Midweek Review

The 1962 coup: Political background

Published

4 years ago

2022/01/26

Sahan Weerasooriya

SWRD: Jungle, if only you were a Buddhist, then I could make you IGP

By Jayantha Somasundaram

On 28 January, 1962, Sri Lanka awoke to the startling news that a coup d’état by key police and military officers had been foiled. In retrospect, the coup was a crucial turning point in Sri Lanka’s contemporary history. There was a new two-year-old family-centred government viewed by many as inept. Political commentator K. K. S. Perera’s description of January 1962 (The Nation 4/11/12) was that “strikes had crippled the economy; it was going downhill, resulting in increasing cost of living and unemployment.”

Sri Lanka experienced one of the longest unbroken periods of colonial control. When dominion status was granted in 1948, the maritime areas had undergone 450 years of European rule and influence. One consequence was the emergence, in Colombo, of a Westernised, English-speaking non-sectarian elite – largely low-country Sinhalese, peninsular Tamil and Dutch Burgher. A dominant class that was welded into a cohesive group through education and socialisation in public schools, they also shared a modern secular liberal outlook, regardless of racial or religious background. “A select English-educated elitist group … conceives of national integration in terms of a political ideal of constitutional government and unity in diversity ….” explains Prof Jeyaratnam Wilson in Politics of Sri Lanka. “But it has failed to penetrate the layers beneath – the fragmented competitive sub-societies of the real Sri Lanka in the countryside, with its rural elites and peasant economy … associated with mass mobilisation of pre-commercial, pre-industrial peasant people … who emphasise the crucial and critical stigmata of nationalism – the language, culture, traditions and heroes of the dominant nationality – the Sinhala Buddhists.”

In all European colonies, there emerged an elite that adopted the culture, values and lifestyle of the coloniser. In British India Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah were steeped in British ways and mores. But the high caste aristocratic Indian elite did not change their religion; they retained their religious identity, at most only going as far as to become secular Hindu or Muslim. But in Sri Lanka a significant segment of the Sinhala Goigama elite like the Bandaranaike- Obeyesekere-de Saram families converted to Christianity, as did some of the Tamil Vellalar elite.

The Divide

Donald L. Horowitz points out in Coup Theories and Officers’ Motives that there was “a great gap between English-educated Ceylonese who were able to pursue careers in the bureaucracy, professions and commercial houses, and Sinhala- or Tamil-educated Ceylonese whose social opportunities and cultural associations were more limited. The gulf was perhaps the greatest in the Sinhalese community. Unlike the Tamils, the Sinhalese were served by a number of elite schools that taught entirely in English. English thus became the language of the home of a significant number of Sinhalese in elite positions. This was not the case with very many Tamils, for the schools in the North were more successful in blending education in English with education in Tamil.

Accordingly, the Sinhala community harboured a certain resentment toward those Sinhalese who had abandoned their language, culture and in many cases, religion for those of the colonisers, and who had reaped the resulting rewards. In a sample of students entering the University of Ceylon in 1950, one-fourth of all students indicated that English was the language of their home.” For example, when at the age of 26, S.W.R.D Bandaranaike returned from Oxford in 1925, he could not speak Sinhala.

“After independence,” continues Horowitz, “there was a movement among Buddhists to gain state patronage for Buddhism, to secure symbolic recognition of the ‘rightful place’ of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and to end the advantages enjoyed by Christian denominational schools. In 1961, nearly all the denominational schools were nationalised by the SLFP government, over the bitter protests of the Christian communities.”

The electoral victory of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (the Peoples’ United Front) in 1956 under the leadership of Bandaranaike’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) was seen as a social revolution heralding the dethroning of the Westernised elite and their replacement by a Sinhala-speaking leadership. Although the new government in 1956 could make Sinhala the official language overnight, its benefits for the broader Sinhala Buddhist community were going to take time to manifest themselves. This was because English-language elite Christian public schools had a century’s head start on the Buddhist schools, which would now have to provide the senior civil servants, professionals, military officers and mercantile executives for the new dispensation.

To the incumbent liberal Ceylonese establishment practically every step post-1956 seemed to undermine the stability of the world they knew; and this process seemed to accentuate with Mrs. Bandaranaike’s election as Prime Minister in July 1960. This was evident in the growing Sinhala-Buddhist militancy and the political role of monks. The Westernised middle class feared the eclipse of a plural multi-racial state and the emergence of a Buddhist theocracy in its place.

Three critical events

Against this political background, three critical events triggered a section of the military to plan and attempt a coup.

First, anti-Tamil violence. Bandaranaike’s electoral success in 1956 by championing the cause of the Sinhala Buddhists was not lost on other parties. He however had stood for Sinhala as the official language tempered by the reasonable use of Tamil and upon taking office entered into an agreement with the Federal Party (the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact) to accommodate Tamil concerns. The United National Party (UNP) under Dudley Senanayake and J.R. Jayewardene responded with a policy of Sinhala Only and opposed the BC Pact.

In the south, only the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Communist Party took a principled stand for parity of status: that is Sinhala and Tamil as official languages.

Thwarted by the clerical right wing of the SLFP led by Health Minister Vimala Wijewardene, Bandaranaike was however compelled to unilaterally tear up the BC Pact in May 1958. This was immediately followed by Tamils becoming the target of organised mobs. Howard Wriggins recorded the events in Ceylon: Dilemmas of a New Nation.

“The outbreak of violence began when a train, presumably carrying Tamil delegates (to the Federal Party Convention in Vavuniya) was derailed and its passengers beaten up by ruffians … Arson and beatings spread to Colombo … Tamils were attacked, humiliated and beaten. Many were subjected to torture and some killed outright.”

Now, a prisoner of its right wing, the Bandaranaike government did nothing.

Finally, the Governor-General Sir Oliver Goonetilleke declared a State of Emergency and called out the armed forces. Tarzie Vittachi records in Emergency ’58 how Lieutenant Colonel F.C. ‘Derek’ de Saram had to deal with CTB gangs in Ratmalana while Major M.O. Gooneratne had to fight off Irrigation Department employees and colonists at Padaviya. In Polonnaruwa Government Agent Derrick Aluwihare had to shelter Tamils fleeing from colonists and was finally compelled to authorise the Army to open fire. For days mobs roamed, challenging people and attacking them if they were Tamil. Vittachi recounts how in Kurunegala a young man was stopped and asked to recite Buddhist gathas to prove he was a Sinhalese. Mendis, a Methodist, was unable to comply; the mob thereupon killed him.

The GA Colombo reported that “passing vehicles were stopped and their occupants mercilessly assaulted. Moving trains were halted at several places and the passengers ruthlessly attacked. There were many instances of arson and such brutal scenes as men being burned alive. Looting was rampant.”

Wriggins concludes: “The toll during the days of disorder included an estimated 300-400 killed: over 2,000 incidents of arson, looting and assault and 12,000 Ceylonese transformed into homeless refugees. The violence spread to the plantation areas where Tamils of Indian origin were attacked resulting in the Indian High Commissioner journeying upcountry to ascertain their welfare.”

Separation of State and Church

After interviewing the coup participants, Donald Horowitz reported that “a number of officers traced their first thoughts of a coup to the anti-Tamil riots of 1958 … a sign as one officer said, that things were falling apart … (they blamed) Bandaranaike’s yielding to crude communal feeling … one officer had arrived fifteen minutes too late to prevent the burning alive of two Hindu priests by a gang of Sinhalese at Panadura.” The incident convinced him that “sooner or later something would have to be done ….” Another officer recalled how they had been cautioned about handling Buddhist monks leading such mobs. His response was that there should be separation of church and state!

Sixteen months later Bandaranaike would be assassinated in a conspiracy led by the SLFP monk-Vice President Mapitigama Buddharakkitha.

The anti-Tamil riots were the first indication of the gap that was emerging between the uniformed officers and a partisan regime. Bandaranaike himself acknowledged this when he turned to the ranking Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) C. C. (‘Jungle’) Dissanayake MVO and said: Oh Jungle Jungle, if only you were a Buddhist, then I could make you IGP. The people want a Sinhalese Goyigama Buddhist for IGP.

To be continued tomorrow

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Midweek Review

Year ends with the NPP govt. on the back foot

Published

7 days ago

2025/12/24

Sahan Weerasooriya

President Dissanayake addresses Parliament as PM Dr. Harini Amarasuriya looks on. Dissanayake is the leader of both the JVP and NPP

The failure on the part of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) government to fulfil a plethora of promises given in the run up to the last presidential election, in September, 2024, and a series of incidents, including cases of corruption, and embarrassing failure to act on a specific weather alert, ahead of Cyclone Ditwah, had undermined the administration beyond measure.

Ditwah dealt a knockout blow to the arrogant and cocky NPP. If the ruling party consented to the Opposition proposal for a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to probe the events leading to the November 27 cyclone, the disclosure would be catastrophic, even for the all-powerful Executive President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, as responsible government bodies, like the Disaster Management Centre that horribly failed in its duty, and the Met Department that alerted about the developing storm, but the government did not heed its timely warnings, directly come under his purview.

The NPP is on the back foot and struggling to cope up with the rapidly developing situation. In spite of having both executive presidency and an overwhelming 2/3 majority in Parliament, the government seems to be weak and in total disarray.

The regular appearance of President Dissanayake in Parliament, who usually respond deftly to criticism, thereby defending his parliamentary group, obviously failed to make an impression. Overall, the top NPP leadership appeared to have caused irreparable damage to the NPP and taken the shine out of two glorious electoral victories at the last presidential and parliamentary polls held in September and November 2024 respectively.

The NPP has deteriorated, both in and out of Parliament. The performance of the 159-member NPP parliamentary group, led by Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, doesn’t reflect the actual situation on the ground or the developing political environment.

Having repeatedly boasted of its commitment to bring about good governance and accountability, the current dispensation proved in style that it is definitely not different from the previous lots or even worse. (The recent arrest of a policeman who claimed of being assaulted by a gang, led by an NPP MP, emphasised that so-called system change is nothing but a farce) In the run-up to the November, 2024, parliamentary polls, President Dissanayake, who is the leader of both the JVP and NPP, declared that the House should be filled with only NPPers as other political parties were corrupt. Dissanayake cited the Parliament defeating the no-confidence motions filed against Ravi Karunanayake (2016/over Treasury Bond scams) and Keheliya Rambukwella (2023/against health sector corruption) to promote his argument. However, recently the ongoing controversy over patient deaths, allegedly blamed on the administration of Ondansetron injections, exposed the government.

Mounting concerns over drug safety and regulatory oversight triggered strong calls from medical professionals, and trade unions, for the resignation of senior officials at the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) and the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC).

Medical and civil rights groups declared that the incident exposed deep systemic failures in Sri Lanka’s drug regulatory framework, with critics warning that the collapse of quality assurance mechanisms is placing patients’ lives at grave risk.

The Medical and Civil Rights Professional Association of Doctors (MCRPA), and allied trade unions, accused health authorities of gross negligence and demanded the immediate resignation of senior NMRA and SPC officials.

MCRPA President Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa is on record as having said that the Health Ministry, NMRA and SPC had collectively failed to ensure patient safety, citing, what he described as, a failed drug regulatory system.

The controversy has taken an unexpected turn with some alleging that the NPP government, on behalf of Sri Lanka and India, in April this year, entered into an agreement whereby the former agreed to lower quality/standards of medicine imports.

Trouble begins with Ranwala’s resignation

The NPP suffered a humiliating setback when its National List MP Asoka Ranwala had to resign from the post of Speaker on 13 December, 2024, following intense controversy over his educational qualification. The petroleum sector trade union leader served as the Speaker for a period of three weeks and his resignation shook the party. Ranwala, first time entrant to Parliament was one of the 18 NPP National List appointees out of a total of 29. The Parliament consists of 196 elected and 29 appointed members. Since the introduction of the National List, in 1989, there had never been an occasion where one party secured 18 slots.

The JVP/NPP made an initial bid to defend Ranwala but quickly gave it up and got him to resign amidst media furor. Ranwala dominated the social media as political rivals exploited the controversy over his claimed doctorate from the Waseda University of Japan, which he has failed to prove to this day. But, the JVP/NPP had to suffer a second time as a result of Ranwala’s antics when he caused injuries to three persons, including a child, on 11 December, in the Sapugaskanda police area.

The NPP made a pathetic, UNP and SLFP style effort to save the parliamentarian by blaming the Sapugaskanda police for not promptly subjecting him for a drunk driving test. The declaration made by the Government Analyst Department that the parliamentarian hadn’t been drunk at the time of the accident, several days after the accident, does not make any difference. Having experienced the wrongdoing of successive previous governments, the public, regardless of what various interested parties propagated on social media, realise that the government is making a disgraceful bid to cover-up.

No less a person than President Dissanayake is on record as having said that their members do not consume liquor. Let us wait for the outcome of the internal investigation into the lapses on the part of the Sapugaskanda police with regard to the accident that happened near Denimulla Junction, in Sapugaskanda.

JVP/NPP bigwigs obviously hadn’t learnt from the Weligama W 15 hotel attack in December, 2023, that ruined President Ranil Wickremeinghe’s administration. That incident exposed the direct nexus between the government and the police in carrying out Mafia-style operations. Although the two incidents cannot be compared as the circumstances differ, there is a similarity. Initially, police headquarters represented the interests of the wrongdoers, while President Wickremesinghe bent over backwards to retain the man who dispatched the CCD (Colombo Crime Division) team to Weligama, as the IGP. The UNP leader went to the extent of speaking to Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, PC, and Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to push his agenda. There is no dispute the then Public Security Minister Tiran Alles wanted Deshabandu Tennakoon as IGP, regardless of a spate of accusations against him, in addition to him being faulted by the Supreme Court in a high-profile fundamental rights application.

The JVP/NPP must have realised that though the Opposition remained disorganised and ineffective, thanks to the media, particularly social media, a case of transgression, if not addressed swiftly and properly, can develop into a crisis. Action taken by the government to protect Ranwala is a case in point. Government leaders must have heaved a sigh of relief as Ranwala is no longer the Speaker when he drove a jeep recklessly and collided with a motorcycle and a car.

Major cases, key developments

Instead of addressing public concerns, the government sought to suppress the truth by manipulating and exploiting developments

* The release of 323 containers from the Colombo Port, in January 2025, is a case in point. The issue at hand is whether the powers that be took advantage of the port congestion to clear ‘red-flagged’ containers.

Although the Customs repeatedly declared that they did nothing wrong and such releases were resorted even during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s presidency (July 2022 to September 2024), the public won’t buy that. Container issue remains a mystery. That controversy eroded public confidence in the NPP that vowed 100 percent transparency in all its dealings. But the way the current dispensation handled the Port congestion proved that transparency must be the last thing in the minds of the JVPers/NPPers holding office.

* The JVP/NPP’s much touted all-out anti-corruption stand suffered a debilitating blow over their failure to finalise the appointment of a new Auditor General. In spite of the Opposition, the civil society, and the media, vigorously taking up this issue, the government continued to hold up the appointment by irresponsibly pushing for an appointment acceptable to President Dissanayake. The JVP/NPP is certainly pursuing a strategy contrary to what it preached while in the Opposition and found fault with successive governments for trying to manipulate the AG. It would be pertinent to mention that President Dissanayake should accept the responsibility for the inordinate delay in proposing a suitable person to that position. The government failed to get the approval of the Constitutional Council more than once to install a favourite of theirs in it, thanks to the forthright position taken by its civil society representatives.

The government should be ashamed of its disgraceful effort to bring the Office of the Auditor General under its thumb:

* The JVP/NPP government’s hotly disputed decision to procure 1,775 brand-new double cab pickup trucks, at a staggering cost exceeding Rs. 12,500 mn, under controversial circumstances, exposed the duplicity of that party that painted all other political parties black. Would the government rethink the double cab deal, especially in the wake of economic ruination caused by Cyclone Ditwah? The top leadership seems to be determined to proceed with their original plans, regardless of immeasurable losses caused by Cyclone Ditwah. Post-cyclone efforts still remain at a nascent stage with the government putting on a brave face. The top leadership has turned a blind eye to the overwhelming challenge in getting the country back on track especially against the backdrop of its agreement with the IMF.

Post-Cyclone Ditwah recovery process is going to be slow and extremely painful. Unfortunately, both the government and the Opposition are hell-bent on exploiting the miserable conditions experienced by its hapless victims. The government is yet to acknowledge that it could have faced the crisis much better if it acted on the warning issued by Met Department Chief Athula Karunanayake on 12 November, two weeks before the cyclone struck.

Foreign policy dilemma

Sri Lanka moved further closer to India and the US this year as President Dissanayake entered into several new agreements with them. In spite of criticism, seven Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), including one on defence, remains confidential. What are they hiding?

Within weeks after signing of the seven MoUs, India bought the controlling interests in the Colombo Dockyard Limited for USD 52 mn.

Although some Opposition members, representing the SJB, raised the issue, their leader Sajith Premadasa, during a subsequent visit to New Delhi, indicated he wouldn’t, under any circumstances, raise such a contentious issue.

Premadasa went a step further. The SJB leader assured his unwavering commitment to the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that was forced on Sri Lanka during President JRJ’s administration, under the highly questionable Indo-Lanka Accord of July, 1987, after the infamous parippu drop by Indian military aircraft over Jaffna, their version of the old gunboat diplomacy practiced by the West.

Both India and the US consolidated their position here further in the post-Aragalaya period. Those who felt that the JVP would be in a collision course with them must have been quite surprised by the turn of events and the way post-Aragalaya Sri Lanka leaned towards the US-India combine with not a hum from our carboard revolutionaries now installed in power. They certainly know which side of the bread is buttered. Sri Lanka’s economic deterioration, and the 2023 agreement with the IMF, had tied up the country with the US-led bloc.

In spite of India still procuring large quantities of Russian crude oil and its refusal to condemn Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, New Delhi has obviously reached consensus with the US on a long-term partnership to meet the formidable Chinese challenge. Both countries feel each other’s support is incalculably vital and indispensable.

Sri Lanka, India, and Japan, in May 2019, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to jointly develop the East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo Port. That was during the tail end of the Yahapalana administration. The Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration wanted to take that project forward. But trade unions, spearheaded by the JVP/NPP combine, thwarted a tripartite agreement on the basis that they opposed privatisation of the Colombo Port at any level.

But, the Colombo West International Terminal (CWIT) project, that was launched in November, 2022, during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s presidency, became fully operational in April this year. The JVP revolutionary tiger has completely changed its stripes regarding foreign investments and privatisation. If the JVP remained committed to its previous strategies, India taking over CDL or CWIT would have been unrealistic.

The failure on the part of the government to reveal its stand on visits by foreign research vessels to ports here underscored the intensity of US and Indian pressure. Hope our readers remember how US and India compelled the then President Wickremesinghe to announce a one-year moratorium on such visits. In line with that decision Sri Lanka declared research vessels wouldn’t be allowed here during 2024. The NPP that succeeded Wickremesinghe’s administration in September, 2024, is yet to take a decision on foreign research vessels. What a pity?

The NPP ends the year on the back foot, struggling to cope up with daunting challenges, both domestic and external. The recent revelation of direct Indian intervention in the 2022 regime change project here along with the US underscored the gravity of the situation and developing challenges. Post-cyclone period will facilitate further Indian and US interventions for obvious reasons.

****

Perhaps one of the most debated events in 2025 was the opening of ‘City of Dreams Sri Lanka’ that included, what the investors called, a world-class casino. In spite of mega Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s unexpected decision to pull out of the grand opening on 02 August, the investors went ahead with the restricted event. The Chief Guest was President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who is also the Finance Minister, in addition to being the Defence Minister. Among the other notable invitees were Dissanayake’s predecessor Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose administration gave critical support to the high-profile project, worth over USD 1.2 bn. John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) and Melco Resorts & Entertainment (Melco) invested in the project that also consist of the luxurious Nüwa hotel and a premium shopping mall. Who would have thought President Dissanayake’s participation, even remotely, possible, against the backdrop of his strong past public opposition to gambling of any kind?

Don’t forget ‘City of Dreams’ received a license to operate for a period of 20 years. Definitely an unprecedented situation. Although that license had been issued by the Wickremesinghe administration, the NPP, or any other political party represented in Parliament, didn’t speak publicly about that matter. Interesting, isn’t it, coming from people, still referred by influential sections of the Western media, as avowed Marxists?

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Midweek Review

The Aesthetics and the Visual Politics of an Artisanal Community

Published

7 days ago

2025/12/24

Sahan Weerasooriya

Through the Eyes of the Patua:

Organised by the Colombo Institute for Human Sciences in collaboration with Millennium Art Contemporary, an interesting and unique exhibition got underway in the latter’s gallery in Millennium City, Oruwala on 21 December 2025. The exhibition is titled, ‘Through the Eyes of the Patua: Ramayana Paintings of an Artisanal Community’ and was organized in parallel with the conference that was held on 20 December 2025 under the theme, ‘Move Your Shadow: Rediscovering Ravana, Forms of Resistance and Alternative Universes in the Tellings of the Ramayana.’ The scrolls on display at the gallery are part of the over 100 scrolls in the collection of Colombo Institute’s ‘Roma Chatterji Patua Scroll Collection.’ Prof Chatterji, who taught Sociology at University of Delhi and at present teaches at Shiv Nadar University donated the scrolls to the Colombo Institute in 2024.

The paintings on display are what might be called narrative scrolls that are often over ten feet long. Each scroll narrates a story, with separate panels pictorially depicting one component of a story. The Patuas or the Chitrakars, as they are also known, are traditionally bards. A bard will sing the story that is depicted by each scroll which is simultaneously unfurled. For Sri Lankan viewers for whom the paintings and their contexts of production and use would be unusual and unfamiliar, the best way to understand them is to consider them as a comic strip. In the case of the ongoing exhibition, since the bards or the live songs are not a part of it, the word and voice elements are missing. However, the curators have endeavoured to address this gap by displaying a series of video presentations of the songs, how they are performed and the history of the Patuas as part of the exhibition itself.

The unfamiliarity of the art on display and their histories, necessitates broader explanation. The Patua hail from Medinipur District of West Bengal in India. Essentially, this community of artisans are traditional painters and singers who compose stories based on sacred texts such as the Ramayana or Mahabharata as well as secular events that can vary from the bombing of the Twin Towers in New York in 2001 to the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004. Even though painted storytelling is done by a number of traditional artisan groups in India, the Patua is the only community where performers and artists belong to the same group. Hence, Professor Chatterji, in her curatorial note for the exhibition calls them “the original multi-media performers in Bengal.”

‘The story of the Patuas’ also is an account of what happens to such artisanal communities in contemporary times in South Asia more broadly even though this specific story is from India. There was a time before the 21st century when such communities were living and working across a large part of eastern India – each group with a claim to their recognizably unique style of painting. However, at the present time, this community and their vocation is limited to areas such as Medinipur, Birbhum, Purulia in West Bengal and Dumka in Jharkhand.

A pertinent question is how the scroll painters from Medinipur have survived the vagaries of time when others have not. Professor Chatterji provides an important clue when she notes that these painters, “unlike their counterparts elsewhere, are also extremely responsive to political events.” As such, “apart from a rich repertoire of stories based on myth and folklore, including the Ramayana and other epics, they have, over many years, also composed on themes that range from events of local or national significance such as boat accidents and communal violence to global events such as the tsunami and the attack on the World Trade Centre.”

There is another interesting aspect that becomes evident when one looks into the socio-cultural background of this community. As Professor Chatterji writes, “one significant feature that gives a distinct flavour to their stories is the fact that a majority of Chitrakars consider themselves to be Muslims but perform stories based largely on Hindu myths.” In this sense, their story complicates the tension-ridden dichotomies between ethno-cultural and religious groups typical of relations between groups in India as well as more broadly in South Asia, including in Sri Lanka. Prof Chatterji suggests this positionality allows the Patua to have “a truly secular voice so vital in the world that we live in today.”

As a result, she notes, contemporary Patuas “have propagated the message of communal harmony in their compositions in the context of the recent riots in India and the Gulf War. Their commentaries couched in the language of myth are profoundly symbolic and draw on a rich oral tradition of storytelling.” What is even more important is their “engagement with contemporary issues also inflects their aesthetics” because many of these painters also “experiment with novel painterly values inspired by recent interaction with new media such as comic books and with folk art forms from other parts of the country.”

From this varied repertoire of the Patuas’ painterly tradition, this exhibition focusses on scrolls portraying different aspects of the Ramayana. In North Indian and the more dominant renditions of the Ramayana, the focus is on Rama while in many alternate renditions this shifts to Ravana as typified by versions popular among the Sinhalas and Tamils in Sri Lanka as well as in some areas in several Indian states. Compared to this, the Patua renditions in the exhibition mostly illustrate the abduction of Sita with a pronounced focus on Sita and not on Ravana, the conventional antagonist or on Rama, the conventional protagonist. As a result, these two traditional male colossuses are distant. Moreover, with the focus on Sita, these folk renditions also bring to the fore other figures directly associated with her such as her sons Luv and Kush in the act of capturing Rama’s victory horse as well as Lakshmana.

Interestingly, almost as a counter narrative, which also serves as a comparison to these Ramayana scrolls, the exhibition also presents three scrolls known as ‘bin-Laden Patas’ depicting different renditions on the attack on New York’s Twin Towers.

While the painted scrolls in this collection have been exhibited thrice in India, this is the first time they are being exhibited in Sri Lanka, and it is quite likely such paintings from any community beyond Sri Lanka’s shores were not available for viewing in the country before this. Organised with no diplomatic or political affiliation and purely as a Sri Lankan cultural effort with broader South Asian interest, it is definitely worth a visit. The exhibition will run until 10 January 2026.