"Sinnappah Arasaratnam was born in Navaly, Ceylon, on 20 March 1930. After
taking his BA with First Class Honours at the University of Ceylon in 1951, he
began the first of two stints lecturing in history at that university, before
undertaking doctoral research at the University of London in 1954. Arasa, as
he asked to be called, graduated PhD in 1956, returned to the University of
Ceylon as a lecturer, and in 1961 took up a lectureship...
