Remembering Hemaratne Liyanaarachchi

Remembering Hemaratne Liyanaarachchi

s the saying goes, a man must perform three tasks – plant a tree, father a son, and write a book – to make his life complete. Hemaratne Liyanaarachchi graduated from the university of life, doing more and better than it is said in the saying.
His young age was spent in a kind of enchanted garden (of which I only have heard of; and when I heard, it reminded me the fantasies of Bridge to Terabithia) that hosted a variety of trees, including a very special, ancestral jak tree from which the exceptionally tasty fruits were taken to offer King Weeraparakrama Narendrasingha during the royal visits to Sri Pada, in the 18th century.
When it comes to sons, he had two instead of one. He got eight books published, including two translations. Mr. Liyanaarachchi was the Principal of English Specialist Teachers’ College, Peradeniya, from 1995 to 1998. Not only for his own two sons, Hemaratne Liyanaarachchi had been a father to hundreds of his teacher-students.
Born at Dimiyawa, Ratnapura in 1938, he received his early primary education at Dimiyawa Maha Vidyalaya, and joined the Kuruwita English School at

Some of the books by HL.

grade 4. In 1948, the year Sri Lanka won Independence from the British, he entered Ananda College, Colombo, at grade 5, where he spent the rest of his school-life.
Ananda College moulded him to be fit in many ways. His sporty spirit dragged him to play in the teams of Basketball (under 19), Cricket (under 14), and the Hostel Volleyball Team, apart from his participation in Table Tennis and Badminton games. Former Army Commander, General Rohan Daluwatte had been one of his Basketball team mates. P. Dayaratne (former minister), J. B. Dissanayake (professor in Sinhala), Sunanda Mahendra (journalist), D. B. Nihalsinghe (filmmaker), and Karu Jayasuriya (politician) were some of his contemporaries and batch mates at Ananda College.
The beauty in the life of Hemaratne Liyanaarachchi is that he was an expert in mathematics, who dedicated it entirely to literature. His secondary education was focused on mathematical
subjects. He became a trained teacher in mathematics at Maharagama Teachers’ Training College, and was appointed to a school at Marassana, in Kandy district. From there, he joined the Uyanwatta Teachers’ Training College, Polgolla (now Mahaweli National College of Education) as a lecturer in double-maths.
His first literary work, Mathaka Satahan – මතක සටහන් – (Memories) was published in 1964; and the second, Padadayakugen – පාදඩයකුගෙන් – (From a Vagrant) in 1965. Padadayakugen was the first book published by Deepani Publishers of Nugegoda. In 1967, Hemaratne Liyanaarachchi published his third book, Anthima Da – අන්තිම දා – (The Final Day) and went for a 20-year silence in his literary life. His marriage and beginning to learn French took place during this silent time. Further, he was spending time to write-cut off-and rewrite another piece of literature that developed into his fourth book, Mama Rathriya Vemi – මම රාත්‍රිය වෙමි – (I’m The Night).
The fateful accident in 1985 took a lot off from Mr. Liyanaarachchi. It disabled his right leg, bringing down his walking speed to a minimum; he could no more engage in sports, which eventually brought him high blood pressure; but the steel was already tempered! In 1986, he achieved Diploma Superior in French language, a General Degree with honours, and Post-graduate Diploma in English Literature from University of Peradeniya. The same year he joined the English Specialist Teachers’ College, Peradeniya, as a lecturer in English Literature. His fifth book, Sapumalge Lokaya - සපුමල්ගේ ලෝකය – (Sapumal’s World) came to the readers in 1991 as a collection of short stories.
Becoming the Vice Principal of ETC in 1992 and the Principal, in 1995, was a turning point in Mr. Liyanaarachchi’s life. He got engaged in a lot of literary work during that time. ‘A Guide to O’ Level Literature’ was written keeping the student-teachers in mind. Once when I was a student-teacher in ETC, during a chat Mr. Liyanaarachchi told me that he was translating two books those days. He got his retirement in 1998. Those books came to the readers in 1999 as Yaksha Bandhanaya and Faustus.
After the retirement he went back to live at Ratnapura, until his final moments; during which time he wrote a number of short stories, and a Sinhala translation of William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. He wrote a series of articles to Silumina weekly on Western Literature’s criticisms. His final hours at Ratnapura hospital too were spent to complete a short story he had been writing.
The unpublished works of Hemaratne Liyanaarachchi will come to the readers as a collection of short stories, a Sinhala translation of Shakespearean drama, ‘The Comedy of Errors’, and ‘Batahira Sahithya Vicharaye Ithihasaya’ (History of Criticism In Western Literature) – a book carrying the series of articles he wrote to ‘Silumina’.
Just 3 days before his death, Mr. Liyanaarachchi had watched over a TV news telecast, how the former Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi was brutally murdered on the street by the U-backed mobs. As Mrs. Liyanaarachchi recalls, he was shocked to see the incident on 20th October 2011, and was worried saying, “How can anyone murder a leader like this…!”. The shock created by this incident might surely have broken the sensitive heart of Hemaratne Liyanaarachchi.
He was a man of tempered steel, with a heart that cried for humanity.

(Special thanks should go to Sapumal Liyanaarachchi for his help in preparing this article.)