Features

Roots at Home and Thoughts in the world:

Published

2 years ago

2024/01/21

Thilina Walpola

The influence of Tagore on Mahagama Sekera

by Liyanage Amarakeerthi

(Text of the speech delivered at a Panel Discussion held at Svami Vivekanda Cultural Center in Colombo, on January 12, 2024 to commemorate Mahagama Sekera. Sekera was an influential a poet, a novelist, a painter, a lyricist, a filmmaker, and a literary scholar, and he died in 1976 at the age of 47)

This panel is primarily about the ways in which Mahagama Sekera’s art was shaped by Indian thought. Since ‘Indian thought’ encompasses a great deal of philosophical schools and religions, including Buddhism, there is no Sinhala art which has not been shaped, one way or another, by something ‘Indian.’ So, I must be specific and quite narrow in my focus. Hence, the focus on Tagore.

Gurudeva Ravindranath Tagore has inspired us, Sinhala people or Sri Lankans in multiple ways. As the panel today will amply demonstrate, Tagore’s influence can be seen in nearly all domains of our art scene. In the field of music, perhaps, his influence is the most pronounced. The Sinhala term for influence is abhasaya – a Sanskrit word, and it means ‘light’ or ‘reflection’. Gurudeva’s light has been quite pervasive in Sinhala art scene, though in recent times the significance of that light has been forgotten to some extent.

In this speech, I want to remind ourselves of that significance by focusing on the poetry and literary thought of Mahagama Sekera – one of our greatest modern poets. In doing so, however, I will be highlighting what I consider to be the most important lesson we could have learnt from Gurudeva Tagore. I have been arguing for more than a decade now in my Sinhala writing that Tagore’s strong critique of ethnic and cultural nationalism, a line of thought that could have enriched our cultural and political thought, failed to make a significant impact on the Sinhala language intellectual world. But it is never too late to rediscover that aspect of Tagore, and Mahagama Sekera’s work provides us with an opening into that rediscovery.

Many are Sri Lankan scholars and artistes who studied at Shanti Niketan, and all of them brought back some of aspects of Tagore’s thought. The most influential among them is perhaps, Ediriveera Sarachchandra, who later became a great playwright, a novelist, and a scholar in literature. And he is, arguably, the most important renaissance figure in the 20th century.

His days at Shanti Niketan are beautifully described in his memoir, Pin aeti Sarasavi varamak Denne. The influence of Tagore has certainly helped Sarachchandra and others to discover ‘our own traditions’ in art. Sarachchandra’s turn to folk theater to find an indigenous form of modern theater may have been encouraged by what Gurudeva did in the field of theater in the early 20^th century. Tagore’s influence on the field of Sinhala music has been pointed out by many knowledgeable scholars.

While paying tribute to Gurudeva for everything we have learnt from him, one must also recognize the fact that we have also missed one of the key lessons of Tagore. The lesson is the importance of cultivating a critical distance from nationalism, especially from ethnic nationalism, and the need of learning critically from Western modernity, especially science.

Tagore saw Western scientific, technological, and artistic achievements as human achievements that can be shared with all humanity. While critiquing Western colonialism and fighting to defeat it, Gurudeva had this to say, “Neither the colourless vagueness of cosmopolitanism, nor the fierce self-idolatry of nation-worship, is the goals of human history. And India has been trying to accomplish her task through social regulation of differences on the one hand, and the spiritual recognition of unity on the other. She has made grave errors in setting up the boundary walls too rigidly between races…”(Tagore. Nationalism. 2009: 34).

Gurudeva’s belief in our shared humanity did not make him a thinker floating in the sky, and he was an inter-culturalist thinker. The rooted cosmopolitanism of Tagore is a lesson we have either overlooked or insufficiently learnt. Sarachchandra, who was the most known intellectual to be influenced by Tagore and his legacy never mentioned Gurudeva’s brilliant critique of nationalism. The renaissance generation of Sinhala literary culture in the middle of the 20^th century, especially the intellectuals associated with the University of Peradeniya, were ready to learn from the world rather than being parochially restricting themselves to what was taken as indigenous tradition. But their openness was not articulated as it was often done by Tagore. For example, Gurudeva once said,

“That our forefathers, 3,000 years ago, has finished extracting all that was of value from the universe, is not a worthy thought. We are not so unfortunate, nor the universe so poor. Had it been true that all that is to be done has been done in the past, once for all, then our continued existence could only be a burden to the earth…( The Makers of Modern India. 2012: 188).”

Sekeara did not live long enough to articulate his intellectual positions in non-literary writings- a mode in which Tagore was remarkably prolific. But Sekera’s worldview is quite close to Tagore’s.

Mahagama Sekera, to repeat my main argument, provides us with an opportunity to revisit the Tagore we have missed. At numerous places in Sekera’s poetry one finds moving calls for an ethnic unity and harmony in Sri Lanka. For example, in Mak Nisada Yath, he imagines that Sri Lanka’s scientific and technological development would result in greater ethnic unity and stronger integration of diverse cultures:

“From the exhaust pipes
Of hydro-powerhouses
Comes out the rings of white fumes
Like an embryo of a future dream.
Seen on the other side,
Is the mountain rage of sapphire,
And this river descends from
Under the shadow of the mountain peak
Adorned with the Buddha’s footprint.
Sebastian.Nadaraja Mohamad
When this electricity
Lightens up
This country tomorrow
We will unite
At the peak of Sri Pada mountains!!

Constant call for ethnic unity is found in many other poems of Sekera. Originally published in 1964, many years before the beginning of Sri Lanka’s civil war, these poems indicate an impending danger of ethically motivated political violence. Perhaps, the resurgence of Sinhala ethnic nationalism in the decade of 1950 has made Sekera worried about the eventuality that ethnic and cultural hype would bring about.

In addition to expressing his fears about the rise of ethnic nationalism, Sekera’s rooted cosmopolitanism is seen in his openness to the literary developments in the West and elsewhere.

Sekera’s poetry during the 1960s shows that he has been interested in what was happening in Western poetry. His collection, Heta Irak Payai (1963) attests to the fact that modernist poems of Ezra Pound, E.E. Cummings, or the French symbolists have shaped his art during that decade. Sekera was one the first Sinhala poet to experiment with the way poems are printed on page. Many poems in that collection are printed to make poems to something look at rather than something to be read.

When matured as a poet, he gradually moved away from such modernist experimentalism to Sinhala folk traditions and to narrative poems but without losing touch with the literary developments after modernism. In his narrative poems, he was still within the modernist tradition by using style of free verse which came into Sinhala in the early 1940s. The ‘free verse’ is a style defended and promoted by the ‘Peradeniya School’- a group of poets and critics who were educated at Western universities. Sekera seems to have kept close contact with such Avant Garde groups in Sri Lanka and elsewhere.

Though he was still using free verse style in the main, Sekera’s thematic vision was shaped by Asian philosophical traditions. For example, the narrative poem, Prabuddha, what considers to be his masterpiece, has numerous references to Upanishad, Bhagavat Geeta, Dhammapada, and other such texts. And the poem portrays a musician, who attempts to lead a refined and enlightened life without getting caught in capitalist consumerism and Westernized individualist life. Thus, Sekera has made a conscious attempt to learn from both the West and the East.

Sekera’s work, to sum up this section, demonstrates a cosmopolitan literary and artistic vision, which was not the mainstream of his time, especially during the 1970s. That literary cosmopolitanism has been directly and indirectly shaped by Gurudeva Tagore. If Sekera’s sensibilities, to be specific, are not shaped by Tagore, one sees a remarkable kinship between the thoughts of the two literary figures. Much like Tagore, Sekera was a poet, a writer of short fiction, a novelist, a lyricist, a filmmaker, a painter, and so on. In that sense too, Sekera looks to be modeling himself on Tagore. With his openness to new media, new art forms, I am sure Tagore would have made films if he were to live a decade or more.

Tagore was a rich thinker in whose fertile mind the best of the West or of modernity mingled into a fine synthesis with Asian thought. As Amartya Sen correctly puts it, Tagore was not just a rationalist objectivist. He believed in epistemological heterodoxy i.e. the existence of many forms of truth. “…While Tagore believed that modern science was essential to understanding physical phenomena, his views on epistemology were interestingly heterodox.

He did not take the simple ‘realist’ position often associated with modern science” (Argumentative Indian. 2005: 104.). In Sekera, I see a beginning of a wonderful synthesis of rationalist thought and visionary qualities found in Asian thought that cannot be rationally explained. All his narrative poems, Nomiyemi (1973) in particular, move away from naturalist realism into a realm of poetry where rationality and irrationality meet in a fine synthesis. This aspect of Sekera would have refined so much better in the next decade of his life. Sadly, that crucial decade never arrived.

In addition, in creating that poetic realm, Sekera often taps into Sinhala folk wisdom. In the famous section his mother the narrator of Prabuddha says,

‘Having walked over forests and jungles,
bringing all kinds of reeds home,
dying them in red, green, and so on
weaving mats in various designs,
You showed me, my mother,
This entire universe also has a certain design.

I did not know my mother,
That your face was a mirror
that reflected those days,
My own mind these days,
In those sunken eyes
I never saw happiness nor sadness.
Did you take in all suffering and comforts,
With a great sense of equanimity?
And, by doing so, did you gain peace and calmness of mind?
I earned money, fame, and glory.
I had palatial houses, cars, vehicles, and so on.
But none of them gave me peace of mind.
Had you realized that truth,
Without any of those material things?

Maknisada yath , (It was because..,) 1964 , the first of his long poems (or narrative poems) makes it abundantly clear that he has been heavily influenced by Ravindranath Tagore, especially by Geethanjali. For one thing, Sekera sees the divine in the everyday life of working people. For him divine is not necessarily in a supernatural place beyond this world.

“…when I open my eyes and look around
This is what I see:
Tractors
Factories
Airplanes
Machines
Electrical lights
The greatest secret of the world,
Electricity,
are gods.
The factories
Are the temples.

If there is an all-powerful god
Who creates this mother earth
And trees and plants
And all beings on it,
Who created machines
Rockets
I plead to Him
For one thing
Please grant us a powerful hand
And powerful mind.”

It is not difficult to see a shadow of Tagore’s though in these lines. Gurudeva Tagore, unlike Mahatma Gandhi, defended the technological advances of modernity. After this opening section Sekera explains why he is asking for a ‘powerful mind:’

Where there is a mind without fear
And no head is bent down [in submissiveness],
Where awareness is independent
And the world is not divided by narrow walls of indigenousness
Where there are words spring from the depths of truth

…

Where, the pure stream of water, which is reason,
Has not evaporated in the deadly dessert of outdated conventions,
Where you have led human minds forward towards
refined thoughts and actions
to such a kingdom liberation
My father, please wake my country up!! (71-2).

All of us know that the ideas and words in this excerpt are taken from Tagore- the famous 35^th poem of Gitanjali. To the contemporary reader this section might look like plagiarism. Typically, poets borrow things from other poets without being accused of stealing. After all, the idea of plagiarism is something quite modern and Western. All South Asian classics, especially the classics in modern South Asian languages such as Sinhala, have borrowed metaphors, stories, and even entire sections from the classical literary works in Pali and Sanskrit. Numerous sections of classical Sinhala poems are re-tellings of some sort. But to be fair by Sekera, when this section was turned into a song and the lyrics were published in a book, he acknowledged the fact that it was adaptation.

Though indebted to Tagore in the section above, Sekera pushes Tagore’s poetic thought a bit further.

“It was the man who,
Made the world emerge from the darkness.
It was the man who made the world fertile up to this day
It was the man who created God.
To create the mental kingdom of liberation

At least partially,
It was the man who shed
tears,sweat and blood up to this point (72).”

It is clear here that Sekera sees humanity to be more powerful than divinity. In fact, divinity is an offshoot of human efforts to make the world a better place. He goes onto celebrate the scientific advances humans have made. In fact, in the book cited, originally published in 1964, Sekera says, “in 25 years, humans will go to the moon,.. by that time, there will green grasses growing on the moon to welcome humans.’

Barely four years after the book’s publication, humans indeed landed on the moon, and, though for the green grass on the moon we will have to wait a while, Sekera’s optimism about human capabilities has a strong foundation. In that too, one can see the influence of Tagore. In many literary works of Tagore, one finds divine-like power among ordinary, working people, and the supernatural powers emerge out of extremely mundane situations. Some short stories of Tagore, such as “A single night,” are wonderful examples of such instances. This essay does not have space to deal with those stories.

Though Tagore was not entirely a rationalist thinker and an objectivist, he believed that science could help human beings to create a better life for themselves. His belief in modern science was one of the key points at which he differed from Mahatma Gandhi. Tagore and Gandhi disagreements on science have been documented by scholars and numerous times by Amartya Sen.

In 1934, Bihar was struck by an earthquake that killed thousands of people. Gandhi said that it was divine punishment for untouchability. Tagore, who was also working on untouchability along with Gandhi disagreed strongly and argued that such unscientific views about natural phenomena could propagate such interpretations among masses (Sen 2005: 103-4). For Tagore, untouchability was something to be defeated by socio-political reforms. In that sense, Sekera is much closer to Nehru than to Gandhi among the makers of modern India.

I argued earlier that Sekera’s attitude towards modernity and science is akin to that of Tagore’s. Sekera may have recognized that Pundit Nehru inherited Tagore’s appreciation of modern science and technology. In hearing Nehru’s death, Sekera wrote a song in which he correctly recognizes some salient aspects of the first prime minister of India.

The great river of thought
that comes from the past to the future
overflowed your noble heart and came forward.
Without dividing the humanity
Into segment with its many branches
That river of thought flowed treating everyone equally.
With your eyes that sees
All three times
You saw today
The world that comes into being tomorrow.

Tagore’s novels such as The Home and the World, and Gora that turn his cosmopolitan sensibilities into arresting literary expressions are much superior literary works compared even to the best of Sinhala literature. And there is nothing comparable with Tagore’s books Nationalism, The Religion of the Man among the books written by Sinhala literary writers. Sekera’s work too shows such limits. Though some of them are local masterpieces, we would expect much greater work from him. Unlike Tagore, Sekera died young. It seems to me that by the time he died, he was looking for the best modes to turn his sensibilities into literary or artistic expressions.

One can easily detect a major reason for Tagorean cosmopolitanism to be overshadowed in Sinhala cultural and political scene: the most important founding father of Sinhala nationalism, Anagarika Dharmapala, intensely disliked Tagore. And Dharmapala’s modern day disciples such as Gunadasa Amarasekara propagated for decades a kind of extreme nationalism that has no regard or understanding of rooted cosmopolitanism of Tagore.

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Features

Building a sustainable future for Sri Lanka’s construction industry

Published

14 hours ago

2026/05/8

Thilina Walpola

Sri Lanka’s construction industry has long been a central pillar of sustainable development. From roads and bridges to homes, schools, and hospitals, construction shapes the country’s physical landscape and supports economic progress. As the nation continues to rebuild and modernise, the demand for construction materials and infrastructure keeps rising. However, this growth also brings a significant environmental cost. Cement, steel, bricks, aggregates, and timber all require energy, resources, and transportation, contributing to carbon emissions and environmental damage. If Sri Lanka continues with traditional construction practices, the long-term impact on the environment will be severe.

The encouraging news is that Sri Lanka has many opportunities to adopt more sustainable construction practices while still maintaining the highest standards of quality and safety. Sustainable construction does not mean weaker buildings or lower standards. It means using sustainable materials, reducing waste, improving design, and choosing methods that protect the environment. Many countries have already moved in this direction, and Sri Lanka has the potential to follow the same path with solutions that are practical, affordable, and suitable for local conditions.

A promising option

One promising option is the use of Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB), which are different from the concrete blocks commonly used in Sri Lanka for the past 25 years. CEBs are made from soil mixed with a small amount of stabiliser and pressed using machines. Unlike traditional fired clay bricks, CEBs do not require high-temperature kilns, which consume large amounts of firewood or fossil fuels. This makes CEBs a low-carbon alternative with a much smaller environmental footprint. In Sri Lanka, CEBs are already used in eco-resorts, community housing projects, and environmentally focused developments. They offer good strength, durability, and thermal comfort, making them suitable for many types of buildings. By expanding the use of CEBs, Sri Lanka can reduce energy consumption, lower emissions, and promote locally sourced materials.

Recycled aggregates also offer significant potential for sustainable construction. These materials are produced by crushing concrete, demolition waste, and construction debris. In Sri Lanka, recycled aggregates are already used in road construction, particularly for base and sub-base layers. They are suitable for non-structural building work such as pathways, garden paving, drainage layers, landscaping, and backfilling. Using recycled aggregates reduces the need for newly quarried rock and aggregates, decreases landfill waste, and lowers transportation emissions. With proper quality control and standards, recycled aggregates can become a reliable and widely accepted material in the construction industry.

Timber and sustainability

Timber is another important area where sustainability can be improved. In the past, timber for construction was often taken from natural forests, leading to deforestation and loss of biodiversity. Today, this approach is no longer sustainable. Instead, the focus must shift to legally sourced timber from managed plantations. Sri Lanka’s plantation-grown teak, jak, and kubuk can provide high-quality, legally sourced timber for construction while protecting natural forests and supporting rural economies. Using plantation timber ensures that harvesting is controlled, trees are replanted, and the supply chain remains legal and ethical.

Beyond materials, sustainable construction also involves better design and planning. Buildings that are designed to maximise natural ventilation, daylight, and energy efficiency can significantly reduce long-term operating costs. Simple design improvements such as proper orientation, shading devices, roof insulation, and efficient window placement can reduce the need for artificial cooling and lighting. These measures not only lower energy consumption but also improve indoor comfort for occupants. Sri Lanka’s tropical climate offers many opportunities to incorporate passive design strategies that reduce environmental impact without increasing construction costs.

Waste reduction is another key component of sustainable construction. Construction sites often generate large amounts of waste, including concrete, timber offcuts, packaging, and soil. By adopting better site management practices, recycling materials, and planning construction sequences more efficiently, contractors can reduce waste and save money. Proper waste segregation and recycling can also reduce the burden on landfills and minimise environmental pollution.

Promoting sustainable construction

Public projects such as schools, hospitals, and government buildings can play a leading role in promoting sustainable construction. When government projects adopt greener materials and designs, the private sector follows. This creates a positive cycle where environmentally responsible choices become the industry standard. Public sector leadership can also encourage local manufacturers to produce sustainable materials, improve quality standards, and invest in new technologies.

Sri Lanka also carries a proud and remarkable history in construction, with achievements that continue to inspire the world. The engineering brilliance behind Sigiriya, the advanced urban planning of Polonnaruwa, the precision of the Aukana Buddha statue, and the sophisticated water management systems of ancient tanks and reservoirs all demonstrate the deep knowledge our ancestors possessed. These historic accomplishments show that innovation is not new to Sri Lanka; it is part of our identity. As the world moves toward 2050 with increasing sustainability challenges, Sri Lanka can draw strength from this heritage while embracing modern technologies and sustainable practices. With the combined efforts of skilled professionals, industry experts, academic researchers, and strong government support, the country can introduce new systems that improve efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and strengthen resilience. By working together with determination and sharing knowledge across generations, Sri Lanka’s construction industry can build a future that honours its past while leading the way in sustainable development.

Foundation of sustainable development

Sri Lanka’s construction industry has always been a foundation of sustainable development. Today, it also has the chance to take a leading role in sustainability. By choosing sustainable materials, reducing waste, improving design, and supporting responsible sourcing, the country can build a future that is both modern and environmentally responsible. Sustainability is essential for Sri Lanka’s long-term goals of reducing carbon emissions and limiting the impacts of global warming. As Sri Lanka moves forward, the construction industry must embrace sustainability not only as an environmental responsibility but also as an opportunity to create stronger, smarter, and more resilient buildings for future generations. Sri Lanka has the talent, the heritage, and the technical capacity to shape a more sustainable future, and with the right national direction, the construction industry can become a model for the region. If professionals, policymakers, and communities work together with a shared vision, the country can transform its construction sector into one that protects the environment while supporting long-term progress.

About the Author: P.G.R.A.C. Gamlath Menike,

BSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying (University of Reading, UK), MSc Quantity Surveying (University College of Estate Management, UK), MCIArb, Doctoral Student, Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, is a Senior Quantity Surveyor: Last Project (2022 -2025) Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 2 Construction Project, Gammon Engineering Construction (Main Contractor).

By P.G. R. A. C. Gamlath Menike

Features

Palm leaf manuscripts of Sri Lanka – 1

Published

14 hours ago

2026/05/8

Thilina Walpola

Palm leaf manuscripts

Palm leaf manuscripts have been in existence in Sri Lanka since ancient times. The two oldest palm-leaf manuscripts found in Sri Lanka today are the Cullavagga Pâli manuscript of the H. C. P. Bell collection, which is held at the Library of the National Museum, Colombo, and the Mahavagga Pâli manuscript in the University of Kelaniya collection. Photocopies of both are available at the Library of the University of Peradeniya. Both are dated to 13 century. Cullavagga manuscript has wooden covers richly decorated in lac with a design of flowers and foliage.

Karmmavibhâga

However, the oldest known Sinhala palm leaf manuscript in the world is the Karmmavibhâga which was found in a Tibet monastery in 1936 by the Indian scholar Rahul Sankrityayan. Rahul Sankrityayan, (1893–1963) former Kedarnath Pandey, was an Indian polymath, who searched out rare Buddhist manuscripts on his travels abroad. Sankrityayan visited Sri Lanka as well. Vidyalankara Pirivena is mentioned.

Sankrityayan visited Tibet several times to collect manuscripts from the Buddhist monasteries there. In May 1936 on his second visit to Tibet, Sankrityayan visited the Sa-skya monastery. The Chag-pe-lha-khang Library in this monastery was specially opened for Sankrityayan.

He stated in his autobiography that when the clouds of dust which greeted this rare opening of its doors had subsided, they beheld rows of open racks where volume on volume of manuscripts were kept. “After rummaging around, I came across palm-leaf manuscripts. They were not wrapped in cloth, but were tied between two wooden planks with holes through them.” Sankrityayan found several important manuscripts he had been looking for, in that collection.

Sankrityayan catalogued fifty-seven manuscripts bound in thirty-eight volumes. The thirty-seventh volume was written in the Sinhala script. Sankrityayan records that this volume contained ninety-seven palm- leaves each of which measured 18 1/4 by 1 1/4 in. (46 x 3 cm.) and that there were seven lines of writing on each folio.

According to Sankrityayan, these Sinhala texts originally belonged to a Sri Lankan monk called Anantaśrî who had come to Tibet in the time of ŚSrî Kîrttidhvaja (Kirti Sri Rajasinha). Analysts noted that Sankrityayan does not give the source of this information and the manuscript makes no mention of Anantaśrî.

Sankrityayan had taken with him to Tibet, one Abeyasinghe, (Abhayasimha) to help him with copying manuscripts. They made hand-copies of the important manuscripts. Abhayasimha had copied about 250 to 350 strophes each day. But he fell ill due to the extreme cold and was sent home in June. Abeyasinghe had written letters home during his stay in Tibet.

Photographs of the manuscripts found during Sankrityayan’s expeditions in Tibet are preserved at the National Archives in Colombo. There is also a copy in Vidyalankara pirivena library The Historical Manuscripts Commission In its 1960/1961 report, drew attention to this manuscript, known as Sa-skya Codex, describing it as “a unique document.” (Annual Report of the Government Archivist 1960/61, 1963)

Sinhala scholar P.E.E. Fernando examined photographs of the Sa-skya Codex at the request of the Historical Manuscripts Commission and assigned it to the 13th century. The Historical Manuscripts Commission, dated it to either twelfth or the thirteenth century.

The Historical Manuscripts Commission observed that this manuscript was of great value for the study of the development of the Sinhala script. Ven. Meda Uyangoda Vimalakîrtti and Nähinne Sominda in their edition of the Karmmavibhâga published in 1961 agreed that the Sa-skya Codex represented an early stage in the evolution of the Sinhala language.

Mahavamsa

The Mahavamsa is considered a unique historical document. There is nothing like it in South Asia, and probably all Asia, with the exception of China. Mahavamsa provides a historical account of events, with emphasis on chronology and dating. This, it appears, was rare at the time.

However, Mahavamsa is not a political history, though that is the popular perception of it. It is a religious history. It was written to record the introduction and entrenchment of Buddhism in the country. Other Buddhist countries, such as Cambodia, Burma and Thailand value the Mahavamsa for this reason. They held copies of the Mahavamsa and used events from it in their temple frescoes.

But Mahavamsa is also an important reference source for reconstructing the political history of Sri Lanka. Political and social facts are included in the Mahavamsa narrative when describing religious events, and this makes the Mahavamsa important for historians. This tradition of history writing, beginning with the earlier Sihala Attakatha and Dipawamsa, it is suggested, started in Sri Lanka in 2^nd or 3^rd BC.

Today, the Mahavamsa has become a major source of historical information, not only for dating kings, temples and reservoirs, but also for reconstructing ancient Sinhala society. The fact that Kuveni was seated beside a pond, spinning thread has been used to indicate that there was water management and textiles long before Vijaya arrived. Dutugemunu (161-137 BC) paid a salary to the workers building the Maha Thupa. This shows that money was used at the time.

Copies of the Mahavamsa have been treasured and looked after in Sri Lanka for centuries. They have been copied over and over again. The manuscripts were held in temple libraries because the subject of the Mahavamsa was the entrenchment of Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

The Mahavamsa manuscripts did not pop up suddenly during British rule as people seem to think. The British did not ‘discover’ the Mahavamsa. It was there. When the British administration started to take interest in the history of the island, the sangha would have directed them to the Mahavamsa, in the same way that they directed HCP Bell to the ruins in Anuradhapura and the Sigiriya frescoes. HCP Bell did not discover those either.

The British administrators saw the value of the Mahavamsa and copies were sent to libraries abroad. The Bodleian library, Oxford has a well preserved Mahavamsa manuscript, taken from Mulkirigala, which Turner used for his translation. Cambridge has two Mahavamsa manuscripts. The two copies at India Office library, and the copy in East India Library are probably in the British Library today. The Royal Library, Copenhagen, has a copy, consisting of 129 sheets, 12 lines to a leaf, written in good handwriting.

In Sri Lanka there are several copies of the Mahavamsa in the Colombo Museum Library. One copy, known as the ‘Cambodian Mahavamsa ‘is in Cambodian script. University of Peradeniya has at least three copies.

It is interesting to note that the Mahavamsa was known to the Sinhala elite and some had copies in their private libraries. The Historical Manuscripts Commission of the 1930s said in its first report that five copies of the Mahavamsa and a 19^th century copy of the Dipawamsa were found in private collections.

The temple libraries had many copies of the Mahavamsa. Some were of very high quality. Wilhelm Geiger had looked at the copies held at Mahamanthinda Pirivena, Matara and Mulkirigala vihara. Asgiriya, Nagolla Vihara and Watagedera Sudarmarama Potgul vihara, Matara, are three of the many libraries that held copies of the Mahavamsa.

Sirancee Gunawardene examined the copy at Mahamanthinda Pirivena, Matara, very closely. She says that it is a very old manuscript. According to its colophon, the manuscript was first copied 400 years ago. It is in a very good state of preservation. It has 232 folios. Each 50 cm long 6.25 wide. Nine lines on each side, in Pali metric verse.

The writer of the manuscripts said that his version was an improvement on the copy. He wrote, “I will recite the Mahavamsa which was compiled by ancient sages. [their version] was too long and had many repetitions. This version is free from such faults, easy to understand and remember. It is handed down from tradition, for arousing serene joy and emotion’ .

The Mahamanthinda manuscript records the continuous history of 23 dynasties from 543 BC to 1758 AD. It refers to the principle of hereditary monarchy as 39 eldest sons of reigning monarch succeeded their fathers to the throne. It highlights the fact that fifteen reigned only for one year, 34 for less than four years, 22 kings were murdered by their successors, 6 were killed during battles, 4 committed suicide, 11 were dethroned.

Mahawansa as a World Heritage document

An ola manuscript of the Mahavamsa, held in the Main Library of the University of Peradeniya has been recognised by UNESCO as a part of World Heritage. UNESCO announced In 2023 that it has included the Mahavamsa as one of the 64 items of documentary heritage inscribed in the UNESCO’s Memory of the World International Register for 2023. The manuscript is dated to the early 19 century.

The certificate declaring the Mahawansa as a world heritage document was handed to the Chancellor of Peradeniya University by UNESCO Director General, who visited the University in 2024 specially to do so. She also unveiled a plaque marking the declaration.

The story began much earlier. The National Library of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Buddha Sasana had jointly appointed a 6-member committee headed by Prof Malani Endagamage, to find the best preserved copy of the Mahavamsa in Sri Lanka. This would have been in 2000 or so. For two years, this team had examined copies from over 100 temples nationwide.

Temples around the country yielded copies, crumbling to well-preserved, reported Sunday Times. There was one from the Ridi Vihara that almost made the cut, but four other copies were shortlisted. One from the Dalada Maligawa, Kandy and three manuscripts from the Main Library of the University of Peradeniya. Three academics from the University’s History Department, Professors K.M. Rohitha Dasanayaka, Mahinda Somathilake and U.S.Y. Sahan Mahesh examined the three Peradeniya manuscripts

Dasanayaka said, “We poured over the copies together, and it became clear that one copy stood out. While the other two had numerous inconsistencies, this one, written in a curvy hand, was neat and beautiful. After more than two centuries, the manuscript was still very attractive, with a ‘flaming cinnamon orange’ cover and elegant lettering.

The first section of the manuscript ends with Mahasen (274–301 AD), written by the monk Mahanama. The second part ends at 1815. The author is given as Ven. Thibbotuwawe Buddharakkhita but he was dead by 1815. The final part was probably done by an acolyte. He has done a very neat job, seamlessly adding his bit, concluded Dasanayake.

This manuscript was acquired by the Library of University of Peradeniya when K. D. Somadasa, was the Librarian (1964 – 1970). It is held in the Main Library and its Accession Number is 277587.

National Library & Documentation Services Board of Sri Lanka, which administers the National Library of Sri Lanka submitted a nomination to UNESCO on behalf of this manuscript. UNESCO responded positively to the application.

UNESCO said the Mahavamsa was recognized as one of the world’s longest unbroken historical accounts, presenting Sri Lanka’s history in a chronological order from the 6th century BCE. The authenticity of the facts provided in the document has been confirmed through archaeological research conducted in Sri Lanka and India.

It is an important historical source in South Asia, said UNESCO. It was the first of its kind in South Asia, initiating a mature historiographical tradition. It has contributed singularly to the identity of Emperor Asoka in Indian history. The existence of a number of manuscripts of the Mahavamsa in several countries as well as the transliteration and translation of the text to several Southeast Asian and European languages stand testimony to its immense historical, cultural, literal, linguistic and scholarly values, .” UNESCO press release said.

Further, UNESCO found that this manuscript was correctly conserved at the University Library. The university and its library maintained high standards in safeguarding the palm-leaf manuscripts, preventing deterioration, declared UNESCO. (Continued)

REFERENCES

https://archives1.dailynews.lk/2021/02/25/local/242520/ola-leaf-mahavamsa-be-declared-world-heritage

Sirancee Gunawardana Palm leaf manuscripts of Sri Lanka . 1977 p 41,44-47 , 253 290 292, ,

N. E. I. Wijerathne Methods, Techniques and Challenges in Deciphering the Sa-skaya Codex. Vidyodaya Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (2025), Vol. 10 (01) https://journals.sjp.ac.lk/index.php/vjhss/article/view/8571/6001

First report of the Historical Manuscripts Commision.1933 SP 9 of 1933. p . 53, 95, 96

https://journals.sjp.ac.lk/index.php/vjhss/article/view/8571/6001https://www.austriaca.at/0xc1aa5572%200x00314cc3.pdf

https://leftword.com/creator/rahul-sankrityayan/

https://www.reddit.com/r/IndianHistory/comments/1oc5tc2/in_his_autobiography_meri_jeevan_yatra_rahul/

https://www.sundaytimes.lk/230910/plus/in-search-of-the-perfect-mahavamsa-531513.html

https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Mahawansa-declared-a-world-heritage/108-287528

https://mfa.gov.lk/en/visit-of-unesco-dg/

https://sundaytimes.lk/online/education/UNESCO-ready-to-support-digitalisation-of-Ola-leaf-books/290-1146314

https://media.unesco.org/sites/default/files/webform/mow001/53_131%252B.pdf

by KAMALIKA PIERIS

Features

A new Sherlock Holmes novel

Published

14 hours ago

2026/05/8

Thilina Walpola

Tales of Mystery and Suspense – 1

“The House of Silk” is set in a grim Victorian winter, and moves from Baker Street to a luxurious suburban villa, from dingy pubs to elegant London clubs, from a correction school for boys high on a hill to Dr Silkin’s House of Wonders, which provided noisy low life entertainment. Holmes and Watson went there in search of the House of Silk, a name they had heard when looking into the death of one of Holmes’ Baker Street irregulars (slum children who ferreted out information for him) .

I do not think highly of sequels to books written by highly regarded writers, though I must admit that this dislike is based on just a few samples. But while in England I was given by my former Dean, with a forceful recommendation, a book about a Sherlock Holmes mystery, supposedly written by Dr Watson. I began on it soon after I got back home, and found it difficult to put down, so I suppose I will not look on Anthony Horowitz as an exception to my rule. I may even look out for his efforts at continuing the adventures of James Bond, though I suspect Fleming’s laconic style will be less easy to emulate.

“The House of Silk” is set in a grim Victorian winter, and moves from Baker Street to a luxurious suburban villa, from dingy pubs to elegant London clubs, from a correction school for boys high on a hill to Dr Silkin’s House of Wonders, which provided noisy low life entertainment. Holmes and Watson went there in search of the House of Silk, a name they had heard when looking into the death of one of Holmes’ Baker Street irregulars (slum children who ferreted out information for him). They had asked Holmes’ brother Mycroft for help in finding what and where this was, but he had warned them off, having been himself told by someone very senior in government that it might involve those in very high positions, and further inquiries might prove dangerous.

Needless to say, Holmes does seek further, and is lured to an opium den where he is drugged, to be found outside with a gun in his hand and the body of a girl beside him, the sister of the murdered boy Ross. A passer-by swears he had seen Holmes fire the shot, and the owner of the opium den and a customer swear that Holmes had taken too much opium and left the den in a demented condition. A police inspector who had been passing promptly arrests Holmes and Watson, and even their old acquaintance Inspector Lestrade finds it difficult to get access to him.

Watson eventually gets to see him when he is in the infirmary, after he has been told by a mysterious man that Holmes was going to be murdered before his case could be taken up. The man said he had earlier tried to get Holmes to investigate the House of Silk by sending him a white silk ribbon, such as had later been found tied round the hand of the murdered boy. But, as a criminal himself, he said, he could not reveal more, though he himself was horrified by the business of the House of Silk, which gave criminality a bad name, which is why he wanted it all stopped.

Holmes escapes from the infirmary, with a little help from the doctor whom he had once assisted earlier, right under the nose of the nasty Inspector Harriman. He then joins up with Watson, and having with the help of Lestrade overcome the men designed to kill him at Dr Silkin’s House of Wonders, he sets off, with an even large posse of policemen, to the House of Silk.

After much suspense, the habitues of the House of Silk are arrested, the Inspector having broken his neck in the course of a chase downhill, having fled when his misdeeds were exposed. The mastermind claims that he will not face a trial because of the important people involved, but instead falls down a staircase while in prison and breaks his neck. One of the noblemen involved commits suicide, but another, and the medical man who had sworn he saw Holmes kill the young lady, get off without charge.

But then we revert to the original story, which had involved an art dealer who came to Holmes because he was being followed by someone he thought was an American gangster out for revenge. This was because he had shipped some pictures to an American buyer, and these had been destroyed when a train was held up by an Irish gang and the coach with the safe in it dynamited. The buyer and the dealer had got a private agency to investigate, and this had ended with the gang being killed in a shootout, though one of the twins who led it had escaped. The buyer had subsequently been killed, and Mr Carstairs feared that the twin who survived had followed him to England.

Holmes and Watson went to Carstairs’ house, where they met his wife, whom he had met on the boat back from America, and his sister. Their mother had died some months earlier, when gas had filled her room after the flame had gone out. It transpired that there had been a break in, and some money and a necklace stolen from a safe, and it was in tracing these, through a pawnbroker, that Holmes and Watson had found the American murdered in the hotel where he had been staying.

The leader of the irregulars had come to tell Holmes that they had traced the man to the hotel, and Ross had been left on guard. He seemed terrified when Holmes and Watson and Carstairs turned up, but said he had seen nothing. When the boys had been dismissed, and the room opened up, the man was found dead, the murderer obviously having gained entrance through a window.

Holmes assumed the boy had seen someone he recognized, but he could not be traced, until he was found dead, horribly tortured. The silk band around his wrist then led Holmes to pursue the House of Silk. One of the boys at the school where Ross had been mentioned that he had a sister at a pub, and she, when confronted, asked in fear if they were from the House of Silk and then, having lunged at Watson with a knife, ran off – herself only to be found dead outside the opium den, which prompted the arrest of Holmes.

After the drama at the House of Silk, Holmes and Watson go to the Carstairs household, where he explains exactly what had taken place, identifying the murdered man as not a member of the gang but the head of the private agency which had investigated them. As my Dean told me, Horowitz then ties up all the loose ends with consummate skill, connecting with a fine thread all the malefactors, of various kinds.