Talduwe Ratugama Rallage Weris Singho, better known as Talduwe Somarama Thero (27 August 1915 – 6 July 1962) was a

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

ese Buddhist priest who shot and killed

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (8 January 1899 – 26 September 1959), also known as "The Silver Bell of Asia" (ආසියාවේ රිදී සීනුව), was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as the fourth Prime Minister of ...

, the fourth

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

(later

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

) in 1959.

Early life

Somarama Thero was born on 27 August 1915, to Iso Hamy and Ratugama Rallage Dieris Appuhamy. He was robed when he was 14 on 20 January 1929, and received his schooling at Talduwa Ihala School. He allegedly received his higher

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

as a Thero (Buddhist monk) in

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 ...

on 25 June 1936.

The assassination

Allegedly drafted into the conspiracy by Mapitigama Buddharakkitha Thero, the chief incumbent of the

Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara The Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara or Kelaniya Temple is a Buddhist temple in Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. It is located north-east of Colombo. The current chief incumbent (chief priest) is Venerable Professor Kollupitiye Mahinda Sangharakkhitha Thera. The ...

, Somarama Thero reluctantly consented to assassinate the Prime Minister "for the greater good of his country, race and religion". Buddharakkitha Thero attributed Bandaranaike's failure to aggressively pursue the nationalist reforms as the motive to eliminate him. Others attributed the assassin's motives to his obligation to Buddharakkitha Thero, together with Bandaranaike's delay in fulfilling his campaign promises to Buddhism. The date was set to 25 September 1959, when Somarama Thero was to visit the Prime Minister at his home and shoot him at point blank range. His saffron robes gave him free access to ''

Tintagel Tintagel () or Trevena (, meaning ''Village on a Mountain'') is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village and nearby Tintagel Castle ...

'', the private residence of Bandaranaike, in Rosmead Place,

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. As the Premier commenced his routine meetings with the public, Somarama waited patiently for his turn. When the monk's presence was announced to him, Bandaranaike rose to greet him in the traditional Buddhist manner. The assassin then pulled out a

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

hidden in his robes and fired at the prostrate Prime Minister. Somarama was injured in firing between himself and the Prime Minister's bodyguards. Somarama Thero then faced trial, along with four other involved in the conspiracy. It was a hopeless case, and in spite of a resourceful defense the jury unanimously found Somarama Thero guilty of the capital offense. Before sentencing him to death, the trial judge, Justice T.S. Fernando, QC, CBE, told Somarama Thero he had a "streak of conscience as he did not attend court in his saffron robes." The chief conspirator, Mapitigama Buddharakkitha Thero and H.P. Jayawardena, a businessman closely associated with him, were found guilty of conspiracy to murder. Bandaranaike had suspended

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

, but after his death the government had it restored. In an apparent blunder by the draftsman, the law re-establishing the death penalty failed to include conspiracy to murder. As a consequence, while Somarama Thero would hang, the two chief conspirators escaped with life sentences. Somarama Thero was hanged at

Welikada Prison The Welikada Prison (; also known as the ''Magazine Prison'') is a maximum-security prison and the largest prison in Sri Lanka. It was built in 1841 by the British colonial government under Governor Campbell. The prison covers an area of . It is ...

on 6 July 1962. He gave up his robes a fortnight before his hanging and, two days before his execution, was baptized as a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

by an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest.

Footnotes

External links

Assassination of Bandaranaike (Sri Lanka: The Untold Story at Asia Times OnLine)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Somarama, Talduwe 1915 births Converts to Christianity from Buddhism Sri Lankan Buddhists Sri Lankan Christians Sri Lankan assassins Executed Sri Lankan people People executed by Sri Lanka by hanging Executed assassins 20th-century executions by Sri Lanka People convicted of murder by Sri Lanka Sri Lankan people convicted of murder Assassins of heads of government 1962 deaths

Early life

The assassination

Footnotes

Further reading

External links