New English edition of Eugène Burnouf’s memoir Ancient Geography of Ceylon
View(s):Former Bonsoir host Yasmin Rajapakse is bringing out a new English edition of Eugène Burnouf’s memoir Ancient Geography of Ceylon. Burnouf was one of the most eminent French scholars and orientalists of the first half of the 19th century and this is one of his few works translated into English.
The original French work was translated into English by Donald Ferguson, and appeared in several numbers of The Ceylon Literary Registers of 1931, 1932, 1933, and 1934. This is the first time the academic work appears in book form in English, giving the larger public access to a little-known geographical and historical reference to Sri Lanka from a formidable scholar.
A foreword is provided to this edition by Prof. K. D. Paranavitana, who points out that, though Burnouf never visited Sri Lanka, he remains an important figure in Sri Lankan historical studies as he was a pioneer in giving wider attention to the island chronicle, the Mahavamsa. He was the first to translate the Mahavamsa into two European languages- French and Latin- in 1926, preceding the English translation, which appeared in 1933, by 7 years.
In his introduction to Ancient Geography, Burnouf mentions that, dealing with toponymy, he discovered that many names of historical interest had disappeared from the modern Ceylon map, or had become so altered as to be scarcely recognizable, and that Sanskrit words especially had been replaced by Sinhala words so as to be no longer identifiable. It was his intention to restore the ancient names and correct the corrupted orthography where it had not been obliterated altogether- in other words, restore the ancient geography of Ceylon with the help of historical facts, using comparisons of the original names with modern ones.
The book also provides one of the first scientific inquiries on whether the ‘Lanka’ of the Ramayana actually refers to Sri Lanka. He then goes on to analyse other intriguing names given to the country through the ages: “Thāmraparṇa”, “Taprobane”, “Simhala”, “Simoundu”, “Salike” and “Palissimundou”. The memoir could not be completed as Burnouf’s untimely death intervened, yet it remains an intriguing and valuable work.
Yasmin Rajapakse, was made a Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture, and, due to her intense commitment and passion for the French language and culture, continues her research to unearth more French-Sri Lankan cultural ties.
The book is published by FAST Publishing (Pvt) Ltd, with the collaboration of the Cultural section of the Embassy of France in Sri Lanka and the Alliance Française de Kotte in Colombo. It will be out at the FAST stall at the Colombo Book Fair now on at the BMICH.