54.Senarath Paranawithana

Prof Senarath Paranawithana was born on the 26th of December 1896 in a little know village called Mataramba in Galle district. As a child he studied pali, Sanskrit and English. In 1940 he became the commissioner of archaeology. he collected and studied about 685 Sigiri graffiti which were inscribed between 7thand 11th centuries. They are of great important to study the history of Sinhala literature. if he did not publish them we would not have still discovered the importance of Sigiriya.