Senake Dias Bandaranayake (1938 March 2, 2015) was a Sri Lankan archeologist, who served as emeritus professor and vice chancellor at

University of Kelaniya The University of Kelaniya (UoK; , ) is a public university in Sri Lanka. Just outside the municipal limits of Colombo, in the city of Kelaniya, the university has two major institutions and seven faculties. History The University of Kelaniy ...

. His research was focused on architecture, art history, and ancient paintings of

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

, including Sri Lanka.

Early life and education

He was born in 1938 to Dora and William Dias Bandaranayake. He was married to Manel Fonseka. He received his early education at

S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia (abbreviated as STC), is a fee-levying Anglican selective entry boys' private school in Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by James Chapman, the first Anglican Bishop of Colombo, in 1851, it was founded as ...

. He graduated from

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

and later went to England where he obtained his

Bachelor of Letters Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second bachelor's degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been touched on in ...

in 1965 and Ph.D. in 1972 from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. After obtaining his Ph.D., he attended

UCL Institute of Archaeology UCL's Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of the Social & Historical Sciences Faculty of University College London (UCL) which it joined in 1986 having previously been a school of the University of London. It is currently one of ...

where he received a post graduate degree.

Career

After returning from Europe in 1974, he joined University of Kelaniya in 1975 as a senior lecturer at its archeology department until he retired as a senior professor in 2003. He later became emeritus professor, head of archeology department, and vice chancellor. He established Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology in 1987 and served as its director until 1997. Prior to his retirement, he formed archaeological team at University of Kelaniya for graduate students to conduct research. He worked at

Sigiriya Sigiriya or Sinhagiri (''Lion Rock'' , , pronounced SEE-gi-ri-yə) is an ancient rock fortress located in the northern Matale District near the town of Dambulla in the Central Province, Sri Lanka. It is a site of historical and archaeologic ...

for eighteen years, during which he built monumental work of

Harry Charles Purvis Bell Harry Charles Purvis Bell, CCS (21 September 1851 – 6 September 1937), more often known as HCP Bell, was a British civil servant and the first Commissioner of Archaeology in Ceylon. Early life Born in British India in 1851, he was sent to ...

and

Senarath Paranavithana Senarath Paranavitana, (Sinhala language, Sinhala:සෙනරත් පරණවිතාන) (26 December 1896 – 4 October 1972) was a Sri Lankan archeologist and epigraphist, who pioneered much of post-colonial archaeology in Sri Lanka. ...

Diplomatic career

He served in various capacities during his diplomatic career, including Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to France and to

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 1999, and Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to Bhutan. He was also appointed

Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India The High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India is the Sri Lankan Envoy (title), envoy to India. Countries belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations typically exchange High Commissioners, rather than Ambassadors. Though there are a few technical di ...

from 2000 to 2002. During his diplomatic career, he established National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS), an advocacy resource institute in

. He was one of the three final candidates nominated by the

government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) (; ) is a Semi-presidential republic determined by the Constitution of Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the island from both its commercial capital of Colombo and the administrative capital o ...

for the post of Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Death

He died in his sleep on March 2, 2015.

Awards

He was awarded

Sahitya Akademi Fellowship The Sahitya Akademi Fellowship is a literary honour in India bestowed by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.Quote: "In his acceptance speech when India's National Academy of Letters (Sahitya Akademi) in 1997 conferred its h ...

in 1996 by the

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of the Indian government. Its off ...

in recognition of his contribution to archeology, and establishing Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology.

Legacy

The government of Sri Lanka established Prof. Senaka Bandaranaike Archaeological Field Training School at Sigiriya named after Senaka Bandaranaike. It was inaugurated by the

Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa (; ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the sixth President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the ...

, prime minister of the country. The training institute establishment contract is signed by Central Cultural Fund at LKR50 million. The institute is claimed to be the premier training center of Sri Lanka for local and foreign archeological researchers.

Research and publications

*In 1984, he wrote on ''The Peopling of Sri Lanka: The National Question and Some Problems of History and Ethnicity'' followed by

Black July Black July (; ) was an anti- Tamil pogrom that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983. The pogrom was premeditated, and was finally triggered by a deadly ambush on a Sri Lankan Army patrol by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 23 ...

. *In 1986, he wrote

masterpiece A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

with photographer Gamini Jayasinghe titled ''The Rock and Wall Paintings of Sri Lanka''. *As part of the UNESCO Maritime Silk Route Expedition, he was a co-editor of the Silk Road of the Sea in 1990. *In 1993, he was also co-editor of archeological research titled ''Heritage of Asia and Oceania'' for the 10th

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

International Council on Monuments and Sites The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS; ) is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the world. Now headquartered in Charenton-le-Pont, France, ICOMOS was fou ...

help in Colombo. *In 1996, along with his wife Manel Fonseka, he published ''Ivan Peries Paintings 1938-88'', consisting a detailed monograph on his friend

Ivan Peries Ivan Peries (31 July 1921 – 13 February 1988) was a founder member of the Colombo '43 Group of Sri Lankan artists, and became one of its leading painters. Born near Colombo, he spent more than half his life in self-imposed exile in London ...

. *In 2007, he wrote ''Architecture of the Anuradhapura Period'', consisting the art and archaeology of Sri Lanka. *In 2007, he also wrote ''Ancient and Early Maps'', the 2nd edition of the National Atlas of Sri Lanka, which was later published by the

Survey Department of Sri Lanka The Department of Survey of Sri Lanka (also known as the Department of the Surveyor General) ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා මිනින්දෝරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ''Shri Lanka Minindoru Departhamenthuwa' ...

. *In 2009, he co-published ''Sri Lankan Painting in the 20th Century'', an introduction to contemporary painting, in collaboration with Albert Dharmasiri. It was published by the

National Trust Sri Lanka The National Trust – Sri Lanka or National Trust for Cultural and Natural Heritage is a non-profit organisation, which works to preserve and protect the natural and cultural heritage of Sri Lanka and to increase public awareness of the country' ...

. *In 2011, he published a collection of poetry titled ''Travellers Have Eyes'', illustrated by

Jagath Weerasinghe Jagath Weerasinghe (; born 1954) is a Sri Lankan contemporary artist and archeologist. Weerasinghe has been a significant driving force in the development of Sri Lankan art since the early 1990s. He is Director of the Postgraduate Institute of A ...

. *In 2012, he published an anthology of his writings titled ''Continuities and Transformations: Studies in Sri Lankan Archaeology and History''.

References

External links

Prof. Senake Bandaranayake
at

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of Academic publishing, scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in Beta release, beta in November 2004, th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bandaranayake, Senake Sinhalese people Sri Lankan archaeologists Sri Lankan academics Historians of Sri Lanka 1938 births 2015 deaths Alumni of the UCL Institute of Archaeology Alumni of the University of Oxford Vice-chancellors of the University of Kelaniya 20th-century archaeologists Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to Bhutan Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to France Permanent delegates of Sri Lanka to UNESCO High commissioners of Sri Lanka to India Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship