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by Premasara Epasinghe

The king is known as the rain-giver and the protector of the Tooth Relic of the Lord Buddha. The people believe, when the Tooth Relic is ceremonially taken out, the rains invariably come.

The rural folks of Sigiriya believed, whenever Dr. Paranavithana visits them, the rains will never fail. Way back in 1966, I was the first graduate teacher appointed to Sigiriya Maha Vidyalaya before joining Nalanda Vidyalaya, Colombo tutorial staff in 1968. It was amazing and unbelievable, the visit of Dr. Paranavithana, during my stay there, did in reality bring rain to that area.

Dr. Senarath Paranavithana's 106th birth anniversary falls today - 26th December, 2002. Great historian, erudite scholar and archaeologist, Paranavithana could be considered as one of the most brilliant and outstanding personalities that adorned Sri Lanka in the 20th century.

As a student of history and as a teacher and later as a journalist, I was fortunate to associate this great man.

Dr. Senarath Paranavithana was a self-made man. Born on 26th December, 1896 at Metaramba, Galle he had his primary education at Metaramba School and entered Bona-Vista School, Galle and studied Sinhala and English. In 1910, he studied Sanskrit and Pali at Ranvalagoda Pirivena, Heenatigala.

He started his life as a school teacher at Government School, Udugampola. He held this post till 31st May, 1923 and joined the Department of Archaeology in 1923. Soon he began to impress. With dedication, commitment and hard work he rose to the top. They say the heights of great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight. But they while their companions slept, were toiling upwards in the night. To begin with Dr. Paranavithana's special field was Epigraphy. He underwent training in India, obtained a thorough study in all fields of Archaeological activities, such as Epigraphy, Iconography, Numismatics, Museology, Conservation, Excavation Archaeological Administration and practical knowledge in chemical treatment of antiquities.

He received the first Doctorate (Ph.D) in 1936 and was appointed Archaeological Commissioner on 1st October, 1940. He served the Department with distinction till 26th December, 1956.

In 1957 he was appointed Professor of Archaeology, University of Ceylon. During the Queen's visit Dr. Pananavithana accompanied her to Sigiriya. Dr. Paranavithana was a fine human being. He possessed a golden-heart. He was not a rich man. He distributed his limited resources to the deserving ones. Once he was travelling to Pidurangala from Sigiriya in a bullock cart.

The bull pulling the cart was fired and panting. He got off the cart and started feeding the bull with bananas and "Wan fruit". Such was his compassion even to animals.

Dr. Senarath Paranavithana was a prolific writer. His Sigiri, Graffiti and Inscriptions of Ceylon, alone is sufficient to rate him among the greatest scholars in the world.

I vividly remember the day that I met him to write an article about the "Defacing Sigiriya Frescoes" which took place on 13th October, 1967. When I met him at his Raymond Road, Nugegoda residence with fear, he told me. "Epasinghe I looked after Sigiriya like my own eyes". On another occasion Wimalasiri Perera, former Silumina Editor assigned me to interview Dr. Paranavithana on "Folk Poetry", "Jana Kavi" very wittily, he gave me a fine interview, which appeared in Sulumina later.

He explained to me that the cats, dogs, lions and tigers did not write or sang songs. And only human beings could do those things. The topic "Jana Kaviya" was selected that year by the Cultural Department for the annual literary day.

In 1930 Dr. Paranavithana married Miss Roslyn Kitulgoda and she was a tower of strength to this learned scholar.

The lights of Dr. Paranavithana will indeed a rarity in Sri Lanka and for that matter in the world too. In consequence, our national responsibility is to treasure his memory on his 106th birth anniversary to protect that heritage that he has given us.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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