By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Mirror Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, November 30: The remnants of the Gandhara Buddhist civilization in Pakistan are a sight to behold, not just for Buddhist pilgrims but also for art lovers.  Imposing stupas with intricate and lifelike carvings depicting various events in the Buddha’s life and his past births abound in the Swat Valley […]

By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Mirror Courtesy NewsIn.Asia The Kandyan Kingdom’s dogged resistance to European invaders from the 17 th. Century to the second decade of the 19 th., Century has not received the attention it deserves from military historians, laments historian Dr. Channa Wickremesekera, the author of Kandy at War: Indigenous Military Resistance to European Expansion in […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, November 16 (newsin.asia): A documentary on the Gandhara civilization in Pakistan, jointly produced by Pakistan and Sri Lanka, was launched by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa here on Tuesday. Titled  Gandhara” the documentary is jointly produced by the High Commission of Pakistan in Sri Lanka and Siddhivinayak Cine Arts (Private) […]

By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Mirror Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, November 10: Events leading to the controversial takeover of the Kandyan kingdom by the British in 1815 and the aftermath have been written about both from the British and the Sri Lankan viewpoint. The British view is vividly presented in Ceylon Ancient and Modern published by Chapman and Hall of London […]

By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Mirror Colombo, October 26: The reign of Kandy’s last King, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha (1798-1815), was at once colourful and tragic. On the one hand, it was marked by the transformation of Kandy into a beautiful celestial city” and on the other, it stood out for political intrigue, disloyalty, inhuman retribution, British machination and […]

By Uditha Devapriya/The Island Colombo, October 22: In 851 AD, an Arab merchant called Soleyman wrote an account of his travels to the island of Serendib. Impressionistic but insightful, it records the earliest known engagement of a Muslim with Sri Pada, also known as Samantukuta. Soleyman does not refer to Sri Pada as aadam malayi”, […]

විමල් පටබැඳිගේ (ශාස්ත‍්‍රවේදී, නීතිඥ, විශ‍්‍රාමික සොලිසිටර්* පුදබිමක් බිලි ගනියි තිරිකුණාමලේ (ගෝකණ්ණ පටුනේ* වෙළඳ කටයුතු ආරම්භ කළ විගස කොන්ස්ටන්ටයින් ඩි සා ඩි මෙනෙෂෙස් එහි බලකොටුව ගොඩනගන ලද අවස්ථාවේ ඒ භූමියේ තිබූ පුදබිම (පැගෝඞ්* විනාශ කරන ලද බව පුර්තුගීසි පූජකයෙකු සහ ඉතිහාසඥයෙකු වූ ෆර්නාඩෝ ඩි ක්වේරෝෂ් එළිදරවු කොට ඇත. පුර්තුගීසීන් විසින් විනාශ කරනු ලැබූ පුදබිම හින්දු කොවිලක් […]

by S.A. Wijayatilake (former Principal, Ananda College) * Three and a half centuries of foreign aggression and occupation – at first partial, but since 1815 complete – of the land had not only demoralized and emasculated the Sinhalese people generally, but had adversely affected the position of Buddhism in this Island in particular. The Portuguese, […]

ආචාර්ය සෙනරත් බණ්ඩාර දිසානායක හිටපු පුරාවිද්‍යා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස් පුරාවිද්‍යා විධිනියම හා සම්මත නොතකා අභයගිරිය ලෝක උරුමය වනසන්නේ යයි හිටපු පුරාවිද්‍යා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් ආචාර්ය සෙනරත් දිසානායක විසින් නිකුත් කර ඇති නිවේදනයක් මෙහි දැක්වෙයි. විහාරාධිපතිගේ බිල්ලට නතු වන අභයගිරි ලෝක උරුමය. අභයගිරි විහාරය තනන ලද්දේ  වලගම්බා රජු විසින් ක්‍රිස්තු පූර්ව දෙවන සියවසේය. […]

By P.K.Balachandran/Colombo Diary Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, June 30 (Daily Mirror): While Sri Lanka’s connection with the Tamil country in South India is repeatedly mentioned in the island nation’s ancient chronicles, the Mahawamsa and the Deepawamsa, its connection with Kerala, which is also in South India, finds no mention in either. Kerala appears for the first time only in […]

Courtesy The Daily News Tissa Wewa The Holy City of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka is a place unlikely to be the setting for a fascinating tale of flying objects and other mundane events. Anuradhapura, named after a King’s chieftain called Anuradha, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world. It thus means […]

By Dr.Nirmala Chandrahasan/The Island Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, June 9: The recent discovery of name- boards in public institutions which have omitted one of the national languages, namely Tamil, only to replace it with Mandarin Chinese has caused a furor with Tamil members of Parliament and other politicians voicing their protests. Certainly, this is most unfortunate […]

By Demi Perera Courtesy BBC In recent years, the internet has been alight with speculation that a chart-like carving in Anuradhapura is a stargate: an ancient gateway through which humans can enter the Universe. Sri Lanka’s sacred city of Anuradhapura is an unlikely place to be enmeshed in a fantastic tale of UFOs and otherworldly […]

Tony Donaldson, with underlining emphasis inserted bt The Editor, Thuppahi Courtesy Thuppahi’s Blog On 1 October 1949, the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed by Mao Zedong. Two months later, on 6 January 1950 the Ceylon government recognised Red China– one of the first countries to do so. Seven years later, in early 1957, the Premier of […]

Thomas Babington Macaulay What happened? On 2 February 1835, British historian and politician Thomas Babington Macaulay presented his ‘Minute on Indian Education’ that sought to establish the need to impart English education to Indian ‘natives’. This minute is a very important document for UPSC history. Aspirants should know the gist of this minute and its impact on […]

By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Mirror James Emerson Tennent was Colonial Secretary in Ceylon from 1846 to 1850 and Acting Governor in April-May 1847. Tennent was not just an administrator, a Colonial master lording over obsequious natives. His keen eye and ear caught the nuances of the communities he was administering. His scholarship got him the Presidency of […]

Rohan Abeygunawardena On 25th of February 2021 ‘’Ceylon Daily News’’  published  following news item; ‘’An ancient Ola leaf original copy of the Mahavamsa” (Great Chronicle) currently kept at the library of the University of Peradeniya is to be declared as a UNESCO World Heritage. The decision has been reached by UNESCO experts upon verifying that […]

P.K.Balachandran Courtesy The Daily Mirror Before Sri Lanka became predominantly Buddhist following the conversion of the 3rd. Century King Devanampiya Tissa (247 BC-207 BC), the island had an amazing assortment of religious cults, practices and faiths including animism, Jainism, Shaivism, Brahminism and Buddhism. There were many gods, goddesses and deities of local and Indian origin.  […]

By P. K. Balachandran/Ceylon Today Colombo, March 8: India-Sri Lanka trade goes far into the past, to the Early Historic Era in fact. The island had also played the additional role of being a transit point, a hub, in the trade between the Eastern and Western worlds. The story of India-Sri Lanka trade in ancient […]

  The United States Magazine and Democratic Review (May 1851)   In 1851, An American Journal  (The United States Magazine and Democratic Review), at a time (1851) when they I.e. USA, did not have imperial ambitions that dovetailed with that of British imperialism, highlighted and exposed the genocidal crimes committed on the Sinhalese people in British occupied […]

Courtesy The Indian Express Talking about the aim of the exploration, Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, Prahlad Singh Patel, said, The world should get to know about the Ram Setu through evidence based on scientific research.” Also, Ram Setu’s age will be ascertained through the study of fossils and sedimentation to see […]

Courtesyt glorylearn This is a complete guide to the Biography of Ashoka. In this guide, you will know why King Ashoka killed his 99 brothers and became a Great Indian King in History. So if you want to know about how he became a Great Indian King, you’ll love today’s guide. http://www.glorylearn.com/biography-of-ashoka/

Vernon Corea  Clifford Dodd, the Australian radio expert and administrator who was sent to Radio Ceylon under the Colombo Plan transformed the Commercial Service of the Station http://ivan_corea.tripod.com/id8.html The Hindi Service of Radio Ceylon was instrumental in catapulting the radio station as India’s number one station. Millions tuned in to hear Hindi film music presented […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Governor William Gregory’s term from 1872 to 1877 was the golden age” of Ceylon coffee Colombo, December 8: Today, Sri Lanka is synonymous with tea and not coffee. As on date, it is way down in the list of coffee producing countries, 43 rd. to be precise. But back in the 1870s, Ceylon, […]

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia He had to convince the Colonial Office, the Admiralty, and the Board of Trade in London that Colombo was a better location than Galle Colombo, December 6 (Sunday Observer): The Colombo Port is hailed as the best port in South Asia and is the best performing State sector enterprise in Sri […]

By P.K.Balachandran/Ceylon Today By the adoption of a variety of tactics, tailored to suit the power-equation at any given point of time, Lankan Buddhists kept blunting the attack and managed to preserve Buddhism as the dominant religion of the island. Sri Lankan Buddhists came under a sustained and frontal assault by Christian missionaries during Portuguese […]

By Asiff Hussein/Roar.lk Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Names reflect beliefs and attitudes and give an insight into the manifold influences a people have been subjected to in the past, says Asiff Hussein, in his article in Roar.lk. Little do we realise that names are the foundation of all knowledge. Naming people and things makes it easier for […]

YAKK Production https://youtu.be/BGdwAQUb-mw

Courtesy Adaderana Four new members have been appointed to the Presidential Task Force for Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province. The 12-member Task Force was established on the 1st of June under the directives of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, exercising the powers vested in him by Article 33 of the Constitution. However, the following four […]

By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Express The Hindu epic provides rallying points for Hindutva in India as well as Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka The Hindu epic Ramayana has had the unusual function of providing rallying points for two contradictory and clashing nationalisms, namely, Hindu-Indian nationalism in India, and Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka. While the Hindutvic […]