Born Sirimavo Ratwatte, on 17 April 1916, she was the eldest daughter among six children and came from a wealthy, aristocratic land-owning family.

Although a Buddhist, she was educated at a convent in Colombo run by Roman Catholic nuns.

'Weeping widow'

In 1940, when she was 24, she married Solomon Bandaranaike, who formed the nationalist Sri Lankan Freedom Party and led it to election victory in 1956.

Mrs Bandaranaike took over the presidency of his party and was dubbed "the weeping widow" for frequently bursting into tears as she pledged herself to continue her husband's vaguely socialist policies.

But within a year of her historic 1960 election victory, she declared a state of emergency after a prolonged civil disobedience campaign by the minority Tamil population, angered by her action in replacing English with Sinhala as the official national language.

But in 1970, she again became prime minister, after an electoral landslide by her left-wing coalition.

Her politics moved to the left, thanks to her strong personal ties with China and the then Indian prime minister, Indira Gandhi.

She declared the country a republic in 1972, changing the name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka.

She also nationalised some companies in the plantation sector and restricted some imports.

Crushing defeat

By 1976, despite high international standing, Mrs Bandaranaike's popularity at home was declining and she was losing more support on the left, with a faltering economy and allegations of corruption.

Parliament expelled her in 1980, accusing her of misusing power, and banning her from office for seven years. Her civic rights were restored in 1986, and she narrowly lost the election for the new, more powerful post of president in 1988.

Her daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, became president of Sri Lanka in 1994 after leading the left-wing People's Alliance to an election victory, and reviving the fortunes of the Bandaranaike family.

She appointed her mother prime minister, a position that has become largely ceremonial.

But observers believed that Sirimavo Bandaranaike and her daughter did not always see eye to eye - largely over issues of leadership rather than policy.

Her daughter was known to be keen for her to leave to make way for a younger face.

Mrs Bandaranaike, having returned to the post of prime minister, reluctantly gave up the reins of power on 10 August 2000.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike suffered a heart attack while driving home after casting her vote in the general elections.

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