{"id":54918,"date":"2016-05-23T15:29:57","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T21:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=54918"},"modified":"2016-05-23T08:15:53","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T15:15:53","slug":"from-ceylon-to-sri-lanka-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/05\/23\/from-ceylon-to-sri-lanka-2\/","title":{"rendered":"FROM \u201cCEYLON\u201d TO \u201cSRI LANKA\u201d."},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA\u00a0 PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

The\u00a0 British name for the island, \u2018Ceylon\u2019 came from the Dutch\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Zeylan\u2019 . \u2018Zeylan\u2019 came from the Portuguese \u2018Ceilao\u2019 .\u00a0 Ceilao came\u00a0 from the Arabic \u2018Zailan\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 which was derived from the\u00a0 indigenous \u2018Sinhala\u2019. Therefore these were all versions of the indigenous name, Sinhala. The island continued to be called \u2018Ceylon\u2019 during the period of British rule (1815-1948). When Sri Lanka re-gained its independence in 1948, it did so as \u2018Ceylon.\u2019 Since this was derived from \u2018Sinhala\u2019 we could say that the island was continuing under its original name.<\/p>\n

But during British rule, the name \u2018Lanka\u2019 gained ground, displacing the word \u2018Sinhala\u2019. There was the Young Lanka League (1915),\u00a0\u00a0 Lanka Swarajaya and Lanka Samasamaja Party (1935). The first Sinhala newspaper was \u2018Lankaloka\u2019 (1860) followed by\u2019 Lak rivi kirana,\u2019 \u2018Lakmina\u2019, \u2018Lakmini pahana\u2019 and\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Lankadipa\u2019 (1947). The first Buddhist printing presses were Lankaloka (1861) and Lankopakara (1862). There were\u00a0\u00a0 Sinhala literary associations such as \u2018Samastha lanka kavi sammelenaya\u2019. Coins and currency notes carried the word \u2018Lanka\u2019 in Sinhala and \u2018Ceylon\u2019 in English. The arms of the Dominion of Ceylon (1948-1972) carried the words \u2018Ceylon\u2019 in English and \u2018Lanka\u2019 in Sinhala and Tamil.<\/p>\n

The earliest literary references to Lanka are found in the Mahabharata (compiled between 4th<\/sup> century BC and 4th<\/sup> century AD) and in a Sanskrit inscription dated to 4th century AD. Scholars researching into the ancient history of India found several Lankas within India. There was one Lanka in Assam, another on the Narmada river near Maheshvara, and a third in the Vindya mountains at Amarakanthaka.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Indrapala observed that the word Lanka has survived in place names right along the eastern part of the subcontinent, from Assam to Andhra Pradesh. There are a number of islands in Krishna-Godavari delta with names ending with Lanka such as Gudivaka-Lanka. In Tamilnadu, there were references to uttaralankai, (lanka in the north) and tennilankai, (lanka in the south.)\u00a0 Indrapala said that Lanka appears to have been a generic name for \u2018island.\u2019 He pointed out that in Telegu \u2018lanka\u2019 means island even today. D.P.M. Weerakkody stated that Lanka in the Mundari language means \u2018any distant country beyond the sea\u2019.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The word \u2018Lanka\u2019 also occurs in Indian astronomy. In Indian astronomy Lanka is a concept, not a real place. In Indian astronomy there is an imaginary island called Lanka situated in the centre of the world. Indian astronomers use central latitude, the equator and a central longitude involving Ujjain as a starting point for their calculations .To combine these two, they imagined an island called Lanka situated on the equator and having the same latitude as Ujjain. This<\/p>\n

    Lanka is imaginary.\u00a0 Since this Lanka was said to be near the equator, researchers speculated that it could be in the Maldives, or in Indonesia at Sumatra, the Lingga islands or the Sunda Islands.<\/p>\n

    The Lanka referred to in the Ramayana is definitely not our Republic of Sri Lanka. D.P. Mishra points out that in the Ramayana a person has to go south over the mountain of Mahendra to come to Lanka and that you do not need to across a mountain to reach Ceylon. He says Lanka of Ravana is quite different from Ceylon . He also points out that the dramatist Rajasekera distinguished between Simhala and Lanka in his ninth century work, Balaramayana. The Ramayana \u2018Lanka\u2019 has now been located in the Godavari delta in India. Mishra says that the evidence points to the Trikanta Island at the north of the Godavari, which even now is called Lanka. \u00a0There is other evidence that separates \u2018Lanka\u2019 from \u2018Sinhaladvipa.\u2019 Mahabharata distinguishes Simhala from Lanka. Brhatsamhita enumerates the countries of the south starting from left to right. It begins with Lanka and ends with Simhala.<\/p>\n

    The name Lanka does not appear in the early Sri Lankan inscriptions and is not extensively used in Sinhala texts either. However, in Pali commentaries the word Lanka is prominently used. Dipawamsa and Mahavamsa use it extensively. Dipawamsa uses it thirty times and Mahavamsa uses it more than forty times. The word \u2018Lanka\u2019 simply means an island. It would have been used as shorthand for Sri Lanka. On the other hand, it has been suggested that as Sri Lanka was the biggest island in the South Asian region, Lanka probably became an exclusive term for it.<\/p>\n

    In 1937 The State Council debated whether to change the name of the island from ‘Ceylon’ to \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019. They asked the Royal Asiatic society (Ceylon Branch) for an opinion. The RAS replied that the name \u2018Ceylon\u2019 had a well known history going back many centuries. The term is derived from Sinhala dvipa. They were not in favor of the change. (RAS journal Vol 33 no 90 1937 p 61) The Council members present at the time included D.B. Jayatilaka, (President), C.W.W. Kannangara, W.A. de Silva, G.P. Malalasekera, Dr Andreas Nell, E.W. Perera, C. Rasanayagam, E. Reimers, K. Vaithianathan and Aubrey Weinman<\/p>\n

    A commission was appointed in 1957 to recommend changes in place names of the island. This Commission recommended that the name of the island be changed to \u2018Sri Lanka.\u2019 The Commission stated that the island had been primarily known by variants of the name \u2018Sinhala dvipa\u2019. They admitted that Lanka was not the original name of the island and that the island had\u00a0 never been known as Lanka. They said that the mythical island in Ramayana named Lanka was not our island. The first meridian of Hindu astronomers is taken to have passed through Ujjain and Lanka, so Lanka must have been far to the west of our island. Ujjain is in Madhya Pradesh close to the west coast of India, Sri Lanka is to the east of India.<\/p>\n

    The Committee went on say that Lankas had been found in India and Indonesia. China had used the word Lanka for several different places in Asia. Hindu astronomer Varahamihira in his work Virhat Samhita\u2019 referred to Lanka and Sinhala as two different places.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the<\/p>\n

    Committee wanted the island renamed Sri Lanka because the word ‘Lanka\u2019 had become popular. The example they used to support this assertion was the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. (SP 5 of 1957).\u00a0 What they were really doing was to ensure the elimination of the word \u2018Sinhala\u2019 from the name of the island.<\/p>\n

    In 1972 the island, which had been known as \u2018Sinhala\u2019 or \u2018Sinhaladvipa\u2019 throughout its history, became, without any good reason, the sovereign state of \u2018Sri Lanka.\u2019 History was removed from the school curriculum around that same time indicating that there was a\u00a0 deliberate desire to obliterate the historical identity of the island.<\/p>\n

    Commercially, the change of name from Ceylon to \u00a0\u00a0Sri Lanka has been perceived as negative.\u00a0 When you replace \u2018Ceylon tea\u2019 with \u2018Sri Lanka tea\u2019 prices won\u2019t shoot up, they may collapse instead, said Al Ries. You change \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019 back to \u2018Ceylon\u2019 and you will immediately get tons of international publicity. Ceylon is globally associated with the best tea in the world. Replacing a name should add value to a product.( Business Times on Sunday. 24.5.15 p 4 )<\/p>\n

    Sri Lanka means \u2018resplendent island” or \u2018beautiful island.\u2019 This is a description, not a name. Therefore the name of the island still remains \u2018Sinhaladvipa\u2019.\u00a0 The island has had this name for centuries and \u2018Ceylon\u2019 is also derived from this.\u00a0 \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019 cannot be a satisfactory substitute for a distinctive name like \u2018Sinhaladvipa\u2019.<\/p>\n

    Certain segments of the population now speak of the need to create a new Sri Lankan identity based on this meaningless label. They keep shouting, over and over again, that the island now needs a new identity. It is nonsense to talk of a\u00a0 \u2018Sri Lankan\u2019 identity. If my name is replaced by \u2018senior citizen\u2019 it will not change my history or personality. The same applies to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is \u2018Sinhaladvipa\u2019. That is its identity. A return to the original name \u2018Sinhaladvipa\u2019\u00a0 abbreviated to \u2018Sinhale\u2019\u00a0 or even \u2018Ceylon\u2019 will remove this artificial argument.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    KAMALIKA\u00a0 PIERIS The\u00a0 British name for the island, \u2018Ceylon\u2019 came from the Dutch\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Zeylan\u2019 . \u2018Zeylan\u2019 came from the Portuguese \u2018Ceilao\u2019 .\u00a0 Ceilao came\u00a0 from the Arabic \u2018Zailan\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 which was derived from the\u00a0 indigenous \u2018Sinhala\u2019. Therefore these were all versions of the indigenous name, Sinhala. The island continued to be called \u2018Ceylon\u2019 during the period […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}