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.

Comments

Sri Lanka's strategic role for India

Being a geographically proximate state of India, Sri Lanka assumes great importance to India. Both India and Sri Lanka are situated in the outer rim areas of the Indian Ocean and, thus, have tremendous potential to develop maritime trade with the Afro-Asian countries and the various other countries of the world. In the context of 116 Indo-Sri Lanka relations, the geo-strategic dimension continues to be as one of the independent variables. Since colonial days, naval strategists have emphasised the importance of Sri Lanka in the defence calculations of India. For the British colonialists, Sri Lanka had been an integral part to the defence of the Indian subcontinent as it served as a vital link in their sea communications eastwards. India after independence, continued to adhere to the principles of strategic importance of Sri Lanka on the lines of the British theory in the sub-continent. This is evident from the fact that in the early years, just after independence and even the years i...

The India Sri Lanka History

The great Indian epic, the Ramayana and Ceylon’s own voluminous chronicles, written by Buddhist monks, attest to the intimate association between India’s culture and institutions and Ceylon’s. The whole culture and civilization of Sri Lanka has developed from Buddhism, which had its origin in India, during the time of King Ashoka. Sri Lanka literature too has been the off-shot of Indian literature. The art of Sri Lanka paintings, sculpture and architecture have mostly been influenced by Indian arts. Hinduism was adopted during the time of Devdnass-piya Tissa It is difficult to assess historically whether the story is mythical or is reminiscent of Aryan invasion of Sri Lanka, but one fact is certain that Sri Lanka had intimate links with India. Sri Lanka was a part of the Chola Empire of South India in the 10th Century and since then many Tamils have settled in the Island known as “SRI LANKA TAMILS”....

Operation Poomalai : The Jaffna mission

Indian intervention in Sri Lanka was more than political rustling of South India or the helping hand Indian forces were giving to their neighbours to bring back normalcy to the northern region which was badly being affected by the riots caused by ethnic polarities which was increasingly widened by two factors. Majorly that are regional politics and the Indian decision to step in supporting an extreme group that was Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Here discussing operation Poonamalai is important. While Srilankan Govt. was expecting moderate approach from Indian counterpart but the intensity of riots in which casualities were mainly Tamil civilians. It was June 3rd of 1984, Jaffna was under total blockade by army men from Colombo who were going hard and fast at the Tamil seperatist groups. Fighter planes standing at Gwalior Air Force station received an unusual request. The Mahrajpur Air Force station was not ending the day that early as the evening schedule since the orde...

Srilankan Diaries

Search This Blog