Maya Ranjan

Mahanama Rajapaksha (1913 – 16 November 1968), who wrote under the pseudonym Maya Ranjan, was a prominent Sinhala writer and schoolteacher from Sri Lanka.

His magnum opus Digaamadulle Aashcharyaya (Sinhala: දිගාමඬුල්ලේ ආශ්චර්යය, 'The Enchantment of Digaamadulla'), published in 1957, was important to Sri Lankan literature and established him the country's pioneering wildlife non-fiction writer.

He also translated Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe into Sinhala.

Own work

• Digaamadulle Aashcharyaya (දිගාමඬුල්ලේ ආශ්චර්යය/ The Enchantment of Digaamadulla)
• Pitisara Minissu (පිටිසර මිනිස්සු/ Rural Folks)
• Mage Raajyaya (මගේ රාජ්‍යය/ My Kingdom)
• Ape Raajyaya (අපේ රාජ්‍යය/ Our Kingdom)
• Kalisama saha Sukumari (කලිසම සහ සුකුමාරි/ Sukumari's Pants)
• Weediya Bandara (වීදිය බණ්ඩාර)
• Neela (නීලා)
• Kumaraya saha Ran Menika (කුමාරයා සහ රං මැණිකා/ The Prince and Ran Menika)
• Heenen gae suwandha (හීනෙන් ගෑ සුවඳ/ Dreamed Fragrance)
• Sahodarayo denna (සහෝදරයෝ දෙන්නා/ Brothers)
• Pandukhabaya (පණ්ඩුකාභය)
• Prema Poojawa (ප්‍රේම පූජාව/ Romantic devotion)
• Atalle upan Kumariya (අටල්ලේ උපන් කුමරිය/ The Princess who was born in Atalla)
• Nirbheetha punchi sannaliya (නිර්භීත පුංචි සන්නාලිය/ The gallant little dressmaker)

Translations

• Throejapura Sangramaya (ත්‍රෝජපුර සංග්‍රාමය) - translation of Iliad and Odyssey
• Wana Sangramaya (වන සංග්‍රාමය) - translation of Ivanhoe