have been acclaimed the young leader of a great party.He wore the simple national dress of a future day. But I suspected the underclothing to be a Maha Mudaliyar’s pompous uniform of a past era.

Bandaranaike was a backward child. Until eight, I believe, he could not master the Alphabet. But the proud father thought no school in Ceylon good enough for his son and heir. He got down from England a graduate called Radford to teach Bandaranaike at home.

When the father saw the son passing his Cam bridge Senior with the third place in the Empire, he was so proud of the young boy he took him on exhibition to the then Governor of Ceylon, Robert Chalmers.
“Are you going to make the little fellow a Mudaliyar ?“ asked Chalmers after an appreciative inspection of the sickly-looking Bandaranaike brought up in cotton wool.

Without waiting for the father to reply, young Bandaranaike said “No thank you, Sir, I shall work for my country.”

Chalmers raised his eyebrows. This was high treason! The father was so embarrassed that he felt the ground was opening under his feet. He hurried the boy home before he talked more, all the way back giving him a sermon on not bandying words with his betters.

He went to Oxford in 1919 with wonderful ideas of heroic leadership of the most dazzling kind among the undergrads, coloured by recollections of “Tom Brown at Oxford’.

Before going to Oxford white wandering about Horagolla he would compose his speeches for the Union On one occasion he was so engrossed in his peroration while riding, that in a moment of inspiration he dropped his reins in order to gesticulate — only to fall off his seat!

Later in life, it was the peroration that always mattered to him—even if it meant being thrown off his seat of sense.

While at Oxford some Sinhalese friends had expressed surprise that Bandaranaike had not cultivated the Oxford manner.

“That is true”, said Bandaranaike, “but I hope I have taught Oxford a lot of the Bandaranaike method.”
The first year of Oxford, once the novelty of things had worn off, was a period of disappointment and frustration. The most humiliating disappointments were reserved for the social sphere.

“With positive rudeness and brutal frankness one might be able to deal more or less effectively bounders and snobs can be suitably handled”, said Bandaranaike. “But the tragedy of it was that the vast majority of my fellow undergraduates did not behave in the former manner and were certainly not the latter. The trouble was more subtle and deep-seated; in a variety of ways one was always being shown, politely but unmistakably, that one was simply not wanted.”

But his conceit saved him from the fate of most Eastern students who often throw up the sponge.
Although at the Union he never seemed to be able to catch the eye of the President, he knew that he could make a better speech than most of those who were given preference; he knew that there were many members of the tenths team he could beat if he were only given the chance. He knew he could write better Greek prose than many of the scholars with their long rustling gowns who looked so superciliously at the “darkie”.
He also realized that within the cold outer Oxford of mere routine, snob cliques and silly prejudice, there was a wonderful inner Oxford into which it was well worth travelling to win an entry.

A well-meaning young man seeing the rather pathetic and lonely state of many Eastern students thought he would alleviate their suffering by inviting some of them to tea one day. Bandaranaike was also asked.
“An Englishman is not fitted for this type of occasion”, wrote the not too thankful guest. “He lacks that tact and bonhomie which a Frenchman for instance, possesses, and which are essential to the success of such a function . . . . Of easy conversation there was none.... The whole thing was ghastly. I found myself gradually becoming more and more angry with my fellow- guests as well as our host. I saved myself from doing something desperate by making a hasty excuse and running away”.

While working off his anger by having a long walk, he paused to look at the typically beautiful English scene before him touched by the mellow light of the evening sun, the river winding into the distance through soft meadows. Suddenly the solution of his problem flashed through his mind.
“Before I am their equal”, he thought “I must be their superior”.

This audacious paradox was Bandaranaike’s golden key to the wonderful inner portals of Oxford.
“An Englishman is generous in recognising merit in others; it is more difficult to overcome the various barriers to his friendship. Once, however, his respect is obtained, it is easy to become his friend. And what a true and loyal friend he can be!” exclaimed the man who found the golden key to English friendship.
He strove hard at tennis and came on top with a Frenchman called Heidsieck who was connected with the champagne people and therefore, not unnaturally, rather popular.

But it was when Bandaranaike stormed the citadel of the Oxford Union that he entered the pale.
One November evening he tried many times to catch the eye of the President, Beverly Nichols, without success. In desperation he sent up a note asking whether he would be given a chance. Back came the note with the words : “Print your name”. He sent his name in block letters. Late in the evening there was a nod from the chair and the maiden speech was delivered.

A few days later he found himself famous when the “Isis” hailed the speech as the best of the evening.
From then onwards at the Union, Bandaranaike debated with Horatio Bottomley, Hore-Belisha, Rupert Gwynne, M. C. Hollis, V. A. Cazalet, Lloyd George, W. M. R. Pringle and other famous men who would go up to Oxford.
The most memorable of the speeches was in March 1922, on India.

The mover, H.J. S. Wedderburn of Balliol, made according to the Isis, “a dull speech, badly delivered. The depression that now weighed as a pall over the House was ruthlessly swept away by Mr. Bandaranaike.

- From the book Among those present

Wikipedia:

Sir Don Soloman Dias Bandaranaike: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Solomon_Dias_Bandaranike

Sir Don Solomon Dias Abeywickrema Jayatilleke Senewiratna Rajakumaruna Kadukeralu Bandaranaike KCMG,Maha Mudaliyar ,JP was the chief native interpreter and adviser to the Governor by appointment as Head Mudaliyar and therefor was one of the most powerful personalities in British colonial Ceylon.
A member of an elite Sinhalese Anglican Christian family he went on to become the Maha Mudaliyar highest position of a Ceylonese could archived in British Ceylon, his service to the British Empire was marked by the award ofKnight Commander of Order of St Michael and St George. He add a keen interest in Horse racing and was the life-president of the Colombo Turf Club.
His son became the 4th Prime Minister of Ceylon after independence and his granddaughter Chandrika Kumaratunga became both Prime Minister and President of Sri Lanka. His grandson Anura Bandaranaike became Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and is currently the minister of national heritage.

SWRD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_West_Ridgeway_Dias_Bandaranaike
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (January 8, 1899 – September 26, 1959) was the fourth Prime Minister (1956-1959) of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka).

He was the husband of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who became the first female prime minister in the world following his assassination. He was father of Chandrika Kumaratunga, who was subsequently Prime Minister and President of Sri Lanka; Sunethra Bandaranaike and Anura Bandaranaike.

Bandaranaike was born in Colombo, Ceylon to an elite Sinhalese Anglican Christian family and was the son of the powerful Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranike the Maha Mudaliyar (the chief native interpreter and advisor to the Governor) during British colonial rule. In later life he converted to Buddhism. He was educated at Oxford University, England, where he was Secretary of the famous Oxford Union. He later qualified as a Barrister in England.

He entered politics as a member of the United National Party and rose to hold a cabinet position. As a young lawyer he became active in the United National Party (UNP) and from 1931 to 1951 served the party in legislative and ministerial posts. In 1951, Bandaranaike led his faction, the Sinhala Maha Sabha, out of the UNP and established the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

In order to promote Sinhalese culture and community interests, Bandaranaike had organized the Sinhala Maha Sabha in 1937. He became prime minister after winning the 1956 elections at the head of a four-party coalition. As such, Bandaranaike made Sinhalese the official language of the country and downgraded the official status of English and Tamil and promoted socialist, non-Western policies that profoundly changed the course of Ceylonese politics in the following decades. Since the 1950s, SLFP platforms have reflected the earlier organization's emphasis on appealing to the sentiments of the Sinhalese masses in rural areas. To this basis has been added the antiestablishment appeal of nonrevolutionary socialism.
On the sensitive issue of language, the party originally espoused the use of both Sinhala and Tamil as national languages, but in the mid-1950s it adopted a "Sinhala only" policy, a change that gave the party a landslide victory in the 1956 election. As a party that says it is a champion of the Buddhist religion, which had been attacked by local Christians and Tamils alike during the colonial era. The SLFP has customarily relied upon the socially and politically influential Buddhist clergy, the sangha, to carry its message to the Sinhalese villages.
As prime minister, he took a neutralist stance in foreign affairs; domestically, he was faced by economic problems and disputes over languages. He is also remembered by the minority Sri Lankan Tamils for his inaction to use the states resources to control the 1958 riots leading to countless deaths and rapes by the Sinhalese mobs. Decades later, the continuing ethnic tension resulted in the Sri Lankan Civil War .

He was assassinated by Talduwe Somarama, a Buddhist monk, in 1959, and his wife, Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike, assumed leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. She became the world's first woman Prime Minister and held the post three times.

Sirimavo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirimavo_Ratwatte_Dias_Bandaranaike
Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (April 17, 1916 - October 10, 2000) was a politician from Sri Lanka. She was prime minister of Sri Lanka three times, 1960-1965, 1970-1977 and 1994-2000, and was the world's first female prime minister. She was a leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. She was the wife of a previous Sri Lankan prime minister, Solomon Bandaranaike and the mother of Sri Lanka's third president, Chandrika Kumaratunga. She was also mother of Anura Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan tourism minister and Sunethra Bandaranaike, philanthropist.

Political background

On her husband's assassination, Bandaranaike took over the leadership of his Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which he had formed and led to election victory in 1956, and kept it for forty years until her death. She became prime minister on July 21, 1960 and ruled her country on and off throughout the 1960s and 1970s until she was crushingly defeated in a general election in 1977. In 1980, she was expelled from parliament for abuse of power, and banned from public office for seven years.

A staunch socialist, Bandaranaike continued her husband's policies of nationalizing key sectors of the economy, such as banking and insurance. Unfortunately, she was on a roller-coaster ride from the moment she took office and within a year of her 1960 election victory she declared a state of emergency. This followed a civil disobedience campaign by part of the country's minority Tamil population who were outraged by her decision to drop English as an official language and her order to conduct all government business in Sinhala, the language of the majority Sinhalese. This they considered a highly discriminatory act and an attempt to deny Tamils access to all official posts and the law. This led to an increase in Tamil militancy which escalated under succeeding administrations.

Further problems arose with the President's state takeover of foreign businesses, particularly the petroleum companies, which upset the Americans and the British, who imposed an aid embargo on Sri Lanka. As a result, Bandaranaike moved her country closer to China and the Soviet Union and championed a policy of nonalignment. At home, she crushed an attempted military coup in 1962. In 1964, she entered into a historic coalition with theLanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). At the end of that year, she was defeated on a confidence vote, losing the general election that followed. Six years later she bounced back, her United Front winning a substantial majority in the 1970 elections.

Her second term saw a new Constitution introduced, which ended the country's status as a Commonwealth realm. Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka and declared a republic. But after just 16 months in power, a left-wing youth uprising almost toppled her government: Sri Lanka's small ceremonial army could not deal with the insurgency. She was saved by her skillful foreign policy when the country's non-aligned friends rushed to her help. In a rare move, both India and Pakistan sent troops to Colombo to aid Bandaranaike in crushing the insurgency. In those tough political years, she turned herself into a formidable leader. "She was the only man in her cabinet", one of her officials commented during the height of the insurgency.
The 1973 oil crisis had a traumatic effect on the Sri Lankan economy; the government had no access to Western aid and her socialist policies stifled economic activity. Rationing had to be imposed. Bandaranaike became more and more intolerant of criticism and forced the shut-down of the Independent newspaper group, whose publications were her fiercest critics. Earlier she had nationalized the country's largest newspaper, Lake House, which has remained the government's official mouthpiece.

Style of functioning

Known to her fellow Sri Lankans as "Mrs. B," she could skilfully use popular emotion to boost her support, frequently bursting into tears as she pledged to continue her dead husband's policies. He, Prime Minister Solomon Bandaranaike, was shot dead by a man dressed as a Buddhist monk in 1959. Her opponents and critics called her the "weeping widow" .

Decline

By 1976, Bandaranaike was more respected abroad than at home. Her great triumph that year was to become chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement and host the largest heads of state conference the country had ever seen. Despite her high standing internationally, she was losing Sri Lankan support rapidly amid allegations of corruption and against the background of a rapidly declining economy . Nothing, it seemed, could save her. This led her government, which enjoyed a large majority of more than 75% in parliament, to use its majority gained in the previous election to postpone elections by two years, extending her administration's term to 8 years from the legal 6 years. This undemocratic action was the main reason her civic rights were suspended in the later years.

She suffered a crushing election defeat in 1977 and was stripped of her civic rights due to abuse of power. The 1980s were her dark days - she became a political outcast rejected by the people who had once worshipped her. Banadaranaike spent the next seventeen years in opposition warding off challenges to her leadership of the SLFP, even from her own children. Always the politician, she played her ambitious daughter, Chandrika, and son,Anura, against one another, holding on to control despite losing every subsequent general election. She finally met her match in Chandrika who outmanoeuvred her mother to become prime minister of Sri Lanka in 1994, when aSLFP-led coalition won power in the general elections, and president the following year.
Bandaranaike became prime minister again, but the constitution had changed since her last tenure; she, as the prime minister was subordinate to her daughter, the president. She remained in office just a few months before her death, but had little real power. She died on election day, having cast her vote for the last time.

Chandrika: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrika_Kumaratunga
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (born 29 June 1945) was the fifth President (and fourth to hold the office as Executive president) of Sri Lanka (12 November 1994 - 19 November 2005). She was the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party until end of 2005. She was Sri Lanka's first female president.
Coming from a family that has a long history in the socio-political arena of the country, her father, Solomon Bandaranaike was a government minister at the time of her birth and later became Prime Minister. He was assassinated in 1959, when Chandrika was fourteen. Chandrika's mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, then became the world's first female prime minister in 1960 and her brother Anura Bandaranaike was a former Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and is currently the minister of national heritage. Her grandfather, Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranike was the Maha Mudaliyar, (the chief native interpreter and advisor to the Governor) during British colonial rule.
Chandrika spent five years at the University of Paris, graduating from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) in political science. While in Paris she obtained a Diploma in Group Leadership from the same University. Her Ph.D studies in Development Economics at the University of Paris were interrupted by the call to serve her country, where her mother’s government had launched a wide ranging programme of reform and development.During her days in France, she was active in the Student Revolution of 1968. She is fluent in Sinhala, English and French.
After returning to Sri Lanka, she took up politics in the SLFP and in 1974 became an Executive Committee Member of its Women's League. Following the Land Reform in Sri Lanka in 1972- 1976, she was Additional Principal Director of the Land Reform Commission (LRC). In 1976 - 1977 she was Chairman of the Janawasa Commission, which established collective farms. In 1976- 1979 she acted as an Expert Consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO).
Chandrika married movie star and politician Vijaya Kumaratunga in 1978. He was assassinated in 1988. Kumaratunga herself was elected Prime Minister of a People's Alliance (PA) government on August 19, 1994 and President in the presidential election held shortly thereafter in November. This ended 17 years of UNP rule. She appointed her mother to succeed her as Prime Minister. Early in her term she made conciliatory moves towards the separatistTamil Tigers to attempt to end the on-going civil war. These overtures failed, and she later pursued a more military-based strategy against them.

In October 1999 Kumaratunga called an early presidential election [1]. She lost her right eye in an assassination attempt, allegedly by the separatist Tamil Tigers, at her final election rally at Colombo Town Hall premises on 18 December [[1999]. President Kumaratunga defeated Ranil Wickremasinghe in the election held on 21 December and was sworn in for another term then next day. [2]

In December 2001 she suffered a setback in the parliamentary election. Her People's Alliance lost to the UNP, and her political opponent Ranil Wickremasinghe took office as Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister. She continued asPresident of Sri Lanka although her relationship with the Wickremasinghe government was a strained one.
In February 2002 Wickremasinghe's government and the LTTE signed a permanent ceasefire agreement, paving the way for talks to end the long-running conflict. In December, the government and the rebels agreed to share power during peace talks in Norway. President Kumaratunga believed Wickremasinghe was being too lenient towards the LTTE. In May 2003 she indicated her willingness to sack the prime minister and government if she felt they were making too many concessions to the rebels. On 4 November 2003, while Prime Minister Wickremasinghe was visiting the United States, Kumaratunga suspended Parliament and deployed troops to take control of the country, effectively putting it into a state of emergency.

Kumaratunga's PA and the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or JVP (People's Liberation Front) formed the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in January 2004. Having won the election held on 2 April 2004 the UPFA formed a government with Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister. This marked the first time in history that the JVP became a partner in a Sri Lankan government.

However, in June 2005, the JVP left her government over a disagreement regarding a joint mechanism with LTTE rebels to share foreign aid to rebuild the tsunami-devastated Northern and Eastern areas of Sri Lanka.
Kumaratunga's six-year term ended in 2005. She argued that since the 1999 election had been held one year early, she should be allowed to serve that left-over year. This claim was rejected by the Supreme Court and Kumaratunga's term was ended in November 2005. In the 2005 election, Rajapaksa succeeded her as president, leading all 25 parties in the UPFA.

Anura: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anura_Bandaranaike
Anura Priyadarshi Solomon Dias Bandaranaike (born February 15, 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician, last served as the minister of national heritage in the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse. He has previously served asSpeaker of the 11th Parliament, which lasted from 2000 to 2001, and as minister of several cabinet departments, including as minister of tourism from April 2004 to January 2007 and as Foreign Minister briefly in 2005. He is the son of former Prime Ministers Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike and the brother of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Sunethra Bandaranaike, philanthropist.

His family has a long history in the socio-political arena of the country. His grandfather, Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranike was the Maha Mudaliyar, (the chief native interpreter and advisor to the Governor) during British colonial rule. The Bandaranaikes are also closely related to the Obeyesekere family which remained faithful supporters of British Colonial rule. Because of these family connections, Bandaranaike as he is known among the voters of Gampaha district, is considered to be a relatively slow-moving politician who missed the chance of becoming the President of Sri Lanka on several occasions, as his sister Chandrika received the most support from their mother. He left his family's party in 1993 when his sister came back from London and did not join back until 2001.

Bandaranaike was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka and attended Royal College, Colombo. He then proceeded to London, U.K. to read for a degree but returned to enter politics without having obtained a degree. His father Solomon, while serving as prime minister, was assassinated when Bandaranaike was 10 years old. Bandaranaike was elected to Parliament in 1977 and has been a member since then. He was the leader of the opposition from 1983 to 1988, the minister of higher education from 1993 to 1994, and the speaker of Parliament from 2000 to 2001 when the party that his sister leads lost elections. He was in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party founded by his father for much of his political life, although he was an MP for the rival United National Party headed by his childhood friend when it was in the opposition. When the SLFP led alliance won the elections in 2004, Bandaranaike became minister of tourism, industry and investment. Despite being in politics for over a quarter of a century, he has only been in a governing side for about 3 years.

Following the assassination of foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August 2005, Bandaranaike was appointed as foreign minister, amidst increased tension throughout the country. He dropped his position as minister of industry and investment, but remained tourism minister. He was later chosen as the running mate of Mahinda Rajapakse for the presidential campaign after the party rejected Bandaranaike's own ambitions of becoming the candidate. Following Rajapakse's election victory it had been widely predicted that Bandaranaike would be appointed premier or foreign minister. However he was accused of playing a "negative role" in the campaign and was offered only the tourism ministry instead. [1] In a cabinet reshuffle in January 2007, Anura also lost the tourism ministry. On 9th February 2007, he was sacked as the minister of national heritage, together with ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyarachchi after falling out with the president of Sri Lanka. [2] Less than two weeks later, after grovelling before President Rajapakse Bandaranaike, agreed to come back into the government, again being sworn in as Minister of National Heritage. [3]

Pic taken in 1992 at Horogolla Walauwa.
Many relatives of the Bandaranaike, de Livera, de Alwis, de Saram, Obeyesekere, Pieris Deraniyagala are in the pic

l-r: Chistoffel Dias Bandaranaike, Don Solomon Dias Bandaranaike, James D'Alwis, Sir Soloman Dias Bandaranaike with wife & SWRD as a baby.

Nation Sep 25, 2011
http://www.nation.lk/2011/09/25/newsfe4.htm

Literary side of Bandaranaike

By Bhagavadas Srikanthadas

S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, known to many as a politician, was born on January 8, 1899 and succumbed to an assassin’s bullet on September 26, 1959. It’s unfortunate no serious study has been ever done to evaluate his life from a literary perspective.
To find out about Bandaranaike’s literary skills, his “Speeches and writings” remains a treasure trove. This volume was published by the Department of Broadcasting and Information, to coincide with the fourth death anniversary of the late Prime Minister’s death. Bandaranaike’s “Memories of Oxford” which appears in this volume is a collection of articles he wrote to a Colombo journal The Ceylon Causerie less than a decade after he left Oxford. This series of articles written in an elegant style, though at times may appear to be in stilted form, encapsulates his days at this prestigious institution. These writings help the reader to get a better understanding not only of the challenges that under-graduates from the colonies faced at Oxford, but also about the writer’s interest in the field he opted to study as well as some interesting information about a few of his contemporaries who were destined to enter the world of the literati.Western classics
Bandaranaike owes a great deal to A.C. Radford for introducing him to western classics at an early age. It was Sir Solomon, father of young Bandaranaike, who engaged Radford of Cambridge University as full time private tutor to his son. The scholar from Cambridge not only introduced his protégé to Chaucer and Milton but also provided a thorough grounding in classics. As tutor he was provided accommodation at the ancestral residence of Bandaranaike’s at Horagolla, where he remained for four years till his protégé turned fifteen.
Later Bandaranaike was admitted to S Thomas’ College, Colombo as a boarder during the warden-ship of Stone. The tutoring he had from Radford provided young Bandaranaike with an edge over his classmates. Not surprisingly, a few years later when he sat for the Cambridge Senior he performed exceptionally well, obtaining distinctions in English and Latin.
Bandaranaike read classics at Oxford during a period where it was unusual for anyone other than an “English public-schoolboy to read for Litterae Humaniores”. As an undergraduate at Oxford he was fascinated by Prof. Gilbert Murray’s lectures on Homer and Prof. Garrod’s on Virgil.
Oxford contemporaries
Amongst his Oxford contemporaries, there were a few who were destined to excel as writers of great repute. The friendship Bandaranaike forged with Edward Marjoribanks lasted till the early death of the latter. After leaving Oxford, Marjoribanks made great strides as a politician, lawyer and also an author. There are several books to his credit and “The Life of Marshall Hall”, the autography of a great criminal lawyer, is considered to be his magnum opus.
In his “Memories of Oxford” Bandaranaike also alludes to Evelyn Waugh, an undergraduate four years younger than him. Evelyn wrote several novels including Decline and Fall, A Handful of Dust, etc. At Oxford when Bandaranaike was functioning as Junior Treasurer, prior to being elected as Secretary of the Union, had an ‘encounter’ with Waugh over collecting subscription which was in arrears.
Leelamani Naidu, daughter of Sarojini Naidu, attended Oxford during Bandaranaike’s days. According to him “She possessed all the charm of her mother, and gave promise of developing much of her talent”.
The short story as a genre always fascinated Bandaranaike. In “Memories of Oxford” he recalls a short story he wrote for the Cardinal’s Hat, his College magazine, “which was returned”. This didn’t dampen his desire to try his hand as a short story writer on his return to Ceylon.
Loathing for respectable garment
After being away from home for six years, Bandaranaike returned in early 1925. To keep his literary interests alive in Ceylon, he co-edited The Island Review with J. Vijayatunga. In the September 1926 issue of this journal Bandaranaike’s short story “The Kandy Perahera” appeared. This story serves as a prism for readers to view the conflict taking place within the writer and how it spilled over as a symbolic manifestation of loathing for ‘his stiff shirt front and collar’ considered by the West as the respectable garment of civilisation.
The Mystery of the Missing Candidate, a story serialised in the Sunday Times of Ceylon during the early part of 1951, gives a glimpse of the life a candidate has to put up with during a Sri Lankan election. This story is leavened with a touch of humour. By the time this story was written Bandaranaike had turned out to be a seasoned hustings performer, and was aware of the ways everyone paid blatant disregard to the edicts from the Election Office. Probably the writer sees in his hero, Sunil Rajapakse, a mirror image of himself! The hero lives in an ancestral house built during the Dutch period by his grandfather. Sunil Rajapakse on return from Oxford University on completion of his studies, takes to politics like the writer.
The story portrays how the candidate virtually becomes a prisoner in the hands of his supporters, dancing to their tune by participating in processions and propaganda meetings; the ancestral home turned into a twenty-four hour kitchen to feed all and sundry who masqueraded as well wishers. Bandaranaike through this story explains how politics can change an honourable person to trim his sails to every wind and make him lead a “Jekyll and Hyde” life. Finally, Sunil Rajapakse, a person with an intellectual leaning, finds an escape route that would give him much needed tranquility.
Bandaranaike who enjoyed reading classics found equal pleasure with horror stories and detective novels. Edgar Alan Poe, Agatha Christie and Sherlock Homes are some of the writers to whom he alludes in his writings. In most of his short stories including The Horror of Mahahena, we come across a fictional character John Ratsinghe who helps us un-tangle mind boggling mysteries. Bandaranaike sees in John Ratsinghe the local counterpart of Sherlock Holmes - a truth he makes more obvious in The adventures of the soulless man.
Bandaranaike’s writings show he had enormous creative skills which if developed could have taken him to great literary heights. Probably he would have been another Evelyn Waugh!

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Bandaranaike

Bandaranaike family tree

Three story extracts

'Into Battle', from Relative Merits: A Personal Memoir of the Bandaranaike Family of Sri Lanka

'Growing Up Like Flowers', from Relative Merits

Diary entry from A Change of Skies

Sirimavo R. D. Bandaranaike - an outstanding stateswoman

To mark International Women's Day on March 08 :

TRIBUTES Sunday Times October 15, 2000

Queen B

Family ties...

The Bandaranaike-Ratwatte wedding

Mother of the nation...

"When human life is involved, all else is secondary"

Her eyes

A tribute from London

Sirima will be missed

By Neville de Silva

Sirima Bandaranaike will be missed.

In her own words…

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the great democrat

Faith in dignity

Important events

Spaces of possibility for equality, intellect and love

Unhurried style

Pace of memory

Symbols

Homespun artist

Transformations

Strong aroma

Bandaranaike

The Great son of Sri Lanka

Successful career

political differences

Attanagalla

Silver Tongue orator

noblest son

This was a man.

Political background

Style of functioning

Decline

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