Architecture and Nationalism in Sri Lanka: The Trouser under the Cloth

Anoma Pieris

Abstract: The role of the home, the domestic sphere and the intimate, ethno-cultural identities that are cultivated within it, are critical to understanding the polemical constructions of country and city; tradition and modernity; and regionalism and cosmopolitanism. The home is fundamental to ideas of the homeland that give nationalism its imaginative form and its political trajectory.

Peradeniya University in full bloom — AGAIN

courtesy of I LOVE KANDY

Language and National Identity: The Sinhalese and Others over the Centuries

Michael Roberts, reprinting an article published in 2003 in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Summer 2003, 9: 75-102.**

 ABSTRACT: The collective identity of Sinhala-speakers over four centuries dating from the 1590s is analyzed with due attention to the structural form of (a) the Kingdom of Kandy and (b) the British colonial regime that took control of the whole island by 1815/18. The analysis dwells on the modes of oral, visual-iconic and written forms of cultural transmission that pre-dated print technology, while drawing attention to the relative uniformity of the Sinhala language in both geographical and temporal scale. A semantic pattern of political alliances based on the opposition of inside to outside which works contextually like a nestling Chinese-box is one dimension of this linguistic order. This supported the tendency of Sinhalese representations to adopt an associational logic which merged past enemies (the wicked Tamils) with contemporary enemies (the Portuguese, the English) during the liberation struggles of the Kandyan state and its militia in the pre-1818 period. Such tendencies and the continuation of disparaging epithets coined during the period of Portuguese imperial intrusion into the vocabulary of the twentieth century must inform any theoretical efforts to distinguish the collective consciousness of the Sinhalese after the substantial transformations initiated under the British from that which is expressed so powerfully in the war poems of the pre-British period.

Father Vito Perniola S.J. – Awards and Appreciations

 Fr Perniola captured by Johnny in 2013

I: A Note by Carl Fernando:  The Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka commenced their Annual Sessions on 28th March 2013. The prestigious Sir S. C. Obeysekere Medal for 2013 was awarded to Fr. Perniola. This medal is awarded periodically to members of the Society, of which Fr. Perniola is a Life Member, for outstanding achievements. His Pali Grammar which was published by the Pali Text Society of London and the History of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka, running into 19 Volumes, are some of his great works. An erudite Linguist, Scholar and Historian, Fr. Perniola served at St.Aloysius’ College, Galle  for a period of about 15 years and was Rector from 1949 to 1952. He celebrates his 100th birthday on the 10th of April 2013. A thanksgiving mass will be held on that day at St. Mary’s Church, Bambalapitiya, at 4.30 pm.

A Review of Jātika Geetha Sangrahaya: A Compendium of Songs on the Jātaka Stories

Hemantha Situge, courtesy of The Aloysian

Dr. D.V.J. Harischandra needs no introduction to the Sri Lankans. He is a well acclaimed psychiatrist by profession for well-nigh five decades who has rendered yeoman services to the nation. His first book entitled “Psychology Aspects of the Buddhist Jathaka Stories” published 2000 was an analytical study which penetrated into the inner aspects of the Buddhist Jathatha Stories – which is almost synonymous with the Sri Lankan Buddhists – hitherto no one has delved into. His book was well accepted by a wide array of readership. This book won the then State Literary Award.

KD Paranavitana, Galle Fort, Dutch and the Dutch

Ishara Jayawardane in The Daily News, 16 April 2013

As a young boy standing in the shadow of the Galle Fort, what thoughts would have passed through the mind of K. D. Paranavitana? He had looked at the ramparts of the massive and splendid Galle Fort created by Dutch ingenuity on his countless visits to Galle. But why return countless times? What was the fascination with these stone structures that compelled him to study Dutch? That put him on the path to a career in the Department of National Archives in Sri Lanka? That he would be knighted by the Queen of Netherlands for his contribution to the study of the historical relations between The Netherlands and Sri Lanka?

The Investiture of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Evangeline Kanagasooriam

ACNS staff

The Most Revd Justin Welby was today enthroned as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury in a service that celebrated the diversity of the Anglican Communion. More than 2,000 people from around the world gathered in Canterbury Cathedral for a celebration marked by traditional elements of Anglican worship blended with contemporary music, vibrant Ghanaian dancing and African drums, a Punjabi hymn and a blessing spoken in French.

Guests included clergy from across the Church of England; and lay people including the UK’s Prince of Wales and Prime Minister David Cameron. A host of ecumenical guests were present including well-known US megachurch pastor and author Rick Warren, a friend of Archbishop Welby. All but one of the Anglican Communion Primates had travelled to Canterbury for the inauguration and the members of the Standing Committee were also present. The event saw the Archbishop installed as both Bishop of Canterbury—by, for the first time in history, a female Archdeacon—and Primate of All England. The Archbishop of Canterbury is also the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Original Cave Man at PUNYELROO in Outback Australia

  … captured by Alan Marriage

Sudharshan Seneviratne speaks at AIA Awards: “Humanising archaeology in multi-cultural society”

Sudharshan Seneviratne, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Peradeniya, won the Archaeological Institute of America’s 2013 Conservation and Heritage Management Award for Excellence at a recent ceremony in Seattle, USA. The institute’s president, Elizabeth Bartman, in her citation said the award was presented in recognition of Prof. Seneviratne’s tireless efforts to protect and preserve the archaeological heritage of Sri Lanka.  “As head of the department of archaeology at the University of Peradeniya for nearly 10 years, Seneviratne has been instrumental in training the next generation of South Asian archaeologists,” Bartman said.  The following is the acceptance speech delivered by Prof. Seneviratne at the awards ceremony:

I was honoured to receive a communication from President Bartman stating my name as recipient of the 2013 Award for Best Practice in Conservation and Heritage Management. It also gratified me to note that heritage initiatives carried out in Sri Lanka during the past few decades have been recognised by one of the oldest standing professional bodies of heritage in the world and by the community of global heritage professionals at large.

Pukerangi !! A quaint little railway station in South Island, New Zealand

The Taieri Gorge railway run is presented as one of the the world’s “great train trips” and apart from the striking ‘gorgic’ scenery one meets several little railway stations of yesteryear that are as charming as extraordinary. For Sri Lankans with a penchant for awkward phonetic connotaiiosns when one crosses language divides, of course, Pukey-Ran-Gi will draw a laugh.

This is one of the other stations: