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People and Events
Memories of the North Western Province

by Nan
The question on people's lips this weekend is not so much who will win the polls in Wayamba but why there is so much dirt in politics these days; why so much hate, anger, falsehood, violence and thuggery. Why are the candidates and their promoters and supporters flinging so much mud around? Why aren't manifestos being presented, what will be done explained, instead of harping and carping with so much ugly glee on the past. The past is gone, so why keep resurrecting it? The purpose of influencing the vote and turning people away from the opposition party by haranguing about dhooshana and bheeshana is useless. The flogging of a dead horse only brings in disgust and rejection.

Have 50 years of independence brought us only this new style of politics of lies, hate, goons with their guns and thugs with their threats? Poor, poor Sri Lanka!

I know many who completely turned off TV like they were in the late 1980s when our then President was ever present on screen. He however remained the same stern autocrat whether placing a tray of jasmines at a shrine, hoisting a Gam Udawa flag or haranguing government officers. Our present President bravely goes to meetings but when she speaks one wonders where that elegant, poised person who greeted the Pope to Sri Lanka has disappeared to. Surely this speaker is not that President?

Trouble, trouble, burn and bubble
What's happening in the NWP? We hear there's thuggery, burning, killing and despoiling prosperous, educated Kuliyapitiya, coastal Puttalam with its arm jutting out to sea; reclaimed - from jungle Anamaduwa and rock - guarded Kurunegala.

Our hearts cry out in sorrow and pain. We moan for you Sri Lanka.

When in turmoil - turmoil now because of the downward plunge of Sri Lanka in every way, particularly politics wise, which need not be, I move back in time mentally. I go back in memory to quieter days; days definitely minus the comforts we enjoy now, the technological innovations and the diverse entertainment attractions, but days of quiet and peace, days without politics engaging everyone's attention with growing disgust. Those were days when the words terrorist and terrorism were not known; when politics was left to the true politicians who played the field clean unlike now when it is lies and insults and thuggery and killing.

Pre-Independence NWP
My eldest brother was DRO in Demala Hath Pattu and we youngest two siblings would spend our holidays with him luxuriating in the freedom of life and wildness surrounding us. Anamaduwa was the district's centre, Puttalam the kachcheri reported to, and the bus that plied from Kurunegala the principal mode of communication. The DRO's duties included fiscal, executive, land settlement, even judicial until the seasonal V T court came to Anamaduwa. Demala Hath Pattu was unpoliced at the time so over-worked Aiya had to attend to police duties too. Yet only once in his four years there was he woken at night to accompany a search party to look for a human rogue elephant who had been banned from his village. Haramanis, the DRO's peon, with his gun and Petromax lamp led the party into the jungle. The thief was not apprehended though they searched till well into the next morning. A couple of days later he gave himself up to the DRO, reportedly meek and repentant, to be transferred to Puttalam jail.

The government servants who got together most evenings in each other's homes were the DMO, DMA, the Irrigation Engineer, the Kottukachiya Farm Manager and his Deputy, and their wives, since many of them were married. One holiday we also had a group of surveyors who lived in a large tent. If the DMO was host, the evening included badminton and the King's English maligning Apothecary. It was a mixed lot of Tamils and Sinhalese and never ever did this cause problems or even a tinge of racialism.

I don't know what they spoke about over their roast wild boar and drinks but it definitely was not politics, nor gossip about those who governed us. Also they never over indulged, probably being gentlemen and unstressed.

Wild Life of the Correct Kind
The place was wild, jungle encroaching, elephants in plenty and stories about them oft repeated. We inspected with dread the culvert into which a man dived to escape a chasing elephant, only to be blocked within by the crafty creature placing huge stones at the two entrances. I don't know whether the poor man's cries were heard or whether he perished in the elephant made tomb.

The young Cadet (junior CCS) was reported to have been visited nightly by Mohini, the amorous ghost, until he ran a very high fever and had to go home on long leave. Did he manage to snub the ethereal wench out or did she claim him for her own?

Kuveni was supposed to wail each moonlit night on the Thonigala rock, bemoaning her banishment from bed and palace of Vijaya, usurper that he was. She could not go back to her tribe since she had given the land for love of the Indian prince.

Reptiles were far in excess of the human population. You found them everywhere - the long slimy garandiyas, the little ahatullas who draped themselves on the branches of the Esala trees so that you thought creepers were entwined therein. Mattresses and bedding had to be taken off and rearranged each time you wanted a lie-in and most definitely at night. The cobra who coiled himself around the towel rack and awaited our return from Aiya's office for lunch had himself spattered on the wall by Haramanis who was summoned on the fourth successive day of the creature's reception to us.

The tank baths were shivery; the bird song delightful; the excursions into the jungle exciting with both young ones hoisted on Haramanis' shoulders.

Deprived but at Peace
Did the people have easy lives? Were they happy? No and yes. The ordinary folk - small-scale traders, chena cultivators, paddy farmers when the rains came, coconut estate watchers and pluckers, and the water-toting carter led very difficult lives. But they never were in fear for their lives except from vipers and a bear or leopard if they went into the jungle. There were no thugs, really no gun toting, knife brandishing goons. The village chandiyas, I suppose, were kept in check.

Infant and maternity mortality were high. Malaria was prevalent. Strangely, however, I cannot recall any mosquitos in Anamaduwa. I only remember the cicada cries and the wafted jasmine fragrance. We never ever had malaria, neither did Aiya during his four year stay there.

The first colonization scheme in Kottukachiya, on the road to Puttalam, was a success. That would surely have been the work of D S Senanayake, bless the gentleman. He would have visited but no tamashas and definitely no kowtowing and boot licking. I well remember the luscious tomatoes, the shiny fat brinjal and the tender dainty bandakka. Oranges too were grown. Employment and paternal caring were given the people of the area.

Caring was given the people by the DRO and DMO too - sincere and absolutely nonpartisan. Everyone was equal in the eyes of the officials and each knew his station in life and profession. The clerk never bossed the boss nor flaunted his connection with a politician; the peon was a peon, dignified but ready to obey.

So to me it seems that with progress, development, the improving of the quality of life, the snake that slithered to our Paradise was the politician, different to those of the pre and post independence era up until the late '50s. The evil one (in the plural and now almost all) have spoilt it for us.

Remedy
How chase it away? I do not for a moment advocate going back in time. Neither can we do without politicians. The only solution, therefore, is to cleanse the body politic. That seems impossible as of now, though we do still have the truly honest, the genuinely concerned politician.

Would you agree that the best, and probably the only way to clean things up and go back to political sanity, is to draw in the professionals. That has been mentioned by the very highest too. Get the professionals into governing and law making; and those in top private sector management to help in policy making and monitoring malpractices.

See how Colombo city is getting cleaned up - very little garbage, none to be seen rotting and polluting the air in the very residential, less populated areas. Also note how vehicles and pedestrians are being led to walking behind fences and in correct lanes, demarcated by metal railings.

All this because of the new mayor, for sure.

The autochthon debate

The rewriting of history with a view to claiming for one's cause all that is valued by others to is fast becoming a common pastime. The letter appearing in "The Island" of 9th January '99 by Sri Lankan Tamil is one of the latest and one of the most feeble attempts in this direction. This letter contains so many inaccuracies and fallacies particularly when it seeks to trace the derivation of several Pali, Sinhala words to Tamil.

The writer claims that the Mahavansa was known as Sikkalakatha Mahawansa "from the day Mahanama wrote it". Nowhere in the Mahawansa is it referred to as Sikkalakatha Mahawansa. The very first verse in the Mahawansa is translated by Prof. Geiger as follows: "Having made obeisance to the Sambuddha, I will recite the Mahavansa of varied content and lacking nothing." At the end of every chapter Ven. Mahanama refers to his work as "the Mahavansa compiled for the serene joy and emotion of the pious".

According to Prof. G. P. Malalasekara who edited the commentary to the Mahawansa and Prof. Geiger who translated the Mahawansa, there was an earlier Mahawansa - in the Sinhala language and was known as the Sihalatthakatha Mahawansa. In the Mahanama Tika, the commentary to the Mahawansa, this is described as old and as having been written by the ancients in the Sinhala language (Sihalatthakatha Mahavanso Poranchi Sihalaniruttiya Kato). As there is no referrence anywhere to a Sikkalakatha Mahawansa, it would be a service to scholarship if "Sri Lankan Tamil" were to divulge the source from where he obtained the reference to Sikkalakatha Mahawansa.

The etymology of the word Mahawansa is most fanciful as given by the writer who seeks to derive it from Tamil. It is now accepted by scholars that Maha + Vansa are both Pali words derived from Sanskrit. According to the authoritative Pali-English Dictionary edited by Prof. T. W. Rhys-Davids and Dr. William Stede, the word Maha is derived from the Vedic Mahant meaning "great, existensive, big, important".

According to the same dictionary Vansa is derived from Vedic Sanskrit Vansa and means "lineage, race, family". Vansam is a Tamilised version of the Vedic and Pali Vansa. It is well known that Tamil borrowed and derived many words from Vedic Sanskrit.

Sri Lankan Tamil gives similar hilarious derivations of the Pali words Theravada, Mahayana, the old Sinhala words Dhampiya Atuva Gatapadaya, Mihintale, Isurumuniya seeking to derive them from Tamil. Quite contrary to the fanciful derivation of the words Theravada and Mahayana, scholars have accepted that Theravada means the Doctrine (Vada) of the Elders (Thera) both Pali words, occurring in the Pali canon. Mahayana means Maha (the great), Yana (vehicle), both words being common to Sanskrit and Pali also borrowed into Sinhala.

Sri Lankan Tamil states that Mihintale is derived from Tamil. This cannot be justified according to any rule of philology or etymology. According to the veteran epigraphist and oriental scholar Dr. D. M. de Z Wickramasinghe who deciphered and translated the famous "Tablets" of Mahinda IV at Mihintale and published them in the Epigraphia Zeylanica, "the word Mihintale is probably a derivative from Mahinda Thala just as Ambatala is of Ambatthala". The Mahindatatavapi where a statue of Mahinda Thera came to be kept during the reign of Aggabodhi I is called in Sinhala Mihintale Vava. Mahindathala means the spot associated with Ven. Mahinda. Mahindasiha of Pali is derived into Sinhala as Mihidalasi (Epigrahia Zeylanica Vol. IV p.144).

As for Isurumuniya it is clearly derived from the Pali Issarasamanka. According to chapter XX verse 14 of the Mahawansa, the vihara that was built by King Devanampiyatissa in the place five hundred nobles (Issara) dwelt when they had received ordination from Ven. Mahinda was named Issarasamanaka.

Further, of the eight Bodhi-saplings brought by Ven. Sangamitta one was planted at the Issarasamanaka monastery according to the Mahawansa (Ch. xii verse. 61) .The Slab Inscription No. 1 of King Mahinda IV (1026 - 1042 AD) speaks of the King building a great edifice at Isurumanu - Veher Isarasamanaka Vihara (Epigraphia Zeylanica Zeylanin Vol 1 P. 228) which once again substantiates our derivation. These instances are adequate to establish that the Sinhala word Isurumuniya is derived from Issarasamanaka and indeed is far far away from Isaramunivar of Sri Lankan Tamil.

The next 'victim' of Sri Lankan Tamil is what he calls the Dhanpiyatuwa Gatapadaya. In seizing the 'victim' he has completely mauled the title of the book, which only shows how little he knows of it, let alone his delving into its derivation. The correct title of the book is Dhampiya Atuwa Gatapadaya. It is the oldest extant Sinhala book having been written in the 10th C by King Kassapa V. It is a commentary in Sinhala on some of the knotty words in the Pali Dhammapada Atthakatha. Dampiya is derived from Dhammapada Atuva from Atthakatha and Gatapadaya from Ganthipada.

Having slaughtered the Sinhala language without knowing even the basic of philology or etymology, Sri Lankan Tamil wades into the field of Sinhala epigraphy when he says "it is interesting to note that Sinhala letters resemble more of Malayalam and Tamil letters than any other" and goes on to make some more inane comments about the ease with which a Malayali could read a Sinhala daily!.

It is quite clear that the Sri Lankan Tamil is not aware that the Sinhala script is derived from the Brahmi script, in which the famous edicts of King Asoka of India were written. With the introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka under the aegis of the King the Brahmi script too was introduced. All the early inscription in Sri Lanka are inscribed in this script. With the passage of time with the material on which the writing was done changing from stone and rock surfaces to copper plates, and later on to ola leaves, the script became curvilinear. Malayali or Tamil script had no role in the evolution of the Sinhala alphabet and script.

Sri Lankan Tamil finally refers to Ven. Buddhaghosa, Buddhadatta. Dharmapala as "being all Dravidian". Coming from S. India, they spent the most productive years of their scholarly lives in Anuradhapura enjoying the warm hospitality and respect of Sinhala Kings and monks of the day. They are held in high esteem by Sri Lankan Buddhists and the entire Buddhist world because of their contribution to Buddhist scholarship.

Sri Lankan Tamil seems to doubt whether there was a Sinhala language at the time the Mahawansa was written. Evidently he does not know that Ven. Buddhaghosa came to Sri Lanka, to the Mahavihara at Anuradhapura, looking for the ancient commentaries that had been written in the Sinhala language, soon after Buddhism was introduced. For his edification and that of others of his ilk I shall quote from the Mahavansa regarding the vist of Ven. Buddhaghosa to Anuradhapura.

"Addressing Ven. Buddhaghosa, his teacher in India. Ven. Revate said, "here only the Pali texts have been preserved. There is no commentary here and likewise no Theravada, for that has been allowed to go to pieces and is no longer known. However a Sinhala commentary still exist which is pure. It was rendered into the Sinhala tongue by the learned Mahinda. Go there and after you have learnt it translate it into the language of the Magadha (Pali) that will bring benefit to the whole world".

It was only after the Mahavansa monks were satisfied with Ven. Buddhaghosa's capabilities which he proved by writing the encyclopeadic Visuddhi Magga, that he was given the ancient Sinhala commentaries. Full credit to the Ven. Buddhaghosa who in all humility studied the Sinhala commentaries and translated them into Pali. His contribution to Buddhist studies was thus solely due to the availability of the ancient Sinhala commentaries and the guidance he got from the Sinhala monks at Anuradhapura, the capital of the Sinhala Kings.

This is a lesson which Sri Lankan Tamil and others who like him seek to disparage the Sinhala language and the Sinhalas should do well to learn.

SRI LANKAN

The Indispensable nation

by Piyal Gamage
A Jewish woman proudly claiming to belong to a brand new breed of Herrenvolk is surely enough to make the angels weep. The ghost of Hitler must be laughing in his Berlin bunker. Madeline Albright is Jewish and she is US Secretary of State. She has delusions of grandeur. "If we have to use force, it is because we are America" she proclaims. That is not the non-sequitur it seems. Using force is what the American gun culture is all about. She goes on: "We are the indispensable nation". Indispensable to whom? To the Americans, bien entendu, the new self-appointed master race. There is also the clear implication that to Albright some nations are dispensable - Iraq and Palestine for example.

Secretary Albright treats the UN as a minor arm of the State Department. When it was reported that Kofi Annan had suspicions that the US had used Richard Butler (Australian head of the weapons inspection team) to spy on Iraq, Albright was wrathful and called for Annan's explanation!

Although Butler denied the charges American officials have themselves confirmed them. Scott Ritter, formerly an arms inspector, has written a detailed account of how Butler colluded with US officials to spy on Saddam. Butler's stooging for the US has raised the hackles of France, Russia and China.

The UN Special Commission (UNSCOM), a purportedly neutral organisation to investigate Iraq's concealed weapons has been ,from as early as 1992, spying for the USA. For years Saddam insisted that UNSCOM inspectors were CIA agents but was not believed. Today the US does not even bother to deny this. A White House aide defiantly said: "The whole purpose of UNSCOM was to spy on Iraq". (Time: 18 January) Butler in his report on more than 300 inspections cited just a handful of "violations" by Iraq. One violation was a delay of 40 minutes in giving access; another was an Iraqi demand for the presence of a UN Secretary-General's representative as witness to handing over documents; another violation was the refusal to allow college students to be interviewed; two more violations related to inspections on a Friday, the Muslim sabbath. In reprisal for these so-called violations, the US unloaded a half-billion dollars worth of missiles on Iraq, without UN approval. Three out of four Americans (surely the most naive and most manipulable people in the world) believe that the assault was justified, a suitable punishment for Saddam.

The commander of the operation ( which is idiotically named Desert Fox) General Anthony Zinni when questioned about the civilian death-toll disdainfully replied :"We are not in the business of body counting".

The whole world, excluding Great (if you will pardon the term) Britain, has viewed the entire operation as an outrageous act of aggression in which weapons of mass destruction were used against a nation without the means to defend itself - the act of a bully with no regard for legal or moral standards.

Bill Clinton sent a message over Arab TV stations: "I hope you realize that these attacks were in your best interests... Our dispute is with the Iraqi leaders and not the Iraqi people". And to prove it Clinton proceeded to bomb the living daylights out of the Iraqi people! The Battle of Britain taught one lesson to the world - you cannot break a people's spirit by raining bombs on them. America, which does not learn from others' or its own mistakes, tried it in Vietnam. An American general claimed it was his mission to bomb Vietnam back into the stone age. Weapons of mass destruction, including poison gas, were unleashed on a poverty-stricken people. Agent Orange was sprayed all over the forest cover . (Today, 22 years later, deformed babies are being born to Vietnamese mothers). All this did not break the spirit of the Vietnamese. They fought back with high courage and were able to send the predators scuttling out of their country. But the American mindset that a people's spirit can be broken by military might remains unaltered.

Today America stands discredited, a liar and a bully, in the eyes of the civilized world. The problem facing the world is how this "indispensable" master race and its sorry sidekick can be brought to their senses.

A Traveller's Claims - I
Venture to the Interior

by Tissa Devendra

Brighter far than fading memories of first love are recollections of my first inspection .......

Trincomalee 1953. I had just started work as a District Land Officer in the Kachcheri under the tutelage of its Head the Asst. Govt. Agent. I accompanied him on his circuits and observed him in action - conducting Land Kachcheries, settling boundary disputes and inspecting irrigation channels. I gradually began to get the hang of things. A few days after I had sat at my first Kachcheri desk I was taken under his wing by the E.O.A. (Extra Office Assistant) the benevolent Mr. Amirthalingam. "Do you have a car?" he asked me. "No". "This can't go on. How can you be a D.L.O. without a car to go on circuit? Just fill up these forms" and he produced an application form for a loan to purchase a car. Filling it up I hit a snag, or so I thought, when I was required to provide a guarantor. I had just arrived in Trinco and the only people who knew me well enough to stand surety were 160 miles away in Colombo. "No problem" said Mr. A. "Just wait a minute". Soon after, he turned up with a rather cowed looking gentleman introduced as "Mr. Chinniah of the Police Office next door who has agreed to stand as your guarantor". I do not know what arm-twisting Mr. A had done to conscript Mr. C - but he signed up without a murmur and slipped away, never again to be sighted by me. Not long after; I became the proud owner of my first car, spanking new from the showroom, ready to embark on my own field inspections - or "circuits" in official jargon. Amirthalingam and Chinniah have long since entered "moksha" but I always remember with gratitude the unquestioning trust they reposed in my callow self.

Outward Bound
"T.P." house inspections were an essential part of a D.L.O's duties. This was an era of generous subsidies to peasant settlers on government land. A subsidy of Rs. 700/- was paid to these who built their houses according to a govt. approved Type Plan (T.P). This was a princely sum in that far-away period when a gallon of petrol cost only Rs. 1! Supervisors and Overseers inspected the initial stages of construction to ensure conformation to the approved type plan. Although initial payments were made on the certificates of these officers, the final inspection had to be done by their superior, the D.L.O. This requirement was in order to ensure that a duly approved house did, in fact, exist on the allotment and was not a mere phantom presence on the ledgers.

With a slight thrill of excitement I embarked on my first solo "venture to the interior" accompanied by the Supervisor and a pile of Land Ledgers which recorded earlier payments. Our destination was Parana Medawachchiya, an isolated village in the jungle, some miles distant from the main village of Gomarankadawala. The Supervisor was a fund of information pointing out various sights as we drove along. The legendary hot wells of Kaniya tempted me into a slight detour. Visually they were disappointing. Ramshackle shelters stood around the mossy perimeter wall of the seven wells bubbling with hot water. I sloshed barefooted through the shallow overflow to dip my hand into a well or two to test the waters, watched bemusedly by a few bathers bucketing themselves with abandon. The water was hot enough. I was spun the hoary old yarn that "those days" it was so hot that one could boil an egg in one particular well.

Further on, a tilted signpost indicated the overgrown road to the ancient Buddhist Shrine of Vilgam Vihara by the Periyakulam Tank. This I noted for later exploration as my archaeologist father had spoken enthusiastically of its significance

Gomarankadawala
It was a lonely drive along this road west to Anuradhapura from which we had to turn off northwards to our destination. Once we passed the last few straggling boutiques which marked the town limits we rarely saw any life on the road. Occasionally, a knot of PWD labourers could be seen at the most desirable job in the country - languidly swinging sticks topped with little curved blades to trim the long grass by the roadside while all around them lowered dark, impenetrable jungle. Their overseer lounged somnolent in the shade. A delightful study in futility. Apart from an occasional bus or lorry few vehicles crossed our path. The road was banked up and bordered by wide grassy clearings holding back the thorny jungle, brown and grey in this hot season, enlivened by an occasional sprinkle of red or yellow "rathmal" blossoms or the gaudy brilliance of the poisonous "niyangala". Far off, above the forest's green canopy could be glimpsed the crimson and gold splash of a tall flamboyant. The road was narrow. Whenever a bus or lorry approached I gingerly edged my car on to a side where it swayed uncomfortably, buffeted by the hot wind in the wake of the passing bus.

Once we turned off the main road the jungle was no longer at arm's length but all around us. The road was narrow, pebbly and potholed. Huge trees towered just by the roadside and their branches twined overhead. We drove through a shadow-stippled tunnel of trees. Monkeys swinging along the branches grimaced and chattered at us. The constant hum of cicadas was background music punctuated by the trill or squawk of a bird. Occasionally a clear patch indicated a footpath leading into the wild. A shady banyan tree with a rough bench provided a traveller's rest while offerings of leafy twigs were strung along a line - seeking the protection of Aiyanayaka Deviyo, lord of the jungle. We passed a signboard indicating Rankiri Ulpotha, an ancient hot spring which I decided to explore on my return. Duty first.

The thinning of the jungle and clearer skies indicated we were now approaching Gomarankadawela. A few government buildings were on the outskirts - the dingy line rooms of PWD workers, the Village Tribunal on a hillock, the Rural Hospital embowered in flowering bougainvillea and the tin-roofed school whose children all ran out to wave madly at this strange intruder. We parked at the doorstep of the Village Headman's house proudly indicated by his blue and white signboard topped with the Royal Crown. As I stepped out I was welcomed by an aroma which many decades later, yet haunts my memory - compounded of cow-dung, straw, clay floors, wood smoke, and the faint whiff of tank mud, the essence of the Vanni village.

We were now at Gomarankadawela's very Centre. A well trodden "plaza" of clay with a few sleepy cattle, ringed by pleasant old straw roofed houses of mud brick. Old men on string beds looked on with idle curiosity and little kids stroked my dusty car or stared at me. A cluster of women passed by carrying pots of water and wet washing on their way home from the village tank. A pleasant somnolence pervaded.

The VH, who also had jurisdiction over Parana Medawachchiya, was to accompany us. After a cup of strong sweet tea in the cramped little office room of his house, we set off again. My heart bled for my new car when I saw the road we were to take. It was a narrow gravel road with a strip of grass in the centre separating the wheel tracks. No motor vehicle seemed to have used this road for a long, long time. Shrubs flourished right up to the road's edge and their thorny twigs played havoc with my lovingly polished car. Occasionally we crossed a roofless bullock cart carrying bags of paddy and/or passengers clinging precariously as it swayed and jolted along the ruts. As soon as we were sighted the cart was led off the road into the trees, the acme of highway courtesy, leaving the road clear for us.

Destination
Parana Medawachchiya at last, the outermost reaches of Trincomalee District. I parked the car in the school compound where a young school mistress perched on a stool was conducting a class of little tots seated on mats. The rest of the school was in a ramshackle little schoolroom with mud brick walls, crooked jungle wood pillars and rusty tin roof patched with straw. Nothing could stem the outrush of the whole student body, about twenty in all, to goggle at this visitation from outer space. They were followed by a young school master ineffectually trying to shoo them back. I apologised for disrupting his time-table and set off on my house inspections.

A little cluster of cottages huddled costly beneath the tall kumbuk trees on the bund of the village tank. To my town-bred eyes these houses were startlingly similar to the cartoon images of African villages in Disney's animated films. They appeared to grow out of the soil. No geometric precision marred the soft undulation of their mud walls or door and window frames, delightfully awry. My Supervisor embarrasedly explained that no experienced mason baas ever came that way to help these builders. He seemed worried that I would be a stickler for the tape measure. My instinctive sympathy for these forgotten villagers taught me my second lesson as a DLO "Peasant welfare deserves a higher priority than the rule book' [The first lesson learnt on this very circuit was "A DLO should never worry about the scratches on his car") There was only a handful of house for final inspection and it did not take very long to certify them as ship-shape and qualified for final payment. The humility of the peasant allottees was embarrassing in their submissive body language and the honorific titles they bestowed on me as I stooped into their dim little cottages with my assistants and tape measure.

Our job was done. We got back to the car to find that the school had been granted a holiday and the teachers, man and wife, were expectantly looking forward to a chat with us over lunch. We regretfully declined the lunch as we had already accepted the V.H's invitation. But we had a long conversation with these exiles from their home in Gampaha. This was an era when newspapers reached Trincomalee only in the evening. Not even a crackly radio linked to a car battery was available. Occasionally their colleague in Gomarankadawela sent them some dated papers via the weekly postal peon. Their isolation was almost absolute. The young teachers relished their chat with us and the window I briefly opened to the world outside. They did not seem embittered and were dedicated to their work. We left carrying their mail to the outside world.

Chewing and Jawing
A hearty lunch awaited us at the VH's home. We sat at an oil cloth covered table and ate off heavy blue china plates. Red rice and curries were served in basins. The cuisine was simple and very different from city fare. The vegetables were all from local chenas - pumpkin, brinjal, murunga - not the bland "up-country" up market staff. Not much coconut was apparent in the curries. Protein was in a curry of thin little strips - too strings and chewy to be dry fish. It was - "Dada Mas Karavala" strips of wild boar meat and venison from jungle hunts sun dried for preservation. I hoped I was not savouring that other local delicacy - monkey meat !

Seated on a string bed on the verandah I had a fascinating conversation with the VH and other worthies about life in Gomarankadawela, this forgotten outpost of the old Kandyan Kingdom named after a memorable sambhur hunt. The jungle was studded with ancient ruins of the old kingdoms - pillars, moonstones, sculptures - now under the protection of guardians commanded by Aiyanayaka Deviyo, elephants, bears and the all embracing wilderness. I inquired after a distant kinsman who had been an official stationed here decades ago. They remembered him very well as he had been a lovable virile youth. Did you know that he lived with a local girl when he was here ? He was an honourable man and gave her away in marriage before he left. You may even have met the old couple as they now live in Parana Medawachchiya". It was a revelation, though not surprising, that I stowed away to repeat with due embellishment at family reunions.

The shadows were lengthening when we left for Trinco in the gathering gloom. As we passed the forlorn village cemetery, hemmed in by jungle, my Supervisor spoke of this village's fearsome reputation for sorcery and witchcraft involving, inter alia, exhuming the newly-dead for body parts and barbecuing live Kabaragoyas to extract their poisonous tears ! Though a fan of horror movies I shuddered at this close encounter with real (?) evil. It was now too late to visit the hot springs of Rankiri Ulpotha, the Golden Pond. Deeper in the woods it was the haunt of wild elephants, and I was no hero.

"Return to Station"
Back in Trinco at last, a perfunctory wash and a dash to the tin-roofed Lord Nelson cinema to dip into the frothy escapism of an Ealing Studio comedy. My fellow film-fans were British sailors and their women -folk from the Naval Dockyard and Fort Frederick yet a British enclave. Only a few miles separated the unchanging heart of the deep Vanni from the bustle and battleships of the Naval base.

A few short miles, a few short hours .... I had spanned two worlds and crossed the threshold into responsible adulthood.

Sri Lankan memories

A Photographic Exhibition to Commemorate 50 Years of Sri Lankan Independence Gallery 706
January 30 - February 9,1999

'Sri Lankan Memories' is a photographic exhibition organized by the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo to commemorate 50 years of Sri Lankan Independence. In this project, ICES has been associated with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Ethnic Affairs and National Integration and Aitken Spence and Co. Ltd. in providing co-sponsorships.

The exhibit ion will be held at the Gallery 706, Barefoot, Galle Road, Colombo 3 from January 30 - February 9, 1999 from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Seven photographic artists have contributed their work to this exhibition. They are Nihal Fernando, Reg van Cuylenburg, Dominic Sansoni, Luxshmanan Nadaraja, Stephen Champion, Monique Stauder and Dhanushka Amarasekara.

One reason behind this cultural project is to emphasize the fact that culture plays a large part in understanding people. Accepting another becomes possible only through the understanding and recognition of the circumstances and the diversity in the cultures of others. ICES has put forward this cultural project to reflect and emphasize the importance of understanding ethnic, religious and cultural diversity and dynamics of Sri Lankan people. At the same time, this exhibition also tries to highlight the cultural and ethno-religious fusion and integration that has already occurred in Sri Lanka over a considerable period of time.

Through this exhibition ICES also hopes to acknowledge the plight of the field of fine arts in Sri Lanka, while trying to do something about it. For 50 years, Sri Lankan visual arts, for the large part, have been a neglected area. Within the fine arts field, photography has received the least amount of attention. Sri Lanka's lack of galleries, fine arts schools, and modern art museums to facilitate the development of fine arts, are direct consequences of this gross negligence. The lack of participation by both public and private sectors in artistic endeavours is both the result as well as the cause of this negligence. Thus, it is also as a gesture towards promoting and helping in the development of fine arts in Sri Lanka, with an intention to participate in national cultural activities, that ICES has undertaken this project.

Today, around the world in the fine arts, and more specifically in photography, many technological, philosophical and ideological advances have taken place. Along with such changes, many perspectives of the mind have been formulated due to the divergent ways in which cameras have been used over time, subsequent to the discovery of the camera in the last century. Photographic trends have evolved from pictorialism to straight photography popularized by artists like Alfred Stieglitz and then to snapshot aesthetics, abstract photography, photostories and minimalism, and now to post modern imagery. In these developments, the camera has been made an almost indispensable tool in every kind of artistic endeavour. Sri Lanka celebrated modernism in the pre independence period with photographers such as Lionel Wendt, who have contributed to the field of photography immensely. Since then, so many other photographers have undertaken the burden of carrying its advancement to new avenues. At the moment of celebrating 50 years of independence, it is appropriate to recognize some of these prominent personalities in the contemporary field of photography, and recapture what they have seen through their third eye, the camera lens in the landscape of Sri Lanka.

The photographs included in this exhibition are the personal statements of each of these artists about a country that they have intimately experienced. For some, that experience has been a life-long learning process, while for others, that experience has been gained in their visits to Sri Lanka. Through these personal statements, one could trace the transformations, the celebrations, many ordinary events, and the tragedies that have taken place over the past 50 years since the Independence.

English - Word Phrases

Price: Rs. 95.00
Publisher: Arjuna Hulugalle Dictionaries, 42, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 3.
Telephone: 576031, 575517
Fax: 576031
E-mail: hajh@sri.lanka.net

To master languages is a dream of every person. This book is yet another publication of Arjuna Hulugalle Dictionaries to grapple with the adventure of learning them.

Words Phrases requires a moderate knowledge of either English or Sinhala to benefit from its full scope.

The new publication is well structured with vocabularies of words required for daily use. Included are selected phrases. It is divided into 58 essential themes including air travel, sightseeing, visits to hospitals, hotels and theatres. It helps you to chat away on more subjects like clothes, computers and weather, and be comfortable discussing many more. The range is enormous.

Themes are arranged according to the English alphabet. Finding your way around in Sinhala is as easy. Pronunciation of English words is given in Sinhala script and pronunciation of Sinhala words is in English script. A great help to the Sinhala speaking reader who finds English pronunciation horrendous and vice versa.

This two-way dictionary breaches inhibitions that prevent one from using either language. Most people acquire a working knowledge of a language in reading. However, they are reluctant to speak in the language fearing faulty pronunciation. This new book is, therefore, a valuable companion;

Words Phrases is a compact, bright volume lOcm x 13 1/2 cm. It is illustrated and has a water resistant laminated cover. Priced at Rs. 95.00, there are substantial discounts for students and teachers. It is the perfect gift during the festive season, birthdays, graduation and prize givings.

The publishing house of Arjuna Hulugalle Dictionaries has brought out several more dictionaries. It has worked out a system of language aids on a modular basis. The not too distant future sees several new publications being prepared by them in Sinhala, Tamil and English.

Surge of intolerance in recent times

by Rohan Jayawardana
There is un-contestable factual evidence of a surge of intolerance among Sri Lankans in recent years, often expressed with shocking violence. As there is supportive evidence of widely organised activity, it appears that the minds of trusting individuals have been manipulated toward crime by influential and powerful persons whose entrenched positions are in jeopardy because of failure to be relevant to their times and social environment of this land.

Throughout the recorded history of the human race, armies have been urged into war for purposes of greedy acquisition and for cruel impositions of philosophies upon others. Examples are the colonising activities after the European Renaissance and the insanely bigoted urgings of Adolf Hitler upon the usually refined intellect of Germans who had earlier given the world such renowned geniuses as Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Goethe, Schiller, the Revd. Martin Luther and (inventor) Rudolf Diesel. Later there was the greatest genius of all, Doctor Albert Einstein who lived sixty-one years of his life in Germany before settling in America.

It is therefore almost un-believable what the manipulations and ambitions of a handful of extremists in positions of power could achieve by turning the minds of trusting followers with their rhetoric.

Extremism within Politics and in philosophies such as religions is a departure from the middle-placed mainstream of sound knowledge, commonsense and personal psychological balance. Quite often the resurgence of extremism has also occurred due to frustrations imposed upon peoples by the Establishment of society and those at the helm of public leadership.

However, all subsequent resolutions of these issues have sooner or later been on the basis of compromise and the abandonment of extremist activity. Examples have been the situations in Palestine and Northern Ireland, and the grant of independence to colonised peoples through the improved awareness of civilized norms of co-existence.

Sri Lanka prides itself as not having been a nation seeking acquisitions through war. However, outside of this touted identification to being civilized, it is also fundamentally and vitally important that there ought to be the highest elements of civilization in the interaction between peoples within its national boundaries. The record indicates, however, that it has a remarkably high rate of murder and violent crime (on the basis of population to crimes ratio) among nations of the world. This is the evidence of post-Independence Sri Lanka and it would appear, therefore that charity does NOT begin at home in this country. In fact, the phenomenon of violence is a growing one. Whose failure is this?

There is also the recorded evidence of history that insensitivity to educated (but) under-privileged persons within society have been the root causes of the JVP youth uprisings of Sinhalese and the gradual emergence of Tamil militancy over several years.

Quite regrettably, there is another current alarming trend, which is almost ignored by the press, of brutal violence perpetrated against Christian Churches islandwide in the last decade, with an intensification over the past four years. There have been gang-inflicted brutal murders of two pastors, over sixty awesome acts of personal violence including assault, the burning of places of worship and personal residences, and also over one hundred recorded incidents of intimidation.

Upto now, the courts of law have maintained the unfortunate victims position in the face of fiercely concerted activity, but there are some quite disturbing signs of leniency creeping in as well as of Police intransigence. The law might be in retreat against this organised nationwide coercion!

It must be recalled that when there was a spate of torchings of Churches in America, it received high profile international coverage of the press, and the committed intervention regularly of the American President himself.

As already indicated, Sri Lanka's recent history despite verbal commitments to secularism is different. At times the provisions of the constitution covering personal liberties have appeared to mean nothing at all in application at the hands of politicians and their mentors.

Are we, therefore, to remain "customarily" insensitive to the plight of the severely underprivileged once more while maintaining more appearances of being civilized?

What about the human mind's disposition toward universality and tolerance, and of the State's several obligations to safeguard rather than jeopardise the Rights of ALL the nation's peoples? (If justice-related systems of all sorts) do NOT operate in the public forum, the sensitivity and the good sense of the citizenry must then take over! It must also be remembered that disputes must be resolved at the very extremes only via the courts of law after every decent personal effort has proved futile.

Thumbing noses at transport regulations

by Cecil V. Wikramanayake
If I was the Minister of Transport, which, thank goodness I am not, I would have drunk cold water and died, as we used to say in school many years ago.

Why ?

Just take a look at the wonderful plans he has proposed for improving the public transport services in the country. And then take a look at the public transport services as they really are!

What do you see ?

It was not so long ago that the Minister announced that as from January 1, 1999 all private buses should be issuing tickets to passengers. Nearly a month has gone and this rule is still being observed in the breach by most private bus operators.

Not only that. When tickets are issued by conductors, the tickets are not worth the paper they were printed on. The reason ? Some conductors issue 'tickets' that have numbers 1 to 10 printed on them, with no indication of the fare. Other conductors issue tickets but not for the amount you paid.

This writer on one occasion paid his three rupees and fifty cents and was given a ticket which bore the figure 2.50. He promptly handed back the ticket to the conductor and said "I gave you three-fifty". The conductor took the ticket back and gave him another, this time for Rs. 4.00. He did not have a ticket for Rs. 3.50.

It is true that these tickets bear the number of the bus. But apart from this there is no date on the tickets, like those issued through the ticket machines of the peoplised transport buses.

Should you have to produce a ticket in a court of law, there would be nothing to indicate when you travelled, or from which point to which. In other words the 'tickets' are just little bits of paper of a certain size, with something printed on it.

It is not a ticket in the sense of the one you receive when you travel by train or in a peoplised bus. It is just a piece of paper.

So much then for the Minister's dictate about the issuing of tickets in private buses.

This is tantamount to conductors thumbing their collective noses at the Minister !

Then again, not so very long ago, there was much fanfare and trumpeting about travelling on footboards. The police, the public were told, would prosecute not only the driver and conductor, but even those passengers found travelling on the footboard.

And the police were going to insist that the doors of the bus be closed when the bus was in motion.

Everyone, except perhaps the Minister, who never travels by bus anyhow, private or even public, knows and sees that these things never happen.

This writer is a daily commuter between Narahenpita and Kosgashandiya, Grandpass. He invariably sits just by the door.

He has yet to see the doors being closed as the bus starts off.

He has yet to see the footboard free of travellers while the bus is in motion.

He has yet to see a police officer of whatever rank stopping such a bus, let alone prosecute the driver, conductor and the footboard travellers.

Once more the conductors, and drivers, of private buses are thumbing their collective noses at the Minister.

Yes. If I was the Minister of Transport, I would have drunk cold water and died. But then, I am not a politician. They are made of sterner stuff than scribblers, aren't they ?

The Lionair Tragedy
A mother's vain plea for her loving daughter

by Suresh P. Perera
The fate which befell the Antonov-24 Lionair flight which went missing over three months ago still remains a deep mystery. Many are the theories that are being interjected, but defence officials maintain that so far nothing of evidential value has emerged. Whatever the varied versions that may be thrown in and how strange and unrealistic they could turn out to be, the irreversible fact is that the plane with 48 passengers and a 6-member crew has crashed. How it crashed, why it went down shortly after take-off from Palaly and whether there were any survivors are exactly what all concerned segments are trying to figure out.

If there is anyone alive who can help unravel the mystery of the missing aircraft, at least to some degree, it's the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Did the Tigers shoot down this civilian flight? That's what security officials believe. It carries far greater credence than the theory that the plane developed engine trouble or possible pilot error led to the ultimate, during its tragic run to Ratmalana that treacherous afternoon.

Security
Police officials say the aircraft is suspected to have crashed into the sea close to Iranativu island, approximately 20 miles off the Mannar coast. The area is inaccessible to the police or security forces as the island hugging Nachchikuda near Talaimannar is still under LTTE domination. "After the plane disappeared, many were the versions we heard about its fate. There was talk about fishermen seeing a 'ball of fire in the sky' around the time the aircraft went missing. This was followed by a story about the mangled remains of 30 vicitims of the crash being buried on the island by fisherfolk. But, so far nothing of evidential value has surfaced. And, in a sense, we remain where we started', senior defence officials admitted.

The mortal fear on the part of civilians in LTTE-held areas to communicate with the police or the army in Mannar is the biggest stumbling block. Investigators, however much they may try, are hampered as 'nobody has seen anything' is 'law' in that part of the territory. Woe be unto those who defy the boys. Was it an LTTE intelligence mix up which led to the downing of this aircraft killing all on board?' That's one of those stories doing the rounds, but of course it's a stronger version than the others', the officials pointed out. The story is that the Tigers were 'tipped off' by perhaps one of their intelligence men that the aircarft in question was carrying military casualties. So, they grabbed the opportunity of 'hitting hard' by downing it and made sure everybody on board perished.' Though there is no concrete proof, that's quite probable when assessing the situation at hand', security officials assert.

Probe
Superintendent of Police Lalith Lekamge based in Mannar is heading a top level probe into the crash.

For those who lost their loved ones in the September 29,1998 air tragedy, life has been cruelly disrupted. They hang on to every scrap of information in the firm belief that those who were near and dear to them are still in the land of the living.' My daughter is alive. I know she survived and is being held by the LTTE', insists Ranjanie Gunasekera, the distraught mother of Dharshanie, the chief stewardess of the missing AN-24. On January 13, Dharshanie's 21st birthday, her parents sent for distribution in both cleared and uncleared areas of Mannar, hundreds of leaflets carrying a fervent appeal to the LTTE to release their beloved daughter. The leaflets were sent around, but the Tigers are still silent on that score.

Shortly after the Russian-built Lionair Antonov-24 was missing without trace, Dharshanie's father, ASP Ranjith Gunasekera who is well known to have saved scores of Tamil lives during racial riots, visited Mannar in the hope of unearthing more information and to 'secure the release of his daughter'. According to reports, the LTTE initially appeared to have no objections to a mission to their domain to ascertain what had happened. Or so it was thought. ASP Gunasekera and party were on stand-by waiting for the green light, which never came. An appeal was sent to the Tigers via a Tamil businessman known to ASP Gunasekera from his days at Galgamuwa, where he served as OIC at one time. But the messenger returned empty handed. The LTTE was not in favour of such 'outsiders' visiting their territory even on a humanitarian mission. And in this case, it was a grieving father searching for his lost daughter. So, the 'search' had to be abandoned even before it got off the ground.

Ranjanie is confident that her dear daughter is still alive.' When my husband, as OIC was saving scores of lives of innocent Tamils in Galgamuwa during the racial violence, I was pregnant and Dharshanie was in my womb unborn. Later, as a one-year-old toddler I took her to Wattapolai kovil in Mullaitivu when my husband was OIC there', she cried.

After Prabhakaran's declaration of a LTTE 'air force' last year, it was on this kovil that a Tiger light aircraft reportedly scattered flowers.

Ranjanie desperately quoted various sources in Mannar and outside in a bid to drive home the point that some people, including her daughter had survived and are in the custody of the LTTE.

Aircraft
Mannar's Government Agent, S. M. Croos said that according to villagers the aircraft had fallen into the sea close to Iranativu island. At first three bodies had been fished out and the following day another 23 bodies were found and buried.

Mr. Croos said that some villagers had claimed to have seen the plane approaching topsy-turvy and plunging into the ocean. Another version was that the plane was minus its wings.

Relatives
He said that some villagers had even collected small pieces of the wreckage. A few relatives of the victims were also able to visit the scene later, he added.

Asked whether he was aware of any survivors, GA Croos replied in the negative. Iranativu island is actually within Kilinochchi district though it's more easily accessible by sea from Mannar, he said.

Police officials said they were aware of the visit to the suspected scene of the crash by a group of relatives from Vankalai in Mannar, but according to reports they had not seen anything. What they had encountered were third-party claims by villagers, the officials said.

Lionair's Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Palitha Wijesuriya said he personally handed over photographs of the pieces suspected to be parts of the wreckage to the principals, AAR airlines in Ukraine and there was positive identification that they belonged to the missing Antonov-24. It was also established that an explosion on the rear of the aircraft led to its crash. The theory that the plane was seen approaching upside down and noises similar to bursting fire crackers were heard, is more acceptable as it could have under such circumstances lost rudder and elevator controls, he noted.

Reported
'Shortly after the AN-24 was reported missing, two of our directors hired a SLAF helicopter and visited Mannar and met the parish priest and the local community. Despite the assistance extended by the police and military, they had return to Colombo as the atmosphere was bad because the 'people were hostile'. They accused us of helping the army. Since then we have spent a tremendous amount of money in our endeavour to find out what happened and help the grieving relatives', he explained.

Permission
*Mr. Wijesuriya, a retired senior Air Force officer, expressed displeasure over the attitude of some army officials who had denied permission to a Catholic clergyman to visit Iranativu island to gather first-hand information on the tragic episode.' He volunteered to help and we rendered all possible assistance, including securing Defence Ministry clearance, but he was not allowed to proceed beyond Mannar by the army on some flimsy grounds. After everything was done, he was told on reaching Mannar that his driver and two others cannot accompany him as their 'papers were not in order'. So they had to come back. We got down a team of foreign investigators and they were here for two weeks to assist the on-going probe', he said.

Compensation
On the aspect of compensation, he said each passenger is entitled to an insurance cover of USD 5000, but it's only after the lapse of one year that the money will be paid and as of now they are promulgated missing.

Asked about the explosion referred to by the Ukranian experts, he said it was arrived at through a 'process of elimination'. There were some boxes of lobsters on the cargo hold in the rear and the explosion is believed to have occurred there. Questioned how this could have happened in the face of rigid security checks, he replied;' there is always room for human errors'.

Dismissing varied theories of a possible hijacking, Mr. Wijesuriya pointed out that AN-24s required a runaway of 1400 metres with a wing span of 30 metres and 'it's something not easy to hide'. An aircraft also requires flying and ground tests, he said.

He admitted that his airline was threatened to stop assisting the military. When Paranthan defences were under LTTE attack, SLAF wanted us to fly. We had to do it as hundreds were dying. As a responsible airline we had to comply, he said.

Investigation
Dismissing stories that AN-24s are 'unsuitable' and Lionair is attempting to down-play the crash, he said there are 594 AN-24s operating the world over and an independent investigation into the disappearance of the aircraft is being handled by the Department of Civil Aviation.' We have given them all information they require and we have nothing to do with the probe that's in progress', he added.

The Lionair chief maintained that there is no determined flight path as such when flying to Palaly. Of course it's determined in consultation with the SLAF, but there is no set flight path as such, he said.

'No way', says a senior SLAF spokesman.' Lionair failed to take the route determined by us. We had specifically briefed their pilots on the routes they must take when operating in and out of military bases in hostile territory under the prevailing threat. They were not supposed to fly over the Mannar coast which is dotted with several islands from which a missile or small arms attacked could be mounted. They failed to adhere to the rules', he charged.

Pressure
SLAF officials attribute the crash either to a technical defect which led to a drop in cabin pressure or to a LTTE attack. The latter is more likely as if cabin pressure dropped due to a technical fault, the plane could have still returned to Palaly.' When an aircraft is hit, at times the pilot doesn't immediately realise it until there is a cabin pressure drop. People on the ground see a wing or a part of the aircraft on fire, but the pilot realises it a little later. That happened to our first Avro', they said.

Mission
Police investigators led by SP Lekamge has left no stone unturned to get to the bottom of the mystery. They even volunteered to visit Iranativu island to unearth the truth. To ensure safe passage they sought a magisterial order to undertake the mission accompanied by the ICRC or any such humanitarian organisation. When the matter was taken up for consideration last Monday, Mannar magistrate Illan Cheliyan referred the order sought by police to visit the suspected scene of the crash, to the Attorney General for necessary instructions. Productions comprising 4 pieces believed to be parts of the wreckage, were allowed by the magistrate to be sent to the Government Analyst, on a request by police.

A highly decomposed body wearing a life jacket found on the Mannar coast last month was sent to Colombo for an autopsy. Professor Ravindra Fernando, head of the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Colombo University said that it was determined that the body was that of a young or middle aged male in the 22-45 age group.' A visual identification was not possible as the body was in a highly decomposed state. A broad age group has been given as we cannot be aboslutely specific', he explained.

Prof. Fernando said the life jacket found on the body was positively identified by the airline as one belonging to its company, but it cannot be established whether it was aboard the flight in question. A talisman was also found on the body, which is very likely to be that of a passenger of the missing aircraft', he said.

Questions
It appears that answers will never be found to a string of questions that have emerged after this civilian aircraft vanished. Two days after some pieces believed to be parts of the wreckage were handed over to the police, a highly decomposed body wearing a life jacket was found on the Mannar coast. Was the body floating in the sea for nearly 3 months and if so, how was it that the trunk was still intact? The hands were missing, but the legs were intact. Or was it 'planted' two days after the pieces of wreckage were found to make available some easy but obvious evidence. Police are suspicious no doubt. The life jacket on the body also raises more questions than answers. Did anyone aboard the aircraft have time to wear life jackets? Of the 54 persons on board, only one body was found. Why is the LTTE not in favour of a humanitarian mission to the suspected site even 3 months after the crash?

According to reports, Bishop of Mannar Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph had met SP Lekamge to seek his assistance to explore the possibility of getting death certificates of the missing victims, but had been told that cannot be done without seeing the dead bodies. SP Lekamge had asked the Bishop to bring the fishermen who had witnessed the crash, but no response has emerged so far.

Repeated attempts throughout last week to contact the Bishop for his comments proved futile.

Civil Aviation Director General Lal Liyanaarchchi said an investigation for the specific purpose of finding out what happened, how it happened and what went wrong, is in progress with the objective of correcting the system.' The debris has not been found and our people cannot go there. I cannot complete the investigation without access', he explained.

He said according to air navigation laws, it is not mandatory for him to release the report into an investigation of this nature. 'I have the authority to keep it to myself and strengthen operations. I am not referring to this investigation which is still on', he added.

Disappearance
SP Lekamge said; 'we still don't know whether it's a crime, accident or a mere disappearance. Relatives of the victims are prepared to go with us to the suspected scene of the crash. We are duty bound to help these people to find out what happened'.

Solicitor General K. C. Kamalasabayson said that it's the right thing for a magistrate to act with caution under circumstances of this nature. The Mannar magistrate has referred to the Attorney General the order sought by police to visit the suspected scene of the air crash, accompanied by a humanitarian organisation.

The ill-fated flight 602 was piloted by a 4-member foreign cockpit crew comprising captain Matochko Anatoli, co-pilot Lysaivanov Siarhei, navigator Kozlov Sergei and flight engineer Anapryienka Siashei. The Flight Data Recorder (Black Box) of the plane was also not located.

All indications are that the Antonov plunged into the sea. The fate that befell this civilian aircraft will perhaps remain as mysterious as the bottomless mighty ocean.

Basses reefs - a call for a management regime

by Dr. Hiran W. Jayewardene
About ten miles off Sri Lanka's south-eastern coast are two submarine ridges rising from the continental shelf and lying in a southwest - north-west trend. They are popularly known as the Great and Little Basses Reefs. Perhaps better known in the maritime sphere for the two lighthouses by those names which stand on the two reefs, the area is also of considerable ecological and archaeological significance. Being located at the confluence of east and southern currents and the convergence zone of the two monsoons, as well as being on the critical turning point for vessels rounding the island, and for vessels making the east-west transit past Sri Lanka, the reefs have proved to be a hazard particularly to unsuspecting vessels of an earlier era of sailing ships. It has become a veritable graveyard for ships, with fifteen or more wrecks believed to be lying in this area. Even today, with various rocky outcrops and the reefs themselves, it is an area to be navigated with caution.

Geology
With the exception of the interstitial waters of India and Sri Lanka and Pedro Bank, Sri Lanka's continental shelf is usually a narrow one extending ten to fifteen miles at the shelf break or edge which generally occurs at 100 fathoms or 200 metres. By comparison, the Basses region boasts a wider shelf area with its origins in the geological history of the island. Off the shelf edge, at the base of the continental slope, the island of Sri Lanka appears to have begun a lateral twisting and sliding movement on the sea floor, piling and folding sediments against the base of the continental slope. This was investigated in a joint NARA-Scripps expedition in the 1980s aboard the U.S. oceanographic research vessel the Conrad. The geological origin of the basses reefs is not fully understood, although prominent as elevations of the seabed accompanied by smaller rocky outcrops and depressions which pock-mark the seabed in this area

Lighthouses
The two lighthouses on the Basses have a history. The Great Basses lighthouse the oldest lighthouse in Sri Lanka was constructed after Colonial surveys in the mid 19th Century to aid shipping bound to and from Calcutta and the Far East. Since first exhibiting its light on 10th March 1873, it has done so continuously since then from sunset to sunrise. The lighthouses were designed by the famous British lighthouse designer Sir James Douglas (knighted by Queen Victoria for his work), quarried in Scotland, and built of interlocking granite shipped to Ceylon for erection.

The Basses lighthouses are today commemorated on two striking current issue fifty and seventy five cent postage stamps inspired by Mr. Muhaj Hamin of the SLPA, who hails from the third generation of a family of Sri Lankan lighthouse keepers from Kirinda, and is an authority on our lighthouses.

Diving
Since the Clarke-Wilson-Jonklaas underwater expedition of the 1960s which was the basis of Dr. Arthur C. Clarke's fascinating book The Treasure of the Great Reef, the Basses have been a very popular destination for underwater safaris. Diving has been somewhat restricted due to the outcry against the plunder of historic wrecks, the most famous being the silver wreck explored by Clarke - Wilson. On account of the wrecks and artifacts there - and controversy which resulted, the area apparently declared an archaeological reserve, is principally observed as such with support from the Sri Lanka Navy.

Enforcement
The Imperial Lighthouse service originally manned and serviced the lighthouses on the Basses and were in effect the principal party involved in activities on the Basses - a function handed over to the Ports Authority. Enforcement in the area has been taken over largely by the Sri Lanka Navy - now maintaining a small base at Kirinda - which is likely to be expanded into a larger naval base shortly. Sadly, the guardians themselves are accused of systematic extraction of artifacts, most notably taking off four beautiful and valuable bronze cannon from the "Silver Wreck" in an infamous operation around 1980. Returned or recovered, these cannon should eventually find their place in the new Maritime Museum at Galle or at the National Museum where they can be viewed by the public."

Diving parties on the Basses are also restricted, yet a proper and effective system is needed if the wrecks are to be protected.

Education and disciplining of the guardians themselves is essential. In view of the valuable artifacts to be found there, policing of permitted underwater activity on the surface and/or underwater, and whether for recreation or research is also important. If effective and impartial monitoring and enforcement is not possible, then activities should be curtailed until such time as Sri Lanka can attain desired standards of enforcement of her own regulations, this seems to be lagging behind modern diving technology that has opened up the long lost riches of the sea. In fact we have so far had several decades of poorly regulated activity, with protection being afforded principally by the weather which provides only a limited "window" for diving.

Legal aspects
The Basses being permanent elevations of the sea-bed and/or also having fixtures above those parts that may be low-tide elevations, are legitimate points for seaward measurement of the territorial sea of Sri Lanka. This is also the datum for measurement of the limit of the Exclusive Economic Zone and other zones of national jurisdiction recognised by international law and authorized under the 1972 Maritime Zones Act of Sri Lanka being located approximately ten miles from the coast, and within the 12-mile Territorial Sea of Sri Lanka, the Basses qualify as a base point for measurement of the Territorial Sea and justify a corresponding seaward bulge on the outer limit of the relevant zone(s) of jurisdiction. The increased area of jurisdiction has significance for enforcement purposes, as well as in terms of sovereignty over resources - especially those of the water column under the EEZ regime.

It may be time for us to examine options for multiple use regimes allowing for tailoring of management zones to suit requirements of a particular area, and to adjust the measures from time to time in the light of changes of status of the resources, yet seeking to entrench certain core protective measures for species and activities that are principally targeted in conservation efforts. Such regimes would have to be provided for under improved legislation recognising a balance of multiple marine activities such as fisheries, marine conservation, navigation, recreation, archaeology, etc.

Living Resources and Fishing - whales, squid and tuna
It is perhaps the shallowness of waters, relative shelter of the two reefs on the landward side, and the peculiar mixing of currents, as well as the intricate mosaic of rocks and troughs in this south-eastern quadrant as seen on the navigation charts, that makes the Basses region rather attractive for many species of fish and marine creatures. Many of the species of fish in the region are commercially attractive and range from popular tuna species, seer and paraw (caranx species) to a variety of so-called rock fish including groupers. The rare dog-tooth tuna is reported from this area Rodney Jonklass - Sri Lanka's great man of the sea, enthralled us with his early underwater exploits off the Basses with his "pet" grouper Sinbad and a hoola-hoop, until the unfortunate grouper was apparently speared by a "sportsman", drawn to the basses after the publicity.

It is also from an area on the passage beyond the Basses in the Bay of Bengal that we have an account of 1874 when it was claimed in London newspapers that a strange sea monster - believed to be a giant squid, pulled the vessel Pearl under with consequent IOSB of life. The incident as reported is still to be verified' and also whether the giant squid is in our waters. The Ocean Centre and Fauna International maintain a reporting and investigative scheme for sittings and strandings of large squid off Sri Lanka. The giant squid is reported to engage in struggles with the sperm whales as the latter hunt them for food' and sperm whales are known to frequent the area Other species of whales and dolphins are also common around the Basses.

With the development in the 1980s of the fishery harbour at Kirinda - a colossal folly that cost the generosity of the Japanese government billions of yen in repeated tranches of aid to fight constant silting' a major fishery centre opened there. The principal fishing ground of the day boats based there is the Bases region which lies just offshore. Other boats from the southern and eastern areas also target the Basses. Apart from very intensive fishing' the influx of fishermen has also recently drawn to the area professional scuba divers employed by fish mudalalis and opportunistic entrepreneurs. The latest attraction in the area being the chank or conch -exported for making bangles in Bangladesh.

Apparently Coast Conservation and fisheries jurisdiction has been waived by licence' or regulations are being flouted to support a big fishery with as much as forty rupees paid per conch These gastropods are being exploited by the thousand It is not clear how long the resource can withstand the pressure and whether there can be recovery after the fishery proves uneconomic. Press reports have also highlighted the danger posed by professional divers to the wrecks of the area and also the rich fish stocks likely to have been observed by the newcomers entertaining ideas of dynamiting them. If this happens' the threat will be to the regular fishermen and the long-term productivity of the area on destruction of coral, including larval and other marine organisms in a vulnerable state.

The beche de mer or sea slug fishery (also dried and exported to restaurants in the Far East) is also one which appears to have suffered considerably due to extensive exploitation by recent fisheries employing divers -earlier on the east coast, and now likely to be extended to the Basses. The vacuum cleaner-like effect of modern commercial scuba diving methods as compared with traditional methods of bottom fishing, gives rise for concern and certainly calls for proper regulation. One of the difficulties is that present knowledge of the state of resources is scanty, considering the absence of proper resource surveys in the area. Fisheries licensed on a non- scientific basis could lead to eventual over-exploitation and decline of stocks.

Recreation
The Basses have a great potential for marine recreational activity. Eco-tourism is the new buzzword for the industry. Underwater tours to observe marine life, view wrecks, boat tours, sport fishing, marine mammal observation etc., is all legitimate activity. The difficulty at present is effective regulation and policing. Well-managed, the Basses could be a money spinner possibly rivalling fishing revenues and a new attraction with global marketing potential. The Basses are also a valuable adjunct to Yala, our premier National Park. Weather and sea conditions could be a limiting factor.

Conservation
It is claimed that approximately seventeen per cent of our land area is set aside as protected areas for conservation. This is in the face of an expanding population of around 19-million with around 65,000 square kilometres of land area At sea, our jurisdiction encompasses nearly 200,000 square miles of Economic Zone and around 300,000 square miles of submarine jurisdiction beyond. Yet only a few square miles of sea area has been set aside for conservation as marine parks or reserves, and only a small segment of the population depend on the sea for their direct livelihood, where there is less demand for territory and resources involving a smaller segment of the population, yet encompassing an area three and a half times to over twenty times the land area Is it not fair to ask that a greater portion of our marine areas are set aside for conservation ?

If conservation per se is not yet fully appreciated for reasons of big-diversity etc. let these protected marine areas be classed as nursery grounds, breeding grounds or areas of rehabilitation and refuge, for heavily exploited commercially important species to be fished elsewhere by an ever hungry fishing industry. So far, only coral reefs are seen as marine areas fit for protection. It is perhaps time to consider protected areas as refuges for marine mammals, and other fish species, as well as species specific management measures controlling gear, allowing harvesting seasons etc. It is time that Sri Lanka began the transition from the kindergarten of management into the arena of effective and modern scientific management of our offshore areas. As much as that initiative must come from the Fisheries and Wildlife authorities' other concerned governmental entities, concerned NGOs and individuals could also play their part.

Bookstore with a difference

by Kirthi Abeyesekera
A unique Canadian literary facility, the 'Toronto Women's Bookstore' (TWB), has just concluded its 25th anniversary celebrations.

Ideally located amidst the hallowed precincts of the country's most prestigious Seat of Learning, the University of Toronto the TWB is a store with a difference. Canada abounds with thousands of stores selling millions of books that include books for and by women authors. Yet, such stores are no comparison to the range and depth offered by the TWB. It provides a specific space for 'women's writing, voices and culture.' It is also the largest feminist non-profit bookstore in Canada.

"We are an important community source for books on feminist and cultural theory," says Rachel Kalpana James who showed me around the intimate store. "We carry books on violence against women, lesbian issues, health, and writings by women of colour," said the England-born Indian, James who, handles the store's publicity and marketing.

The main floor of the bookstore has benches for relaxed reading. A patio at the rear of the store provides space for author-readings and tables for customers to hang out with the book of their choice. The three-level store also provides for workshops, such as on feminist literacy. There are special sections for video sales and rentals, large-print titles and audio-books. The store is computerized and wheel-chair accessible.

In 1973, the TWB was a single shelf of books at the Toronto Women's Centre, called 'A Woman's Place.' Today, there are some 20,000 book-titles of fiction and non-fiction by Canadian and international writers. Among its ethnic writers are Toni Morrison - 'Paradise', Arundhati Roy - 'The God of Small Things', and Maya Angelou - 'Even the Stars look Lonesome.' The annual sales Of books at the TWB exceeds $ 500,000. It has a rare selection of magazines and journals. It provides bibliographies on health and violence against women and children.

Jenn Tust, in a historical review of the TWB, says it is "a central part of the Toronto Women's community, having survived through a variety of political changes and challenges, and experimenting with numerous management structures." A three-woman Board of Directors administers the TWB.

Anjula Gogia, the store's co-manager says "Ours is a labour of love" in a job where "the pay is lousy, the hours long, the work is endless, and so on." But "we do it," she says, because of "our passion for books, a drive to showcase writing and literature, otherwise ignored." It is also a commitment to ideas and imagination that nurture the soul and challenge the view that the bottom line of profit is all important - the idea is "to promote books not for their dollar value, but for their creative and intellectual worth".

The TWB is committed to carrying books on lesbian fiction and non-fiction, feminist theory, et al. The store has a strong policy against carrying any racist or homophobic books. "We care more about the contents of a book than about the profit incentive," says Gogia who select the books for the store. She says the store has alternated between collective and private ownership, hierarchical and collective decision-making, and "struggled over issues of racism."

Many local, national and international women writers support the TWB, while the Canadian media, presses and publishing houses have also been supportive, not forgetting the back bone provided by the academic community. Two years ago, the TWB initiated a 'community venture' in which the store donates ten percent of its regular sales in the last Friday of every month to a different community organization. Among the beneficiaries are the Coalition Against Racist Police Violence, Justice for Sri Lankan, Women Toronto Rape Crisis Centre, Black Coalition and AIDS prevention.

Says Gogia: "We approach our future with a mixture of hope faith and fear." She faces the reality that many 'sister stores' across Canada are struggling, while some are closing down. "We know just how precarious our own situation is. As with most independent bookstores, we battle and juggle to pay our bills. We witness the invasion of superstores, but we are hopeful that our sales will continue to sustain us so that we can nurture a vision for women's writing and culture."

The Toronto women's Bookstore maintains "a strong feminist presence, while competing with super-chains, and combating widespread cynicism about feminism and the women's movement A store that has 'learned to change with the times and roll with the challenges,' the TWB is looking for new ways to forge links with Toronto's diverse ethnic community. It sees itself as a valuable resource for Canadian women in the next quarter century.

Destruction of forest reserve in Seetha-Eliya

By Cecil D. Dharmasena
(Retired Regional Deputy Director, Agriculture and former Manager, Environment & Forestry, Mahaweli Authority)

It was distressing to note through press reports that a "Ramapura" - Hanuman kovil cum tourist complex is to be built on a 30-acre site within a unique Man & Biosphere Reserve (MAB) at Seetha-Eliya in Nuwara eliya. A Man & Biosphere Reserve is an internationally recognized conservation site, registered with the United Nations Environmental Programme and comes under the purview of the Forest Department. This project is said to be mooted by the Tourist Board in conjunction with Indian investors (see Sunday Island, 11.10.98, page 1). It also appears according to sources, that the project is to be bulldozed through without any environmental impact assessment (EIA) or expert feasibility study regarding its tourist potential, its economic viability or its social implications.

Unfortunately, this kind of primitive and ad-hoc approach to development appears to be a recurring sickness in the Sri Lankan politico-administrative process. The 'Island' editorial of Monday, 11.1.99 titled, "Consult Experts and the Public Even Now" (with reference to the current Indo-Lanka- trade agreement) is more than relevant in this context. Is this the way to plan and implement projects in this modern scientific age, one is constrained to ask.

We yet appear to have a Banana-republic mentality, with projects being thought up at the whims and fancies of individual politicians and politically appointed bureaucrats and thereafter implemented on a 'fast-track' basis whatever the consequences. The best current example is the hurriedly signed Indo-Lanka trade agreement. Even the Cabinet does not seem to know its contents leave alone its implications. Even if explained at length, it is doubtful that most of them would understand it.

One shudders to think of such an ad-hoc and 'fast-track' approach to various projects by the many hundreds of politicians in the envisaged 'Regional Councils' under the proposed scheme of devolution. One can only anticipate total economic chaos and complete environmental degradation, considering the expected calibre of such politicians and their henchmen-bureaucrats.

Consider the massive problems and economic disasters we have had to face in the past due to unplanned or poorly planned activities. The Samanalawewa leak (due to inadequate geological studies), flooding in Colombo (due to ad-hoc land reclamation), coastal erosion due to indiscriminate coral extraction, the catastrohpic Handapanagala and Deduru-oya elephant drives, etc., are a few such disasters due to total lack of planning by experts. Unplanned sale of government assets (Air Lanka, Gas, Steel Corporation, etc.) have brought unprecedented losses to the country details of which were highlighted in the press. The Eppawela phosphate project, Menik-ganga diversion, Upper-Kotmale, the Coal power plant at Kalpitiya, etc. are some anticipated projects which are being pushed without adequate analysis.

Inspite of such problems and losses in the past, successive governments simply ignore the catastrophic consequences and carry on regardless. One is at a loss to understand why prescribed procedures, proper planning and analysis of environmental and economic impacts are disregarded. One reason may be that various individuals would be having secret agendas, including the receipt of commissions. Certain vested interests may also be thinking in terms of politically and economically destabilizing the nation through the implementation of such unplanned schemes.

Coming back to the Seetha-Eliya project in question, we are informed that a few Indian journalists and tour operators had, on a short visit to Sri Lanka, suggested such a tourist complex ('Ramapura' and 'Sitamman kovil') which they felt would be able to attract 200,000 Indian tourists annually. How valid such an estimate is, is questionable. Whether such Indian tourists would contribute substantially in terms of foreign exchange is also a moot point.

The site is adjacent to the existing small kovil along the N'eliya-Hakgala highway. On a recent visit to the area, it was observed that a new kovil was also being built adjacent to the old one which was being renovated. The latter had been set up in 1910 on the road and stream reservation, thus making it an unauthorized structure in the first instance. This kovil attracts much by way of contributions which appears to have made a few businessmen in N'eliya (apparently the so-called trustees) very rich. What benefit it has brought the people of the area is not clear.

The new kovil is said to have been launched by a former senior army official for purposes of fulfilling a vow. It appears that the construction is under the aegis of the army, quite in contrast to its legitimate duty of protecting the nation. It is also said that about 10 perches of reservation land has been allocated (to whom?) by the Forest Department for this purpose. As to whether such allocation is legal is worth investigating.

According to a law promulgated in 1818 by the then Governor Robert Brownrigg, no religious monument other than Buddhist monuments may be built anywhere in the former Kandyan kingdom without the express licence of the governor (today it is the President and Cabinet of Ministers). This law is yet valid and has been included under the country's legal enactments during the legal reforms process. Thus both these kovils including many hundreds of other non-Buddhist monuments built without licence cannot be legal. But rules are meant to be broken in Sri Lanka and nobody cares.

Several years ago, this whole area from Mahagastota junction to Hakgala gardens and beyond, was lush montane forest. Today, it is shocking to note the vast acres opened up for vegetable and potato cultivation. The hillsides are dotted with terraces and huts. Most of the original Hakgala Strict Natural Reserve (SNR) has been illegally encroached into with political patronage. Only a small patch of forest is left around the Hakgala peak itself. It must be stressed that this whole area forms part of the greater catchment of the Mahaweli. The small Seetha-Eliya stream that runs alongside the main road (past the kovil) joins up with the Bomuraella oya to form the Dolgolle oya which is one of the main tributaries of the Uma oya. As we all know, the Uma oya falls directly into the Rantembe reservoir which is part of the Mahaweli complex.

Over the last few decades, the Uma oya has been bringing down tons of silt due to severe erosion in the Welimada region as a result of indiscriminate potato cultivation. Studies by the Mahaweli Authority has disclosed that the reservoir is getting dangerously silted up, which would adversely affect its hydropower potential. Millions will have to be spent on a future desilting operation. Thus, any tampering with the Seetha-Eliya forest will definitely escalate the problem and allocation of a 30-acre block from such an important MAB reserve would be disastrous to the Mahaweli complex as a whole. Whether a few Indian rupees by way of tourism earnings can compensate for such a calamity is highly debatable.

The area is a unique wetzone montane habitat. Many endemic and endangered species of fauna and flora are confined to these last remaining patches of forest. The horned lizard and the bear monkey are two important species found only in this region. Many plant species are being gradually lost due to habitat loss and environmental degradation in this area.

Politicians, some bureaucrats and businessmen have to share the blame for such a catastrophe, especially due to allocation of such lands for building purposes and for cultivation. And today, we are about to allocate another 30 acres for a doubtful tourist venture. Tomorrow, nothing will remain except a dry stream bed.

According to the Tourist Board, the Ramapura-Hanuman cum Sita Kovil complex on 30 acres of MAB reservation, will be constructed without cutting a single tree. This is preposterous nonsense, considering the density of vegetation and the steepness of the slope in this area. One has to see the location to understand the absurdity of this plan.

Then again, once the complex is built, there is nothing to prevent regional politicians and petty bureaucrats to allocate land around the area for hotels, guest houses, restaurants, boutiques, shops, latrines, etc. Mobile shops ('petti-kades') will spring up like mushrooms and motor garages, bus terminals, etc. will come up in time. Garbage will pile up, especially in the stream, which will also be used for bathing and washing vehicles.

The classic example is Kataragama. In the past, this was a quiet, sylvan shrine, a pleasure to visit. Today, it is a polluted garbage dump, replete with cholera, ganja, wild meat, pickpockets and prostitutes. The adjacent Yala National Park is illegally used for the procurement of wild game, ganja growing, timber extraction, etc., so as to supply Kataragama and its numerous 'pilgrims'. A similar fate awaits Seetha-Eliya. We cannot fool around with this fragile environment.

India is full of historic Rama and Hanuman kovils. It is quite absurd to conjecture that Indians will want to come all this way to visit a modern kovil, when they have thousands of their own. Sri Lanka has its own tourist attractions, including our own historic sites. Historically speaking, we are informed by experts such as Prof. Abhaya Ariyasingha (former Prof. of Archaeology) that the Ramayana is a myth and that this area (and even the whole of Sri Lanka) has nothing to do with this legend. (Island, 1.11.98). Therefore it is absurd for a government corporation to perpetuate myths in the hope of earning a few Indian rupees. The name "Seetha-eliya" is mispronounced in English as "Sita Eliya". "Seetha" in Sinhala means "colds" (pronounced with a shortened "a" at the end). Thus "Seetha-Eliya" is "cold-plains" and "Seetha-pokuna" is "cold-pond".

When climbing Sri Pada, one encounters "seetha-gangula" or "cold-river". This too may be anglicized to "Sita-gangula" shortly, where the legendary Sita had a bath. No doubt, another bright spark may get the idea of constructing another 'Sitamman kovil' there.

This kind of nonsense should stop, especially in this modern day and age. We should not revert back to the stone age and monkey worship. Today, hardly 17% forest cover is left in our country. In such a situation, we cannot afford to destroy our remaining forests so as to build monuments to legendary creatures and to perpetuate myths.

It is high time that government resorted to drawing up proper, scientific, long term development plans for the country. For this, teams of experts must be appointed to each Ministry. All such plans must be analysed in detail and presented to the public for debate. Ad-hoc plans have no place in this modern age.

Mango - in the Mahavamsa

by Gamini G. Punchihewa
Oh' to be said of the mango fruit-Amba. Its delicious which is partaken by humans, animals, birds and insects.

The mango has a history dating back to the bringing of Buddhism/ to Lanka during the reign of King Devanampiyatissa by Thera Mahinda (son of Emperor Asoka of India), from Jambuddipa (India) in the 3rd Century B.C.

To test the king's intelligence as a prelude to the preaching of Buddhism the Dharma, Mahinda Thera posed the- king with these questions as quoted from our chronicle, the 'Mahavamsa".

''What name does this tree bear'', he asked him.

''This tree is called mango'', the king replied.

''Is thera yet another mango tree besides this'', the there asked him.

''There are mango trees'', the king replied.

''And are there yet other trees besides this mango tree and other mango trees'', the thera asked the king. ''There are many trees, Sir, but these are trees that are not mangoes' replied the wise king.

''And are there besides the other mango trees and those trees which are not mangoes, yet other trees.''

''There is a mango tree, Sir,''.

So we see mango trees, were in existence in Lanka even from pre-Buddhistic times''.

Mango Episodes
Devanampiyatissa's brother Mahanaga (sub-king) was very much attached to his brother's son. Devananmpiyatissa's queen susptected that the king might bequeth his kingship to Mahanaga. When the king's son in the company of his uncle Mahanaga visited a tank called Teruncche (Walas Veva) in Anuradhapura the designing queen sent a tray of ripe mangoes-with the very ripe mangoe kept on top poisoned by her.

The little prince was lured to take the very ripe poisoned mango from the tray and died on the spot. Mahanaga, his queen and retinue left in disgust to Ruhuna and founded the ancient kingdom of Mahagama.

Among the native species of mangoes are betti amba, eta amba, meeamba and kohu amba. The exotic species is named botanically as Magnifera Indica. In Sanscrit is called Amba, while in Tamil Mankai.

The mango has a plurality of Sanscrit names. Among them are Amba, Chula, Sahakara and in Hindi mythology it is known as the ''transformation of Prajapathi, the Lord of Creation" and its leaves are used in their religious ceremonies and parts of the tree is used in native medicines in India.

Hindu writers acclaim the mango tree as the 'pride of the garden, the choiciest fruit of all the fruits in Hindustan'.

The ripe fruit is converted into delicious chutney both in India and Sri Lanka. In some parts of India, the mango is the staple diet during some months of the year. The seed kernel is dried and made into flour and partaken as liquid food and wood imported here is called rata amba, the local wood is also used as planks.

The mango fruit is alluded to in Robert Knox's 'An Historical Relation of Ceylon' (1681-A.D.):- ''Here are several other sorts of lemons and oranges, mangoes, of several sorts, some very good, too sweet to eat. In this sort of fruit, the king much delights and hath brought to him all parts of the Island''.

Jaffna mangoes are rated as the tastiest of all mango varieties. Among them is the variety known as Kotta Kolamba. An exotic species of mangoes is the well known variety called Villard - blend of the Australian species called Willard (as quoted from Macmillan's 'Tropical Gardening'.

The mango seeds dried are used in native medicines. The leaves serve as a disinfectant, as branches of leaves are held over patients treated during devil dancing ceremonies to invoke the blessings saying 'ayi bo weva'. Let all malaefic effects be dispelled. All the parts of the trees leaves and its fruit are used in Ayurvedic medicines for diseases like diarrhoea, diabetes, skin eruptions.

In the Walawe region where this writer lived worked and presently living at Embilipitiya for nearly three decades, there is a glut of mangoes produced during the two mango seasons. December-January and April-May. Bulk of the fruits get perished due to lack of marketing facilities.

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