The Right Reverend David Jeyaratnam Ambalavanar was a Sri Lankan Tamil priest and the Church of South India Bishop of Jaffna.

Early life

Ambalavanar was born on 28 February 1928. He was the son of Reverend Joseph Ponnambalam Ambalavanar and Annamma. He was educated at

St. John's College, Jaffna '' , motto_translation = Light Shines in the Darkness , location = , streetaddress = Main Street, Chundikuli , region = , city = Jaffna, Jaffna District , state = , p ...

(1932–42) and

Jaffna College __NOTOC__ Jaffna College is a Education in Sri Lanka#Private schools, private school in Vaddukoddai, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1871 as a successor to the Batticotta Seminary which had been established by American missionaries. History In 18 ...

(1942-50). He then went to

Serampore College , founders = William Ward, William Carey, & Joshua Marshman , religious_affiliation = Baptist , rector = , location = 8, William Carey RoadSerampore – 712201West Bengal, India , established = , principal = Vansanglura V ...

in India from where he obtained a B.D. degree in 1955. He obtained a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1959. In 1968 he received a M.Th. from King's College London. Ambalavanar married Dr Chandraranee Kanapathipillai. They had two sons (Dr Devathayalan and Devadarshan).

Career

After graduating in 1955 Ambalavanar served as minister in the

Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India The Jaffna Diocese is the Church of South India diocese for northern Sri Lanka. The current bishop (known as the Bishop of Jaffna or the Bishop of the Church of South India in the Jaffna Diocese) is Daniel Thiagarajah. History The Church of S ...

. He became the second Church of South India Bishop of Jaffna on 30 June 1971. He retired on 28 February 1993. Ambalavanar was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Jaffna College. Ambalavanar was a strong advocate of the civilian victims of the country's

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. he was missionary of beyond the elephantpass in northern of srilanka who started working to the people who affected by ethnicity of srilanka. In 1979 he made to receive houses for difficult area in wanni such as akkarayankulam ,vsuvamadu ,murikandy ,puthumurippu these are the places of his work. He was a prophet of jesus christ.

Death

Ambalavanar died on 10 October 1997 at

Jaffna Hospital Jaffna Teaching Hospital is a government hospital in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It is the leading hospital in the Northern Province and the only hospital in the province controlled by the central government in Colombo. The hospital is the only teaching ...

after a brief illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambalavanar, D. J. 1928 births 1997 deaths Alumni of King's College London Alumni of Jaffna College Alumni of St. John's College, Jaffna Bishops of Jaffna (Church of South India) People from Northern Province, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Tamil priests