Person

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike

1899–1959 · 20th century

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1956 until his assassination in 1959. He founded the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1951 and won the 1956 election on a Sinhalese nationalist programme, passing the Sinhala Only Act, which made Sinhala the sole official language. He was shot by a Buddhist monk, and his widow Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world's first woman prime minister in 1960.

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
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Mentioned in 1 state history

Dominion of Ceylon

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/s-w-r-d-bandaranaike
MLA
“S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/s-w-r-d-bandaranaike. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/s-w-r-d-bandaranaike.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/s-w-r-d-bandaranaike (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻