Sunday Times 2
The National Trust lecture: Drawing lessons from the past for a socio-economic plan for SL
View(s):Dr Roland Silva will deliver the 100th lecture of The National Trust – Sri Lanka on October 26 at 6 p.m. at the HNB Auditorium, 22nd Floor, HNB Towers, 479 T.B. Jayah Mawatha, Colombo 10. The title of the lecture is “A socio-cultural and economic plan for Sri Lanka, drawing on the lessons of the past.”
Dr. Silva will look back as far as the 4th Century B.C. where we were a scattered nation with nearly 40,000 miniature reservoirs on the banks of each were 40 or 50 wattle and daub thatched houses. It was King Pandukabaya (4th century BC) who established a collective centre to barter the surplus agricultural produce from the dispersed mini-tanks and the adjoining villages.Gradually townships grew round the barter centers with three cities in Anuradhapura, Kelaniya and Thissamaharamaya with regional boundaries carved out of the national waterways of the Mahaweli, Deduru Oya and Gin Ganga naming these provinces a Pihiti, Maya and Ruhuna.
These divisions remained until the British period in 1815 and the Colebrook-Cameron report of 1834. This procedure was followed due to the squabbles of the coffee planters given in the five provinces of Colebrook-Cameron report, which changed to nine in drunken style of the rulers. The Governor ordered the Government Agent Kandy to get on his horse and ride towards Batticaloa and in turn asked the Government Agent of Batticaloa to ride towards Kandy. It was where they met that formed the Uva Provincial border.
The lecture will reveal the rest of the story…
Dr. S. Roland Silva who holds a Ph.D. from Leiden, is one of the foremost Asian experts in the conservation of historical monuments and sites. As the first international president of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) from Asia, he has conducted conservation activities throughout the continent.
Further information can be obtained from the Trust Office Tel 2682730 / 0778081214 at the Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology, 407, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7.