Features

Ceylon’s first university in memory and imagination

Published

3 years ago

2023/02/12

Thilina Walpola

OLD PERADENIYA

By Ernest Macintyre

INTRODUCTION

The Mahaweli River, 335 long, the longest river in Lanka, has its beginning in a remote village of Nuwara-Eliya District in the central hills, and ends going into the sea at the Bay of Bengal on the east coast at Trincomalee. As it passes Kandy, the main town of the central province, and goes south about six kilometers, it bends at an elbow to the shape of an arm, to cradle within an expanse of habitation born from nature accommodating Lankan classical and colonial architecture, the residential University of Ceylon, Peradeniya.

From the sandy banks of the river the richly vegetated land slopes gently upward till it reaches the old Galaha Road along which on either side, from the Botanical Gardens junction, north to the ancient Buddhist village of Hindagla ,south, are the buildings designed by architect Shirley D’ Alwis. Sir Ivor Jennings, the first Vice Chancellor took the lead in proposing and constructing the sober and dignified monument in architect Shirley D’Alwis’s honour that is situated at the first roundabout on this central road of the campus with a shallow pond all around it.

The Mahaweli from which we rose up to Galaha road is only one side of the story of nature’s promise. On the other side of Galaha, all along, the land rises further to reach in the distance, the Hantana chain of mountains. Hantana is a chain of seven mountains, surrounded by forest. From the top of the mountains is seen, at the rising of the sun, the University, faraway.

This sunrise in 1955, all was quiet on the campus. There were no students, yet. Ones already at university had four more weeks before term started. But shortly, the many hundreds of new students, those who had just gained entrance would arrive.

So we have a little time to take a walk along Galaha Road Near the village of Hindagala, in the south, where in the mid-1950s the campus ended, was the large Ramanathan Hall. It was the largest of the halls of residence, with three floors and named after Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan who was associated with the movement for independence from Britain for the colony of Ceylon.

Turning back from Ramanathan along Galaha Road ,returning northwards, quite close to Ramanathan was Sangamitta Hall and Hilda Obeyesekere Hall, and also close by, up a hill on the Hantana side was James Peiris Hall. All three for female undergrads.

Sangamitta Hall needs a little more telling; it being the only one with a ancient historical name. Sangamitta was the title or description given to the daughter of King Ashoka of India (about 270 BC). Her name was Ayapali, and was referred to as Sangamitta when she joined the order of Buddhist nuns. Sangamitta and her brother Mahinda were sent by Ashoka their father to spread the Word of The Buddha south across India and ending in Lanka.

James Peiris and Hilda Obeyesekare whom the other two close by halls were named after, were prominent and wealthy social and political figures of the early twentieth century.

To divert now to an undergraduate activity allowable in adulthood in a residential facility of both sexes. The young men called it Kissing Bend. Despite the mischievous manipulation of language enjoyed freely in Peradeniya , Kissing Bend was not a curved part of the physical make up of one of the genders. It was an area of hard asphalt on the ground on Galaha road, where we are now on our walk through the campus.

A location of love’s reluctant closing moments of an evening after Mahaweli meetings. The Kissing Bend, with a big tree covering on one side. Kissing goodnight was just before seven in the evening, the stipulated time for women to be back in their halls, after returning from sessions close together on the banks of the Mahaveli .

young males and females, without the cultural restraint of Pirivena origin, in a university of Western imagination, allowed them freedom of nature. An old English song, ” I Met My Little Bright Eyed Doll, Down By The Riverside”, may have had its Sinhala version, much sung in Peradeniya at the time, ” Mage as deka dilisena bonikka ganga iney sambuna”, emerging from the banks of Peradeniya’s Mahaweli.

Kissing Bend was an important land mark, for as Professor Sarachchandra is reported to have once said to undergraduates: “Peradeniya is not only for passing exams, it is for the passing of young lives, at a time when it is surging.” He did not mean kissing at the bend, yet it relates to human surge and emotion in youth ,and accompanying thought, extends to works of art, which the professor had in mind. It requires imagination to extend to the surge of art, closely pressed bodies and upright, with entangled legs at Kissing Bend. Today it is probably called “imbina wangua“, with the growth of the use of Sinhala.

Moving from alongside Hilda Obeyasekara Hall now in the other direction from Hindagala, the next important structures in those times were the impressive administrative buildings, library and lecture rooms on the left and Arunachalam and Jayatileka halls side by side on the right, named again, after important political figures of the time. From Jayatitilake Hall can be seen the Shirley D’Awis memorial. Honouring the architect who in design, gave to Peradeniya man’s complement to nature. These buildings were given special mention, whatever the intention of the words mean, when the recently departed Queen of Britain and her husband Philip formally declared the University of Ceylon, open.

In the view from Jayatilleka Hall beyond this memorial was the sports grounds and tennis courts. To the right of the sports field was a makeshift accommodation, the Faculty Club. The evening club for the academic staff, who in keeping with their intellectual claims could think better with a drink. This club, apart from private homes was the only place arrack could be had on campus. The two immediate progressions from schooldays to university were ” áll but” freedom with the opposite sex and arrack. The former was easily and discreetly available, the latter prohibited on campus, yet consumed growingly, in the town of Peradeniya and the city of Kandy, bringing back its heartily displayed consumption to the campus.

Further north to the right on Galaha road, beyond Jayatilleka Hall was a narrow asphalt strip branching upwards to the seventh student residence, Marrs Hall, named after an important academic and university official, in its early Colombo University College of London days.

Seven halls of residence somewhat autonomous with an elected student president and a warden. The close social relationships were within each hall, the three meal sittings a convenient regrouping after dispersal into the larger campus body for lectures and tutorials, presided over by people who now, the years have taken away, together with some whom they lectured to, now in their mid eighties. Luudowyk, Passe, Doric de Souza, Sarachchandra, Siri Gunasinghe, H.A.de .S Gunasekara, Vaithianandan, Cuthbert Amarasinghe, Van den Driesen, Sinnappa Arasaratnam, La Brooy, Miss. Mathiaparanam and Basil Mendis. Some from the many.

The ones they educated in the mid fifties will be now in their mid eighties. The lecturers will be remembered for some time more.

Very modern the halls of residence were, with every contemporary facility students could ask for. In fact, Ramanathan Hall may have gone too far , socially inconsiderate, in installing bidets in each toilet. Small porcelain basins fixed to the floor, which spouted water upwards when its tap was opened, to serve the sitter on the bidet. Bidet is an old French word for “pony”, and was associated with Royalty ,the notion that one “rides” or straddles a bidet much like a pony is ridden. Even the Colombo “kultur” students felt more secure in their old manual methods, leaving the French “ponies” as obtrusive ornaments.

To get back to those times, we now move outside to a place that mainly served the campus. The steam train from Colombo had arrived at the small nearby Peradeniya railway station.

That morning the small station was packed with young men and women.They had come from all parts of the country. A good many were from Colombo schools. Amongst names of Sinhala and Tamil origin there were also significant numbers of Fernandos, Silvas and Pereras, resulting from the long Portuguese part of Ceylon history.

Because of free education introduced in 1948, they were well matched in numbers by those from rural Ceylon . South, Central Ceylon and North West below the Jaffna Peninsula which brought into the campus names like Deekiriwewa and Menikdiwela. TheNorth Westerners converged at Polgahawela, and then to Colombo, to change trains for Peradeniya.

The Central Province provided a mixture of Colombo and rural types. Breckenridge , Dhanapala and Senaratne are three we remember, from Trinity College and Premaratne the cricketer from Katugastota. They were not at the station, because they were close enough to Peradeniya.

There were the not so westernised Tamils from Jaffna and the Eastern Province. Not as westernised as the young Tamil men and women of the Colombo schools who had a long history of migration from Jaffna, from 1905, when the first train left Kankesanthurai for the capital city. Singhams, Lingams, Moorthys, Samys amongst others were all there at Peradeniya.

The Ceylon Moors were well spread, Colombo, Kandy, Jaffna and the Eastern Province. We remember Raheem of Royal ,Lafir and Mohamed Mustapha Ibrahim. So, the chatter on the station platform was very mixed. English, mostly from the Colombo schools and the Burghers, Sinhala from the very large area of provinces outside Colombo and Tamil from north and east.

Females, jostled with the males, in a way schoolboys and schoolgirls which they were a few months ago, had not been allowed. They would all be in close residence very soon, after transport from the station in vans. With the exception that females lived in separate halls, morning to evening they were free to be with males, including evening privacy on the banks of the Mahaweli, and at dusk, parting proximities of “Kissing Bend”.

Men together with women hiking up to Hantane in the weekends was another opportunity by which this university helped indicate, conservatively and intelligently, that men and women were meant by nature and civilization to prepare, to mate in proper time.

Significant on the station that morning was race or cultural mixing together. Peradeniya was probably the first social formation in Lanka where Sinhalese and Tamils, Ceylon Moors ,Malays and Burghers in significant numbers would actually live closely and rub shoulders with each other, sharing rooms , dining tables , sport, art , social events and academic discourse.

College House of University College, London University, had a small number of Sinhalese, Tamils and other minorities resident, but that university was largely non-residential. Government departments and commercial firms had both Sinhalese and Tamils and other ethnicities. But no institution in Lanka, before Peradeniya had thousands as one community living, day and night, closely together.

Peradeniya especially opened the opportunity for Sinhalese, Tamil, Moors, Burghers, and Malay youth to explore and conclude that they were one humanity.

Two other identifiable “cultural” groups, outside of ethnicity, that did not initially mix, that is in the 1950’s, were what students called the “O Facs” and the “Kulturs”. The students of the oriental faculties, largely from rural schools who opted for Pali, Sanskrit, Sinhala apart from Economics and History and the urban school students, mainly Colombo, Kandy, Galle and the like who did English. Latin, Greek, Economics, Western Philosophy, History.

It was unfortunate that this unreal social divide very likely created by the cultural snobbery of Colombo school products came into the campus, for it was the “O Facs” who within a year stamped Peradeniya with a cultural creation hallmarking Sri Lankan culture and launching it into South Asian recognition. Maname, a Sinhala creation that stands alongside any dramatic work, anywhere. In time this remnant colonial division imperceptibly wore out.

This day of Peradeniya also saw the last congregation of Burghers, in significant number, benefiting university contribution to the country. Though it is common to hear of Portuguese Burghers and Dutch Burghers of Ceylon, they are of varied European descent like in the composition of the mixed European De Meuron Regiment first employed by the Dutch , then serving the British and finally being disbanded in 1816 in Colombo to become part of the population From that station platform or directly onto the campus that morning, there were names like Ludowyk, Pietresz, Ondaatje, Roosmale- Cocq, Taylor, Hingert, De Zoysa, Elhart, Van der Gert, De Lay, Moldrich, Wouterz, Solomons, Jansen, Roberts, De Saram, Nicolle, Schrader, Forbes and Hepponstal. Most were unaware this morning that Peradeniya was to be only a short stopover, on their way to Melbourne.

The government’s language policy change, displacing English was a year later. Hepponstall sensed the change. He migrated to Melbourne after only one term in Peradeniya, causing Vanderdergert to quip, “What happened to Hepponstall can happen to us all”. And it eventually did. A lost tribe of Lanka. Still identifiable mainly in Melbourne.

Soon the station platform was again empty. Vans organized by the university transported the freshers to their halls of residence where a small number arriving in their parent’s cars were already establishing themselves.

A wonderful blessing of nature and human architecture was to be theirs for the next three or four years.Beyond the promise of this bend in the river on either side spread the also alluring country that sustained it. This island’s modern history, a trajectory, which Aristotle would have called a given Plot or circumstance could not leave its first university untouched, as this story will unfold.

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Features

Welcome bid to revive interest in Southern development issues

Published

2 hours ago

2025/11/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

Southern development issues making a comeback; the RCSS forum in progress

From the global South’s viewpoint the time could not be more appropriate to re-explore the possibility of forging ahead with realizing its long neglected collective development aims. It would seem that over the past three decades or more the developing world itself has allowed its outstanding issues to be thrust onto the backburner, so to speak, of the global development agenda.

Maybe the South’s fascination with the economic growth models advanced by the West and its apex financial institutions enabled the above situation to come to pass. However, time has also made it clear that the people of the South have gained little or nothing from their rulers’ fixation with the ‘development’ paths mapped out for them by Western financial institutions which came to prioritize ‘market-led’ growth.

At this juncture it is crucial that the more informed and enlightened sections among Southern publics come together to figure out where their countries should ‘go from here’ in terms of development, correctly defined. It is gladdening to note that the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo (RCSS) has got down to this task.

On November 3rd, the RCSS launched its inaugural ‘RCSS Strategic Dialogue’ under the guidance of its Executive Director, Ambassador (Retd.) Ravinatha Aryasinha, under the theme, ‘Research Priorities for the Global South in Challenging Times’, and the forum was led by none other than by Dr. Carlos Maria Correa, the Executive Director of the Geneva-based South Centre, an institution that has played a pivotal role in Southern development and discourse over the decades.

Among the audience were thought leaders, diplomats, senior public servants, development experts and journalists. In what proved to be a lively, wide-ranging discussion issues at the heart of Southern development were analyzed and a general understanding arrived at which ought to stand the South in general and Sri Lanka in particular in good stead, going forward.

A thought-provoking point made by Dr. Carlos Correa was that the ‘US is helping India and China to come closer, and if India and China work together, the global economy and politics could change dramatically.’ He was referring to the tariff-related trade strife that the US has unleashed on the world and the groundwork that it could lay for the foremost Asian economic powers, India and China, to work consensually towards changing global trade terms in particular in favour of the global South.

The Asian powers mentioned could easily achieve this considering that they could hold their own with the US in economic terms. In other words there exists a possibility of the world economy being shaped in accordance with some of the best interests of the South, provided the foremost economic powers of the South come together and look beyond narrow self- interests towards the collective good of the South. This is a challenge for the future that needs taking up.

China sought to identify itself with the developing world in the past and this could be its opportunity to testify in practical terms to this conviction. In view of the finding that well over 40 percent of global GDP is currently being contributed by the major economies of the South, coupled with the fact that the bulk of international trade occurs among Southern economies, the time seems to be more than right for the South to initiate changes to the international economy that could help in realizing some of its legitimate interests, provided it organizes itself.

The above observation could be considered an important ‘take-away’ from the RCSS forum, which needs to be acted upon by governments, policy makers and think tanks of the developing world. It is time to revisit the seemingly forgotten North-South and South-South Dialogues, revive them and look to exploiting their potential to restructure the world economic system to suit the best interests of all countries, big or small. There are ‘research priorities’ aplenty here for those sections the world over that are desirous of initiating needed qualitative changes to the international economy for the purpose of ushering equity and fair play.

An important research question that arises from the RCSS forum relates to development and what it entails. This columnist considers this question a long- forgotten issue from the North-South Dialogue. It is no longer realized, it seems, that the terms growth and development cannot be used interchangeably. Essentially, while ‘growth’ refers to the total value of goods and services produced by a country yearly, ‘development’ denotes equity in the distribution of such produce among a country’s population. That is, in the absence of an equal distribution of goods and services among the people no ‘development’ could be said to have occurred in a country.

From the above viewpoint very few countries could be said to have ‘developed’ in particularly the South over the decades since ‘political independence’; certainly not Sri Lanka. In terms of this definition of development, it needs to be accepted that a degree of central planning is integral to a country’s economic advancement.

Accordingly, if steady poverty alleviation is used as a yardstick, the global South could be said to be stuck in economic backwardness and in this sense a hemisphere termed the ‘South’ continues to exist. Thanks to the RCSS forum these and related issues were raised and could henceforth be freshly researched and brought to the fore of public discussion.

We have it on the authority of Dr. Carlos Correa that a 7000 strong network of policymakers is at the service of the South Centre, to disseminate their scholarship worldwide if needed. The South would be working in its interests to tie-up with the South Centre and look to ways of advancing its collective interest now that it is in a position to do so, considering the economic clout it carries. It is time the South took cognizance fully of the fact that the global economic power balance has shifted decisively to the East and that it makes full use of this favourable position to advance its best interests.

The New International Economic Order (NIEO) of the sixties and seventies, which won mention at the RCSS forum, needs to be revisited and researched for its merits, but the NIEO was meant to go hand-in-hand with the New International Information Order (NIIO) which was birthed by Southern think tanks and the like around the same time. Basically, the NIIO stood for a global information order that made provision for a balanced and fair coverage of the affairs of the South. Going forward, the merits of the NIIO too would need to be discussed with a view to examining how it could serve the South’s best interests.

Features

BBC in trouble again!

Published

2 hours ago

2025/11/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

Trump

BBC is in trouble again; this time with the most powerful person in the world. Donald Trump has given an ultimatum to the BBC over a blunder it should have corrected and apologized for, a long time ago, which it did not do for reasons best known, perhaps, only to the hierarchy of the BBC. Many wonder whether it is due to sheer arrogance or, pure and simple stupidity! Trump is threatening to sue the BBC, for a billion dollars in damages, for the defamation of character caused by one of the flagship news programmes of the BBC “Panorama” broadcast a week before the last presidential election.

BBC is the oldest public service broadcaster in the world, having commenced operations in 1922 and was once held in high esteem as the most reliable broadcaster in the world due to its editorial neutrality but most Sri Lankans realized it is not so now, due to the biased reporting during Sri Lanka’s troubled times. By the way, it should not be forgotten that the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation is the second oldest public broadcaster in the world, behind the BBC by only three years, having commenced operations as ‘Colombo Radio’ on 16 December 1925; it subsequently became ‘Radio Ceylon’. It soon became the dominant broadcaster of South Asia, with a Hindi service as well, and I wonder whether there are any plans to celebrate the centenary of that great heritage but that is a different story.

The Panorama documentary titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” was broadcast on 28 October, days before the US presidential election held on 5th November 2024. No one, except the management of the BBC, was aware that this programme had a doctored speech by Trump till the British newspaper The Telegraph published a report, in early November, stating that it had seen a leaked BBC memo from Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to its editorial standards committee, sent in May. This memo pointed out that the one-hour Panorama programme had edited parts of a Trump’s speech which may convey the impression that he explicitly encouraged the Capitol Hill riot of January 2021. In fact, this is what most believe in and whether the editors and presenters of Panorama purposely doctored the speech to confirm this narrative remains to be seen.

In his speech, in Washington DC on 6 January 2021, what Trump said was: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.” However, in Panorama he was shown saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.” The two sections of the speech that were edited together were more than 50 minutes apart and the “fight like hell” comment was taken from a section where Trump discussed how “corrupt” US elections were.

There is no doubt that Trump is very lax with words but that does not mean that the media can edit his speeches to convey a totally different meaning to what he states. The moment the memo was received, from its own advisor, the senior management of the BBC should have taken action. The least that could have been done is to issue a correction and tender an apology to Trump in addition to punishing the errant, after an inquiry. One can justifiably wonder whether the BBC did not take any action because of an inherent prejudice against Trump. Even if not so, how the events unfolded makes the BBC appear to be an organization incapable of monitoring and correcting itself.

In fact, a news item on 9 November in the BBC website titled, “Why is Donald Trump threatening to sue the BBC?”, referring to the memo states the following:

“The document said Panorama’s “distortion of the day’s events” would leave viewers asking: “Why should the BBC be trusted, and where will this all end?”. When the issue was raised with managers, the memo continued, they “refused to accept there had been a breach of standards”.

From these statements, it becomes very clear that all that the senior management wanted to do was a cover-up, which is totally inexcusable. After the expose by The Telegraph the BBC had been inundated by public complaints and faced criticism all round resulting in the resignations of the Director General and the Head of News. To make matters worse, the Chairman of the Board of Directors stated that he was planning to tender an apology to President Trump. If he had any common sense or decency, he would have done so immediately.

Worse still was the comment of the head of international news who tried to justify by saying that this sort of editing happens regularly. He fails to realise that his comment will make more and more people losing trust in the BBC.

Some are attempting to paint this as an attempt by those against the licence-fee funding model of the BBC to discredit the BBC but to anyone with any sense at all, it is pretty obvious that this a self-inflicted injury. Some legal experts are advising the BBC to face the legal challenge of Trump, failing to realise that even if Trump loses, the BBC would have to spend millions to defend. This would be the money paid as licence fees by the taxpayer and the increasing resistance to licence fee is bound to increase.

Overall, this episode raises many issues the most important being the role of the free press. British press is hardly fair, as newspapers have political allegiances, but is free to expose irregularities like this. Further, it illustrates that we must be as careful with mainstream media as much as we are with newly emerging media. When a respected organization like the BBC commits such blunders and, worse still. attempts to cover-up, whom can we trust?

by Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

Features

Miss Universe 2025 More ‘surprises’ before Crowning day!

Published

2 hours ago

2025/11/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

Unexpected events seem to have cropped up at this year’s Miss Universe pageant and there could be more ‘surprises’ before the crowning day – Friday, 21st November, 2025, at the at the Impact Challenger Hall, in Pak Kret, Nonthaburi, Thailand..

First, the controversy involving the pageant’s Thai Director and Miss Mexico, and then the withdrawal of some of the contestants from the 74th Miss Universe pageant.

In fact, this year’s pageant has has kept everyone on edge.

However, I’m told that Sri Lanka’s representative, Lihasha Lindsay White, is generating some attention, and that is ecouraging, indeed.

While success in the pageant is highly competitive and depends on performance during the live events, let’s hope Lihasha is heading in the right direction.

Involved in an unpleasant scene

The 27-year-old Miss Universe Sri Lanka is a businesswoman and mental health advocate, and, according to reports coming my way, has impressed with her poise, intellect, and stage presence.

Her strong advocacy for mental health brings a message of substance and style, which aligns with the Miss Universe Organisation’s current emphasis on impact and purpose beyond just aesthetics.

Lihasha has undergone rigorous training, including catwalk coaching, under internationally acclaimed mentors – Indonesia’s Putra Pasarela for runway coaching; and the Philippines’ Michelle Padayhag for Q&A mastery – which, I’m told, has strengthened her confidence and stage presence.

Pageant predictions are speculative and vary widely among experts. While some say there is a possibility of Lihasha tbreaking into the semi-finals, there is no guarantee of a win.

Ultimately, the outcome will be determined during the competition events, including the preliminary show, national costume segment, and the final night, where Lihasha will compete against representatives from over 100 countries.

Maureen Hingert: 2nd Runner-up in 1955 / Miss Mexico: Stood up for women’s rights

While Sri Lanka has not won the Miss Universe crown before, Maureen Hingert was placed as the 2nd Runner-up in 1955.

Lihasha Lindsay White is a dedicated candidate with a strong personal platform, and her performance in the remaining preliminary events, and at the final show, will determine Sri Lanka’s chances this year.

The competition, no doubt, will be fierce, with contestants bringing diverse backgrounds, preparation methodologies, and cultural perspectives.