July 6, 2016 · 5:40 pm

Legend and Mystery in Kumana National Park

Stefan d’Silva … an original piece responding to ATW Guneratne’s “The Call of the Remote Wild: Kumana in SE Lanka” in …………………………………………………. https://thuppahis.com/2016/01/11/the-call-of-the-remote-wild-kumana-in-se-lanka/

Kumana: Originally demarcated as Yala East National Park, Kumana was declared a national park with its own borders in 1969. Kumana is well known for birdwatching and its wonderful variety of birds and nesting colonies. Leopard, bear, smaller mammals, reptiles and elephant also roam the park. Off the coast line of Kumana good fishing grounds prevail and attract keen sportsmen with rod and reel. The Bagura plains within Kumana NP is the setting for many a tale from hunters of old, who hunted leopard and bear or merely shot animals ‘for sport’. Kumana was also one place where animals were trapped for the Dehiwela Zoo (in the mid to late 1950’s). The ‘trappers’ travelled by jeep and mainly by bullock cart, carrying nets and camping necessities. Every year in July/August Kumana plays ‘host’ to the Pada Yatra, a most amazing foot pilgrimage undertaken by Kataragama devotees as they trek many miles along the east coast, eventually reaching Kumana and then walking through the Kumana jungles and Yala NP to Kataragama.

IMG_2059 Cave paintings of elephants. Thought to be done by Veddahs. Bowatagala cave complex. This particular cave is used by a leopard as a resting up place during the day (according to the Game Warden)

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July 6, 2016 · 1:48 pm

Dindim and Joao, Man and Penguin: A Story of Deep Bonding

ONLY NATURE CAN EXPLAIN THIS WONDER ……………..This little penguin swims 8,000 km every year to visit his saviour
Only a few people know that keeping wild animals as pets is strictly prohibited in Brazil. However, despite this ban, a little penguin, Dindim, swims to Brazil every year to visit his friend whom he met in 2011.  One day, 71-year-old Joao Pereira de Souza, a fisherman, found a dying penguin on the shore. Joao took the penguin home, nursed him back to health, and named him Dindim. After some time, the penguin swam away to an unknown destination…but then he came back the following year! The old man was really surprised and touched to see his little friend again. But what’s even more incredible and touching is that Dindim visits his savior every year.  ’’Everyone said that he wouldn’t return anymore, but every year he comes back to see me’’, Joao says.

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July 5, 2016 · 4:41 pm

David Miliband’s Imperious Intervention in Lanka left in Tatters

Michael Roberts, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, where the title is different

The manner in which President Mahinda Rajapaksa withstood and totally deflated the imperialistic moves by Miliband and Kouchner, respective Foreign Ministers for Britain and France, in late April 2009 has been the stuff of salacious gossip in pro-Rajapaksa and Sri Lankan patriot circles. Any re-telling of this tale in solid detail on the foundations of direct witness will cast me into the same mould in the minds of those beyond that circle — whether sanctimonious, liberal and/or snooty. No matter: historical recording must trump popular polling and moral posturing. Meeting Lalith Weeratunga[1] enables me to present the story in vivid detail.

In this handout picture released by The Sri Lankan Presidential Office, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner (L) looks on as his British counterpart David Miliband (C) shakes hands with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa (R) as they arrive for a meeting at Ambilipitiyasits on April 29, 2009. British foreign minister David Miliband and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner who are in Sri Lanka for a one-day visit have failed to secure an agreement from Sri Lanka to end an offensive against Tamil rebels and allow humanitarian access to civilians trapped by the fighting. AFP PHOTO/HO/Sri Lankan Presidential office RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE GETTY OUT (Photo credit should read HO/AFP/Getty Images)

In this handout picture released by The Sri Lankan Presidential Office, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner (L) looks on as his British counterpart David Miliband (C) shakes hands with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa (R) as they arrive for a meeting at Ambilipitiya  Photo credit should read HO/AFP/Getty Images

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July 5, 2016 · 4:32 pm

My Peradeniya Days: Labrooy, Pinto and Jennings as Touchstones –KM de Silva

Kingsley de Silva, being a section from Chapter V entitled “Academic Life” which is part of his Memoirs [in process]

The academic and intellectual life of the campus I have left as the last part of the collage, in reverse order of importance. At the end of my first year I had a choice of reading for a special degree in Economics or History. Given that choice most of my peer group would have chosen Economics because of the career prospects a degree in that discipline would offer. In my first two tutorials in Economics, F R jayasuriya, , a senior and controversial teacher, gave me an alpha; any pleasure 1 derived’ from that was completely lost when I discovered that every one in my group had also got an alpha. I decided that there was no intellectual challenge in getting an alpha on such easy terms and so the option of Economics was voluntarily closed, I had no doubt that it would be History, and 1 have had no regrets in making that choice.

L 6ah -Justin & Ford Popular 1952. WJF LabrooyPERA 33 www.ft.lk

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July 4, 2016 · 11:06 am

Ballhatchet on the Colebrooke-Cameron Papers

Kenneth Ballhatchet, from Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies, [??] pp 407-08  reviewing G. C. MENDIS (ed.): The Colebrooke Cameron Papers: Documents on British Colonial Policy in Ceylon, 1796 -1833. 2 vols: lxv, 404 pp.; ix.116pp. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, Indian Branch,1956.

Though all history may not be the history of ideas, even the closest followers of the Namier tradition in historical writing would hardly deny that there have been movements of thought which have strongly influenced the world of action. But unless philosophers are kings, or at least civil servants, historians will often find it a difficult if also a challenging task to establish connections between philosophies of life and policies of governments.

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July 3, 2016 · 3:28 pm

Eureka!! Ancient 7th Century BC Buddhist Monastery in Afghanistan

In Daily Mail,

A Chinese company digging an unexploited copper mine in Afghanistan has unearthed ancient statues of Buddha in a sprawling 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery. Archaeologists are rushing to salvage what they can from a major 7th century B.C. religious site along the famed Silk Road connecting Asia and the Middle East. The ruins, including the monastery and domed shrines known as ‘stupas,’ will likely be largely destroyed once work at the mine begins.

The ruins were discovered as labourers excavated the site on behalf of the Chinese government-backed China Metallurgical Group Corp, which wants to develop the world’s second largest copper mine, lying beneath the ruins.
Afghan 11Historic find: Mes Aynak’s religious sites and copper deposits have been bound together for centuries – ‘mes’ means ‘copper’ in the local Dari language

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July 3, 2016 · 1:44 pm

Pit-Latrine Secrets from 18th Century America

Kristin Romey, in FeedSpot, 1 July 2016, where her title is “What a Toilet Shows About Life During the American Revolution”

The finds from an 18th-century Philadelphia privy have researchers flush with excitement.  It was a toilet that witnessed the birth of America: a humble pit latrine, or privy pit, dug deep into the ground behind a small Philadelphia house in the late 18th century. Latrines don’t generally stir excitement, but archaeologists were thrilled to find the brick-lined circular shaft while excavating a site at the corner of South Third and Chestnut Streets in the summer of 2014. When German tankards were broken and fine Chinese porcelain dropped on the floor, they were tossed into the privies for archaeologists to recover centuries later

02-toilet-philadelphia-punchbowl

This punchbowl, found in a privy pit behind an illegal tavern, celebrates the vesselTryphena. In 1765, the ship carried a message to Britain urging the repeal of the loathed Stamp Act.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

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July 2, 2016 · 4:36 am

A Tribute to GC Mendis: Pioneering Tertiary Education in History for Lanka

Michael Roberts

 The teaching of history at a tertiary level began with University College in Colombo in the 1920s, where students were prepared for an external degree at the University of London. Professor SA Pakeham taught medieval and modern European history to those who enrolled for such courses. Pakeham’s place in the history of history-teaching yet awaits its researcher.[1] One contribution stands out: Pakeman seems to have discerned the talents of Garrett Champness Mendis, then a Lecturer at the Government Teacher Training College. An opening was secured for his postgraduate training under Professor Rhys-Davids at London University and GC Mendis proceeded to UK to work under that renowned Pali scholar.

GC MENDISThis period of study encompassed extended sojourns in Munchen (?) in Germany[2] under the tutelage of Wilhelm Geiger (1856-1943). This spell in England and Germany resulted in his command of Pali and his dissertation A Historical Criticism of the Mahavamsa (1930, unpubd). Amazing as it may seem, he could not be slotted into history teaching at University College when he returned and he was appointed initially as a Visiting Lecturer in Pali.[3] Continue reading →

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July 2, 2016 · 4:05 am

The History of Sri Lanka’s Realistic Tilt towards China

Palitha Kohona_4Palitha Kohona, courtesy of Asian Tribune and the Sunday Times

The flurry of analytical pieces in the media and the political point scoring at China’s expense, suggests intense interest in the outcomes as Sri Lanka recalibrates its relationship with China following the uncertainties that accompanied the change of government in 2015. India’s views on the ongoing adjustment process is unknown at this stage. Western countries, especially the US, busy with their own immediate preoccupations, will probably not react adversely unless a dramatic change of direction results from the current finessing of Sri Lanka’s policies.

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Sri Lanka’s drift towards China should not have been unexpected, both under the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime and now under the new leadership. In fact, it should not have come as a surprise.Reviewing  Continue reading →

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July 2, 2016 · 3:43 am

Luddite Eco-Activists throttling Sri Lankan Agriculture

Chandre Dharamawardana,  3 July 2016, with hiS title of choice being “Ban on agrochemicals”
article_imageGlyphosate (herbicide) finds re-approval by the European Union while “Toxin-free” Sri Lanka continues to throttle its farmers.

Last year the Yahapalanaya leaders, flush with electoral victory banned Glyphosate, the well-trusted but controversial herbicide, heralding their “toxin-free nation” policy announced with much fanfare. The government hopes to replace modern agriculture with “traditional agriculture”, based on “traditional seeds” and “traditional farming methods” that do not use modern technology, chemical fertilizers, insecticides or herbicides. A pie-in-the sky vision! Continue reading →

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