Category Archives: ancient civilisations

Roman Szechowycz: A Discerning Eye for Past & Present in the Gal Oya’s History

This is a presentation of an article entitled “The “Rock River” Story” by Roman W. Szechowycz in the Loris Magazine, Vol. 8 No. 6  December, 1960. Page 348. Its presentation here has been made feasible by my Aloysian pal KK De Silva.  I have underlined aspects of this account with highlights.

Let me stress here that Roman Szechowycz’s searching eye and mind leaves me amazed. This essay links the landscape to its medieval and ancient history and dwells on the history of Sinhalese civilization in revealing manner. 

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Pictorials: Roman Szechowycz in the Dry Zone in the 1950s

Michael Roberts

Dr Roman Szechowycz and  his brother served the newly independent island of Ceylon in its hydraulic agriculture projects in the Dry Zone in the period 1950 to 1961 …. mostly from a base at Inginiyagala in the Eastern Province where the Gal Oya Tank was constructed. We are fortunate to have some photographic ‘asides’ of a “personnel nature” — so to speak — associated with this work  The detailed descriptions presented elsewhere in TPS: viz.; …..

Experiences: Working on the Gal Oya Project in Ceylon, 1950-61

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“Aryan Roots” …. Nazi Scientists in Search of ‘Holy Grail’ in the Indian Subcontinent in 1939

This item was sent to the TPS Editor by Keith Bennett in February 2024. It can be located on web at …. Nazi Scientists Who Wanted To Find The Origins Of The Aryan Race Came To Sri Lanka – Roar Media

Highlighting has been imposed by the Editor, Thuppahi and a photo of Sirima Kirbamune added.

circa 1938: German dictator Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) and his chief of police Heinrich Himmler (1900 – 1945) inspecting the SS Guard. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

 

In 1938, Heinrich Himmler, one of the leading members of Germany’s Nazi Party and a key architect of the Holocaust, appointed a five-member team to go to Tibet, to search for the origins of the ‘Aryan race’. 

HIMMLER 11

1,046 Heinrich Himmler Stock Photos, High-Res Pictures, and Images – Getty Images

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Hasthihailapura or Elephant Rock City in Lanka Today

Text & Pix by Mahil Wijesinghe, at ………..  on 24 February 2024 …with this title “A Journey to the Elephant Rock city”

The stone Bodhigaraya at Nilakgama The stone Bodhigaraya at Nilakgama

Kurunegala, the capital of the North Western Province, (Wayamba) has a historical name ‘Hasthihailapura’ (Elephant Rock City). It was the royal capital of Sri Lanka from 1293-1241 A.D. and is full of legend, romance and history Continue reading

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From “Tribalism” to “Fascist Nationalism”: Ethical Musings

Brian Victoria* … in Informed Comment  … https://www.juancole.com/2024/02/judaism-tribalism-universalism.html…. where the title read thus: “The Battle for the Soul of Judaism: Tribalism, Amalek and the Axial Age Universalism of Isaiah”

 

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Expanding War in Middle-East with Increasing Brinkmanship & Bluff

SEE Alistair Crooke’s Assessment at almayadeen with this title Bluffs and Counter Bluffs as the War Widens” …. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

The Washington Post reported on 7 January 2024 that Biden has tasked his staff with preventing widening regional war. The piece was purposefully leaked (as even the Washington Post admit) — and is a bluff.

When Defence Secretary Austin last visited “Israel”, he clearly ‘green-lighted’ Israeli military action to push Hizbullah away from south Lebanon, to the north of the Litani River — about 29 kms north of the Blue Line southern boundary.

 

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Galgiriya Mountain and Its Unique Monastic Ruins

Prageeth Sampath Karunathilaka, in Daily Mirror, 20 December 2023, where the title reads thus: “Longest mountain in Sri Lanka: How Saliya-Asokamala shaped the history of Galgiriya Mountain” ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Galgiriya mountain seen from afar

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Early Writing: The Evidence from Sri Lanka

Darshanie Ratnawalli, here reproducing an article presented in the Colombo Telegraph and The Island in June 2016, where the title runs  “Sri Lanka’s role in South Asia’s earliest writing controversy”

A few years ago someone came up with the campaign line ‘small miracle’ as a unique proposition to promote Sri Lanka to tourists. The Rajapaksa Government took exception to the ‘small’ and scrapped the campaign midway. This was a pity. The country has genuine small miracle credentials, tending sometimes to raise eyebrows by producing phenomena usually deemed too big, too grand for a country of its size. It can for example claim ownership of the oldest surviving, reliably dated samples of writing to be found in the whole of South Asia.

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Just DESSERTS for India at Cricket World Cup …. & Modi’s Curtness

Tunku Varadarajan, in The Wire, 20 November 2023  where the title reads thus: “Cricket Mata Ki Jai: Jingoism Lost in Ahmedabad on Sunday” ... while highlights in blue have been imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

 

That India lost in the final was karmic payback for the BCCI’s sins against the game, and also for the Ahmedabad crowd’s unwillingness to be sporting and civilised.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi walking away from Pat Cummins after handing him the trophy. Photo: Screengrab from video Tunku Varadarajan

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Savouring Sri Lanka Today, 2023: A Glorious Ride

Paddy Hintz in The Weekend Australian, 25 October 2023, bearing this title “Jungles, curries and wild elephants: why Sri Lanka is a ride”

We’re just in time to climb into Kandalama’s beautiful infinity pool and be” mesmerised by fireflies as monkeys sift through the trees beside us.

The morning tour is spectacular. Sigiriya Rock Fortress features cascading water gardens, a vertigo-inducing climb to find the remnants of a paranoid and murderous king’s domain (complete with ancient swimming pool) and a cliff-face cave full of frescoes of scantily clad concubines.

Sigiriya rock fortress, Sri Lanka. Photo: Dylan Shaw

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