Claude Pananwala - An Appreciation

 

 

Claude Pananwala of Pananwala Walawwa Talatu Oya passed away a few days ago after a brief illness.

He was a son of Abeyratne Banda  Pananwala , a former Basnayake Nilame - Kandy & Hanguranketha Pattini Devalayas (1941-1963), Maha Vishnu & Aluthnuwara Devalayas (1963-1973) and   Vimalawathie Mapitigama , daughter of M.B.Mapitigama of Meedeniya Walawwa,  Kegalle and Tikiri Kumarihamy Hurulle of Morakewa Walawwa,  Horowapathana.

Educated at Trinity College, Kandy and in Australia, he was employed for a considerable period and later managed his family properties.

He had a deep and abiding concern for the fate of elephants in the wild, and for farmers whose crops were destroyed by marauding elephants. Over ten years ago, he even proposed the establishment of a Presidential Task Force to make a comprehensive study and recommend ways and means to bring relief to farmers and spare the lives of both farmers and elephants. His proposal was to appoint people like the late Dr. Nandana Attapattu (elephant expert and former Deputy Director, Department of Wild Life Conservation), reputed elephant conservationists, and experts from India, Thailand etc to the Task Force. Unfortunately, it was not picked up by those in authority, and the conflict continues in spite of genuine efforts made to resolve it over the years.

 Among his other interests were Art and Hindi music. He was an accomplished artist and a connoisseur of Hindi music. He was an ardent fan of Mohamed Rafi from the time Radio Ceylon launched the  Hindi Broadcasting Service , which attracted millions of listeners from India, Pakistan, the Gulf Countries etc and remembered that H.R. Jothipala launched his career by singing songs in Sinhala to the tune of Rafi’s popular songs.

 He leaves behind his wife Damayanthie, son Niroshan (G.M. Macktiles Ltd) and daughter in law, Nilakshi, daughter  Ayomie, who looked after him with great love and affection during his illness and son in law Namal, four grand children, as well as his siblings : Nissanka, Upatissa, Malkanthi, Jayantha, Group Capt. Tilak (Retd) in Sydney, Chandrika and Upananda.

 May he attain the supreme bliss of Nibbana.


Sunday Times of 25 January, 2026


Deeply committed to solving the human-elephant conflict

CLAUDE PANANWALA

Claude Pananwala of Pananwala Walawwa, Talatu Oya passed away a few days ago after a brief illness.

He was a son of Abeyratne Banda  Pananwala, a former  Basnayake Nilame – Kandy & Hanguranketha Pattini Devalayas (1941-1963), Maha Vishnu & Aluthnuwara Devalayas (1963-1973) and  Vimalawathie Mapitigama, daughter of M.B.Mapitigama of Meedeniya Walawwa,  Kegalle and  Tikiri Kumarihamy Hurulle of Morakewa Walawwa,  Horowapathana.

Educated at Trinity College, Kandy and in Australia, he was employed for a few years and thereafter managed his family properties.

He had a deep and abiding concern for the fate of elephants in the wild and farmers whose crops were destroyed by marauding elephants. Over ten years ago, he even proposed the establishment of a Presidential Task Force to make a comprehensive study and recommend ways and means to bring relief to farmers and spare the lives of both farmers and elephants. His proposal was to appoint people like Dr. Nandana Attapattu (elephant expert and former Deputy Director, Department of Wild Life Conservation), reputed elephant conservationists, and experts from India, Thailand etc to the Task Force. Unfortunately, it was not picked up by those in authority, and the human-elephant conflict continues in spite of genuine efforts made to resolve it over the years.

Among his other interests were art and Hindi music. He was an accomplished artist and a connoisseur of Hindi music. He was an ardent fan of Mohamed Rafi from the time Radio Ceylon launched the Hindi Broadcasting Service, which attracted millions of listeners from India, Pakistan, the Gulf countries etc and admired H.R. Jothipala who launched his career by singing songs in Sinhala to the tune of Rafi’s popular songs.

He leaves behind his wife Damayanthie, son Niroshan (G.M. Macktiles Ltd) and daughter-in-law, Nilakshi, daughter  Ayomie who looked after him with great love and affection during his illness and son-in-law Namal, as well as five brothers and two sisters.

May he attain the supreme bliss of Nibbana.

 K. de Silva

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