Appreciations
View(s):An unforgettable matriarch of the family
Muriel Weeraratna
Muriel Weeraratna, my aunty, died on October 21 this year.
As the eldest nephew among the living I would like to share these thoughts of a gracious lady.
Aunty Muriel was the daughter of Don Elaris Weerasiri, only son of Don Theodoris Weerasiri, a leading jewellery and gem merchant at Chatham Street, Fort at the beginning of the last century. Don Elaris played for the Royal College 1st XI Cricket team when the S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia cricket team was captained by D. S. Senanayake who later went on to become the first Prime Minister of Ceylon, and later for the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) alongside D. S. ‘Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon’ by Arnold Wright (1908) carries a detailed account of Don Theodoris Weerasiri and his business, with a photograph of the young Don Elaris Weerasiri.
He married Nancy Thenuwara, whose parents donated the present land where the Sri Lanka Maha Pirivena is situated at Vipulasena Mawatha, Maradana, also known as the “Ode Pansala”. This temple gained wide prominence, when the second head of the Temple Ven. Baddegama Wimalawansa Thero, became a Buddhist and National Leader in the 1950s.
In a family of 12 children, my mother Violet was the eldest. Aunty Muriel was the sixth in the family, which consisted apart from her, of six girls and five boys.
Aunty Muriel studied at Clifton Girls’ School and Musaeus College, Colombo.
On a proposal made in 1947, she married Dharmasena Weeraratna, a businessman from Galle (P.J. Weeraratna & Sons), at Stafford House, Maradana belonging to her grandmother Philomena Thenuwara, with the Police Band in attendance. I was present at the wedding. After the marriage she went to reside at Wackwella Road, Galle, to run the business carried on for four generations by her husband and his brother Asoka. In 1948 they came to Maradana and opened a shop called P.J.Weeraratna and Sons at No. 592 Second Division Maradana. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, P.J. Weeraratna and Sons were the leading wrist watch importers in Sri Lanka. They had about 60 employees.
This refurbished shop was opened on September 9, 1948 by Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake, and several other distinguished guests, namely, Sir John Kotalawela, C.W.W. Kannangara and Victor Ratnayaka, MP for Deniyaya. At that time she was residing at Avondale Road, Maradana, where the two sons Senaka and Tissa were born and later admitted to Royal College.
When I was about 16, during the weekends Aunty Muriel used to give me money to take her sons to see Tarzan and western films.
In 1952, her brother-in-law Asoka Weeraratna founded the German Dharmaduta Society with Dudley Senanayake as the Patron. Asoka later went on to establish the Berlin Vihara having bought the property ‘Das Buddhistische Haus’ in Berlin – Frohnau, from the relatives of Dr. Paul Dahlke, a leading German Buddhist. The Buddhist Mission to Germany is still functioning with monks from Sri Lanka in residence, coordinated by her son Tissa, who is resident in Germany.
Aunty Muriel’s husband Dharmasena and his brother, Asoka, gave up business in the mid – 1960s in order to engage in nationalist and Buddhist revival work. Asoka Weeraratna established the Mitirigala Nissarana Vanaya Meditation Centre in 1967, and entered the Order of the Sangha as Ven. Mitirigala Dhammanissanti Thera in 1972.
It was while living in Australia that Senaka was informed at the beginning of 2000 that his father felt breathless at times, ‘hathi danawa’. Senaka then decided to return to Sri Lanka to care for his parents in their old age. His father died on May 18, 2001. He stayed back to look after his mother giving up a relatively comfortable life in Australia. He was present by the side of his father and mother at the time when they passed away.
In 1994, Aunty Muriel was taken to Germany along with my sister Rani by her son Tissa for an eye operation and she stayed for nearly three months, travelling in Europe during her convalescence. As her two children were then abroad Aunty Muriel looked after her brother Robert and sister Florence till their deaths. Aunty Muriel also looked after with great devotion an adopted son and adopted brother to Senaka and Tissa, named Pathmasiri.
Aunty Muriel was well versed in painting, writing English poetry and making artificial flowers and gardening – growing cannas. All photos on the walls in her house had her sayings written at the bottom. There was poetry written on the inner walls in prominent places inside the house. She and her husband were Sai Baba devotees and visited India on three occasions and brought back Vibuthi (holy ash) and gifts from him. They used to have regular bajans at their house in Bambalapitiya with other Sai devotees. In Colombo, from 1949 she stayed at Avondale Road, Maradana and came to Bethesda Place, Bambalapitiya in 1958.
She was a vegetarian and an animal lover. She had four ferocious dogs and nine cats, all living inside the house. People in the neighbourhood and others used to throw unwanted animals into their compound knowing very well that they would be well looked after.
She also used to write newspaper articles on topics related to Buddhism, animal rights, keeping the city clean, etc. She and her husband were the most loving couple in our family. Though it was an arranged marriage, they were well suited.
Aunty Muriel was very popular among the family members. She was in contact with all her relations living in various parts of the world up to the third generation. Almost every week, she would give an update of the kith and kin and country affairs with humour.
She did this until about two months before her death. She used to continue her calls giving an update interpreted by her son Senaka. She was a loving aunt to all of us. Though she was a Sai devotee she was also a practising Buddhist in her daily affairs, kind to everyone including animals.
On January 22, her younger sister Dr. Theodora Munasinghe passed away and she visited the funeral house to pay her final respects, even though she was in frail health. I met her two days later and she told me “Putha, I am next”. I told her not to be afraid that she will be able to reach her century . Unfortunately, forty days short of her 99th birthday which fell on November 30 this year, she passed away.
May she attain the Supreme Bliss of Nirvana.
Tudor Wijeratne
She carried herself in a lady-like and dignified manner befitting a super grade principal
Mallika Sirisuriya
It is almost one year since Mallika Sirisuriya passed away peacefully after a brief illness at the ripe old age of 89 years and three months, on December 18, last year. She was my sister-in-law, my wife Sujatha’s only sister. Mallika Akka was the eldest in the Karunaratne family of five siblings from Ukuwela, Matale. When I first met her at her father’s home at Ukuwela in mid-1960, she was already married to Chandrawansa Sirisuriya- they were both graduate teachers at Vijaya College, Matale with three children, one boy and two girls at that time.
In the short time I spent with their family on my first visit to her father’s home where they were residing at that time, I found her to be a very amiable, knowledgeable and intelligent lady. Her husband too was similar with good manners, a progressive mind-set and a sound knowledge of world affairs. After my marriage to her sister, Sujatha, and arrival of more children, our two families became closer.
When her husband Chandrawansa Sirisuriya was promoted as Principal and was transferred to various schools such as Tholangamuwa Central, Nuwara Eliya Gamani MV, Pilessa M.V, Gonehena MV and finally to Sangabodhi MV, Nittambuwa, the Sirisuriya family decided to take permanent residence at Kapuhena, Gampaha. That was somewhere in the mid 70’s. Our two families used to spend many a weekend together at each other’s homes. During the school holidays we looked forward with pleasure to be together at the Ukuwela home of my wife’s parents.
As time went by, Mallika became Principal of Nalanda Balika M.V. Minuwangoda where she served efficiently for 12 years until her retirement in 1989. The eulogy delivered by an ex-teacher of Minuwangoda M.V. at her funeral was indeed ample testimony to the gracious and efficient principal she was. She was a good mother not only to her own children but also to her pupils as well and carried herself in a lady-like and dignified manner befitting a super grade principal.
She was a voracious reader, equally proficient in Sinhala and English, and had a good library at her Gampha home. She was well versed in English literature and had a fondness for Shakespeare. Her contributions to daily papers were of a high quality. She had a clear and active mind and was full of progressive ideas. She sympathised with the downtrodden and helped them in many ways, financially and otherwise. Moreover she had great faith – saddha- in the Buddha Dhamma, especially on the doctrine of Karma-Vipaka and ‘rebirth’. Every year she made it a special point to give a dane at her home for the Maha Sangha in memory of her late husband and the departed loved ones. Her husband pre-deceased her in 1984.
She lived a good life according to the tenets of Buddha Dhamma and did not fear death. When I visited her two days prior to her death at the Lanka Hospitals, Colombo, where she was hospitalized for couple of weeks with a terminal illness, she faintly said: “Raja. I have lived enough – now it is time for me to go.” Her daughters who were at her bedside told me that she passed away peacefully in her sleep. I have no doubt that she was blessed with a sharp and evolved mind, imbibed with wise reflection on death and could only imagine she accepted the realities of life with a sense of equanimity. I wish we will have her company again somewhere in Samsara.
May she attain the bliss of Nibbana in the shortest time.
Raja Panditaratna
A great loss to present day politics in Sri Lanka
Ranjith de Soysa
Former MP Ranjith de Soysa who died on December 4, in Singapore, was a leading Parliamentarian and planter. He had served as the chairman in the Attakalampanna Pradeshiya Sabha since 1997-2002 and as Opposition Leader in the same local government during 2002-2004. He was selected to the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council in 2004 and served as the Provincial Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Minor Irrigation and Animal Products until he was elected to the 14th Parliament as a member for the Rakwana electorate in 2010 and re-elected again in 2015 to the 15th Parliament.
He had been renowned as a village, provincial and national politician winning the hearts of people irrespective of party, religion, race, creed or caste. He had an immense capacity to love all human beings of any political camp.
He was also an enthusiastic planter and environmentalist. His contribution towards the nation is clearly shown through the way he adapted himself to accommodate the ideas of JVP youth.
It also clearly points out how flexible he was with regard to others’ views. His vision of building a strong nation was known to all. He was popular in Rakwana and Ratnapura electorates and it encouraged many other young politicians in this province to undertake similar efforts on their own thereafter.
This encouragement and sense of purpose through his thought-provoking speeches will surely help younger politicians in their progressive actions.
We miss him deeply and remember him gratefully. His absence is a great loss to present day politics in Sri Lanka.
Eng.(Major) Jayantha Gunathilake