PORTUGUESE ENCOUNTER
Posted on April 8th, 2016
Chandani Kirinde reports
500 years after the arrival of the Portuguese, a group of Sri Lankans has come together to make right what went wrong during those years of colonial occupation.
It is the high point in more than two and half years of tedious and painstaking work for a group of local historians, archaeologists and intellectuals, the end result of which is an international conference on the Portuguese Encounter in Sri Lanka. The conference, to be held on December 10 and 11 will seek to create awareness on this much neglected period of history and make a case for an apology and compensation from the Portuguese for atrocities committed during their nearly 160-year stay in the island.
The 500th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese in Sri Lanka fell on November 15, but the day went by almost unnoticed with people too wrapped up in the political changes taking place in the country with a presidential election just two days away. Thus the historical significance of the week was swamped by the present-day political turmoil.
But for a small group of people who have made it their mission to make this particular time in Sri Lanka’s history not become a forgotten cause, the conference, to be held in Colombo next weekend will be only the beginning of a continuous process, which they hope will become an eye-opener to the relevant authorities both in Sri Lanka and Portugal for the need for an admission of, and an apology for the atrocities committed during the period of Portuguese rule in Ceylon.
The idea to put together the Portuguese Encounter Group was the brainchild of Dr. Susantha Goonatilake, who was spurred into initiating such a group after the former United National Front (UNF) government announced in 2002 that it hoped to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese.
I have been studying colonial history for over 30 years but it was this announcement that made me take a special interest in the subject. How can we celebrate our own destruction? This is the slavish mentality of some of our leaders going on bended knees to the occupiers,” Dr. Goonatillake said.
And it is this same slavish mentality” that he hopes the conference will help to banish as almost all other countries that were under foreign occupation have managed to do. India, Malaysia and even the Philippines have moved ahead of us in this aspect. The fault (in Sri Lanka) lies with the supine products of this period. That is why we have never had a real ruling class in this country unlike in India,” he explained.
The Group has, over the past two years, been conducting extensive research and study into the Portuguese period in Ceylon. They have visited and documented over 50 sites destroyed by the Portuguese from Jaffna to Devundara, from Kotte to Kelaniya and Batticaloa.
We have studied the historical documentation of these religious places of worship – Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim – that existed in the maritime provinces before the arrival of the Portuguese and compared them during and after the Portuguese left the country by gathering information from all available sources,” Dr. Goonatilake said. The unfortunate truth is that in their overzealous eagerness to convert people to Catholicism, these sites were razed to the ground and churches put up in place of many of them, he says.
Around 50 presentations will be made during the technical sessions of the conference covering various aspects of life in Ceylon before the Portuguese arrived and how things changed during their occupation. ”We want to try and answer several questions like what kind of society existed in Ceylon before 1505, how advanced they were in various fields such as warfare, how people interacted, their marriage customs and how these were influence by the arrival of the Portuguese,” Dr. Goonatilake said.
Another interesting presentation of the conference will be on the Portuguese jewellery”, much of which now adorns museums across Europe in cities ranging from Lisbon to Vienna to Munich and London. Some of these items were gifted to the Portuguese by the Ceylonese Royalty of that time and others sold to them. It was a time when Ceylon jewellery became a fashion in Europe.
Writings by Portuguese authors clearly illustrate large amounts of valuable gems and jewellery that were taken to Portugal for the pleasure of Queen Catherine of Portugal. In 1551, in a letter to the Queen of Portugal, the Viceroy of Goa- who represented the King of Portugal – wrote, The Viceroy sends to Your Highness ninety one points of gold and gems, which Doigo Vaz brought from Ceylon and likewise thousand more small rubies and five hundred emeralds and a piece of not having more of those, which your Highness ordered him to send for, and nine marked three ounces of amber and a collar and a bracelet of gold and stones, which the King of Ceylon has sent as a present.”
These were in turn gifted by the Portuguese royalty to other royal families in Europe and now occupy pride of place in museums across these European capitals. Given the controversial as well as sensitive nature of this subject, there are various opinions on how Sri Lanka can find resolution” for the colonial hangover.
Senaka Weeraratna, another member of the Encounter Group will be presenting three papers at the conference including one on the Portuguese reign of terror against Buddhism, Don Juan Dharmapala – the donation of a kingdom and its legal validity and a claim for compensation from Portugal.
One of Mr. Weeraratna’s papers will examine the precedents set by Dharmapala in transferring his kingdom to a foreign sovereign and its implications in influencing the conduct of the ruling polity of post-independence Sri Lanka.
He will also discuss if Sri Lanka has a tenable claim for compensation based on the principle of international law and contemporary precedence such as the judgments of the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal.
The compensation does not have to be in terms of money but by way of scholarships or assistance to rebuild what has been destroyed by them and other similar ways,” said Mr.Weeraratna, a lawyer by profession. He also proposes sending a Theravada Buddhist delegation to open a Buddhist Centre in Lisbon.
Courtesy: Sunday Times http://www.sundaytimes.lk/051204/plus/1.html
April 8th, 2016 at 3:19 pm
Portugal is bankrupt ! Let’s put the past behind us and look to the future. I am not saying forget the past but learn from the past experiences and make the country stronger. To do that we need strong leaders. Put democracy aside. Democracy has not worked and will not work for Sri Lanka.
April 8th, 2016 at 4:42 pm
We still have to look after the vermin left from the Portuguese occupation and genocide – the Catholic Church of Sri Lanka! They are still powerful and do all mean things to get in the corridors of power and exert influence to keep Sri Lanka poor.
If they cannot enter from the “front door” they then enter from the “bedroom window”! That is they marry into influential Buddhist families as a part of their ploy to bring them in line with the Church and to bring the offspring in the Catholic faith. This way they end up inheriting all the wealth as well.
The latest attempt is trying to stop the Port City Project by bringing fishermen to the streets of Colombo by a clergy man called Sarath Iddamalgoda. Their earlier attempts to stop the Norochcholai project failed and the coal power plant which delivers nearly 50% of electrical power to the National Grid is now a reality.
The ‘left overs’ of the Portuguese are worse than the despicable Portuguese themselves!
April 10th, 2016 at 6:53 pm
asoka2468, Excellent comment. We must address what is happening today in SL today. Portugal is a none entity. Never the less What Portuguese did in the past has to be noted. This has been done many times. One question I have is are the Portuguese today the same as yester Year? Do the present Portuguese want to convert Buddhists to Catholics? Or Control our progress by stating that they want to invest in business projects like Dirty Germans? Certainly not Now shall we separate VATICAN from Portugal? And we can see the difference. Now, Asoka, why leave out Dutch and the British? According to what I learned from my parents British did lot more harm to innocent villages than Dutch and Portuguese put to gather. So, lets focus to what is happening today.
Ratnapala,, you are absolutely right. Who is this Sarath Iddamagoda? You also left out Dutch and the British. See what British did to Uthuman Kandhe Saradial. They hanged him. How British did this is by putting one against another. This is why Ehalepola Disave was used. An internal revolution would invite the British to run the country. This Malabar Man Sri Wicrama Rajasingha killed Ehalepola Disave’s wife he raped her in Royal Court in front of his ministers, then eat her liver and the breast. he also eat the children. Ratnapala, can we now focus on the current situation. How can we change this government? I have a plan, but there will be another Sarath Iddamalgoda to sabotage it like Ranil or Srisena President! I sent my proposal to Charles Perera and he thinks it is practical. All we have to do is to get MR to agree on certain issues before he takes over as the care taker President. He never replies any letters or Gota never replies any letters. Do you have a solution please write it down.
Ratnapala, Norochchola Power Station is a complicated issue Champka Ranaveka sabotaged the power plant by giving big money to key operational figures in the system. US Ambassador Atul Ketchup told Champika if some how this government is toppled then he must STOP the electricity generation until UN forces are brought by MUSLIM OBAMA to occupy the country. Then gradually bring TAMIL NAUD Tamils to annex it as a sub state to Tamil Nadu. I hope both of you will read this and Critique me.
Chandani, why not open Buddhist Vehara’s in all big cities in Portugal, where there are Muslim Mosques. This must be with out Kathargama Devala inside the Buddhist Temple?