Taking pathways off the beaten track, away from the usual touristic sites, a motley group of people are traversing down the corridors of time and history to bring to light hidden but fascinating details of Sri Lankan culture.
Many have been their forays to sites of unsung value and of a Friday evening Dr. Roland Silva, renowned heritage personality, relives those journeys, amidst an enthralled audience.
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| Top: The Sigiriya-style stairway of Dambadeniya and (bottom) National Trust members at ‘Brief’ |
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Welcome to a gathering of the members of the National Trust – Sri Lanka, a fledgling organization not yet four years old.
Not for them the much-vaunted lure of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Dambulla and Galle, although these places are of vital importance.
Have you seen the beautiful frescoes of the Botale temple, asks Dr. Silva and launches into a detailed description of one of the tours undertaken by the National Trust.
“The paintings are extraordinary. They are paintings almost like cartoons,” he says, adding that next door is the Senanayake Walauwwa built in 1848. “They collected tolls between Negombo and Giriulla, like the Bandaranaikes did in their area,” he says, adding that there is a famous photograph of a dane given by D.S. Senanayake’s grandfather, which, however, lost its intention because of some thoughtless remark made.
The first graphite mines were also just half-a-mile away from the walauwwa, although now they are close to Melsiripura, he discloses. (See box for other sites visited by the National Trust).
Are these quarterly tours the only activity of the National Trust?
It is just one part of their mandate, The Sunday Times understands. Since its formation, the Trust, headed by eminent archaeologist and architect Dr. Silva and well-known personalities from varied spheres, has been operating as a national body that protects and safeguards the “tangible” and “intangible” heritage of Sri Lanka including sites, monuments, sculptures, paintings, artifacts, music, dance and the fauna and flora of Sri Lanka.
These activities of the Trust are directed towards what is not already protected or safeguarded by the Government.
The other work includes the publication of 10 books such as ‘The Monuments and Sites of Sri Lanka’, ‘Painters, Sri Lanka’, ‘Singers, Sri Lanka’ and ‘Animals, Sri Lanka’; Conservation of the ancient fort at Malwana; monthly lectures such as ‘Is Sigiriya the oldest true tourist site in Asia?’, ‘The World Heritage City of Galle’, ‘The origins of contemporary popular Sinhala music’ and ‘Maitriya and Avaloketsvara in Sinhala Buddhism’.
“The National Trust, a public organization, with around 60 members currently, is not designed to interfere with any government authority established to look after culture and nature. Our intention is to look into non-protected areas of culture and nature,” stresses Dr. Silva.
Explaining that it’s not a new thing in the world, he cites the case of Britain which has had such an organization since 1895. There are 58 National Trusts worldwide. The National Trust of Sri Lanka is also modelled on the UK one.
Pointing out that any building over 100 years old needs to be protected and not pulled down, Dr. Silva says the Department of Archaeology has 10,000 such buildings listed as monuments protected by the state. But there are well over 50,000 needing to be protected, according to him.
In Sweden with a population of just 5 million, there are 800,000 listed monuments, he says, so how many more would Sri Lanka have.
Why is it that Sri Lanka does not have more, he asks and answers: Because it cannot manage them. There is no point in listing them if they cannot be looked after.
In Kandy, a World Heritage City, the Urban Development Authority has taken under its ordinance 484 buildings but the more effective would be the Antiquities Ordinance, he says.
However, to preserve such buildings and not allow them to fall down money is needed, he adds. “We have to groom them to come to a level of a protected monument.”
That is where the National Trust is hoping to step in and act as a go-between for state organizations and the public to protect not only Sri Lanka’s culture but also nature.
The monthly meetings with one relevant state department have already been initiated to find out where and how it can help out.
Museums were the first, coming under the Department of Archaeology, says Dr. Silva, stressing, “We don’t want to tread on anyone’s corns.”
More meetings will follow with officials of the Zoological Gardens, the Department of Forestry and even international agencies like IUCN.
Apart from that the National Trust has also grouped its members into several important committees such as ‘Monuments and Sites’, ‘Sculptures and Paintings’, ‘Movable Heritage’, ‘Intangible Heritage’, ‘National Heritage’, ‘Publicity’ and ‘Finance and Legal’.
Another task it is hoping to undertake is that of educating schoolchildren on the importance of Sri Lanka’s culture, so that they in turn will take the message home to their parents.
In the sphere of nature, the National Trust has looked into the issue of trees being cut down due to the urban sprawl in Colombo.
Dr. Silva pointed out that right in front of a well-known girls’ school in the heart of Colombo a tree was cut setting a bad example to the children. Two High Commissions have also been guilty of cutting down trees – one tree which was as old as 150 years.
“After checking with officials of the Colombo Municipal Council whether it was okay, we paid a visit to the High Commissions and requested one to get Sri Lanka two tree surgeons to teach us how to chop and trim trees without making them fall down,” said Dr. Silva adding that the other was asked to help get an expert from a famous garden in that country to help revive Colombo’s parks.
Irrigation sites in the Colombo district, which are on the verge of getting destroyed have also become the National Trust’s “babies” with moves to lobby for them to be left green to let them act as the lungs of Colombo.
Another important area the Trust is looking at is artifacts in private hands, with one member attempting to list such objects, starting with the temples around his home in Gampaha. “There have been cases where one ola leaf at a time has been sold to antique dealers,” says Dr. Silva.
Under “intangibles” would come the identification of old families such as Gunaya and his village of dancers, Somabandu and his family of painters, Chitrasena and his family of dancers. “Their contribution in a losing battle will be appreciated and we will even visit them,” he says.
The National Trust has been assigned a room at the Post-Graduate Institute of Archaeology which it will use as the base until a more permanent home is found.
Off the beaten track
For most Ambepussa is just a “break for tea or breakfast” in a tedious journey to Kandy. What they do not know, but the National Trust has uncovered is that Ambepussa resthouse was a coaching station between Colombo and Kandy where the horses were changed soon after Governor Barnes built the road.
“Such coaching stations dotted the route every 15 miles,” explains Dr. Silva ticking them off on his fingers………Mahara, Ambepussa, Kegalle, Kadugannawa and Peradeniya.
Another tour of the National Trust had been to Dedigama, the birthplace of Parakrama Bahu. Four miles from there is a Portuguese fortification, so inland, he says, adding that on their return they paid a visit to the Horagolla Walauwwa.
The tour started with a visit to a very early Buddhist site in Veyangoda, where there were exclamations over the Brahmi inscriptions going back to the 3rd century BC.
The next trip was down south to Raigama which had been an old sub-capital.
In the 15th century, the Chinese Emperor had sent Shen Ho to Ceylon with 24,000 troops to collect the Tooth Relic of the Buddha.
He had landed at Beruwela and when the King refused to give it, they had taken him away but Weedagama Hamuduruwo had “grabbed” the prince who was four years old and hidden him at his temple to be produced as the rightful heir when he came of age. He was crowned Parakrama Bahu VII of Kotte.
So many centuries later there is still “China Fort”, says Dr. Silva.
Next on the itinerary had been the temple of Ven. Subothi at whose feet Governor Chalmers had sat and learned Pali. Later Chalmers translated Pali texts into English. “He would ride his horse to the panna shala (pansala).
These activities led to an accusation by some Anglicans to the Colonial Office that the Governor and some of the Civil Servants were secret Buddhists. Rhys David foremost Pali scholar was subsequently sacked from the Civil Service,” says Dr. Silva, adding that he looked up the papers in England and found that the reason given was “for flirting with the natives”.
But justice and fairplay prevailed, for Rhys David was appointed Professor of Comparative Religions by Manchester University, he adds.
The tour also took in a visit to Brief. Why Brief, asks Dr. Silva providing the answer himself: Someone couldn’t pay up his dues to the lawyer who was Geoffrey Bawa’s father and gave him the property instead, thus came the simple name ‘Brief’.
Then there was Dambadeniya, the 3rd capital of Ceylon. “The layout of Dambadeniya was similar to Sigiriya, although not as spectacular,” he says, adding that it was a new style, with the fortifications changing from the Polonnaruwa-pattern. The Dambadeniya-style was followed at Yapahuwa and also at Kurunegala.
Interesting facets, with all tours being undertaken with an expert at hand who gives the enriching details. |
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