12 Facts About Kumaratunga Munidasa

Kumaratunga Munidasa was a pioneer Sri Lankan linguist, grammarian, commentator, and writer.

Kumaratunga Munidasa founded the Hela Havula movement, which sought to remove Sanskrit influences from the Sinhala language.

The second youngest of twelve siblings, Kumarathunga Munidasa was born on 25 July 1887, in Idigasaara village, Dickwella, Matara, Sri Lanka.

Kumaratunga Munidasa's mother was Palavinnage Dona Gimara Muthukumarana and his father was Abious Kumaranatunga.

Kumaratunga Munidasa originally attended Wewurukannala Pirivena to learn Pali and Sanskrit in order to become a Buddhist monk, but his family disapproved.

Kumaratunga Munidasa then switched to the government teachers' college in Colombo, graduating in 1907 after two years of training.

Kumarathunga Kumaratunga Munidasa died on 2 March 1944, at the age of 56.

Kumaratunga Munidasa was later promoted to the position of principal of the Kadugannawa Bilingual School.

Kumaratunga Munidasa's first book, Nikaya Sangraha Vivaranaya, was an analysis of a Scripture on the Buddhist Monastic Orders.

Kumaratunga Munidasa was a member of the Sinhala Maha Sabha of the Swabhasha movement, which started as a protest against the English-educated elites.

Kumaratunga Munidasa spoke of language, nation, and the country as a Triple Gem, linking these entities to the Buddhist concept of refuge.

Kumaratunga Munidasa revived the Lakminipahana newspaper and started the Subasa and Helio magazines to teach and promote the correct use of Sinhala.