Prof. Upul Ranjith Hewawitanagamage, Head of the Department of Hindi Studies, University of Kelaniya, who was one of the twenty two scholars recognized and awarded at the 9th World Hindi Conference held at Johannesburg, South Africa from 22-24 September, 2012 for their contribution to Hindi language, called on H.E. Ashok K. Kantha, High Commissioner of India today.

The High Commissioner congratulated Prof Hewawitanagamage on recognition of his services in the field of Hindi and the extensive work done by him such as teaching of Hindi and translations of Hindi works into Sinhala language. Prof Hewawitanagamage had received the award, which consisted of a citation, a memento and a shawl, from Hon´ble Minister of State for External Affairs, Ms. Preneet Kaur at the 9th World Hindi Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa on 24 September 2012. Prof. Hewawitanagamage thanked the Government of India for making excellent arrangements for the organization of the 9th World Hindi Conference and the High Commissioner for facilitating his participation.

Prof. Hewawitanagamage had done Ph.D. in Hindi Studies from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and has been involved in teaching Hindi for a long time. He has also done many translations from Hindi to Sinhala, published Hindi text books and is currently compiling a Sinhala-Hindi dictionary and working on text books to study Hindi. Prof. Hewawitanagamage had also received Godage National Literary Award for his new translation of Hindi novel by renowned Hindi writer Kamleshwar, titled in Sinhlala ‘Samudurehi Ataraman Vu Minisa’ on 6th September 2012 at the John de Silva Theater, Colombo.

University of Kelaniya is the only university in Sri Lanka having a separate Hindi Department. The Hindi courses offered at the Indian Cultural Centre are very popular and maximum numbers of students at the Centre are enrolled to learn Hindi.