A great mentor with a unique character and brilliant mind
I was mesmerised by the light snow blowing outside the window and marvelled at its cascading anonymity dropping from above. My mind kept drifting with it when the message from the Facebook wall hit me with full force: “Prof. Senake Bandaranayake passed away this morning”-
Prof. Senake Bandaranayake published many books and articles in both Sinhala and English, including ‘The Rock and Wall Paintings of Sri Lanka’ in 1986
Kumari. My heart sank at that single sentence appearing on that insensitive black screen, and instantly, my thoughts reverted across the oceans to a past and to a land so far away where I once had the fortune and the privilege to work with Prof. Bandaranayake on that same soil.
I first met him as a friend of my father’s, next as my lecturer at the Department of Archaeology at the University of Kelaniya and later as my boss and mentor at the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology. Looking back, the process of evolution was gradual and pretty natural though I was totally unaware of it. I was crossing more than one boundary at a time as an archaeologist, cartographer, conservator, documenter and restorer of paintings and artefacts. He kept pushing me to cross new boundaries and enter spheres that I may not have ventured into on my own and kept me engaged in varying projects not only locally but also overseas, not to mention the digging that was undertaken in the Megalithic burial site of Ibbankatuwa, as well as Sigiriya and Pidurangala, and other surrounding sites and five years of labored work with my brother and sister poured into the Dambulla cave complex all came under his purview.
As I was initiating the process of recollecting my first few images of him, I was lost because everything seemed to merge together at the same time. To describe Prof. Bandaranayake would be hard as he had a unique character coupled with a charismatic personality and a brilliant mind. These qualities along with his dynamic leadership abilities proved to be very successful, professionally as well as personally. However, he managed to remain a simple person with much integrity and did not compromise himself on anything. He would roll in in, his yellow Volkswagen Beetle to the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology (PGIAR) dressed in his favourite attire of long khaki shirt and pants and would work in his small cubicle on Bauddhaloka Mawatha where the office premises of the Central Cultural Fund too was crammed more or less into the same space. Most of all he was a kind man, gracious at all times and I can still hear his voice booming in my ears not loud but pretty powerful as he would speak giving weight to each word.
Born in 1938 and educated at S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, he completed his postgraduate studies at Oxford. He became the Head of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Kelaniya, and later became the Vice Chancellor of the same university. He was also the founding Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology. He served as the Archaeological Director of the Sigiriya and Dambulla projects of the UNESCO-Sri Lanka Cultural Triangle and later as the Director of Central Cultural Fund. Prof. Bandaranayake was also appointed as the Ambassador to France, UNESCO, Bhutan and India.
Professor, as we would fondly call him, loved Sigiriya the best, the ancient rock fortress and palace ruins surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of ancient water systems, octagonal ponds, moats, the mirror wall and its world famous paintings dating back to King Kasyapa’s period in the 5th century. Sigiriya was his specialty and could also be called the most visited historic site in Lanka both by locals as well as tourists.
Prof. Bandaranayake published many books and articles in both Sinhala and in English. In 1986, together with photographer Gamini Jayasinghe, he published the book ‘The Rock and Wall Paintings of Sri Lanka’ which recounts the history of Sri Lankan art from prehistoric paintings through the classical period of Anuradhapura right up to the Kandyan era in the 18th c. This text which is an important milestone in recording the history of painting in the country is now a collector’s item and a treasured possession in many a library. He also directed the documentary film ‘Sigiriya – the Lion Mountain’ which won the national television documentary award for art and archaeology. Earlier in 1977, he was also instrumental in the publication of my father L. T. P. Manjusri’s book ‘Design Elements in Sri Lankan Temple Paintings’. Many years later, in one of my last email correspondences I had with him he wrote “Nice to hear your voice” when he was still trying to introduce me to new people and places and basically trying to throw open more doors even though from afar.
Restorations and excavations that Prof. Bandaranayake often carried out with international collaborations with fairness ensured that he made sure to put us out there on the world map. His extraordinary presence cannot be erased easily and is a sad loss to our nation simply because of the enormous contribution he made towards the field of archeology and the conservation and restoration of artifacts and monuments.
Something I am so proud to share with him is my birthday which coincides with his on April 23!
There is a void where he left off, an emptiness, an eerie silence bringing me back to reality and to the drifting snow outside.
- Mandalika Manjusri