Midweek Review

Why Sociology should be included in Sri Lankan school curriculum

Published

5 months ago

2025/07/30

Potential educational system reforms in Sri Lanka have become a prominent topic of national debate, attracting the interest of policymakers, educationists, and the public. The most controversial issue, the media implies, is how to retain history in the GCE Ordinary Level syllabus while addressing wider issues about the role of national identity, collective memory, and civic education in the shaping of young minds. The Prime Minister, caught in a whirlwind of rival visions and policy ideas, is struggling to untangle a web of concepts related to curriculum innovation, equity, and relevance. In denying a report that she would remove history from school curriculum, PM has said that she is firm that she will not remove history from the curriculum, as reported in the Daily News. In addition, she is proposing ideas about the Year Five Scholarship Programme, which is viewed as a burden on children and the PM proposing to make it less cumbersome by introducing a modular assessment in place of the rigorous exam. Neither the Prime Minister nor the policymakers seem to consider that studying contemporary society should be a key theme in the high school syllabus. This article attempts to present an argument that sociology is more relevant than history to the school curriculum, and that this idea must be taken seriously by the relevant authorities.

Students should, from an early age, learn how to look at society and community critically and analyse them in a way that would allow them to live a better life as responsible citizens. They would thus become capable citizens who can look at ethnic diversity and social inequality with more compassion and clarity, thereby learning about social norms and civic engagement.

Sociology deals with the nature of societies, thus helping students to manage daily issues and relationships, to understand the role of power and how it is distributed, and to learn how to negotiate cultural differences effectively. Therefore, the introduction of sociology into the school curriculum would be a vital step towards the goal of a well-rounded school education.

Though traditional subjects like mathematics, biology, literature, and history have been the mainstay of school education, there is an increasing number of scholars, educators, and policymakers who argue that sociology must be a regular part of the school curriculum. Such pressure does not come from passing intellectual fashion but from a belief in the special ability of sociology to equip young minds for critical understanding of the world that surrounds them. Sociology, as a social science, provides the intellectual tools to make sense of the typically invisible forces that structure individual behaviour, institutions, and collective life. The study of sociology in school would enhance their critical thinking, instil in them principles of civic engagement, and prepare future citizens with the analytical ability to navigate the problems of modern living.

Intellectual and moral capacities

Education is not merely the passing on of information; it is the nurturing of the intellectual and moral capacities of the young. Education must equip individuals to be active, informed citizens who are able to contribute to matters of governance, justice, identity, and the common good. But in the Sri Lankan school system, social sciences are marginalized or fragmented in such a way that students gain only a patchy knowledge about how societies work. Because sociology is comprehensive and interdisciplinary, it can bridge the gap between wider society and school education by giving students a coherent outlook, allowing them to make more sense of the social world they live in. Dr. Stephanie Wilson, a professor teaching sociology at UNCO, writes, ‘The sociological imagination enables individuals to see the social and cultural context in which they live as well as understand how that context shapes their lives and experiences.’ Sociology enables students to examine their personal life experiences in the context of larger social structures and see how they have been shaped by social forces. They begin to recognise that their personal troubles often reflect deeper social issues. An understanding of the link between their personal life experiences and social forces helps students to challenge injustice, resist apathy, and seek meaningful change.

Engendering capacity

Engendering the capacity to view one’s own experience as part of larger social and historical forces is an important contribution of sociology. In the school context, it allows students to consider how social structures, patterns, and norms affect their identities, choices, and dilemmas. Teenagers go through a very intense stage of development in which they must grapple with resistance, conformity, relationships and belonging issues. Teachers who introduce sociology to their students at a young age can provide students with a toolkit for approaching these questions critically and empathetically, with a focus on self-awareness and social awareness. For example, by studying socialization processes—how people learn and internalize society’s norms and values—adolescents struggling with peer relationships, family problems, and media pressures, acquire a framework for interpreting their own and others’ behaviour.

Subjects like conformity and deviance, gender roles, racial and ethnic identity, and inequality are matters of shared concern in the everyday life of students. These concerns are not just theoretical; they reveal actual tensions in their lives. Early introduction of sociology courses can thereby render education more relevant and personally significant, stimulating interest in learning.

Aside from personal interest, sociology imparts transferable analytical abilities applicable in in other academic areas and in life in general. Sociological analysis, both qualitative and quantitative, fosters evidence-based thinking and scepticism regarding information, accepted truths, beliefs that are upheld by institutions, traditions, or dominant ideologies. During this age of information ubiquity, where misinformation abounds and public discourse is characterized by polarized rhetoric, such skills are desperately needed.

Sociology promotes critical thinking

Sociology trains students to question assumptions, critically assess sources, and identify bias in a bid to separate empirical evidence from ideological rhetoric. Sociology also fosters intercultural understanding and social empathy—qualities increasingly valuable in our multicultural and globalized societies. This is particularly crucial in democratic countries such as Sri Lanka, where an enlightened citizenry is the bedrock of political stability and development.

By studying various cultures, social norms, and historical paths, students come to value the diversity of human action and the tentativeness of social values. The ethnic conflicts between various groups in Sri Lanka can be reduced when students are taught to value Sri Lanka’s highly diversified cultural heritage. By acknowledging the multiethnic nature of Sri Lankan society—not merely as a statistical reality but as a basis for common history and identity—young individuals can develop empathy, dismantle prejudice, and transcend feelings of competition, hatred, or separation. Diversity-respecting education creates social cohesion. Students learn that what is ‘normal’ or ‘acceptable’ differs according to the context and that such differences have historically been based on power relationships and contention.

Rejection of ethnocentricity

This can lead to a rejection of ethnocentricity and paves the way towards a more inclusive orientation, one that is required to overcome racism, casteism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination. The classroom can be a place where a challenging discussion of privilege, marginality, and structural unfairness can be conducted fruitfully with the participation of students and with the help of scholarly theory and moral inquiry.

Resistance to bringing sociology to the school-level education typically cites curriculum requirements or argues that such material is too advanced or politicized for adolescents to handle. Such objections overlook the flexibility of sociological pedagogy and underestimate the intellectual capacity of adolescents. Sociology can be made age-appropriate, with case studies, interactive methods, and demystified language. In addition, introducing students to value free sociological analysis which is not indoctrination invites students to question, reflect, and think abilities that are at the centre of a liberal education. Schools in numerous nations have come to appreciate the promise of sociology for school education. Why not us in Sri Lanka?

Sociology is a well-subscribed A-Level option in Britain with thousands of students taking the subject every year and the possibility of progression onto further humanities and social science study. In UK secondary schools, sociology is typically taught at the GCSE and A Level stages, with textbooks tailored to exam boards like AQA, OCR, and Eduqas. One of the widely used sociology book in the UK is AQA GCSE Sociology written by Pauline Wilson and Martin Holborn that covers core topics like families, education, crime, and social stratification. In the United States, bodies such as the American Sociological Association (ASA) have successfully campaigned in relation to national curricula and teacher training to facilitate sociology teaching at the school level. One of the many textbooks used in the USA schools is Sociology & You by McGraw Hill Designed specifically for grades 9–12, this textbook introduces core concepts with student-friendly language and real-world examples.

Sociology broadens mind

These activities reflect increasing agreement that sociology not only broadens the mind but is also a part of the civic and moral education of young people. Undergraduate sociology is included in social sciences, humanities, law, and public administration courses.

Sociology courses in school education should be relevant to national circumstances. At the national level social fabric is complex where problems of caste, kinship, gender, and social change cut across other social forces. In India, Sociologists such as Irawati Karve, M.N. Srinivas, and G.S. Ghurye have given this discipline characteristically Indian viewpoints, thus enriching the thinking and simultaneously making it more relevant to Indian society and accessible to school education. In Sri Lanka, country-specific viewpoints must be built into the syllabus focussing on the findings of major sociologists and anthropologists of the country.

Introduction of sociology into school education also aligns with the general educational goals of school education to prepare students for entry into the workforce or to be lifelong learners. Skills learned while studying sociology—analytical thinking, awareness of research, oral and written communication, ethical decision-making, and cultural competence—are all highly sought after across professions and industries. Students instructed in sociology studies bring an educated awareness to professional and institutional engagement, no matter whether they aspire to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, social workers, businesspeople, or government officials. Employers are increasingly seeking job candidates who can deal with diversity, think systematically, and problem-solve via creative collaboration. Sociology cultivates these competencies.

If students can be taught to learn other individuals’ points of view, examine them, and look for explanations of inequality and conflict, they are less likely to be victims of simplistic accounts and more likely to engage in constructive debate. Especially in Sri Lanka, where suicide and homicide rates are high, teaching sociology at schools describing behavioural factors associated with such crimes will help reduce such incidents and the risks associated with them.

At a time of accelerating technological change, economic dislocation, and environmental deterioration, thinking sociologically is not a luxury—it is a necessity. Sociology teaches students that social problems are complicated and multivariate, that their solutions demand both empathy and change, and that everyday citizens can play a role in constructing collective futures.

Posing challenging questions

Disciplines that question received wisdom or reveal concealed relations of power are more likely than not to be resisted. But it is that subversive potential that renders sociology so significant. It empowers students to pose challenging questions: Why do certain groups of individuals have more access to resources than others? In what ways are social hierarchies consolidated and contested by institutions? What is the role of ideology in framing opinions? These are not easy issues to address, but they are crucial to democratic sensibilities and moral citizenship.

To be used effectively at school education level, school systems must invest seriously in teacher education, curriculum transformation, and resource provision. Teachers require assistance in creating stimulating lessons, monitoring learning, and leading classroom discussions on complicated issues. Partnerships between universities and schools can offer the possibility of exchanging skills and resources. E-platforms and interactive technologies also offer new possibilities for experiential learning, for example, enabling students to carry out surveys, examine the media, and work together with community organizations. Assessment should go beyond testing recall, and emphasise critical thinking, research projects, and collaborative inquiry.

The introduction of sociology into school teaching would reaffirm a philosophical commitment to education as a means of empowerment. It is widely acknowledged that the purpose of education is not merely for economic reasons, but also for civic and moral growth. In the words of Paulo Freire, the Brazilian philosopher and educator, education must be a practice of freedom—a means by which men and women come to know and transform their world. Sociology keeps alive this dream, calling students beyond passive compliance to active participation. It is a discipline that raises not only questions of what is, but questions of what can be. During a time when young people are confronted with unprecedented levels of challenges—from climate change and political instability to mental health and identity crises—they must be provided with the capacity to make sense of and rebuild their social world, and that act of empowerment is of prime importance.

Sociology in schools must be taught not as some frivolous elective but as an essential component of an integrated education. The lack of sociology teaching in schools leaves a gap in teenagers’ intellectual and ethical coming-of-age, with no language or examples through which to interpret their world. In bringing sociology into school curricula, we are investing in a generation that is better educated, more empathetic, and more capable of meeting the unknowns of the future with wisdom and bravery. Knowledge about society should not be the domain of the elite or intellectual—it must reach every young mind that wishes to know

Amarasiri de Silva is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Peradeniya. He has spent nearly forty years teaching and researching in the field. With thirty years of distinguished service at Peradeniya, he continues to contribute his interdisciplinary insights as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and as a Lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, USA.

by Professor Amarasiri de Silva

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Midweek Review

Year ends with the NPP govt. on the back foot

Published

1 day 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

1 day 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.