A. P. de Zoysa

Who was A. P. de Zoysa?

Agampodi Paulus de Zoysa was a Sri Lankan social reformer and a Buddhist scholar.

A. P. De Zoysa was born in Randombe, Ambalangoda in the Southern province of Ceylon. His parents died in an epidemic when he was eleven, and thereafter he was brought up by his grandmother. He started his education in the nearby historic temple, the Maha Samudraramaya, and then attended the Wesleyan school in Randombe. He continued his secondary education at Mahinda College, Galle, where he came under the influence of its principal, the famous Theosophist and Pali scholar Frank Lee Woodward. Later he moved to Wesley College in Colombo. De Zoysa was not only a good student but also a keen cricketer, artist and actor.

Then he taught for a few years at Ananda College, Colombo and at Royal College Colombo. In 1921 he went to England and continued his higher education. In London he supported himself by coaching overseas students, and his wide social circle included the artist William Roberts, who painted his portrait. After taking an external London degree, in 1927 he was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn, and in 1929 he obtained a PhD in anthropology at London University for a dissertation on ‘Observances and Customs in Sinhalese Villages’.