KAMALIKA PIERIS Pediatrician Manouri Senanayake researched into child hood and child care in ancient Lanka for her book titled Pediatrics and child care in Sri Lanka” (2007).  She found that the ancient literature yielded some information about childhood in ancient Sri Lanka.  Literary works emphasis the mother’s affection for her child. Childhood in ancient Sri […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS C.G. Uragoda continuing his account of ‘Medicine under Sri Lankan kings”, observed that the ancient records confirmed the existence of hospitals in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.  The only hospital for the laity which had been identified   in Anuradhapura at the time was the one found near Thuparama, probably dated to Kassapa IV. Udaya 1 […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Western medicine as we know it today was introduced to the island by the British. The western tradition did not recognize the Asian systems of medicine and most local doctors trained in western medicine avoided non western medicine. In 1858 Dr. W.C Ondaatje   wrote on the empiricism of Singhalese doctors and the advantage […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS KS Sivakumaran in his book Sri Lankan Tamil literature and culture” (2019) wrote of the evolution of an indigenous Tamil literature of Sri Lanka.    Prior to this, in 2015, the Annasi and Kadalagotu festival”   had a session Tamil footprint in Sri Lanka literature”, focusing on Tamil writers writing in Sri Lanka. In 1990, […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Human Rights have taken root in Sri Lanka and are peddled by Human Rights devotees with great enthusiasm and little critical inquiry. When I suggested that a mentally retarded girl, who had been successfully integrated into the community, should be sterilized, I received the reply ‘but that is a Right. ’ Human Rights […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The UN Human Rights declaration has evoked a range of attitudes from uncritical admiration to utter contempt. Admirers of Human Rights praise them extravagantly. Human Rights are the inalienable fundamental rights which a person is entitled to simply because he/she is a human being. They are universal in the sense of being applicable […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Sri Lanka Foundation held a seminar titled Seminar on Religious and Cultural traditions of Human Rights in Sri Lanka”, probably    in 1981. The Foundation had organized three live-in seminars, with participation of Buddhist, Hindu, Islam, Catholic and Christian groups. The final reports of these groups were published in Religion and Culture in the […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS China has also joined in the discussion on human rights. The first ‘South-South Human Rights Forum’ was held in Beijing on the 7th and 8th of December 2017. The forum was jointly sponsored by the Information Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS  In my view firstly, the UN Declaration of Human Rights resembles Aesop’s story of the father taking the donkey to market. Secondly, the statements lacked amplification. The Rights were left up in the air. Thirdly, the Declaration made sweeping statements on matters which sometimes humans cannot control, such as the right to life. […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ( UDHR)was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) In 1946, UN had   wanted  a declaration that would guarantee the rights of  individuals,  because the UN Charter only dealt with the rights of sovereign states.  UN […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The singing of the national anthem in Tamil has led to two opposite reactions, for and against. There is also a conciliatory approach which said the Tamil version, could be sung in Tamil, in Tamil majority population area but when it comes to state and national functions it must be sung in Sinhala. […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Sri Lanka Thaaye, the Tamil version of the Sri Lankan national anthem, is an exact translation of Sri Lanka Matha and is sung to the same tune, observed DBS Jeyaraj. Sri Lanka’s national anthem sings of patriotic praise to the country alone and not to any race, religion, caste, creed or community. Hence, […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS This essay gives a quick resume of the story of Sri Lanka‘s national anthem and then records the developments up to 2021 regarding the Tamil version. A ‘national anthem’ is a western invention of the 18th century. European countries acquired ‘national anthems’ during this period. The British national anthem simply asked God to […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The ‘Tamil inscription’ in the Trilingual slab found in Galle, given by China,  has been greeted with great joy by the Tamil Separatist Movement, saying that it shows the  importance of the  Tamil  language  in International relations and International trade. Unfortunately the inscription is not in Tamil. This Trilingual slab was discovered in […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Ceylon history was introduced as a subject to schools during the British period. Initially, pupils were only taught European history, and, as one commentator observed, pupils left school with the notion that ‘our ancestors were barbarians’.  Ceylon history should be introduced, it was suggested, so that pupils would be in a position to […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Jayatissa Bandaragoda’s biography titled    Path of destiny: autobiography of a farmer’s son’ was published in 2011 by Godage international. One reason I wrote this autobiography was to refer to some events relating to the ethnic issue in Trincomalee and elsewhere,” said Bandaragoda. This was a key motivating factor behind my autobiography.  I thought […]

  KAMALIKA  PIERIS Archaeological excavations in Anuradhapura have shed new light on writing in ancient Sri Lanka. Valuable findings have emerged from the excavations in the Anuradhapura citadel site.  Thirty two pieces of broken pottery, with writing on it, were found in 1984, during excavations at the Anuradhapura citadel excavation site. The writing signified ownership.  […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS To my mind, said one writer, the most important question to be resolved is whether this Country is to be regarded as a Sinhala Buddhist State where all the other ethnic, religious groups are treated as guests, or as a multi- ethnic- multi-religious, secular country where all citizens have equal rights. The above […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS To my mind, said one writer, the most important question to be resolved is whether this Country is to be regarded as a Sinhala Buddhist State where all the other ethnic, religious groups are treated as guests, or as a multi- ethnic- multi-religious, secular country where all citizens have equal rights. The above […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS When Ralph Pieris told me ‘I was one of those who persuaded Sarachchandra to show Maname at Lionel Wendt theatre’ I sniggered a little. I knew the Lionel Wendt audience of the 1950s. It was culturally insensitive, utterly ignorant, and wanting only to be seen at a ‘western’ cultural event. Why present Maname […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS ‘Maname made its first appearance, not in Peradeniya but at the Lionel Wendt Theatre in Colombo. ‘I selected Lionel Wendt as it had a good stage and auditorium, also the facilities needed for the actors.  Its chairman, Harold Pieris gave me the hall free and it was shown for four days running,’ Sarachchandra […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS This essay is a revised version of the earlier essay titled EDIRIWEERA SARACHCHANDRA’S ‘MANAME’ (2015) ‘Maname’ was a landmark event in   Sinhala theatre. But the events leading up to it have received little attention. The emergence of ‘Maname’ at Peradeniya was no accident. The Arts faculty of the University of Ceylon was exposed […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The award is announced in London. A five-person panel of authors, librarians, literary agents, publishers, and […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS USA has continued to invade, bomb and kill in foreign countries, undeterred by the Vietnam defeat in 1975. US methods are now  more sophisticated USA now uses smart bombs and drone-guided missiles instead of B-52s and napalm,  but US  is as brutal and ruthless  as ever, said critics.  US says it is waging […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS During the course of   its various wars, United States   has committed crimes that seriously violate international law,    announced China. They include war crimes, crimes against humanity, arbitrary detention, and torture of prisoners. American aggressiveness over the past decade has an absolutely criminal character, agreed other analysts. The US has the worst history of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Eventually, there was public outrage, worldwide, over the slaughter caused by the US army in Vietnam. Innocent civilians are dying every day in South Vietnam, observers reported.Pentagon set up a secret task force in 1970, the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group, using staff in the army Head office. For the next few years, […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS In the 1950s, USA decided to be the protector of the Free World versus the Communist world. In this self appointed capacity, US invaded and fought wars in countries that have done nothing to USA or against USA. By doing so, US caused much misery to the populations in those countries. USA has […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS USA devised its own methods of controlling other countries. US installed puppet governments in the countries they were interested in.  US looked for a pro-US local   politician, who says he wants to transform the country. Then using NGOs, ethnic and religious minorities groups, opposition political parties and the English language media in the […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS United States of America became the sole superpower in the world, when the Cold War between USA and Russia ended in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Unable to conquer the world militarily, US hit on the notion of setting up US controlled governments in the   countries in which it had […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS JVP disappeared from public view   for a few years after the second insurgency failed in 1989, but resurfaced within five years as a mainstream political party.  From 1994 JVP has been represented in Parliament. However, JVP’s performance in Parliament has not been impressive. JVP has a history of propping up crumbling regimes and […]