Deshamanya Deshamanya (; ; Pride of the Nation) is the second-highest national honour of Sri Lanka awarded by the Government of Sri Lanka as a civil honour. It is awarded for "''highly meritorious service''", and is conventionally used as a title or prefi ...

Edwin Loku Bandara Hurulle ( Sinhala: එඩ්වින් ලොකු බණඩාර හුරුල්ලේ) (19 January 1919 – 6 April 2009) (known as ''E. L. B. Hurulle'') was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the

provincial governor Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

of the Central Province and North Central Province;

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

of communications in Prime Minister

Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton Senanayake (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan wikt:statesman, statesman who thrice served as Prime Minister of C ...

's government; cabinet minister of cultural affairs under President

J. R. Jayewardene Junius Richard Jayewardene (; ; 17 September 1906 – 1 November 1996), commonly referred to by his initials JR, was a Sri Lankan lawyer, public official and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1978 and as the secon ...

's government and member of parliament.

Early life and education

He was born Illangasinghe Kalukumara Rajakaruna Edwin Loku Bandara Hurulle to Tikiri Bandara Hurulle and Alice Bulankulame Hurulle, daughter of Loku Bandara Bulankulame

Dissava The Mahâ Dissâvas was a Great Officer in the Amātya Mandalaya, or Sinhalese Council of State, in the Sinhalese Kingdoms of monarchical Sri Lanka. Like many of the existing high offices at the time it had combined legislative and judicial ...

, who was the Atamasthana Nilame (chief lay custodian of Atamasthana) in

Anuradhapura Anuradhapura (, ; , ) is a major city located in the north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central Province, Sri Lanka, North Central Province and the capital of Anuradhapura District. The city lies north of the cur ...

. He was the eldest child in the family. His family had established themselves as local headmen in the

Anuradhapura District Anuradhapura ( ''anūrādhapūra distrikkaya''; ''Aṉurātapuram māvaṭṭam'') is a district in North Central Province, Sri Lanka. Its area is 7,179 km². Major cities * Anuradhapura (Municipal Council) Other towns * Bulnewa * Eppaw ...

. His great-grandfather Punchi Bandara Hurulle built a

walauwa Walauwa or walawwa is the name given to a feudal/Colony, colonial manor house in Sri Lanka of a Native headmen of Ceylon, native headmen. It also refers to the feudal social systems that existed during the colonial era. The term walauwa is derive ...

by the Morakewa Reservoir in Horowpotana. His grandfather Henarath Bandara Hurulle, who was the

Rate Mahatmaya Rate Mahatmaya was a traditional office and title from the Kandian Kingdom which became part of the British colonial administration within the Kandian and central region of Ceylon. History Persons were appointed to the title and office by the Ki ...

of Hurulupalatha built his two-storeyed walauwa in 1900 A.D. between the Morakewa Weva and the Anuradhapura – Trincomalee Main Road. Henarath Banda Hurulle had married Maningamuwe Weragama Kumarihamy. This was the building set ablaze by the JVP during the insurgency in 1988. He completed his primary and secondary education at St Patrick's College,

Jaffna Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...

and

Trinity College, Kandy Trinity College, Kandy is a private Anglican boys' school located in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It offers both day and boarding facilities. It was founded in 1872 by British Anglican missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, modelled on Britis ...

where he passed the London Inter – Arts Examination.

Government Service

Hurulle followed the family tradition by joining government service in the Native Department as an Acting

. With the abolition of the Native Department and formation of the Divisional Revenue Officers (DRO) who replaced the Rate Mahatmayas in the Kandyan areas and the Korale Mudliyars in the Low Country; Hurulle became a DRO in Hurulu Palata in Kahatagasdigiliya in the North Central Province.

Political career

Following the death of T. B. Poholiyadde Dissawa, prior to handing over nominations for the 1956 general election, Hurulle's name was presented for the Horowpotana

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district ...

from the

United National Party The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party ...

(UNP) and he resigned from government service. In the election that followed the UNP was reduced to eight parliamentary seats with the

Mahajana Eksath Peramuna The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People's United Front) is a political party in Sri Lanka. The party is currently led by former Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, son of Philip Gunawardena, the founder of the party. History Under Philip Gunaw ...

gaining a landslide victory. His maternal uncle P.B. Bulankulame

who had served in the Cabinet could not retain his seat in parliament at this election. He was re-elected in the March 1960 general election, the July 1960 general election, the 1965 general election and was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister of Communications in 1965, serving till 1970. As Minister of Communications he expedited the change in Ceylon Government Railways to Diesel Engines by replacing the outdated steam engines. He inducted the Trident Passenger Jet Airplane to

Air Ceylon Air Ceylon was the former flag carrier airline of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The airline discontinued flights to Europe in early 1978 and finally ceased all local services on 31 August 1979, when it was replaced by Air Lanka. Air Lanka was later ...

thus taking Air Ceylon from a propeller driven era to a

Jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...

era. He also introduced Motor Car Taxis for the first time to Ceylon which were permitted to be imported free of

customs duty A tariff or import tax is a duty imposed by a national government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods or raw materials and i ...

.යාල්දේවිගේ උප්පත්ති කතාව
Rivira, retrieved 26 April 2009. He lost his seat in the 1970 general election to T. B. Herath. He was re-elected in the 1977 general election and was appointed Cabinet Minister of Cultural Affairs. As Minister of Cultural Affairs he facilitated assistance from

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

in Paris to set up the Central Cultural Fund and formalize Sri Lanka's Cultural Triangle Project. He expedited archeological excavation work at archeological sites resulting in the finding of many rare archeological artefacts. The completion of the Sinhala dictionary (expected to take a further 20 years) was also expedited during his tenure of office. The translations of the

Tripiṭaka There are several Buddhist canons, which refers to the various scriptural collections of Buddhist sacred scriptures or the various Buddhist scriptural canons.

and the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

to Sinhala were also carried out during his period of office. He was succeeded by his son Themiya Loku Bandara Hurulle in the 1989 general election. He was Governor of the Central Province in 1988, where he ensured the setting up and operation of the Central Provincial Council for the first time when Provincial Council related persons were being killed and injured by the armed insurgents in the South of Sri Lanka who were opposed to the Provincial Council system. He thereafter served as Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Australia where encouraged Sri Lankans of all races and religions living in Australia to have a Sri Lankan identity. Countered the anti-Sri Lanka campaigns of pro –

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam ...

activists by meeting Australian Politicians, Officials and used the Australian Media to explain the true situation in Sri Lanka. His final appointment was Governor of the North Central Province from which he retired in 1994. In 1992, he was awarded the national honor of

by the government of Sri Lanka.

Family

He married Malinee Galagoda, the youngest daughter of Madduma Bandara Galagoda of Galagoda Walauwa, Teldeniya, a Basnayake Nilame (Chief custodian) of the Naatha-Devalay,

Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...

and a former Officer of the Department of Forests. E.L.B. Hurulle and his wife Malinee had two daughters Maya and Deepthi and three sons Themiya (ex-Project Minister of Science & Technology, ex-Member, North Central Provincial Council and former Director-General, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka), Vajira and Kanishka.

References

External links