- A
discipline of sobriety
Several months ago I went for a
two-week retreat to a hermitage in the low
country highly respected for the austere,
meditative life of its monks. Each day a
different group of dayakas (donors) comes to the
monastery bringing almsfood, often from remote
towns and villages. They arrive the previous
evening, prepare an early breakfast which is sent
up to the refectory, and then in the forenoon,
offer alms directly to the monks when they come
down on alms round. After the other monks have
collected their food and gone back up, one elder
stays behind to give the Refuges and Precepts,
preach a short sermon, and conduct the dedication
of merit. (full
text)
- Book
review
The
story of the Sri Lankans
Sri Lankan-born
Australian Dr. Olga Mendis is a remarkable woman.
She has to her credit, a distinguished career as
a medical practitioner an unrivalled record of
community service to the Sri Lankan diaspora;
and, with the recent publication of "The
Story of the Sri Lankans" the status of a
respected popular historian.I met Dr. Mendis for the first time
during a brief visit to Australia in July 1996.
During that visit, she was still working on the
book, but was visibly disturbed. The head of the
LTTE International Secretariat Lawrence Tilagar,
an Indian third batch (Kullathur, Tamil Nadu,
1985) trained cadre, was granted a visa to visit
Australia and the LTTE had overrun the Mulaitivu
base-complex killing 45 officers and 1197
soldiers. (full
text)
- Lanka and
Lusitania: Linguistic links
The first Portu guese visit to Sri
Lanka (known as Taprobane) was in 1505, when they
were accidentally windswept into Galle harbour
during their voyage to the Maldive islands. They
returned later to erect trading posts and
fortresses. Cinnamon was the most attractive
commodity on the island, and renowned to be the
best in the world. Verse LI from The Lusiads
(given below), the epic poem of Portugal,
illustrates this. The Lusiads, the epic poem of
Portugal written by Luis de Camoes narrates the
heroic achievements of the Sons of Lusus, the
mythical first settler, and eponymous hero of
Lusitania (which later become Portugal).(full text)
- The Kirikoraha
Vedda Dance
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- The 'spirit'
that made many millionaires
In the days when the
Carnegies, the Rockefel-lers, the Harrimans and
the Henry Fords were making their presence felt
as millionaires and multi-millionaires in
America, our own country then a fledgling British
colony was producing its own wealthy men who were
virtually rolling in millions. But on the sale of
the country's most popular drink, Arrack
distilled from coconut toddy. (full text)
- Julietge
Bhumikawa
Is
it tragedy or comedy?
A film to suit the
times: mixed up, full of sound and fury,
signifying next to nothing!The film had a hodge podge of
ingredients which produced a failed dish. Was it
a tragedy or a comedy? That was the question.
Human pathos was there in large measure and
actors and actresses were stressed and wrung out
with emotion and the audience kept laughing.
Hence the query. (full text)
- ‘The
Lady who came over the waves’
In the Catholic
Church at Matara is a statue of the Blessed
Virgin and Child to which many miracles have been
attributed.Several
experts in Europe have pronounced it to belong to
the Portuguese type of sculpture (17th century)
cut out of one solid piece of ashwood.
As to who brought this statue
of Sri Lanka, or who the sculptor was or from
which country it came is shroudded in mystery;
but the fact remains that it was with us when the
Portuguese occupies the Western and Southern
coasts over 300 years ago.
When the Portuguese were
defeated by the Catholics (1658-1796) some devout
Catholics fled from the Dutch governed area with
this statue and hid it. Later it found its way to
Matara. (full
text)
- Letters
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