Many were the battles he fought to regain Kotte’s glory

Roads and streets are named after people as a mark of respect for the yeoman services they have rendered to the country and or society. The present generation living down Douglas D. Ranasinghe Mawatha (formerly Galpotta Road) in Nawala might wonder how this name came to be given to that road.

Douglas D. Ranasinghe who lived for over six decades down this road and passed away on May 1, 2000, at the age of 90 years, was above all others singlehandedly responsible for bringing to the notice of the rest of the country, Kotte’s rich culture and heritage.

He was a man with a mission to preserve the cultural heritage of Kotte and dedicated more than 60 years of his life to this cause. Though not a qualified archaeologist or historian, he became an authority on this subject and his contributions were recognized with the Government conferring on him the title “Puravidy Chakravarthi”.

He grew up in Kotte and played amongst its ancient ruins as a boy without ever realizing their significance. As an adult he came to know more and more of his hometown’s history. Preserving what was left of Kotte’s glorious past was mostly a thankless job he undertook alone. People in the area were wont to think of him as an interfering nuisance because he kept remonstrating with them not to throw garbage into the remains of the old rampart (described so gloriously in the “Sandesha Kavya”) or desecrate or demolish the ruins. He was always a staunch supporter of teaching history and archaeology to students so that they might become more appreciative of their heritage.

If not for Douglas D. Ranasinghe, there would be no museum in Kotte and in fact the ruins which were excavated from 1949 and the archaeological discoveries made by the celebrated archaeologist Dr. Senerath Paranavithana would have been destroyed or neglected. Almost all the items exhibited at the Kotte Museum are private collections of Mr. Ranasinghe.

From his research he produced an authentic map of “Purana Kotte” not only showing the inner city (Etul Kotte) and outer city (Pita Kotte) but 28 locations of all important places in the capital City. The map of “Purana Kotte” is on display at the Kotte museum. He was responsible for identifying the flag of Kotte. He also noticed the disappearance of the original document of the Kandyan Convention, from the Colombo Museum. There was a document purported to be the original. Mr. Ranasinghe noticed a water mark on the paper and this gave him the clue it was not the original. This was immediately brought to the notice of the authorities. He was proved right when the original document was discovered later.

Though he fought what probably felt like a losing battle to maintain and preserve the heritage of Kotte, he achieved a lot towards the end. His achievements were well recognized and he was selected many times as the “Most Outstanding Citizen of Kotte “in the field of Art and Culture. He was also recognized by successive Governments for his contribution to Kotte. He authored many books in English and Sinhala and wrote countless articles to newspapers and magazines.

In recognition of his services, at the request of the Archaeological Department, the Kotte Municipality, by a gazette notification named Galpottha Road after Douglas D. Ranasinghe in 2005.

The Archaeological Department needs a big ‘thank you’ for honouring his name.