Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (Tamil: ஆனந்த குமாரசுவாமி, Ānanda Kentiś Kūmaraswāmī) (22 August 1877, Colombo, Ceylon − 9 September 1947, Needham, Massachusetts) was a Ceylonese philosopher and metaphysician, as well as a pioneering historian and philosopher of Indian art, particularly art history and symbolism, and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West. In particular, he is described as "the groundbreaking theorist who was largely responsible for introducing ancient Indian art to the West."

Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was born in Colombo, Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, to the Ceylonese Tamil legislator and philosopher Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy and his English wife Elizabeth Beeby. His father died when Ananda was 2 years old, and Ananda spent much of his childhood and education abroad.

Coomaraswamy moved to England in 1879 and attended Wycliffe College, a preparatory school in Stroud, Gloucestershire, at the age of 12. In 1900, he graduated from University College, London, with a degree in geology and botany. On June 19, 1902, Coomaraswamy married Ethel Mary Partridge, an English photographer, who then traveled with him to Ceylon. Their marriage lasted until 1913. Coomaraswamy's field work between 1902 and 1906 earned him a doctor of science for his study of Ceylonese mineralogy, and prompted the formation of the Geological Survey of Ceylon which he initially directed. While in Ceylon, the couple collaborated on Mediaeval Sinhalese Art; Coomaraswamy wrote the text and Ethel provided the photographs. His work in Ceylon fueled Coomaraswamy's anti-Westernization sentiments. After their divorce, Partridge returned to England, where she later married the writer Philip Mairet.

Ānanda was one of the principal disciples and a devout attendant of the Buddha. Amongst the Buddha's many disciples, Ānanda had the most retentive memory and most of the suttas in the Sutta Pitaka are attributed to his recollection of the Buddha's teachings during the First Buddhist Council. For that, he was known as the Guardian of the Dharma.

According to the Buddha every Buddha in the past and to come will have two chief disciples and one attendant during his ministry. In the case of Gautama Buddha the pair of disciples were Sariputta and Mahamoggallana and the attendant Ānanda.

The word 'Ānanda' means 'bliss' in Pali, Sanskrit as well as other Indian languages. It is a popular Buddhist and Hindu name, but popular also among Muslims in Indonesia.

In the Kannakatthala Sutta (MN 90), Ananda is identified with the meaning of his name:

Ānanda was the first cousin of the Buddha by their fathers, and was devoted to him. In the twentieth year of the Buddha's ministry, he became the Buddha's personal attendant, accompanying him on most of his wanderings and taking the part of interlocutor in many of the recorded dialogues. He is the subject of a special panegyric delivered by the Buddha just before the Buddha's Parinibbana (the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (DN 16)); it is a panegyric for a man who is kindly, unselfish, popular, and thoughtful toward others.

Majuwana Kankanamage Victor Ivan is a controversial but well regarded Sri Lankan journalist. He was a leader of the 1971 insurrection of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and used the nomme-de-guerre Podi Athula (as opposed to "Loku Athula" the former minister Athula Nimalasiri Jayasinghe. The leaders prosecuting the 1971 April insurrection trail began on June 12, 1972, at the Queen's Club, located at the Baudddhaloka Mawatha, before the Criminal Justice Commission composed of Chief Justice H N G Fernando (Chairman) Justice A C A Alles, Justice V T Thamotheram, Justice H Dheragoda and Justice T W Rajaratnam. Those pleading not guilty were brought in batches before the Commission. The main case consisted of 41 suspects which included Mr Ivan. They were considered to be the main architects of the uprising and the youth rebellion. He now recalls that the insurrection was a "foolish dream" [1]
He now heads a radical Sri Lankan newspaper called Ravaya and is a fierce critic of the JVP. He's also a member of the Free Media Movement and several other political NGOs.He authored several books the most controversial of which is 'Choura Rejina'(Bandit Queen)on the dark side of President Chandrika Kumaratunga boldly discloses the malpractices. Mr Ivan was an ardent supporter of her during her election in 1994 but eventually grew distant. Victor Ivan abandoned his long standing anti-war stance by mid 2008, explaining that LTTE chief Prabhakaran is insatiable and only way to stop his terrorist tactics is to respond in kind, like the Sri Lankan Government under President Rajapakse. During the post war period he is increasingly leaning towards President Rajapakse and intervened several times on behalf of his beleaguered media colleagues who were at the receiving end of the administration. His new stance has severely criticized by some sections of the media who were forced to go in to exile due to their anti-government activities.

Radhika Coomaraswamy (born 1953) is the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed her to the position in April 2006. In this capacity, she serves as a moral voice and independent advocate to build awareness and give prominence to the rights and protection of boys and girls affected by armed conflict.

Ms. Coomaraswamy, a lawyer by training and formerly the Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission, is an internationally known human rights advocate who has worked as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women (1994-2003).

In her reports to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, she has written on violence in the family, violence in the community, violence against women during armed conflict and the problem of international trafficking. A strong advocate on women's rights, she has intervened on behalf of women throughout the world seeking clarification from governments in cases involving violence against women. She has also conducted field visits to Japan and Korea on the problem of "comfort women", Rwanda, Colombia, Haiti and Indonesia with regard to violence against women in war time, Poland, India, Bangladesh and Nepal on the issue of trafficking, the United States on women in prisons, Brazil on domestic violence, and Cuba on violence against women generally.