Kala Keerthi The Kala Keerthi () is a Sri Lankan national honour awarded "''for extraordinary achievements and contributions in arts, culture and drama''". It is the highest national honour for arts, culture and drama in Sri Lanka. It is conventionally used as ...

Vini Vitharana () (2 June 1928 – 2 December 2019) was a Sri Lankan Sinhalese linguist, professor, lecturer and a scholar. 1 He was well known for his significant contributions to

Sinhala literature Sri Lankan literature is the literary tradition of Sri Lanka. The largest part of Sri Lankan literature was written in the Sinhala language, but there is a considerable number of works in other languages used in Sri Lanka over the millennia (i ...

. During his lifetime, he was rated as one of the prominent notable educators in the country.

Career

Vitharana had completed his primary education at the Christ Church College in Tangalle and pursued his secondary school education at

Mahinda College Mahinda College is a Buddhist boys' school in Galle, Sri Lanka. The school was established on 1 March 1892 by the Buddhist Theosophical Society led by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott. As of today it is a National school (Sri Lanka), national school whi ...

, Galle. He obtained bachelor's degrees from the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...

and

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He completed his doctorate in

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

in 1966 at the

University of Peradeniya The University of Peradeniya (, ) is a Public research university, public university in Sri Lanka, funded by the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka, University Grants Commission. It is the largest university in Sri Lanka, which was origin ...

. He served as an assistant editor of the Sinhala Encyclopedia from 1957 to 1959 for a period of two years. In 1960, he became a visiting lecturer at the

Vidyodaya University Vidyodaya School is a private college-preparatory combined-grades school located in Thevakkal, Kochi, India. It provides comprehensive school education from lower primary to grade 12. About Established in 1990-91 the school conducts classes fr ...

. He was a recipient of a

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 ...

award for his notable contributions to Sinhala literature in 1962. He received the prestigious

award from 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 ...

in 1993.

Death

He died on 2 December 2019 at the age of 91 in the early morning due to illness. The funeral was held in

Borella Borella is the largest suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka represented by divisional code 8. Demographic Borella is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic area. The major ethnic communities in Borella are Sinhalese people, Sinhalese and Tamils. There are a ...

on 4 December 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vitharana, Vini 1928 births 2019 deaths Buddhist apologists Sri Lankan educators Academic staff of Vidyodaya University Sri Lankan philosophers Sri Lankan scholars of Buddhism Alumni of the University of Peradeniya Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of Ceylon Alumni of Mahinda College