The unsung achievements of E.L.B. Hurulle

Rajarata Rajini train, Air Ceylon’s first Jet Aircraft, Ceylon’s first Taxi Services and Railway Diesel Engines were launched by E.L.B. Hurulle

E.L.B. Hurulle was born to Tikiri Bandara Hurulle and Alice Bulankulame, daughter of Lokubandara Bulankulame, the chief custodian of the Atamasthana

The family has an established political legacy, where they established themselves as local leaders in the Anuradhapura District

When he was appointed Cabinet Minister for Cultural Affairs, he established the Central Cultural Fund and the Cultural Triangle

Edwin Lokubandara Hurulle was born on January 19, 1919. He served as the provincial governor of the Central Province, North Central Province, Minister of Communications in Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake’s government, Minister of Cultural Affairs and Member of Parliament under President Jayewardene’s government.

Ilangasinghe Kalukumara Rajakaruna Edwin Loku Bandara Hurulle was born to Tikiri Bandara Hurulle and Alice Bulankulame, the daughter of Lokubandara Bulankulame, the chief custodian of the Atamasthana (the eight sacred places) in Anuradhapura. He was the eldest in the family. His family has established itself as local leaders in the Anuradhapura District. His great-grandfather, Punchi Bandara Hurulle, built a Walawwe adjacent to the Morakewa reservoir at Horowpathana. His grandfather, Henarath Banda Hurulle, the rate-mahaththaya of Hurulu-Palatha, constructed a two-storey mansion between the Morakewa Wewa and the main road from Anuradhapura to Trincomalee in the year 1865. This is the building that was burnt and destroyed during the 1988 JVP uprising. Henarath Banda Hurulle was married to Weragama Kumarihami of Maningamuwa.

He was married to Malini Galagoda, the daughter of the former chief custodian of the Natha Devala, Kandy and an officer of the Forest Conservation Department, Maduma Bandara Galagoda of Teldeniya. 

E L B Hurulle and his wife Malini had two daughters named Maya and Deepthi and three sons named Themiya, Vajira and Kanishka.

Following the death of Horowpothna’s UNP MP, T.B. Poholiyadde, Edwin Hurulle was elected MP by popular vote for the Horowpothana Electorate at the General Election held in 1956.

He introduced the train Rajarata-Rajini to the railways. He also introduced jet aircraft to Sri Lanka. In the remote areas of Sri Lanka, he introduced buses to facilitate travel for the people. This distinguished service was provided by him as the Minister of Communications and he expedited the conversion of the Sri Lanka’s railway diesel engines by replacing the earlier used steam engines. He introduced the TRIDENT passenger jet aircraft to Air Ceylon, thus changing it from the era of propeller aircraft to the jet engine era. 

He was also the first to introduce motor vehicles exempt from customs duties to commence Taxi Services in Sri Lanka. In the 1970 general elections, he lost the Horowpothana seat to a candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party by a margin of 2,572 votes. However, in 1977, E.L.B. Hurulle was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Horowpothana with a majority of 4,182 votes, having received 13,982 votes. He was re-elected in the 1977 general election and was appointed the Cabinet Minister for Cultural Affairs. As the Minister of Cultural Affairs, he established the Central Cultural Fund and the Cultural Triangle, supported by UNESCO.

The initiatives carried out by the J.R. Jayewardene regime under the Minister of Cultural Affairs have been forgotten by many. Let me remind some of them.

1. Providing Dhamma school books free of charge to children in Dhamma schools. 

2. Conducting Dhamma school examinations under the Department of Examinations and the Department of Buddhist Affairs. 

3. Establishing the Department of Buddhist Affairs. 

4. Launching the Cultural Triangle encompassing Kandy, Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura.

5. Completing the translation of the Tripitaka into the Sinhala language. 

6. Expediting the completion of the writing of the Official Sinhala Dictionary, which was originally expected to take a further 20 years at the time. 

7. Bringing the Kapilavastu Sacred Relics to Sri Lanka and displaying them throughout the country to be revered by the people. 

8. Re-establishing the remains of the Nalanda ruins, which had been discarded for the construction of the Bowaththana Mahaweli Reservoir at the current location at Nalanda. 

Despite these achievements, he could not restore his residence, the 150-year-old house at Morakewa, Horowpothana, that was destroyed in 1988 during the JVP insurgency. He did not have the necessary funds for that.