Opinion
KD Somadasa’s contribution to Hugh Nevill’s work
I am disappointed that Tom Peterson’s article on the Hugh Nevill Collection (Features, 21 Apr) did not refer to the part played by K D Somadasa.
Mr Somadasa, who was a researcher at the British Museum and the British Library, spent about 20 years meticulously cataloguing the 2,224 papers in the Collection which were published in seven outstanding volumes in the 1980s and 1990s.
For example, Volume 3 is a compendium of Sinhalese ritualistic poetry with descriptions of palm leaf manuscripts and summaries of 19 volumes of bound paper manuscripts containing texts of two major cycles of ritualistic legends, fully indexed. Mr Somadasa’s invaluable services to all who wish to research the Hugh Nevill Collection should be recognized.
Dr R P Fernando
19 Danetree Close,
Epsom, UK.