A real-life case · Sri Lanka, 1960

Gnanatilleka’s reincarnation case

Gnanatilleka Baddewithana was a girl from a village in Sri Lanka who talked from a very young age about other parents and another home. In 1960, a journalist wrote down 57 things she said, with dates, before identifying anyone. Then a truck driver read the story in the newspaper and pointed to the family of a boy who died in 1954.

It is one of the most cited cases of Ian Stevenson, the psychiatrist who studied these cases the most. What the girl said was written down before the other family was found, something almost no case has. Also, in 2024, three researchers reviewed everything using Stevenson’s field notes, which had never been published. That review says which of the girl’s statements were right and which were not. It also says how she may have learned some of them. We tell it step by step and then look at what can be checked. If you only want the evidence, skip straight to what can be checked. Did Gnanatilleka remember the life of a boy she never met?

Step 1

1957 to 1960 · Gnanatilleka is one to four years old · Told by her family and Ian Stevenson

A girl talks about another mother, another father, and many sisters

Gnanatilleka Baddewithana was born on February 14, 1956, near Hedunawewa, a village in a valley in central Sri Lanka. According to her family, at age one she was already talking about another mother and another father. At age two, she said clearly that she had other parents somewhere else, two brothers, and many sisters.

At first she didn’t say where that other place was. One day, a family from the village who had spent a month in Talawakele, a town in the mountains, visited the house. According to Stevenson, when she heard them say they came from Talawakele, the girl said her other parents were there.

According to Stevenson, Talawakele is about 26 kilometers from Hedunawewa. But the road was bad, and people from Talawakele almost never went to the village.

From then on, the girl kept asking to be taken to see her other parents.

Step 2

September 1960 · Gnanatilleka is four years old · Told by the 2024 reanalysis and Nissanka’s book

Her brother takes her to Talawakele

In early September 1960, before anyone wrote anything down, her older brother took her to Talawakele. According to Stevenson’s notes, the girl recognized several buildings in the town. She led her brother to the place where she said her house was, but there was a construction site there. The house no longer existed. H. S. S. Nissanka, who investigated the case, tells of that trip in his book without giving it a date, and says they went to the temple.

That day they didn’t look for the family the girl talked about, and no one met them.

Weeks later, the story reached a journalist.

Step 3

October 27 to November 13, 1960 · Told by H. S. S. Nissanka, in his book, and the newspaper “Silumina”

A journalist writes down 57 things the girl says

H. S. S. Nissanka wrote feature stories for the newspaper “Silumina.” He received a letter dated October 27, 1960, with the first things the girl said. It was his first case, and he asked a well-known Buddhist monk, Piyadassi, to go with him. On November 1, they went to the village with a teacher, Sumathipala, and other people. They interviewed the girl and, according to Nissanka, wrote down her answers on the spot.

“Silumina” published the case on November 6 and 13. The November 13 article already said that the girl talked about six sisters and two boxes of paints. In all, before anyone was identified, 57 things the girl said were written down. Most were general, such as that she lived in Talawakele, that she had brothers, or that she went to school.

In our view, six were more specific, because they wouldn’t fit just any family in the area. She said that in that other life she had six older sisters and a sister named Dora, and that her father at the time lived apart. She talked about Adam’s Peak, a sacred mountain in Sri Lanka. She said she bought blue cloth with the money from her piggy bank, and that she had two boxes of paints.

According to the 2024 reanalysis, some of the first questions put to her already contained the answer, and they were asked that way on purpose.

On November 6, the journalist and the monk found a family that fit part of what the girl said.

Step 4

November 19, 1960 · Told by Nissanka, Stevenson, and the 2024 reanalysis

A truck driver reads the newspaper and points to a family

The first family the team found had a daughter named Lora and had lost a son. Lora is close to Dora, the name of the sister the girl talked about. They ruled it out only because the date of that son’s death didn’t fit.

On November 19, 1960, Nissanka took the girl and her father to Talawakele. At the temple, they were told about a truck driver, Martin Singho, who had read the “Silumina” articles. The truck driver had in mind the family of a boy who had died six or seven years earlier. A brother-in-law of the boy confirmed it and showed a sheet printed for the funeral, with the date of death. That day, the team spoke with the boy’s mother and two of his sisters. The father lived apart and wasn’t there. The boy’s name was Tillekeratne. He had been born on January 20, 1941, and had died on November 9, 1954, at age thirteen. The team concluded that he was the person the girl was talking about. In the 2024 reanalysis, his name is spelled another way, Turin Thilakaratne.

That same day, the girl walked around Talawakele with Nissanka and her father. She saw the station, the temple, and the post office, and she pointed out the site of the house again. The two families did not get to meet.

Until then, no one had written down that the girl said she had been a boy. She said it on November 27, eight days after a boy was identified, when she answered a question.

On December 18, the two families met for the first time.

Step 5

December 17 and 18, 1960 · Told by Nissanka and Stevenson

The girl recognizes the boy’s family

Tillekeratne had studied at a school in Hatton, about 19 kilometers from Talawakele. On December 17, three men from that school visited the girl in her village. Only one had been Tillekeratne’s teacher. According to Nissanka, the girl recognized him and said she didn’t know the other two.

The next day, the girl was taken to a guesthouse in Talawakele. She was left with her family in an upstairs room, so that she wouldn’t see the other family arrive. According to Nissanka, he, the monk, the girl’s mother, and a photographer were in the room. There she was introduced to relatives and acquaintances of Tillekeratne. They usually came in one at a time, and once three sisters came in together. They asked her about each one: “Do you know this person?” According to Stevenson, she recognized seven members of the family and two other people from the town.

Many people were waiting in the street. Stevenson says those people couldn’t have given the girl any clues, because the recognitions were done upstairs, in a separate room.

In the summer of 1961, Stevenson went to check it on his own.

Step 6

1961 to 2024 · Told by Stevenson and the reanalysis by James Matlock, Akila Weerasekera, and Michael Nahm

Sixty years later, three researchers review everything

Stevenson visited Talawakele, Hatton, and the girl’s village in 1961, and he returned in 1966 and 1970. Both families told him they hadn’t known each other before the case. The girl’s father had stopped in Talawakele only once, twenty years earlier.

But Stevenson also learned of two ways the girl could have picked things up. A man who had lived in the girl’s village was from Talawakele, knew Tillekeratne’s family, and went to his funeral. According to the girl’s family, that man didn’t visit them until the case became known. And the girl’s older brother had spent a night in Talawakele in 1954, when Tillekeratne was still alive.

In 2024, three researchers, James Matlock, Akila Weerasekera, and Michael Nahm, reviewed the case with Stevenson’s unpublished notes. Of the 57 things written down before Tillekeratne was identified, they count 45 hits, 8 that could not be checked, 2 half hits, and 2 misses. In our view, only 6 of those hits are specific. They are the ones that wouldn’t fit just any family in the area.

The first question remains. Did Gnanatilleka remember Tillekeratne’s life?

What does the evidence say?

What can be checked

We ask every case the same five questions. They help us find out whether what the girl said was written down before the other person was found, and whether that can be shown. Here we ask them about what Gnanatilleka said about Tillekeratne.

3.5 of 5

Yes
Unconfirmed
No data

Was what Gnanatilleka said written down before Tillekeratne was identified?Yes. The journalist H. S. S. Nissanka, who was not part of the family, wrote down 57 things in a letter dated October 27, 1960, and in an interview on November 1. The newspaper “Silumina” published the case on November 6 and 13. Tillekeratne was identified on November 19.
Is it known when what Gnanatilleka said was written down?Yes. The 2024 reanalysis gives the date of each record. The interview of November 1, 1960, was written down that same day by three people, the journalist, a monk, and a teacher.
Are there documents on Tillekeratne’s life and death?There is only what his family said and a certificate that doesn’t fully add up. The journalist Nissanka’s book reproduces a death certificate. It says that G. Thillekeratne died on November 9, 1954, in the hospital in Aranayake. But it gives his age as 16 and his parents as unknown, and it says he was buried at that hospital. His family says he was thirteen and that he was buried in Talawakele. A document is missing that would make clear whether it is the same boy.
Does anyone outside the girl’s side confirm what Gnanatilleka said about Tillekeratne?Some of it. Tillekeratne’s family knew his life on their own, but they confirmed what the girl said after reading it in the newspaper. A former teacher of his also confirmed things, but after visiting the girl several times. So both could have adjusted their answers to what they already knew about her.
Can it be ruled out that Gnanatilleka knew about Tillekeratne from other people?It cannot be fully ruled out. The girl didn’t name Talawakele until some neighbors from there visited her, and her brother took her to the town before anyone wrote anything down. Also, a neighbor from her village knew Tillekeratne’s family. The girl’s family says that neighbor did not come to their house until the case became known. For the six facts we consider most specific, no one has found how she could have known them. Only the family’s word supports it.

Why we ask each question

When did each thing happen?

This is what happened and what was written down, from oldest to newest:

November 9, 1954. Tillekeratne dies, at age thirteen. His family and Stevenson say so.
February 14, 1956. Gnanatilleka is born near Hedunawewa.
September 1960. Her brother takes her to Talawakele. No one writes anything down.
October 27, 1960. Letter with the first things the girl says.
November 1, 1960. Written interview by Nissanka, the monk, and the teacher.
November 6 and 13, 1960. “Silumina” articles.
November 19, 1960. Nissanka takes the girl to Talawakele. That day, Tillekeratne is identified.
November 27, 1960. The girl says for the first time that she had been a boy.
December 18, 1960. First meeting between the two families.

What is hard to explain

What the girl said was written down with dates before Tillekeratne was identified. A journalist who was not part of the family wrote it down, and part of it appeared in the newspaper.
In our reading, six specific facts fit: six older sisters, a sister named Dora, the father who lived apart, Adam’s Peak, the blue cloth bought with the piggy bank, and the two boxes of paints. The sister requires interpretation. According to the reanalysis, Tillekeratne had no sister named Dora, but he did have a very close friend named Lora. In Sinhala, the word the girl used for “sister” is also used for a friend that close. For these six facts, no one has found how the girl could have known them.
The girl got more right before she met the other family than after, when she could already hear things about it. The reanalysis counts 79% hits among what was written down before Tillekeratne was identified, and 63% among the 30 things she said after the meeting.
According to Stevenson, the girl recognized seven relatives and two neighbors of Tillekeratne in a separate room. They were usually introduced one at a time, and once three sisters together.
James Matlock, one of the authors of the reanalysis, defends reincarnation. Even so, the reanalysis points out the misses and the ways the girl could have picked things up.

What remains unresolved

The girl didn’t name Talawakele until some neighbors who came from there visited her house.
Before anyone wrote anything down, her brother took her to Talawakele, and the girl saw the site of “her” house. The essentials of the case could have come from there: the town from the neighbors who came from Talawakele, and the house from that trip.
Of the 45 hits, in our view only 6 are specific. The others, such as having brothers or going to school, are true of many boys.
The lead to Tillekeratne came from a truck driver who had read the newspaper. The boy’s family, who had also read it, confirmed it. Before that, the team had ruled out another family that also fit in part.
Two of the six specific facts, the six sisters and the boxes of paints, appeared in the newspaper on November 13. Tillekeratne’s family confirmed them six days later.
The girl didn’t say she had been a boy until eight days after a boy was identified, and she said it when answering a question.
A neighbor from the village knew Tillekeratne’s family and went to his funeral. No one says that neighbor talked about Tillekeratne with the girl, but it wasn’t investigated either.
Abraham Kovoor, a rationalist who lived in Sri Lanka, criticizes the case in a 1980 book. The criticism is based on the research of another rationalist, H. S. D. Senaratne. The 2024 reanalysis mentions it and says it adds nothing to the debate, but it does not answer the points below.
Tillekeratne’s life is told by his family, in interviews. For his death, there is a certificate. Nissanka reproduces it in his book, which came out in Sinhala, the language of Sri Lanka, in 1964 and in English in 2001. The certificate says that G. Thillekeratne died on November 9, 1954, in the hospital in Aranayake. Three of its details don’t match what the family says. The certificate says he was 16, and the family says he was thirteen. It says his parents were unknown, and his mother says they were the ones who took him to the hospital. And it says he was buried in the hospital cemetery, while his mother says he was buried in Talawakele. For Kovoor, the certificate belongs to another person with the same name. In his book, Nissanka comments on the age and the parents, but not on the burial. The surname, the day of death, and the hospital do match what the family had said.
On November 1, the girl said she did not know whether her house was still standing, because many houses were being torn down there. That same month, Tillekeratne’s mother said those houses had been torn down about two and a half years earlier. She said they moved out in May 1959. By then, the girl had already been born. Nissanka’s book records it, and Kovoor cites it. The reanalysis says the house was torn down shortly after Tillekeratne’s death. In September, the girl had seen the construction site with her brother, and the remark may have come from there.
In the November 1 interview, the girl says she bought a blue sari with the money from her piggy bank. According to Tillekeratne’s family, he had bought cloth for two pairs of trousers, one white and one blue. The reanalysis speaks of blue cloth that Tillekeratne bought with the money from his piggy bank shortly before he died. His mother showed it at the meeting in December, along with a pair of blue shorts.
On November 27, the girl talked about the Talawakele post office, at the top of some steps. She had already seen it on the 19th, when Nissanka took her to the town. The reanalysis counts what she said about the post office as a hit. These statements are not among the 57 written down before Tillekeratne was identified.
A university professor who was part of Nissanka’s group wrote to Kovoor that he disagreed with the conclusion. Kovoor reproduces the letter without giving his name. In it, the professor says that Nissanka’s book quotes a sentence of his that means the opposite of what he meant.
That an ordinary explanation is possible doesn’t mean it explains the case. With these data, it can’t be shown that Gnanatilleka remembered Tillekeratne’s life. Nor can it be shown that she got it all from what she heard and saw.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Gnanatilleka Baddewithana?

Gnanatilleka Baddewithana was born in Sri Lanka in 1956. As a small child she talked about other parents and another house in Talawakele. In 1960, the journalist H. S. S. Nissanka wrote down what she said, and the psychiatrist Ian Stevenson studied the case. It was concluded that she was talking about Tillekeratne, a boy from Talawakele who died in 1954.

Why is Gnanatilleka’s case important?

It matters because what the girl said was written down with dates before Tillekeratne was identified, the boy she was concluded to be talking about. And because in 2024 it was reviewed with the notes of the psychiatrist Ian Stevenson, which had never been published. That reanalysis marks what fits, what fails, and how the girl could have learned things.

Has Gnanatilleka’s case been proven?

No. In our view, six specific facts fit, and no one has found how the girl could have known them. But the essentials of the case could have come from some neighbors and a trip to Talawakele before anyone wrote anything down. Here we explain what can be checked.

Where this story comes from

The books and the studies

H. S. S. Nissanka, The Girl Who Was Reborn (2001). The book by the journalist who investigated the case, with the interview of November 1, 1960, and the death certificate
Ian Stevenson, Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation (2nd edition, 1974). The case of Gnanatilleka BaddewithanaBuy the book
James G. Matlock, Akila Weerasekera, and Michael Nahm (2024), reanalysis of Gnanatilleka’s case with Stevenson’s field notes
Abraham Kovoor, Gods, Demons and Spirits (1980). The chapter on Gnanatilleka, based on the research of H. S. D. SenaratneRead for free

Learn more

Reincarnation: the cases we have studiedRead

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Our reading of Stevenson’s book, Nissanka’s book, the 2024 reanalysis, and Kovoor’s criticism, and the scoring against our five criteria, as of November 11, 2026

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