White man's tomb in Yala exposed to elements

Kataragama Gr. Cor.

There is a tomb of a white man in the Yala jungle, at a place called Galge about 12 kilometers off Kataragama near the Buttala-Kataragama Road. According to Kataragama Wild Life Range Officer, Karunasena Vithana the white man J.P. Ireshan was a hunter and specialised in hunting wild elephants.

He has held a record of over 100 elephants to his credit. He was a high ranking officer of the British colonial government.

But as an irony of it is that he was also killed by a wild elephant.His friends had erected the tomb on the rock where he was killed. The epitaph of the tomb reads, "In memory of J.P. Ireshan, a British sportsman and the ruler of the Galge country.

He was killed by a wild elephant. His friends erected this in memory of him. Born - 03.04.1877 died 12.11.1923. R.I.P".Karunasena said that the pillar of this tomb was about 40 feet high.

But from time to time getting damaged due to lightning and to avoid further damage the height has been lowered to about 20 feet.

The British government maintains the tomb.

So, wherever the tomb gets struck by due to lightning the wildlife Department alerts them, when it get repaired.

The locals believe that the ghosts of the victims - the wild elephants take sweet revenge on him in the form of regular lightning strikes on the tomb.