https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Leelawathy_RamanathanLeelawathy Ramanathan - Revision history2026-07-31T19:06:33ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Leelawathy_Ramanathan&diff=50606&oldid=prev>Eliko007 at 02:24, 4 November 20202020-11-04T02:24:07Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Australian writer}}<br />
'''[[Thiru|Tirumati]] Leelawathy Ramanathan''' ([[née]] '''R. L. Harrison''' in 1870) was the [[Australia]]-born wife of [[Ponnambalam Ramanathan]] of the [[Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy family]]. Lady Ramanathan was an [[Englishwoman]] who was born in Australia where her father was involved in gold mining. All references to her maiden name record her only as R.L. Harrison. She, as a young woman, had been attracted by the Theosophical Movement in Australia and, searching for further spiritual enlightenment, arrived in Ceylon where Sir [[Thiru]] Ponnambalam Ramanathan became her guru.<ref name="thehindu.com">http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/honouring-the-kurinji/article7167847.ece</ref> Later she married Ramanathan who had been a widower for many years. She became a Hindu and took the name Leelavathy. After the reformed Council years, they spent much of their time in Kodaikanal where they had three houses, Ammanadi, Sivanadi, and Muruganadi. When Sir Ramanathan died in 1924, she took to wearing the white of a Hindu widow, built the Kurinji Andavar Temple in her husband's memory, overlooking the Palani shrine of Lord [[Murugan|Sri Muruga]]. Along its slopes that would be covered with ''kurinji'' flowers, she would perform a [[Puja (Hinduism)|Puja]] and worship there every afternoon. It is said that she took solace in paying obeisance to the deities of the [[Saiva]] and [[Shaktism|Saktha]] traditions and immersing herself in the study of [[Hindu]] theology.<br />
<br />
==Hinduism==<br />
She studied [[Hindu]] scriptures, and converted to [[Hinduism]] upon marrying [[Ponnambalam Ramanathan]] in 1906.<ref name="Hindu">[http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/01/31/stories/2003013101550902.htm Lady Ramanathan Passes away] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022213511/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/01/31/stories/2003013101550902.htm |date=2008-10-22 }} [[The Hindu]] - January 31, 1953</ref> She wrote many Hindu books, including a version of the [[Ramayana]] in [[English language|English]]. She also published many of Ponnambalam's lectures on Hinduism.<ref>[http://www.jaffnaroyalfamily.org/ponnambalam.php Family Information] Royal Family of Jaffna</ref><br />
<gallery widths="200" heights="200"><br />
Kurinji Andavar Temple.jpg|Kurinji Andavar Lord ([[Murugan|Sri Murugan]]) Temple built by Lady Ramanathan (R.L.Harrison) of Australia<ref name="thehindu.com"/><br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramanathan, Leelawathy}}<br />
[[Category:1870 births]]<br />
[[Category:Converts to Hinduism]]<br />
[[Category:Hindu activists]]<br />
[[Category:Hindu writers]]<br />
[[Category:Australian Hindus]]<br />
[[Category:Sri Lankan Hindus]]<br />
[[Category:Australian emigrants to Sri Lanka]]<br />
[[Category:Year of death missing]]<br />
<br />
<br />
{{hindu-bio-stub}}</div>>Eliko007