Achinthya Nanayakkara (Lankan History)

The first visit of an executive from Sri Lanka, to Australia, 1951 "Both Australia and Sri Lanka were colonies of the British Empire. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many people from Ceylon migrated to Australia which was mainly for labour purposes. After gaining independence from the United Kingdom, Ceylon opened a High Commission in Canberra in 1949. In 1951 Ceylon's Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake was the first high-profile diplomatic visitor to Australia, which was followed by Prime Minister Sir John Kotelawala in 1954. President Junius Richard Jayewardene visited Australia in 1978" - Aus-Lanka relations wiki (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93Sri_Lanka_relations)

  This fresco that looks like it would've been in Sigiriya at first glance, is in fact from a Pallavan Temple in Tamil Nadu (North Subshrine, Talgirishwara Temple, Panamalai). So, why am I bringing this up in the context of Sri Lankan history? Its because, its from the same time period, 400-600 AD. Its amazing that the same fresco artistic tradition and talent, employed by both Anuradhapura and Pallava kingdom, across the distance.. and that's just beautiful. There's much perspective missing when seeing the history of Sri Lanka as isolated from that of the South of India. The Ibbankatuwa megalithic burials from 700 - 450 BC had these red beads, that were imported! That was the extent of the connection, and our isolation from the Indian subcontinent in the late Dutch and British period, disconnecting us from our allies, was a huge factor for our fall as a regional power. Even today, there are many who go to India for pilgrimages they always want to.. and communities that tra...

  The coronavirus pandemic from 2019-2023 was something we all had to live with, and led to the death of of around 16,900 Sri Lankans. But, because of modern medicine and concerted efforts, was mortality 2.5%.. losing only 0.07% of our population. We all remember what it went through, but Sri Lankans for centuries have went through epidemics without modern medicine as it is, and with 2 examples from last century. In the 1918-1920 Spannish Flu pandemic, the analog of our situation from a century ago. 91 600 people are said to have died, which is more than 4 times the death toll of the last pandemic, when our country had 4 times lower the population. So essentially 16 times more death. Actually, this number has many nuances to it, which I can't express in post, links provided https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Mortality-of-the-1918-1920-Influenza-Pandemic-Asia_tbl3_11487892 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4181474/#:~:text=11%E2%80%9313,51%20000%E2%80%9391%20600%20deaths. Wh...

  Very recently, the high court at Madras erected this new statue of Elara ( https://www.reddit.com/r/TamilNadu/s/hQ87UgqLGv ). The lore of the mother cow ringing his bell, is portrayed here and it's iconic. Anyways, thus got me thinking of the invasions of the early Anuradhapura period, cuz there's not much information about them. The first is Sena and Gutthika, who were literally 2 horse traders, who usurped the throne from Suratissa, and ruled Anuradhapura for 22 years! Asela, who was Suratissa's nephew got back the throne, but only for 10 years! Elara, a Chola nobleman, took over and ruled for the next 40 years, before Dutugemunu took over. He however must've been very popular, if Dutugemunu had to give Elara his posthumous honours. Note that, all this happened within 150-250 BC period, I was rather surprised by how archaic that was. 50 years after Dutugemunu's takeover, the 5 dravidians, allegedly Pandyan chiefs, took over from Valagamba, who was grand-nephew o...

The Sri Lanka Optometric Association website states that "Sri Lanka has a tradition in eye care that extends back to the mist of history. It is well documented that during the reign of King Bhuvanekabahu the IV (AD 1346 – 1353) of the Gampola period the ancient tradition of optical lens making with natural stone was revitalized and given royal patronage. However, there is ample indications that this craft and the technical knowhow existed and flourished dwell before this period. To further develop the crafts, the practitioners and artisans were given royal protection and a vast area of land was designated so that they could live and practice their craft free of any taxes levied by the king and the produce of the land area allocated to them was for their personal use. A few of the craftsman still live and practice in the original hamlet given to the exponents of the craft by royal decree even today. The natural stone originally used for the manufacturing of these lenses was clear B...

It is said that Kotte Kingdom was established by Parakramabahu VI, and was one of the consequences of this war. There are places on wiki (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming%E2%80%93Kotte_War) that speak of Alakeshwara as if he ruled a 'Kotte Kingdom', and is implied that it was there before him.. although he's said to be a Gampola monarch. That was until coming across the Gampola Kingdom wiki ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Gampola ), which states "The last king of Gampola was King Buwanekabahu V. He ruled the island for 29 years. At the same time, King "Weerabahu II" (1392-1397 AD) ruled Raigama. King "Vijayabahu VI" (1397-1411 AD), who is from the Alagakkonara family, grabbed the throne from king Weerabahu II. The Chinese ambassador Zheng He, who was unhappy with the change of hands, carried off King Vijayabahu VI to China in 1411 AD. The next kingdom was the Kotte kingdom. A separate city was built in Kotte during this time by a no...