Jayadeva Uyangoda, in Sri Lanka Guardian 24 September 2020, where the title is “The End of Sri Lanka’s Democracy”
The debate on the proposed 20th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s 1978 Constitution is gathering momentum. The proposal, which has been published in the Government Gazette, is indeed a constitutional bombshell, literally. Its provisions are very destructive in their objectives as well as consequences.
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Raj Gonsalkorale, in DailyFT, 4 August 2020, with this title “The Northern Province: The centre for Tamil culture in Sri Lanka”
As much as the Sinhala Buddhist culture and its richness should be recognized, the Tamil culture, in particular the Tamil Hindu culture and its universality, too needs to be recognized. All Sri Lankans should be proud that the country has two such ancient cultures as its foundations.
– Pic by Shehan Gunasekara
http://www.ft.lk/columns/The-Northern-Province-The-centre-for-Tamil-culture-in-Sri-Lanka/4-704036
Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. … The word “culture” derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin “colere,” which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture.
Filed under Australian culture, australian media, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, economic processes, education, governance, heritage, Hinduism, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, language policies, life stories, politIcal discourse, reconciliation, religiosity, Saivism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, tolerance, welfare & philanthophy
Jehan Perera, in Island, 30 June 2020, with this title “The Need For Better Representation In Divided Societies”
There has been a trend of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa making senior appointments in which those who are outside the established administrative systems are being brought in to provide leadership and ensure effective and non-corrupt practices. As a large number of these appointments have been from the security forces this has given rise to a perception that the country is heading towards eventual military rule. There is a concern that the forthcoming general elections will be followed by constitutional changes that will entrench the military in governance as in some other countries such as Myanmar. This is unlikely to be the case in Sri Lanka as democratic traditions upholding civilian control of government are deeply ingrained in the fabric of political society.
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, Buddhism, chauvinism, communal relations, democratic measures, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, language policies, legal issues, life stories, Muslims in Lanka, politIcal discourse, population, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, tolerance, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions
ABSORB THIS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz6zMy9Hf1U&t=924s
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, British imperialism, Buddhism, caste issues, commoditification, communal relations, constitutional amendments, cultural transmission, education, evolution of languages(s), heritage, historical interpretation, immigration, Indian Ocean politics, Indian religions, insurrections, island economy, Kandyan kingdom, land policies, language policies, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Born in 1931 — on 31st December no less — Kingsley Muthumuni de Silva, is still batting … with a pen. This compilation has been assembled by Iranga de Silva of ICES Kandy…. and is arranged in reverse chronological sequence.
Filed under British colonialism, British imperialism, Buddhism, caste issues, communal relations, constitutional amendments, devolution, education, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, insurrections, island economy, land policies, Left politics, life stories, LTTE, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajiv Gandhi, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Colin Marshall in Open Culture, 15 May 2020, where the title is “Breathtakingly-Detailed Tibetan Book Printed 40 Years Before the Gutenberg Bible”
The Gutenberg Bible went to press in the year 1454. We now see it as the first piece of mass media, printed as it was with the then-cutting-edge technology of metal movable type. But in the history of aesthetic achievements in book-printing, the Gutenberg Bible wasn’t without its precedents. To find truly impressive examples requires looking in lands far from Europe: take, for instance, this “Sino-Tibetan concertina-folded book, printed in Beijing in 1410, containing Sanskrit dhāranīs and illustrations of protective mantra-diagrams and deities, woodblock-printed in bright red ink on heavy white paper,” whose “breathtakingly detailed printing” predates Gutenberg by 40 years.
Filed under ancient civilisations, Buddhism, China and Chinese influences, cultural transmission, evolution of languages(s), heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, modernity & modernization, pilgrimages, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world events & processes
DB Dhanapala on LH Mettananda in his book Among those Present, 1962
OF COURSE, L.H. Mettananda is a fanatic. Anybody who dares to talk of Buddhist’s rights in a Buddhist country is bound to be called a fanatic bent on disturbing the peace and rousing up religious feelings.
Mettananda seated alongside Banda
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Island, 28 November 2011, where the title is “D.B. Dhanapala’s “Among Those Present’’ re-published in a labour of love”
In a labour of love, nearly 50 years after it was first published, D.B. Dhanapala’s son, D.B. Nihalsingha, has brought out a second edition of his father’s much-loved book “Among Those Present” which has acquired a collector’s imprimatur.
The book was a collection of pen portraits of notables of the times that Dhanapala wrote for the Blue Page of the Ceylon Daily News between 1937 and 1939 under the pen name of Janus.
Gerald H Peiris’s New Book: PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE OF KANDY …. a monograph
Kandy 1
Kandy is considered the epitome of Sri Lanka’s civilisational heritage, both as a supremely venerated sanctum in the world of Thēravāda Buddhism as well as from perspectives of harmonious multiculturalism evident in its demographic, structural and functional characteristics…..
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Sent by Michael Roosmale-Cocq and Rex Kellar
from The Golden Book of the Theosophical Society (1925) … Col Olcott is the bearded gent seated mid-centre.
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thuppahi
