She was born in the coastal town of Nalluruwa, Panadura to an old aristocratic family. Her father was Pattinihennadige Warnadeepthia Kurukulasuriya Salaman Rodrigo and her mother was Mahawaduge Madalena Perera. She was the third in a family of seven girls and two boys. They were proprietors of coconut property, distillers, renters and exporters of arrack, one of the few avenues open to natives for growth and enterprise during the early colonial period. They were also pioneers in the rubber and the hotel industry. The family descends from Thome Rodrigo. A prince who signed the Convention of Malvana in 1597.
Philanthropic activities
National
In 1917, she established Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo. The funds for setting up the school were derived from the profits from a rubber estate in Matugama: Good Hope Estate. Rs 100,000 was put on trust to set up the school, Rs 50,000 to acquire land and the remaining Rs 50,000 was to be used for its upkeep. She entrusted its management to the likes of D. S. Senanayake Dr. W. A. de Silva, Baron Jayatilaka and the Buddhist Theosophical Society She also built a modern laboratory for Ananda College, Colombo in 1916, which helped it to be recognized as a Grade-1 status institute of higher education and eligible for the government grant and a Sanatorium for Buddhist monks. The family also gifted the Kethumathi Maternity Hospital, Panadura.
Buddhism movement & legacy
She was a former President of the Panadura Association and a chief patron-custodian of the Rankot Viharaya, Panadura and Vajiraramaya, Bambalapitiya. She assisted in the campaign to resurrect Buddhism in this country. The innumerable religious and social service activities initiated by her have helped a large number of organizations to fulfill their objectives. She is widely regarded as the pioneer lady/female entrepreneur and philanthropist of the island. She died on March 26, 1933.
Personal life
She married Jeramias Dias of Panadura, a businessman, planter and pioneer Buddhist revivalist, who was instrumental in organizing the world-famous "Panadura Vivadaya/Debate". They had eight children; Harry, Lillian, Arthur Vincent, Edmund Wilson, Adeline, Ellen, Rosalind and Charles. After the death of her husband in 1902, she became the managing director of the business concerns of the family. The "Panadura Vivadaya/Debate" was the turning point in the Buddhist revival movement in the island, which attracted the likes of Henry Steel Olcott. What is not quite so famous is that the Weslyan chapel was also built by the Rodrigo family and Mathaes Swaris Rodrigo Goonewardane, the churchwarden on whose land the church was built invited the parties for a debate. Her son Arthur V. Dias and grandson Wilmot A. Perera were also famous philanthropists and activists of the Sri Lankan independence movement. She is a grandaunt of Mahesh Rodrigo and Aravinda de Silva.
