LankaWeb – Reminiscences of Hela Havula proponents at a Boarding House in Mt Lavinia lankaweb.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lankaweb.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Vini Vitharana was born on June 2, 1928 at Pallikudawa, Tangalle. He had his early education at Christ Church College, Tangalle and entered Mahinda College, Galle in 1942 from where he continued his studies until he passed his University entrance examination and entered the University of Colombo in 1945. His academic record appears below.
Qualifications: BA University of Colombo 1949, MA Vidyodaya University 1959, PhD Peradeniya University 1966, PhD London 1968, Lanka Sahithya Shoori – Vidyodaya University, Sahithyacharya – Vidyalankara University and Shaastra Visharada – 1st Class – Vidyodaya University.
Posts held:
After graduation 1949, he was appointed as a teacher at his Alma Mater – Mahinda, College, Galle where he served till 1953, teacher at S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia from 1953 – 1957, Deputy Editor, Sinhala Encyclopedia 1957 – 1959, Lecturer and finally Asst. Professor Sinhala at Vidyodaya University from 1960 to 1981, Professor in Sinhala at Ruhun
By Dr. Prasanna Cooray
Mr. Ariyasena Ashuboda (or Arisen Ahubudu (AA), as he was popularly known) was our Sinhala teacher at S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia. My earliest memories of him date back to 1973, when I was in the Sixth Grade (or the Lower 4th according to the Thomian tradition). AA taught us Sinhala. His son, Demintha Udam, was also with us in the same class.
We were very fond of the Sinhala lessons mainly due to the interesting stories AA would narrate to illustrate points in his lessons. He knew all the stories behind Sinhala idioms, and, most of all, he knew how to relate them to a group of restless eleven-year-olds who were interested in anything but their studies.