See Also: Bandaranaike, S(olomon) W(est) R(idgeway) D(ias)(encyclopedia)
Bandaranaike, Mrs Sirimavo(dictionary)

Bandaranaike, S(olomon) W(est) R(idgeway) D(ias) (sh)




born Jan. 9, 1899, Colombo, Ceylon
died Sept. 26, 1959, Colombo

Statesman and prime minister (1956-59) of Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

Educated at the University of Oxford, he became a prominent member of Ceylon's Western-oriented United National Party. In 1952 he founded the nationalist Sri Lanka Freedom Party, becoming the opposition leader in the legislature. He later formed an alliance of four nationalist-socialist parties that swept elections in 1956 and made him prime minister. Under Bandaranaike, Sinhalese replaced English as the country's official language, Buddhism (the majority religion) was given a prominent place in the affairs of state, and Ceylon established diplomatic relations with communist states. He was assassinated in 1959. His widow, Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (1916-2000), became the world's first woman prime minister in 1960, serving until 1965; she was prime minister twice more (1970-77 and 1994-2000). During her second term a new constitution was adopted that proclaimed a republic (1972) and changed the country's name to Sri Lanka. She was appointed to a third term when her daughter, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (b. 1945), became president in 1994.


S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike

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