Category Archives: education

July 18, 2025 · 2:21 am

How the ICES – the International Centre of Ethnic Studies – Arose

A Note by the Late SWR de Samarasinghe penned in 2021 and presented now in his Honour, albeit against his wishes then.

 Dear Michael:

I will have a look at the document when you place it on Thuppahi.

BTW, I noticed that you mention the names of KM, Neelan and Radhika as the three people responsible for the establishment of ICES. Factually, Neelan got the initial grant from the Ford Foundation, KM got permission from JR to set it up. JR also instructed the then Finance Minister Ronnie de Mel to facilitate the process. Neelan invited Radhika [Coomaraswamy] to join as Associate Director and KM invited me to join as the Associate Director.  

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July 11, 2025 · 5:00 pm

Hard Yards in Medical Learning at Colombo University in the 1960s

Dr Nihal D Amerasekera, in The Island, 6 July 2025, …where the title reads  “Going through Colombo Medical School” ... with highlighting emphasis imposed y ThE Editor, Thuppahi

Some real-life experiences:  I am looking at the events of the 20th century with 21st century spectacles. Hence there are no hard feelings or anger except a fervent hope the situation has changed for the better.

My first introduction to the Medical Faculty was on registration day. It started with virtual ‘road blocks’ by seniors to round up the freshers. This was the beginning of the rag to usher in the new recruits and introduce them to a new brand of nastiness, a tradition that has prevailed since the very beginning of the institution.

Photo here  This infamous ritual has become more outrageous with time. This kind of harassment went on for a further fortnight after we joined. What an introduction to a supposed sanctuary of like-minded scholars!! I look back at this behaviour — a set of practices was accepted by many of the staff in the Faculty andeven encouraged by some of them.

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April 2, 2025 · 10:29 am

THOMIA’s Frontal Pages ….

The hard copy of THOMIA by Richard Simon in two volumes — all 868 + lxv pages of this searching history — is now in print. Presented here are the initial pages.

 

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April 1, 2025 · 7:31 pm

Gananath’s Manifold Reach: Many Voices in Vale

IT is a testament to Gananath’s openness and skills that personnel from so many walks of life have stepped up to record his influence on their thinking and lives. May he dwell comfortably in his after-life. ….. Michael Roberts

A Female Voice in Facebook, March 2025

I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Prof Gananath Obeyesekere. Much will be written about Prof Obeyesekere’s contribution to academia in the coming days. He was a giant in the field and one of the most well-known and respected Sri Lankan intellectuals.

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March 29, 2025 · 11:28 am

Launching the Book THOMIA … in Colombo

IN  PICTURES   

     the author speaking ….. and signing books

… with Suresh Navaratnam in this  picture

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March 28, 2025 · 7:10 pm

Donald Friend’s Acid Readings of the Sri Lankan Scenario, 1957-1962

EXTRACTS From The DIARIES Of DONALD FRIEND, Volume 3** …. The Ceylon Diaries cover the period 25th January 1957 to 22nd July 1962 and run into 180 pages in small print. During this period Donald Friend, the gifted Australian artist, based himself at Bevis Bawa’s ‘Brief’, Bentota.

“His diary entries are pithy, sarcastic, self-critical and wonderfully observant of people, places and events. I dare say he was a better writer than a painter. One can only look on aghast at how little things have changed in Sri Lanka in nearly 50 years of turmoil. ….”  .… (the author of this ASSESSMENT remains unclear; while the highlights are interventions on my part: Michael Roberts).

26th January 1957: Time drifts through all this…. carrying on his back, like a turtle, a weight of the idiotic likes and dislikes….

4th February: Who like Bevis, is a hypochondriac. They both make a fascinating hobby of pills and injections …

19th March: The horrid old guide jibbered on endlessly, telling whopping lies.

24th March: Ratnapura Resthouse – nauseatingly loud Americans and a rabble of Ceylon drunks.

11th April: Orientals fortunately regard madness as something allied to holiness.

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March 26, 2025 · 10:05 pm

An Epitaph for Gananath Obeyesekere

Chandra R. De Silva, … with highlighting emphasis added by The Editor, Thuppahi

I write to add a few words to the outpouring of appreciations of Gananath Obeyesekere, a scholar whose research in anthropology, religion, myth, and cultural practices  has won him accolades across the world. I will not comment on the advances in knowledge and the discussions he provoked by his many scholarly works of which among the best known are Land Tenure in Village Ceylon, The Cult of the Goddess Pattini, Buddhism Transformed (co-author), The Work of Culture, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific, and The Doomed King. There has been much written on this world renowned scholar, and there will undoubtedly be more comments by experts in the years to come.

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March 26, 2025 · 1:34 pm

Deeply Lankika: John De Silva

Responding to a Request from An Aloysian Schoolmate and Friend named Roberts, John de Silva, aka “Johnny,” provided these fascinating genealogical details…… Michael Roberts

 UNIQUE FAMILY CONNECTIONS

I am not too sure if I had sent you details of where I came from! In other words, who were my parents and who were their parents. This is often a mundane Family Tree exercise and bears not much significance in the scheme of things. However, I feel that my family connections are unique when it comes to the Island of Sri Lanka.

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March 23, 2025 · 11:54 pm

Sustaining Mahinda College in Galle: E. A. Wijesooriya

A Mahindian in Facebook … with Malware blocking the photo displayed from deployment here … but see below

The following is a write-up appeared in the book the “Century of Memories” edited by the Late Tiddy Wijeratne, Percy Samara-Wickrama and my friend Duleep Dantanarayana, which was published in 1993. The article I am uploading is written by the Late Professor Vinnie Vitharana and I hope it will be read by the present day Students of Mahinda College. Duleep, one of the Editors was very kind in giving me permission to upload this for the benefit of the Mahindians who have not read this.

Born on 23rd March 1905, Mr. E.A. Wijesooriya would have been 120 years today.
Edgar Albert Wijesooriya …….. On a wet morning in May over five decades ago a lad from southern village, characteristically awkward and unpolished, approached the gates of a school in Galle. And at the sight of the elephants in bas-relief on the stone posts, his rustic feet faltered. Within, a broad pathway fringed with slanting Araliya trees in bloom meandered up a hillock marked by imposing buildings and taller flowering vegetation. Halfway up on the right was flight of steps in stone clinging to an arbour ed slope that showed the way direct to the summit.

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March 23, 2025 · 12:06 pm

Simon’s THOMIA sways Sri Lanka

Rohan Pethiyagoda, reviewing the new book THOMIA written by Richard Simon, in The Island, 16 March 2025

As schools go, St Thomas’s College Mt Lavinia has, since its inception in 1851, had a disproportionate influence on the affairs of Sri Lanka. In ways both good and bad, it created the modern incarnation of this country. After all, four of our first five prime ministers were Thomians (‘Thomian’, by the way, is a Latin diminutive of Thomas, like Tom in English).

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