"History in my thinking, as with some of my professional colleagues, is something in the making and it was Max Weber who, with great insight, mentioned the tentativeness of historical knowledge and hence its vulnerability. In this scheme of things, there is no soul or...
The Creation of the Hunter
Who are the Väddas? Where do they come from? Where have they gone? While many continue to accept the storyline represented by colonial era thinkers that of the romantic and benign image of Väddas as children of nature living in tune or harmony with their environment....
The Doomed King
A requiem for Sri Vikrama Rajasinha On 24 Jan 1816, the captured king of Kandy was escorted on board the Cornwallis together with his queens, relatives and servants. Almost a month later, King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha arrives at the Vellore Fort in India, to spend his...
The Many Faces of the Kandyan Kingdom (1591-1765)
Surrounded by magnificent mountains, the city of Kandy, home of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth and the Royal Palace, was the capital of Lanka for about three hundred years. Gananath Obeysekere paints a vivid portrait of the kings of these great green highlands of...