Kulanthai Shanmugalingam

Shanmugalingam was born on 15 November 1931 in Jaffna but lived in Bolawatta in the Negombo area, where his father worked as an estate official, until the age of ten. He became familiar with Jaffna only after the age of ten. He learnt the art of the Sinhala language and the diversity of Sri Lanka through mingling with Sinhalese people. He considered both Tamil and Sinhala to be his mother tongues and also learnt English when he attended a Catholic school in Bolawatta. His mother, worried about his reserved character, enrolled him at the Thirunelvely Young Men's Hindu Association. He later went to India to pursue his BA from 1953 to 1957 at Madras University, studying economics, history, and politics, and subsequently was admitted to Bangalore Mysore University. Shanmugalingam returned to Jaffna after completing his degree in 1957 and soon got a job as a teacher at Senkundha Hindu College. He also worked for 22 years as a teacher at St. Joseph's College, Jaffna. In 1976, he completed a diploma in drama at the University of Colombo and resumed his teaching career. In 1981, he transferred back to the Senguntha Hindu College and from 1986 to 2004, he was engaged in full-time drama teaching at the University of Colombo. == Theatrical and literary career ==

Shanmugalingam did not initially intend to become a dramatist or a theatrical performer, but befriended popular Indian theatre actor Cho Ramasamy while in India. Upon his return to Sri Lanka he rejoined the Thirunelvely Young Men's Hindu Association. Soon after the conclusion of a bharathanatyam event at the YMHA, he decided to get the attention of Kalai-Arasu Sornalingam, who was regarded as one of the stalwarts of Tamil theatre, and recited the lines from the popular Indian play Raja Raja Cholan as if he were practicing them. Shanmugalingam became a playwright in part because one of the foremost Tamil writers of that time, Sitpi Saravanapavan, was unable to provide their acting troupe with scripts because of his hectic schedule. His drama Heaven with Hell also speaks volumes about him being a canny operator in Tamil theatre history. The play was released in book form and it depicted the aspects of important topics such as migration and social mobility within Tamil society while also combining philosophical aspects such as detachment and attachment. The book Heaven with Hell was translated into English by S. Pathmanathan and it was launched in February 2022 in Jaffna. ==Death==

Shanmugalingam died at Jaffna, Sri Lanka, on 17 January 2025, at the age of 93. At the time of his death, he was one of Sri Lanka's oldest living playwrights. ==References==