About the Author
Early life and education
L.S.E. Amararatne was born on 3 April 1916 in Devundara, Matara.
After completing his school education at St. Servatius' College, Matara, Master Amararatne served as an English teacher at St. Joseph's College Colombo 10. At the time, school education in the country was dominated by missionary schools which promoted the English language and education in English medium. The education system lacked proper textbooks on the Sinhala language which discouraged many who were keen on studying the language, to pursue it.
In an attempt to address this void in the education sector, young Master Amararatne compiled Kumarodaya in 1936, when he was just a 20-year-old youth.
Personal Life
Master L.S.E Amararatne married miss Karuna Kumari Wijewardena on the 7th of July 1949. They have 6 children together.
Utharamani Kumari,
Anoma Tikiri Kumari,
being the daughters and 3 sons namely ;
Jeeva Kumara,
Aruna Kumara,
Hema Kumara.
Academic career
In 1940, Amararatne entered the College of Technology
Maradana popularly known as Ceylon Technical College which was then headed by the prominent artist J.D.A. Perera.He studied painting at the college and it didn't take long for the artist within Amararatne to shine as he became the best art student in the college within just a year. In 1949 he returned to the Technical College as a lecturer to teach what he had learnt and to nurture future generations of young and aspiring artists. Subsequently, he joined the Heywood Institute (now the University of Visual and Performance Arts) where he served until 1960. During his time at the Heywood Institute, Amararatne published several books with illustrations of his own unique artistic creations.
Later he worked with David Paynter and Amararatne was appointed the Head of Sculpture and Waxwork at the University of Visual and Performance Arts.
