H.B. Herath

Kalubowila Kumarasinghe Mudiyanselage Herath Bandaage Herath (24 June 1954 – 13 November 1989: ), popularly known as H. B. Herath, was a Sri Lankan political activist who was killed by army forces. He was a member of the JVP party in the period 1983–1989.

Family background and early life He was born on 24 June 1954, in Medawachchiya, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka as the second child among his 15 siblings. His father Punchiralage Herath Banda was an employee of the Medawachchiya post office as well as a farmer in Medawachchiya who owned about 50 acres of land and a large herd of cattle. His paternal grandfather was Kalubowila Kumarasinghe Mudiyanselage Punchiralage Herath Banda and paternal grandmother was Mudalihamige Ranmenike. His mother Kadirathege Amarawathie, born on June 20, 1937, was a resident of Usgalwewa, Lower Kebithigollewa. His parents married on March 10, 1951. H. B. Herath had 10 sisters and four brothers. The eldest is Sathyapala, then the third is Dharmakeerthi. The others were Swarna, Sisira, Sivasal, Sita, Sepalika, Rupa, Sujatha, Suranika, Chandrika, Sayuranga, Ravindra and Samurdhi. Five of them are graduates.

He first went to school at Medawachchiya Kadawathgama Kanishta Vidyalaya and then completed secondary education from Poonewa Vidyalaya. He entered Medawachchiya Maha Vidyalaya in 1972 to study for the GCE Ordinary Level and became the head prefect of the school in 1974. He excelled volleyball and athletics during school and later won first place in all school speech competitions and once second and third places in all island speech competitions. The first volleyball team was formed at the Medawachchiya Thisbambe Volleyball Ground under H.B.'s leadership. He also started the United Funeral Aid Society, the village funeral home, on November 13, 1975.