Final rites of Dr. Ariyaratne to be performed this evening

The final rites of the late Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne, the founder and the President Emeritus of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri Lanka, will be performed today (20) with full state honours.

Sri Lankabhimanya Ahangamage Tudor Ariyaratne passed away on 16 April, at the age of 93. He was receiving treatment at a private hospital in Colombo.

Following his demise, President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and the officials of Sarvodaya convened a meeting to discuss the funeral arrangements. During the meeting, the Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Public Administration & Provisional Councils, Pradeep Yasaratne was instructed to see to it that the final rites of the late Dr. Ariyaratne are performed with full state honours.

Dr. Ariyaratne’s remains are lying in state at the Sarvodaya Headquarters in Moratuwa from until 1.00 pm today. The funeral procession, which will proceed from there to Independence Square in Colombo, will be followed by final religious rites. The cremation will take place at 6.00 p.m.

Born in 1931 in the South of Sri Lanka, Dr. Ariyaratne was conferred the highest national award – the Sri Lankabhimanya Award – by the President of Sri Lanka in 2007 and many International awards such as the Ramon Magsaysay Award (Philippines) 1969, King Baudouin Award for International Development (Belgium) 1982, Niwano Peace Price (Japan) 1992 and Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize (India) 1996 for his contribution to Human Wellbeing and Peace.

Dr. Ariyaratne was also honoured with a Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) degree from Sri Jayewardenepura University and a Doctor of Humanities (D.H.) degree from Amelio Aguinaldo College of Medicine in the Philippines.