Srilanka as Ceylon

Sri Lanka is small pear shaped, tropical island barely twenty five miles to the southeast of the tip of India where the waters of the Bay of Bengal meet the Arabian Sea. For centuries, her position at the juncture of important sea routes has made Ceylon a prize for whatever sea powers held or sought control of the Indian Ocean.1 Ceylon’s proximity to India has been of fundamental import. Her principal racial stocks and her Hindu and Buddhist religion are of Indian origin. However much a distinctive quality developed within ceylon’s civilization. Indian influence has been profound. Particularly up to the fifteenth century, perhaps no important change in Indian civilization has failed to leave its impress on the island.

Sri Lanka culture in the broadest sense has much in common with that of India. Ceylonese art clearly shows Indian sources although peculiarly Ceylonese qualities are also manifest. In the ruins of great cities such as Anuradhapura, where Ceylon’s early kings ruled until the eighth century A.O and at Plounaruma the capital until the thirteenth century.

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Operation Poomalai : The Jaffna mission

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Sri Lanka's strategic role for India

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The South Asian quarrels

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Srilankan Diaries

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