Category Archives: cultural transmission

March 5, 2024 · 12:08 pm

Hulugalle’s Appreciation of Revd Senior’s Career in Old Ceylon

FROM the recent ISLAND article …. 3-3-2024 …. by HAJ HULUGALLE on Revd SENIOR of Trinity and Ceylon” .… with highlighting emphasis added by The Editor, Thuppahi

“Robert Crossette Thambiah and I, devoted old pupils of his, published these short poems in a slim volume called “Vita Magistra.”
The centenary of the birth of W. S. Senior falls on Friday, May 10. Some of my younger readers may well ask, who he was and why any notice should be taken of his hundredth birthday. Walter Stanley Senior came to Ceylon in 1906 and, when I first met him in 1910, he was Vice-Principal of Trinity College, Kandy. He was a fine classical scholar, a great teacher, a social worker and, although a Yorkshireman, Sri Lanka’s best poet.

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March 3, 2024 · 12:27 pm

Michael Tissera’s Multi-Faceted Cricketing Career

Ravi Rudra, presenting a Q and A with Michael Tissera in mid-December 2023, entitled  “The Michael Tissera Interview – with Ravi Rudra“

*Tissera Brothers – Michael with older brother Vernon at the Thomian (Over 65) Fellowship at SSC on 17 Dec 2023. Vernon played 1st XI back in 1949 as an opening bat scoring a solid 30 in the 70th Battle of the Blues. Vernon is currently the third oldest Thomian cricketer after Chandra Schaffter & Bradman Weerakoon.

Q 1: What was the major turning point in your cricketing career?

“At school [S. Thomas College], I hardly scored runs consistently. Those days the school matches were played over two half-days and you looked to push the game along to get results. I got one only hundred while playing for College. The lack of big scores  was more mental than technique.

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March 1, 2024 · 7:09 pm

“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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March 1, 2024 · 12:29 am

The Roberts Mss at Adelaide University Library

Michael Roberts

Recent Email Exchanges with Jane Russell of UK, who has one foot in England and two feet in island Sri Lanka, and a revived focus on  George E De Silva (1870-1950) reminded me of the George E. Mss Memoirs in typescript which Jane had given me long ago. This led me to a long list which amounts to a treasure trove for those addressing a variety of topics in the history of Sri Lanka. I present the details before. Those wishing to pursue specifics must write to the Head of the Special Collections at the Barr Smith Library Adelaide University, not to me: samantha.farnsworth@adelaide.edu.au

It is my conjecture that the same corpus of material (or parts thereof) will also be part of the Roberts Collection at the National Library Services Board along Torrington Rd (beside the National Archives) in Colombo. They could initially seek specifics from Mr Welimuni Sunil who heads the institution: viz …

Welimuni Sunil … sunilnldsb@gmail.com

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February 29, 2024 · 8:00 pm

‘Hoisting the Flag for Lansi Eelam! in 1985

Michael Roberts

After several years work in asociation with Ismeth Raheem and Percy Colin-Thome  the book People Inbetween: The Burghers an the Middle Class in the Transformations within Sri Lanka, 1780s-1960s was brought out under the imprint of Savodaya Publishing Services in 1989.**  Its first chapter on “Pejorative Phrases ..” was a central and critical segment of the whole work and included an illustrative çartoon that had been presented in The Island newspaper on the 27th January 1985.

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February 29, 2024 · 7:49 pm

Fascinating Test Match at Ranchi: An English Observer’s Daily Reviews

Daniel Byrne, … in special reports for the Guy From Galle  … incomplete, alas because of computer problems

DAY ONE in RANCHI: Root’s patient century shows there is a way to succeed in India without risking throwing your wicket away

Two days before the start of the Ranchi Test players and journalists alike questioned the number of cracks already visible on the batting surface. With Jasprit Bumrah rested for the fourth Test many were suspicious that a spin friendly surface would produce a fast-moving contest likely to last only three days or four at most. The England side was revealed a day early as is the way with Stokes and McCullum allowing adequate time for the players to mentally prepare for the challenges ahead. Bairstow retained his place in the batting line up while Bashir took over from Rehan Ahmed as the second spinner. Robinson was selected instead of Wood and Anderson was promoted to bat at Number 10.

List of international cricket grounds in India – Wikipedia

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February 28, 2024 · 3:33 pm

Lecture on Buddhist Temple Paintings durng the Colonial Period

Prof. Chandanie Wanigatunge will be delivering a National Trust Lecture on “Temple Paintings during Colonial Period” ….. at 6.00 pm, Thursday, 29th February 2024 ………. The Auditorium of the College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka, No. 6, Independence Avenue, Colombo 7….. accessible on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/@ntsl9627

Degaldoruwa Temple

 

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February 28, 2024 · 12:20 am

Legacy of an Artist and Musician … George de Niese & His Descendants

Premila Thurairatnam …. Review of a presentation at the meeting of CSA (Melbourne Chapter) held on Sunday 12th Nov 2023 by Alan de Niese … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Melburnians gathered at Ashwood Hall on a beautiful spring day to listen to 3MBS presenter of ‘Wednesday Night at the Opera’ Alan de Niese. In his natural, engaging, manner he related his ancestors’ history, in particular, of George de Niese who was a well-known painter and musician in Ceylon. Alan’s Dutch ancestry dates back to 1730 when Benjamin de Niese was born. He was a soldier with the Dutch East India Company and a Scriba of the Land Court of Jaffna. George de Niese (1884–1954) was his great-great-great grandson making him the sixth generation to be born and live in Jaffna. His father James was a recognised artist in Jaffna. He was also a jack-of-all-trades who was known to be a good tailor and cobbler.

   George de Niese — a self-portrait in 1944

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February 27, 2024 · 12:29 pm

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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February 26, 2024 · 1:35 am

More about “Pissu Percy”

Michael Roberts supplementing KK De Silva’s article with aid from Johnny De Silva in Melbourne (all three of us Aloysians who played cricket in the School XI in the mid-1950s)

“Michael Roberts, writes as follows on his initiation in an article titled ‘Aloysian Identity’ in the Aloysian Centenary Souvenir, 1895-1995: ‘A big cricket match meant cheering parties. Big cheering parties, and sometimes ‘bajau‘ afterwards. These cheering parties were boisterous, rumbustious, inspiring affairs — even when saddened at the end by our team’s effort.”

‘The doyen of cheer leaders in our time [my pre-16 junior days] was Royle Barthelot. And among us learning the trade which has made him famous was Percy Abeysekera, Pissu Percy, as he is lovingly (and not always lovingly), called. It could be truly said that he is one of the most widely known Aloysians of our time, leaving such luminaries as Dr Cyril Ponnamperuma in the shade!

He has also been a good ambassador as I can attest from Australian crowd responses in Adelaide — where I had the privilege of watching a one-day match where, facing an imposing target of over 300, we [the two us] watched Roshan Mahanama and Arjuna Ranatunga lead a magnificent fight back after an initial collapse in a game which we — that is Sri Lanka — lost nobly.

This just goes to show that being Aloysian has been a building block towards being Sri Lankan.’

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