Lankan History with Achinthya Nanayakkara

First and foremost, forgive the imagery being ai generated, it is for illustration purposes only and I don't have funds to commission a real artist 😅. 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 origina...

The Colombo Medical Faculty was established at around 1870, and tends to be considered the first western medical school in SL, and the second in South Asia after the Calcutta Medical College (1835). However, there was a med school set-up in Manipay in 1848, by Dr. Samuel Green, a missionary doctor from Boston, Massachussets. Dr. John Scudder was the first medical missionary in Jaffna, establishing a dispensary in Pandathirrippu in 1820, illustrated in image 3. And while there had been hospitals operated by the Portuguese and Dutch, they were mostly for their own use, they couldn't rlly be considered the 'modern' medicine, practiced since 1800s or so. Dr. Samuel Green similarly opened his clinic in 1847 (Image 4), which would eventually evolve into the Green Memorial Hospital, which is still operational to this day. The Green Med School trained around 80 doctors from 1850-1875, from local community, who were employed by the British colonial government. There was also a Green...