PK Balachandran
Category Archives: Indian traditions
Cultural Cross-Fertilization as the Road to Amity
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
Portuguese Colombo in 1662 via the Sketches of Esaias Bourse
Chryshane Mendis, in The HistoryFreek, 4 May 2020, where the title reads “Colombo in Transition 1662: Through the Eyes of Artist Esaias Boursse
This short essay serves as an introduction to a rare collection of sketches of Colombo and its environs in the year 1662.
Sinhalese soldier and labourer
Esaias Boursse was a servant of the VOC who made over hundred sketches of daily life in Colombo, mainly focused on the People and the work they were engaged in. This collection is called the “Tijkenboeck” and is held by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. This album containing 116 sheets of drawings came into the possession of the Rijksmuseum in 1996. Its value outweighs the poor quality of some of the drawings in that it captures scenes from within a city which was being transformed from its Portuguese outlook to the Dutch; thus some scenes depict street views of Portuguese Colombo- a phenomena never before captured in drawing except for textual descriptions.
Filed under architects & architecture, authoritarian regimes, colonisation schemes, cultural transmission, economic processes, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, military strategy, politIcal discourse, population, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, religiosity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes
The Exiled Malays, Javanese et al in Ceilao and Lanka Today and Yesterday
Greg Fealy reviewing Ronit Ricci, Banishment and Belonging: Exile and Diaspora in Sarandib, Lanka and Ceylon, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2019, 282pp, ISBN 978-1-108-72724-2…… https://www.newmandala.org/book-review/banishment-and-belonging-exile-and-diaspora-in-sarandib-lanka-and-ceylon-2019/
For well over a century, Sri Lanka was the Dutch colonial administration’s main site of exile for troublesome Indonesians. From the late seventeenth century, hundreds of ‘natives’ from the Netherlands East Indies who were deemed rebellious were consigned to the island, many never to return. They were a diverse community, including members of royal families from across the archipelago and their retinues, as well as soldiers, convicts and slaves. Among the nobles were kings, sultans and princes from Java, Madura, the Moluccas and Timor. Revered Islamic leaders were also banished there. Conditions for the exiles ranged from tolerably comfortable to miserable, with often tight restrictions on their ability to socialize and travel within the island, and also limited communications with family and peers in the Indies. The psychological toll of separation from their homeland was immense. Many felt humiliated and personally diminished by the experience. Today, the descendants of this exilic community are known collectively as ‘Sri Lankan Malays’ and they have a distinctive culture and identity borne of their peculiar historical experience.
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, Indian traditions, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories
A Sino-Tibetan Folded Book from 1410 predates the Gutenberg Bible
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
Sacrificial Devotion in Comparative Perspective: A Workshop at Adelaide University in Late 2005
Daya ….. Rohan…. Shyam…. Riaz ….. what a South Asian spread! …………………. a dinkie-die curry’
I = Michael Roberts: An Explanatory Preamble Cast in May 2020
By 2004 I had retired from teaching in the Anthropology Department at Adelaide University and was proceeding with the pursuit of my research interests at my own pace within my limited resources. Sri Lanka and my connections therein was one such resource. When researching in Colombo in late November 2004 I flew to Jaffna on a wing and a prayer[1] with the intention of exploring the Tamil Tiger “cult of suicide.” Previous contacts with two Tamil Canadians and a visit to the University of Jaffna as soon as I landed assisted me no end: partly via the invaluable support provided by the Krishnaswamy family[2] and the readiness of their medical student son, Chenthan to become my aide and guide during peregrinations within the Peninsula.[3]
Filed under atrocities, Australian culture, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, fundamentalism, heritage, Hinduism, historical interpretation, immolation, Indian religions, Indian traditions, Islamic fundamentalism, jihad, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, LTTE, martyrdom, nationalism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, religious nationalism, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes
Presidential Pardons for Criminals, Terrorists, and Who Else?
Chandre Dharmawardana, whose thoughts should be ruminated on in the light of the preceding item = https://thuppahis.com/2020/03/30/justice-decimated-with-gotas-ominous-step-military-murderer-rathnayake-pardoned/
When the family of the Czar Nicholas, children and women included, were brutally killed by the Bolshevik revolutionaries, that was justified by a throng of intellectuals who were ready to defend anything done in the name of Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin. Clever dialectical arguments were presented as to why even the children had to be killed. More sensitive souls presented excuses rather than justifications. A favorite one was that “it is inevitable” that some bourgeois sentiments will be upset when a little extra blood is let – but all that is justified in the quest to reach the coveted end.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, Buddhism, charitable outreach, communal relations, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian traditions, JVP, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, trauma, war crimes, world events & processes
The Aditye Wansaya presenting the Lindamulage Clan
Johnny De Silva, presenting a typed copy of the English translation of an ola book, The Aditiya Wansaya, carried out by Pandit Yatinuwara Indaratne Thero for my granduncle Mr Charles de Silva
THE ADITYE DYNASTY (CLAN) OR ADITYE WANSAYA
The son of Aditiya was known as Aditye i.e. the sun. The lineage that originates from the sun is known as the Solar dynasty, or ‘Surya Wansaya’. The ‘Aditye Wansaya’ is the Solar Dynasty in another name; and those that belong to this clan are of Royal descent. The foremost of the Royal clans in ancient India was the Aditye Clan. The ‘Surya Wansaya’ ‘Dinakan Wansaya’ are other names used for this clan.
Filed under caste issues, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, sri lankan society, world events & processes
The Tamil Buddhists of the Anuradhapura Civilization
J.L. Devananda on Sunil Ariyaratne and His Thesis on the Tamil Buddhists of Ancient Sri Lanka …. with this title “The Tamil Buddhists of the Past and the Future”.….. in Sri Lanka Guardian, 10 October 2010 at ……………… …… https://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=43,9583,0,0,1,0#.XO2iAhbASUk
In his keynote address at the 2554th Vesak (Vaishakha Purnima) celebrations at the Mahabodhi Society in Chennai, Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne, University of Sri Jayawardenapura said, “As we are nearing 2600 Buddha Jayanthi, as a Sinhala Buddhist, this is my humble dream for the future: Tamil Buddhist temples should come up in Sri Lanka; Tamil children should embrace Buddhist monkhood; Buddhism must be taught in Tamil; preaching and worshipping Buddhism in Tamil; Tamil Bikkus should have Sinhala followers and Tamil Bhikkus must visit Sinhala homes. That togetherness should be there.”
Filed under architects & architecture, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, transport and communications, Uncategorized, world events & processes
The Portuguese Burghers in Ceilao, Ceylon and Sri Lanka
Earl Barthelot, in Ceylon Digest, https://www.ceylondigest.com/the-portuguese-burghers-of-sri-lanka/
Sri Lanka is well known for its diversity with over 22 numerically small communities and majority communities such as Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. Burgher community is one of the numerically small communities. Large proportions of the Burghers do live in the Batticaloa District and a small proportion live both in Trincomalee and Ampara District. At the same time there are Portuguese Burghers living in all parts of the country in small numbers.
Filed under communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, tolerance, travelogue, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes
