Did you know that sigiriya has been dedared a world heritage and the 8th won der of the world? But for prof. senarath paranavithana born over 100 years ago in a little known village called maetaramba in the galle district we would not have still discoverid the importance of sigiriya fully. frof senarath paranavithane escaped belonging to the monoli ngual excl usive class and became a true bilingual because he got a solid foundation in the oriental languages. this in culcated in hima love for the county an interest in its historiy and adiscipline which stood him in good stead when he embarked upon his career as Archaelogikal commissioner. paranavithane was a slighly built man short in stature. There is a story that was current in the university of peradeniya when he was professor of Archaealongy. It seems one day he was walking the corridors of the universit carrying the two massive volumes of sigiriya graffiti it vas observed that this frail man so a by stander had offered to carry them for him. No no he is supposed to have quippedif I can write them Ican carry them. This anecdote points to a significant aspect of the man his sense of dedi cation to work he culd do himself. If it was not for senarath paranavithane our country would be less known lesslvi sited less cared for and hardly valued.
