Chandra Dharma Sena Gooneratne

Chandra Dharma Sena Gooneratne (1899 – September 8, 1981), also known as the Tan Stranger, was a Sri Lankan political activist, historian, poet, diplomat, and military officer. During the 1920s and 1930s, he was a lecturer situated in America, specializing in Indology.

A believer in the principle of liberty, Gooneratne was an outspoken advocate for the Indian independence movement, as well as anti-casteism. Later in his life, during the 1950s, he worked in the U.S. Embassy in his home country as an advisor.

Background Chandra Dharma Sena Gooneratne was born in 1899 in Colombo, British Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka),

Military service

World War I Sometime in the 1910s, Gooneratne had moved to Britain, enlisting in the military during World War I as a welfare officer, ultimately earning the captain rank honorarily.

World War II During World War II, Gooneratne was a welfare officer for the British Expeditionary Force, as he was in World War I years prior. He worked alongside Gate Mudaliyar A. C. G. S. Amarasekara, a prominent Sri Lankan painter—together, they were stationed in Paris. It was reported that Gooneratne demonstrated "a few Sinhala tricks" to the Nazis he encountered there. One day, Amarasekera went missing in the city; they, nonetheless, found him in a church, "admiring the frescoes and the paintings." Gooneratne and his search party were said to have been "greatly relieved" upon being ensured of his safety.

He would establish himself in the academy as a competent orator, participating in local radio shows and delivering public talks on current events and cultural topics in India—a country that he noted is home to "one-fifth of the human race." Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, Gooneratne called for an end to British rule two decades before Indian independence. He wrote once that "No nation ever rose to greatness by allotting to certain of its members fixed positions in the social scheme." He spoke against the caste system as well. He was quoted as saying, "any Asiatic can evade the whole issue of color in America by winding a few yards of linen around his head—a turban makes anyone an Indian."

A year later, Gooneratne won a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Personal life In the 1940s, while still a bachelor serving in the British forces during World War II, he met an English woman named Margaret, whom he later married. He died on September 8, 1981, in Colombo, Sri Lanka; soon after, his wife retired and remigrated to Britain.