Early Life
Kathiravelu Devananda was born on 10 November 1957. His father was Subramaniam Kathiravelu, an employee of Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and his mother was Maheswary, a teacher at Jaffna Central College. He has three brothers and a sister. Maheswary died when Devananda was six-years old.
Devananda studied at Jaffna Central College before moving to Colombo in 1974. He lived with his paternal uncle K. C. Nythiananda at 17 Frances Road in Colombo 6 and studied at Colombo Hindu College.
As a teenager, Devananda was influenced by the political work of his father, a member of the Sri Lanka Communist Party and his uncle, a leading trade unionist. Feeling discriminated by certain government policies, he wanted to be engaged in the emerging Tamil liberation movement. Thus he joined the Eelam Liberation Organization (ELO) and later became a founder-member of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS). He took on the nom de guerre Douglas.
Following his victory in the 1977 election, President J.R. Jayawardene appointed Nithyananda as the chairman of the newly formed Palmyrah Development Board and Devananda functioned as his personal assistant.
Read more about this topic: Douglas Devananda
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man’s abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Each reaching and aspiration is an instinct with which all nature consists and cöoperates, and therefore it is not in vain. But alas! each relaxing and desperation is an instinct too. To be active, well, happy, implies courage. To be ready to fight in a duel or a battle implies desperation, or that you hold your life cheap.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)