- The art of
Ajanta and Sigiriya which dignifies woman
The Ajanta cave
paintings are from 1st century BCE to 7th Century
ACE. The thirty cave temples are situated in the
Ajanta gorge of the Waghora river, in the Indian
state of Maharashtra. They are among the great
paintings of the world.The
paintings illustrate the development of Indian
Buddhist art from Hinayana themes to Mahayana
ideals. Some caves are entirely devoted to
illustrations from the Jatakas, the many lives of
the Buddha to be. The decorative panels present a
typical collection of ornamental designs in
corporating flowers, fruits, plants and animals.
The scenes from court life, the jewelled
ornaments and textiles are a source for study of
the material culture of India during a particular
period in its history. The paintings represent
classic Indian art which moulded the destiny of
styles of Buddhist painting in Tibet and Nepal,
Central Asia, China, Japan and Sri Lanka. In much
the same way, the classic styles of Greece and
Rome affected the entire later development of art
in the Western World. (full text)
- Arms
giving: the manufacture and issue of firearms to
farmers
As competition for
natural resources is a fact of life, in the final
analysis, the number of elephants any
conservation area and it surrounding region can
support will depend on the people's tolerance of
the animals. Many farmers have lost their
tolerances of wildlife in the face of mounting
losses and by the absence of any relief from
authorities concerned. In the absence of
deterrents, such as electric fences, against
elephants in many rural areas, the methods people
adopt to deter elephants raiding their crops,
require almost 24 hour vigil for three or four
months at a time during the cultivation season.
This is a serious drain on a family's labour and
health. (full
text)
- Flashback
to 1993
SSP
Chandra Perera played major role to restore peace
in Treinco
Looking through some random
collections of my memorablia , I fished out a
paper cutting which gives an insight into some
noteworthy and revealing events of recent
history.What prompted me
to search for this paper cutting is because the
name of Chandra Perera, the Senior Superintendent
of Police who was killed in the recent bomb blast
along with the Mayor of Jaffna, the Jaffna
Brigade Commander and a few others rang a bell.
(full text)
- Vasco Da
Gama's heroic voyage: Implications for Sri Lanka
This year marks
the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama's
(1469-1524) voyage to India, which is rated as
one of the greatest achievements of mankind. It
is only comparable to Neil Armstrong's journey to
the moon. Da Gama's breakthrough opened up the
sea route to India and provided the platform for
extensive contact between the Orient (East) and
the Occident (West). He gave 'new worlds to the
World'. The voyage in 1498 is significant in
terms of what it set in train. It turned the
Indian Ocean into a Portuguese lake in the
century that followed. It short-cut the
traditional overland routes to the Orient and
undercut in a dramatic fashion huge and
established commercial interests. More
importantly, it marked the beginning of the
Portuguese expansion overseas which spanned five
centuries over four continents. (full text)
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- The golden
year of the Cheshire homes
"A mission of
love and care
In the darkness of despair"
Half a century of Cheshire Homes and the
Cheshire Movement was celebrated in more than
fifty countries where more than 280 Homes exist.
In London , the Home of the Leonard Cheshire
International, a week of events was arranged for
the many delegates converging there from Homes
across the world. Sri Lanka was represented by
Captain Denis Cooray, Chairman, Sir James and
Lady Pieris Cheshire Home at Mount Lavinia.The opening ceremony was enriched by
addresses from Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (widow of
Lord Cheshire) President of Leonard Cheshire,
Chief Anyaoki Commonwealth Secretary-General and
Sir Patrick Walker, Chairman, Leonard Cheshire
International Committee. (full text)
- The Eppawala
apatite (phosphate) deposits
Mr.
Lakshman Jayakody, then an opposition MP, wrote
this article for The Island on January 1, 1993.
With the controversy on the exploitation of the
Eppawela deposits heating up, those who are
opposed to the decision to allow a foreign
multinational to embark on a project involving
massive environmental despoliation and other ill
effects say that the arguments adduced then
continue to hold good today too.The Government's proposed joint venture
for the exploitation and export of the Eppawala
phosphates is a very disturbing development. If
we allow this despoliation, we ourselves not to
speak of posterity, shall be left with a colossal
waste dump into which the gigantic scale of
operations of Multi National Companies will
convert the once beautiful land. (full text)
- Idambowa the
santuary of outlaw Tissahamy
Continuing the
series of extracts taken from the above author's
book 'Souvenirs Of A Forgotten Heritage' (1990
-Veddas' Section II).
In search of those 'Vanished Trails', we
started from Namal Oya in late 1967. My usual
jungle companion Dharmakeerthie, accompanied me.
We first scrutinized the Maha Oya 1''
topographical sheet, and noted the various trails
depicted in it. We further got these verified
from our Surveyor friends, J. R. Gunawardena and
Marasinghe, as they were stationed at Mullegama.
They had traced these routes once, for some
engineering surveys. We then went among the then
newly constructed jungle highway from Namal Oya
to Galgamuwa.
Having passed Mullegama we came upon a serene
forest village by the way-side, called Pailewela,
an abandoned vedda village. Dr. Spittle mentions
Payile in his 'Wild Ceylon': ''We were resting on
the banks of Rambakan Oya (a course parallel to
which we had so far followed) somewhere on the
confines of Payile and Idambowa''. Actually we
too were somewhere there! I knew of an
interesting hoary character in Payile by the name
of Ranhotti Bandaralage Punchi Banda (also of
Vedda stock) who was nearly eighty years old. He
was a drummer and in time of Kiri Koraha and
other devil dancing ceremonies, his services were
always, made use of.
(full
text)
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