Guardian Angel of the National Archives

Dr. K. D. G. Wimalaratne, who is a former Director of the National Archives, took care of the Archives the way a guardian takes care of his charge. His has contributed immensely to its growth and development. National Archives has been an inseparable part of his life for more than 35 years. “My father was from Ratmalana and my mother was from Bambalapitiya. I was born in Bambalapitiya on January 18,1942. I had four brothers and one sister. All of us were educated in Colombo. My elder brother was a specialist at the Kurunegala hospital. He died two years ago.

The others are still living. First we went to Visakha Vidyalaya. Those days even boys were admitted. After that I went to Royal Primary. From there I went to Thurstan College and from Thurstan College I went to Ananda College since my father was an old Anandian. I entered the University of Ceylon in 1962,” said Wimalaratne.

At school he carried the history prizes, most of the time in the higher classes. Wimalaratne recalled that those days the masters were very good in history. “When I entered the university there was a first exam called the GAQ or the General Arts Qualifying Exam. I topped the history subject and got an A. Professor Karl Gunawardana, Professor of History at the time, encouraged me to do a History Special since I got an A pass. It was fitting for me because I had excelled in history even at school. There was a lot of scope for history in the 1960s. My masters said: ‘Be a historian in the future’. ”

National Archives

For his A/levels Wimalaratne offered Political Science, Geography and double History (Ceylon and European ). During the time he was at the Peradeniya University, there were two branches of History: Ancient History and Modern History. Wimalaratne was among six in the batch who offered modern history.

Recalling his time at Pereadeniya as a lovely time, and the best time he had during his education. “Our rooms were very comfortable. Unlike now, there were only two in a room. For meals we had to dress well to go to the dining Hall. The wardens and staff members were seated at the high table and it was a pleasant experience. We took a lot of pains to study as well as engage in sports. I played cricket, football and engaged in athletics. We have memories of a long walk to Kandy to protest against the suspension of some students by the Boards of Residence and Discipline (BRD). The Vice Chancellor at the time was Sir Nicholas Attygalle.”

In the second year, when I was selected to do a special degree, I actually gave up most of my sports and concentrated on my studies. I used the Peradeniya University library to the maximum. Later on I was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Colombo. I was lecturing there for about three years. The turning point came when the Public Service Commission advertized a post in the National Archives. Subsequently I was selected. I suppose they thought that a person who has done history would fit in well with the archives. My father was a government servant and my elder brother was a government servant. The pension was one of the reasons which motivated me to join the public service,” stated Wimalaratne.

Preserving books and documents

Wimalaratne joined the National Archives as an Assistant Archivist in 1969and devoted over 35 years of his professional career to the development of archival administration. “The archival system goes back to very ancient times. If you take the Anuradhapura period there is this person who appears in the inscriptions called ‘Arak Samanam’. He is the archivist during the Anuradhapura period. Arak Samanam was in charge of the royal archives called ‘Lekamge Sanduwen’, those were the palace archives for the administration of the country. All the orders given by the king to his Council were recorded.”

“If you take the book of merit of Dutugemunu (pin potha), it was written at the last stage of Dutugemunu when he was dying. That pin potha was deposited in the palace archives. It was preserved by the national archivist called Arak Samanam. So we have a very longstanding archival history where all the records of the state were preserved. In Sri Lanka we have had a tradition of preserving books and documents and there were several libraries: the Library of Lovamahapaya, library of the Maha Vihara and the library of Abayagiri Vihara.”

Wimalaratne also spoke in great detail concerning the Kandyan Period. There was an archivist called ‘Maha Lekam’. He was in charge of the Kandyan Palace Archives. There was also an officer who kept day-to-day records of the happenings in the Kandyan Kingdom. Kandyan kings gave a very prominent place for preserving records. “These records were destroyed by the foreign invaders. Every time there was an invasion we lost the palace archives forever. There are a few surviving records of the palace archives. Because of the recurrent invasions they were hidden in various places. But when brought back there wasn’t the full quota. When the kingdom of Kandy was invaded there was looting. Only four surviving records of the palace archives are in the National Archives,” explained Wimalaratne.

The ancient kings believed that the preservation of the records was vital to the administration of the state. Take the irrigation system of the Kingdom of Anuradhapura. There were details of the gradients and depths of the tanks and canals that were recorded. There was a person in charge the irrigation system. If a particular irrigation canal was not cleaned the person was taken to task. In war times, they had all the details of the people who had to go to war. There were the names of people, what arms they could carry, their ages and family background. When tom-tom beaters announced the impending invasions asking people to join the army, they had to go to war.

“The Deputy Director who was there when I joined the National Archives gave me an initial training. The government advertised in 1974 some open scholarships for training abroad in various fields. It was my fortune that I was selected to be trained in the University of Padua in Venice, the most ancient university in the world. Galileo taught physics there. His lecture room is still there with his telescope. So in 1974 I went to Padua and did a post graduate diploma in Archival Science.”

Wimalaratne did very well there doing his dissertation on the Italian System of Archives, including a comparative study of the archival system in Sri Lanka. In addition to archival administration, he also learnt about how to repair and conserve records. “In 1948, when we got independence there was a British Civil Servant who was in charge of the archives. In 1956, they appointed a Sri Lankan to look after the archives called Mr. Devaraja who passed away some time back. Mr. Devaraja was the first Sri Lankan Archivist. Mr. G. P. S. H. de Silva was my predecessor who retired in 1989 and then I took over in 1990 and served until 2004.”

As the new Director, Wimalaratne introduced many changes. “I did a lot of work improving the immediate archives, then bringing out professional publications. I wrote a book called Introduction to National Archives.

This was one of the earliest ones I have written. It is not a very big one; only 40 pages. Then I wrote a manual for public servants: How To Manage Records in Public Service. Now they have reprinted it. This was written in Sinhalese, which is now used very heavily by the administrators.

Even when they come for training to the Archives the book is still given to them. It contains how to run their offices and effectively manage records in a more systematized way.

Then I wrote a book on the conservation of Archival and library material. That is still the only available book in Sinhalese. All these books were published by the National Library. I am fluent in both Sinhalese and English. I can speak and write Italian. I can read and understand Dutch.”

“I also improved the indexes of the archives and revamped the entire information system. But at that time computers were not in vogue.

Only at the latter part of my stay did computers come. The National Archives was my second home which I served very honourably with impartiality and integrity”.