astronomy

Harischandra Wijayatunga

Harischandra Wijayatunga is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Harischandra Wijayatunga rather than just read about it. In short: Wijayatunga Mudalige Harischandra Wijayatunga (Sinhala: විජයතුංග මුදලිගේ හරිශ්චන්ද්‍ර විජයතුංග; 25 October 1931 – 12 November 2025) was a Sri Lankan author, translator, lexicographer, teacher, lawyer and politician. He held various offices in different institutions of the Government of Sri Lanka.

Key takeaways

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Reference excerpt

Wijayatunga Mudalige Harischandra Wijayatunga (Sinhala: විජයතුංග මුදලිගේ හරිශ්චන්ද්‍ර විජයතුංග; 25 October 1931 – 12 November 2025) was a Sri Lankan author, translator, lexicographer, teacher, lawyer and politician. He held various offices in different institutions of the Government of Sri Lanka. Wijayatunga was also leader of the Motherland People's Party, and was the party's candidate for president in 1994 and 1999. Wijayatunga was the compiler of the Practical Sinhala Dictionary (1982) and Gunasena Great Sinhala Dictionary, considered to be the most comprehensive Sinhala dictionaries to date. Wijayatunga also proposed scientific ideas to standardise the Sinhala script.

Early life and education Harischandra Wijayatunga was born on 25 October 1931 at Madamulla in Minuwangoda, British Colony of Ceylon. His father, Wijayatunga Mudalige Don Bastian Wijayatunga, was an Ayurvedic eye physician, landed proprietor and coconut and paddy planter. His mother was Amarawathie Jayasinghe. Wijayatunga was the fourth in a family of eight siblings. Wijayatunga received his elementary education at the Government Bilingual School in Minuwangoda. When Nalanda College Colombo was relocated to Minuwangoda during World War II, Wijayatunga's parents took the opportunity to transfer him to the school. After the war, Nalanda College was shifted back to Colombo, and Wijayatunga continued his studies there. Some of Wijayatunga's classmates at Nalanda College included Karunaratne Abeysekera, Dr Hudson Silva, Hon. Dr Dharmasena Attygalle, Hon. Rupa Karunathilake, Ravindra Rupasena and Stanley Jayasinghe. In 1952, he entered the University of Ceylon and graduated in 1955 with a bachelor's degree in science. In 1990, he was awarded a PhD by the University of Kelaniya for his thesis Legal Philosophy in Medieval Sinhale.

Career

Immediately after completing his higher education, Wijayatunga joined the staff of Dharmaraja College as a science teacher. In addition, he also taught chemistry at the Mahamaya Girls' College. It was during this time he wrote his first book Miridiya Jivihu (Freshwater Life). In 1956, he was appointed as the Editor of the Science Section of the Sinhala Encyclopaedia, established at the University of Peradeniya. After some years of service there, he assumed the post of vice-principal at Dharmaraja College. In 1965, he was appointed to the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) which started work in the same year. He was the first and only member appointed to the staff, functioning as its secretary. Under his supervision, Divisional Committees on Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Agriculture and Chemicals, and Metrication of Sri Lanka were appointed. The next step, he took was joining Sri Lanka Law College as a student. He took oaths as an Attorney-at-Law in 1973. Wijayatunga appeared for the accused in the 1971 JVP insurrection before the Criminal Justice Commission. He represented several parties at the Presidential Commission headed by former Chief Justice Miliani Sansoni. Throughout the 1980s, Wijayatunga held various offices such as Chief Editor of the Sinhala Bauddhya tabloid, director of the Sri Lanka Ayurvedic Drugs Corporation, and member of the Directorate of Siddhayurveda College, Gampaha. Between 1984 and 1990, he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Sinhalese Encyclopaedia as well as the Officer-in-Charge of the Sinhala version of the Legislative Enactments of Sri Lanka.

Political career Wijayatunga first entered politics during his university days. He was a strong advocate for the implementation of Sinhala as the sole official language of the Dominion of Ceylon during the 1950s, becoming a founding member of the Sinhala Union of the University of Ceylon. During his stay in Kandy, he associated himself with the work of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by 4th Prime Minister of Ceylon S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike. Wijayatunga's political philosophy is Mahasammatavada (Great Consensus); consulting all people, which he described as "going beyond democracy".

Sinhala language campaign

During the 1956 general election, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike ran on a heavily nationalistic campaign. One of the party's main promises was the replacement of English as the official language of the country with Sinhala. Following a landslide victory for the SLFP, Bandaranaike proceeded to make Sinhala the official state language, with administrative provisions for Tamil. Following this decision, Professor F. R. Jayasuriya began a fast unto death to pressure Bandaranaike's government into making Sinhala the sole official language with no concessions to the Tamil language. Jayasuriya's hunger strike was openly supported by Wijayatunga and other Sinhalese extremists. Eventually, the cabinet of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was able to reach an agreement with the Sinhalese activists, and as a result the controversial Sinhala Only Act was born.

Motherland People's Party

Following dissatisfaction with both main parties of Sri Lanka, Wijayatunga established the Sinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputra Pakshaya in 1990 with a group of intellectuals. In 1994, Wijayatunga ran for president as the candidate of his party and polled 32,651 votes, finishing in fourth place. He ran again in 1999, polling 35,854 votes and finishing in fourth place once again. He ran for a seat in parliament in 2000, 2001 and 2004, but was unsuccessful each time. Wijayatunga chose not to run for president in 2005, instead endorsing SLFP candidate and prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Wijayatunga advocated that the civil war could and should only be ended by combat since early 1990.

Personal life and death Wijayatunga was married to Kalukapuge Karuna Perera, who died in 2000. The couple had three sons (Widyasagara, b. 1965, Chakrapani, b. 1967 and Chandrakeerthi, b. 1970) and a daughter (Shyama Kumari, b. 1969). Wijayatunga had travelled widely in many Asian, African and European countries, and was invited to address various groups of learned societies in India, Japan, the United Kingdom and Australia. On 25 October 2021, his 90th birthday, Wijayatunga was felicitated by Nalanda College Colombo in a programme called Harisanda Harasara, where two books Abhinandana Special Issue and Margagatha Abhinandana Sambhashanaya 2021 were also launched. Wijayatunga died on 12 November 2025, at the age of 94.

Published works Science works

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Harischandra Wijayatunga

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Harischandra Wijayatunga claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Harischandra Wijayatunga before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Harischandra Wijayatunga ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Harischandra Wijayatunga

In research: Harischandra Wijayatunga appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Harischandra Wijayatunga in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Harischandra Wijayatunga is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1931 births, 2025 deaths, Alumni of Nalanda College, Colombo, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Harischandra Wijayatunga outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Harischandra Wijayatunga in simple terms?

Why does Harischandra Wijayatunga matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Harischandra Wijayatunga?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Harischandra Wijayatunga.