Time to revive Cultural Nationalism in Sri Lanka
Posted on May 14th, 2018
Senaka Weeraratna
Each nation in the Asian milieu had from its earliest times developed a distinctive culture of its own, with features as unique as its language, religion, food, attire and attitudes.
Asia, in the pre-colonial era, projected an image of a bouquet of different flowers but bunched together in harmony.
Though language and religion had near relatives over the border or across seas yet this did not disturb the unique distinctiveness of the national culture. It gave pride to the people.
Cultural atrophy began with the arrival of the foreign invader. In Sri Lanka, the Portuguese, Dutch and the British did enormous damage to the indigenous values of our people which were basically shaped by Metta ( loving – kindness) and Karuna (compassion) to all living beings.
Buddhism played a pivotal role in the development of an unique civilization running for over 2000 years in this country.
Much of the blame for the rising decadence in Sri Lanka must be laid at the unbridled borrowing from cultures that were steeped in violence and plunder, and making merry for the day without an iota of thought for the future well being of the individual, family, race, country and the planet.
Imitation has become the fashion in Sri Lanka today. It has made inroads into every aspect of our living so much so that Sinhalese today are scared to say that they are Sinhalese, Buddhists are scared to say they are Buddhists, the dress code has changed dramatically so much so that we appear to be in a race to beat even ‘Uncle Tom’ – epitome of slave mentality.
News papers and mass media are constantly bombarding us with messages of how we must be grateful to western colonialism for what we are today. While all the time suppressing the crimes against humanity, genocide and humiliation visited on our people for being loyal to our faith, language and culture.
The time has come to regain our true independence, national spirit and pride in our achievements, confidence in our history, love and admiration for our Kings and Queens, who built the great Dagobas, mighty Tanks and irrigation schemes that stunned the then world and continue to do so even to date.
A country that has lost its national pride and is incapable of innovative thinking except borrowing from others even in respect to basic dress, will not last long. It will be swept away by the storm of history never to rise again.
May 15th, 2018 at 3:22 am
Senaka,
You are right. The Sinhalese are scared to say that they are Sinhalese. Buddhists are scared to say they are Buddhists. We are scared to say that Sri Lanka is the only country which wiped out terrorism and killed the world’s No 1 terrorists. And we are scared to celebrate the day we won the war from terrorists, while the sympathisers of the terrorists celebrate and commemorate dead terrorists !
P.A.Samaraweera, Brisbane
May 15th, 2018 at 6:23 am
“Cultural atrophy began with the arrival of the foreign invader. In Sri Lanka, the Portuguese, Dutch and the British did enormous damage to the indigenous values of our people which were basically shaped by Metta ( loving – kindness) and Karuna (compassion) to all living beings.”
It began with the arrival of Indian Colonial Parasites.
Our men wear Vettis and Women Saris.
May 15th, 2018 at 6:43 am
අපේ හැදියාව මම කියන්නේ සින්හලහැදියාව ගැන නැතුව ඉන්දියන් කාරයො සුද්දගෙ පුකලෙවකාගෙන ඇවිල්ලා අපිට අන්ඳවල තියෙන වේට්ටියයි සාරියයි ගැනනෙමේ.
අපේ හැදියාව දියාරු කරල තියෙන්නෙ ඉන්ද්යානු පරපෝසිත සන්ස්කුරුතියෙන්ය.
May 15th, 2018 at 1:56 pm
We are obviously more concerned with wars & constitutional changes etc. However what about the silent but chronic degeneration of our culture by Hindi songs, dances, cinema & women wearing indian dresses? In the long term these will be more damaging than others. India giving away so many scholarships to get Hindi on board & it is a shame to hear Hindi names like Abishek brazenly giving to the kids by parents. Why no Sinhala /Buddhist organization protest against these cultural destructions?
May 15th, 2018 at 4:49 pm
Western cultural invasion is mild compared to Indian and Arabic cultural take-over of Sri Lanka. All these erode what is truely Sri Lankan. Indian cultural shift also has westernism built into it.