Wimal Gunasekara Balagalle

Professor Emeritus Wimal Gunasekara Balagalle , known as Wimal G. Balagalle (Sinhala: විමල් ගුණසේකර බලගල්ලේ) (1924-2021) was a Sri Lankan academic. He is considered a well-known linguist as well as an expert in Sinhala, Pali, Sanskrit, and Bengali languages ( RASSL , 2017 ). Life events Balagalle was born on 24 November 1924 in the village of Balagalla in Gampaha District ( RASSL , 2017 ). He completed his primary and secondary education at Ullalapola Vidyatilaka Boys' Buddhist School and entered the Pallevela Vikramasila Pirivena in 1938 to follow his post-secondary education ( RASSL , 2017 ). During this period, he visited the Balagalla Sarasvathi Pirivena where he could associate himself with Hisselle Gnanodaya Thera who introduced Balagalle to classical languages in the Pirivena education ( RASSL , 2017 ). In 1945, he entered the Vidyodaya Pirivena at Maligakanda for higher education and completed studies there achieving the "Syamaraja Award", a special prize awarded by the King of …