Prof. Tissa Kariyawasam, one of the forefathers of mass communication in Sri Lanka passed away at the age of 72 in Colombo on 4th December 2014. He was a former head of the Department of Sinhala and Mass Communication, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and the Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
Prof Kariyawasam’s remains were lying at his residence at 4A, 1st Lane, Nawala Road, Nugegoda. Following religious rites at his residence at 10 am on Sunday the body was taken to the University of Sri Jayawardenepura at 1 pm where it was kept for public respect.
Watch the Funeral from our YouTube channel.
Professor Kariyawasam is well-known for literature particularly in Sinhala drama, novels and short stories. He was also a grate proponent of Sinhala folklore. He was the Chairman of the National Rupavahini Corporation from 1990 to 1994, and the National Library and the Documentation Services Board.
Professor Kariyawasam has been the Chairman of the Sinhala Drama Panel and the member of the Presidential Task Force on Media.
Tissa Kariyawasam graduated with honours from the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya at age 22 in 1964 and joined the university staff soon after. His biography has been a significant part of the history of our university system in the second half of the 20th century.
He is such a well-known university personality that at this point in time it is almost impossible to say anything new about him that is true, or anything true about him that is new. His interests have been extraordinarily wide: Sinhala, History, Archaeology, Religion, Aesthetics, Drama, Journalism, Exorcism and Culture.
From 1980 to 1988 he was Director of the Institute of Aesthetic Studies (IAS) which has now transformed itself into the University of the Visual and Performing Arts.
As it happened, he has been the longest serving Director of the IAS and he has had a decisive influence on its development. Being an authority on the “Exorcist Rituals in the Low Country” (which was the subject of his Master’s thesis presented to the University of Ceylon) he commanded great respect from many members of the teaching staff of the IAS. Having acted as Director of the IAS for a few months in the year 2000, I am aware of the enormous prestige he continued to enjoy among the staff of the IAS, said Prof Carlo Fonseka.
Professor Kariyawasam has been a prolific writer. To date he has published more than 50 books including a definitive four-volume study on the History of Sinhala Drama from 1867 to 1956. His 10 books on Mass Communication have provided the basic textbooks to students reading journalism in the Sinhala medium.
Professor Kariyawasam has the distinction of having organized the first-ever production of a Sinhala Drama outside our country. That was in 1981 when he produced John ds Silva’s famous play Sirisangabo at the 6th Festival of Asian Arts in Hong Kong.
