The tiny Easter Island, a special territory of Chile since 2007, covering an area of 163.6 km² and separated from the rest of the Polynesian chain by the ocean water, is surrounded by three volcanoes that give the island a triangular shape. Although the island is full of volcanic soil, it is a picturesque place with surging breakers, precipitous cliffs, towering volcanoes and open, windswept slopes. But, what attracts the visitor most, are the island’s iconic giant stone statues with their brooding eyes staring into the far-off sky over a barren landscape, facing away from the ocean.

The statues or moai, meaning “statue” in Rapa Nui language, are carved out of buff-coloured volcanic stone called moai. The average height of the moai is about 4 m, usually weighing around 13 tons. The tallest of some 900 such statues erected, stood almost 10 m and weighed 82 tons. The heaviest moai was shorter, but weighed 86 tons. One unfinished sculpture, if completed, would have been nearly 21 m tall with a weight of about 145-165 tons.

A notable research on the statues was done in 1914-15 by Katherine Maria Routledge (1866-1935), an English archaeologist and anthropologist. She described the island as a place where the past is the present and where the shadows of the departed builders still possess the land. Other researchers include the American W. J. Thomson (1886); Alfred Métraux (1902-1963), Swiss and Argentine ethnologist; Henri Alfred Lavachery (1885-1972), a Belgian who was the first professional archaeologist to visit the island; Fr. Sebastian Englert (1888-1969), a German Franciscan missionary and linguist, known for his pioneering work on Easter Island in 1935-39, where a museum is named after him; Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002), the famous Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer (1955-56); and American anthropologist William Thomas Mulloy (1917-1978). Due to the painstaking efforts of these scholars many toppled statues in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, possibly resulting from European contact or internecine tribal wars, were restored to their original positions. 

Who built the statues and what did they signify?

The inevitable question as to who carved such magnificent statues has given rise to many surmises. Some scholars have disclosed amazingly interesting stories, saying that Easter Island was the Lost Continent. Others opined that it could have been inhabited by beings from outer space or the islanders were direct descendants from ancient Egyptians. However, modern researchers are unanimous in theorising that the people who carved the moai were none other than the Polynesians. 

Contrary to these suppositions, the islanders have their own tale of descent. Their legends have it that their religious leader named Hotu Matu was defeated in a battle and was forced to leave his homeland: archipelago of Hiva. One of his men had a vision of a new homeland somewhere in the direction of the rising sun and seven men were sent to locate it, thus discovering Easter Island. Hotu Matu arrived in Easter Island with various plants and animals, but he did not live for long. Before his death he divided the island among his children: a reason for the island being divided into so many groups. Scholars do agree to this native legend to some extent. They believe that the descendants of Hotu Matu created these great statues, possibly from 1110 A. D. till 1650 A. D. the year in which all construction was halted as revealed by the radiocarbon dating.

Today many archaeologists are of the view that the statues signify symbols of religious and political authority and power and also a representation of the deceased ancestors of the indigenous clans. In ancient Polynesian religions, carved stone and wooden objects, when properly fashioned and ritually prepared, were thought to be charged by a magical spiritual essence called mana which, according to local tradition, was preserved in the hair. The more recent moai carried pukao on their heads. Pukao were hat-like structures or topknots, carved out of red scoria (a basaltic lava). Red is considered a sacred colour in Polynesia. Meanwhile, a 2019 study concluded that the moai might be related to improving soil fertility and thereby critical food supplies. 

American archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg, who has studied the moai for many years, believes that they may have been carved in the image of various paramount chiefs. According to her, the statues may have played the role as ceremonial conduits for communication with the heavenly gods. She asserts that their physical position between earth and sky puts them on both secular and sacred ground, thus mediating between sky and earth, people and chiefs, and chiefs and gods.

In another 1979 study, a team of archaeologists discovered that the hemispherical or deep elliptical eye sockets of the moai were designed to hold coral eyes with either black obsidian (a kind of volcanic glass) or red scoria pupils. 

The transportation of the statues 

The question as to how the moai were transported has given birth to many assumptions. According to the traditions of the island, the statues were filled with supernatural powers (mana) and they themselves walked to their appointed places. Another interesting story is that carpets of sweet potatoes and crushed yams were laid on the slopes and the statues were slid along them. Recently, Mulloy suggested that the statues were put on a Y-shaped curved bottom sledge, arguing that the jutting out belly and chin of the moai was not executed to give any style but was a result of the use of the Y-shaped sledge. Once the statue was placed on the sledge, the statue was pulled by the ropes on a road covered with reeds and grass.

Explorers become exploiters

The first recorded European visitor to the island was the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen (1659-1729). He found it on Easter Sunday on 05^th April 1722 and named it “Paasch-Eyland” (18^th century Dutch for “Easter Island”). (“Isla de Pascua”, the island’s official Spanish name after it was annexed by Chile in 1888, also means “Easter Island”). But, the island has been known by many other names as well. The phrase Te pito o te henua is said to be the original name of the island. French linguist Alphonse Pinart (1852-1911), based on the Rapa Nui word pito, also meaning ‘navel’, translated the phrase as “the Navel of the World”. 

Roggeveen found out that the islanders were living in thatched huts and could barely make a meagre living by doing a little bit of cultivation. In 1770 the Spanish navigator Felipe González de Ahedo (1714-1802) visited the place and named it “Isla de San Carlos” or “St. Charles’ Island”. Four years later the great English explorer Captain James Cook (1728-1779) came to the island,  followed by the French Admiral Jean François La Perouse (1741-1788). All these visits were very brief and hardly gave any new information to the world about the island except that the islanders numbered 3000-4000, that they practised cannibalism, and that tribal chiefs were always warring against each other. 

By the 19^th century the situation changed and soon the isolated islanders were transformed into slaves. In 1805 the American ship ‘Nancy’ carried away 22 islanders as slaves while Peru also invaded the island from 1859 to 1862, about 1000 islanders being shipped off to Peru as slaves. Many of the enslaved inhabitants were skilled artists and with them the secrets of the carving trade too died out. Of the 100 islanders who were released, only 15 managed to reach the island but they were infected with the dreaded small pox which spread rapidly and the island population decreased further. By 1877 only 111 inhabitants were left and when the Chilean colonists arrived they found the islanders living in complete misery and poverty. The island became a possession of Chile and the giant statues began to arouse the interest of the world. 

An ecological disaster?

It is evident that formerly Easter Island, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995, was covered with green vegetation, teeming with animal life. Around 1000 A. D. palm forests had covered about 70% of the island. Today there are hardly any trees, except for a few bushes, ferns, grasses, sedges, etc. The natives grow bananas, sugar-canes and sweet potatoes and breed domestic fowls, goats, cattle and sheep. 

What denuded this once fertile island of its ancient palm woodland has puzzled many ecologists. In 2005, Pulitzer prize-winner Jared Diamond of the University of California concluded that the inhabitants of the now depopulated island had cut down the palms to build sledges for statues and roofs for homes: an act of self-destruction.

But, Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo of the University of Hawaii, presented another explanation in a series of papers. Based on DNA evidence and chewed palm remains, they proposed that Polynesian rats which the immigrants brought with them had eaten palm tree nuts, thus triggering deforestation. 

However, German ecologists Andreas Mieth and Hans-Rudolf Bork from the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel do not subscribe to this hypothesis of a major rat impact to account for the deforestation of the island. Referring to the several millimetre-thick charcoal layers from fires, distributed over large areas of the island, they presume instead that widespread fires in the woodland can be the only reason for the landscape denuded of trees. 

Still a fourth suspected cause has been proposed: drought. But, according to scholars, this does not seem to have a big effect on the lush vegetation which the island was once covered with.

The unfolding of events on Easter Island may sound a note of dark warning and forebode a bleak future for humanity. “Easter Island’s isolation makes it the clearest example of a society that destroyed itself by overexploiting its own resources”, writes Diamond. He says that humanity contains the seeds of its own destruction. ***

For centuries, Sri Lanka has been a popular destination among foreign travellers who were enticed into visiting and exploring the island. The Chinese monk Fa-Hien (337-422 A. D.), the Venetian merchant Marco Polo (1254-1324) and the Moroccan scholar and explorer Ibn Battuta (1304-1369) are among some of these early visitors to Sri Lanka.

The government initiatives to promote tourism date back to 1937 when the Ceylon Tourist Bureau was founded. But, when World War II broke out, it was closed down in 1939 and after Sri Lanka’s independence from the British in 1948 the development of tourism was considered anew by re-establishing the Ceylon Tourist Board that replaced the Ceylon Tourist Bureau.

In 1965, Junius Richard Jayewardene (1906-1996), as Minister of State of the then government and later the first executive president of Sri Lanka, pioneered the first major development of the tourism industry in the country with the Ceylon Tourist Board Act No. 10 of 1966 and the Ceylon Hotels Corporation Act No. 14 of 1966 that led to the establishment of the Ceylon Tourist Board and the Ceylon Hotels Corporation. Since then the Ceylon Tourist Board has served as the State agency responsible for promotion of tourism in Sri Lanka while the Ceylon Hotels Corporation looked into government investments to construct hotels needed to accommodate tourists.

In October 2007, according to Sec. 2 of the Tourism Act No. 38 of 2005, the Ceylon Tourist Board was replaced by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).

Records indicate 18,969 foreign tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka in 1966. There was an upward trend of tourist arrivals until 1982, with the exception of 1971 when southern Sinhalese Marxist youths led an unsuccessful armed insurrection against the then government of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the world’s first female premier.

Between 1976 and 1982, tourist arrivals had increased by 24% per year and according to the tourist traffic in 1982 there was a significant growth in the number of tourists, with 407,230 arrivals. However, when the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) separatists started to wage an ethnic war for over 25 years in the north and east of Sri Lanka, clamouring for Tamil autonomy, led by its military leader Velupillai Prabhakaran (1954-2009), the number of tourist arrivals dropped drastically to around 300,000 annually. Due to haphazard suicide bombings in public places and buses and trains in the capital Colombo and suburbs by Tamil secessionists, killing unwary innocent civilians, most western countries advised their citizens against visiting Sri Lanka. The now infamous communal riots in July 1983, that tarnished the good image of the country, also adversely affected tourism. 

Sri Lanka’s hospitality industry suffered another setback with the armed revolt by the same Marxist and nationalist youths that reached its peak in 1988 and had an impact on all civilians. The insurgents resorted to subversion, assassinations and raids on military and civilian targets but the Sri Lankan government managed to quell the revolt through counter-insurgency operations during which many youths disappeared without a trace. 

The tsunami disaster that devastated the southwestern, southern and eastern coasts of Sri Lanka in December 2004 too caused a substantial impact on the resources and capacities of the tourism industry in the county when many beach hotels were destroyed by the huge surging waves. 

In 2009, under the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the former prime minister, the lengthy civil war was finally ended when the government forces defeated the LTTE separatists and killed their leader. The ushering in of a war-free period of peace began to attract more and more tourists. SLTDA statistics show that in 2008 there were only 438,475 overseas visitors, but in 2009 this number rose to 447,890. In 2015 the arrivals numbered 17,98,380, indicating over 300% growth in six years. The number continued upwards in the ensuing years and 23,33,796 foreign tourists visited the island in 2018. 

Almost 10 years after the end of the civil war, Sri Lanka was recognised as the best country in the world to visit in 2019 by the Lonely Planet, an Australian company, publishing travel guide books, founded in 1973. Moreover, the Trip Expert, a leading global travel agent, named Sri Lanka “The Best Emerging Destination for 2019” owing to the lure of its pristine beaches, mountainous terrains and UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

Unfortunately, this welcoming growth of the tourism industry was disrupted abruptly with the Easter Sunday terrorist attack in April 2019 on Christian churches and leading hotels in Colombo, causing a loss of tourism income amounting to US$ 1.5 billion. Despite these adverse effects, the tourism managed to recover rapidly owing to efforts by the government, security forces, the SLTDA and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotional Bureau. Although only 37,802 arrivals were recorded in May 2019 after the massacre of devotees and tourists (compared to 129,466 in May 2018), this number soared gradually in the following months and there were 241,663 arrivals in December 2019. Tourism was the third largest foreign exchange earner for Sri Lanka in 2019.

Then came the Covid-19 global pandemic that struck a great blow to the emerging optimism with regard to the revival of tourism in the island. It was mainly the tourism sector that was deeply affected by this viral outbreak. In March 2020 the tourist arrivals dropped to 71,370. 

The country reopened for tourism in January 2021 under a health protocol involving pre-flight and post-flight Covid tests on arrival. Tourists were able to visit a series of designated locations under ‘bio bubble’ concept avoiding contact with locals and stay at certified hotels. Prior to this official reopening, a controversy broke out over tourists brought from Ukraine by a former ambassador to Russia, where health protocols were breached, but it was later described as a pilot project. 

India has been Sri Lanka’s biggest tourism market before the pandemic and this trend continued even after it. In 2019, Indian tourists represented the largest number of international arrivals with a share of 19%. UK came second and China was a close third.

Tourist arrivals from January-March in this year exceeded 280,000, compared to 194,000 arrivals in the previous year for the same period. So, there is a glimmer of hope for the revival of tourism. Yet, a vital question remains: Faced with the ongoing political turmoil and unrest resulting from the worst economic crisis which the 74-year-old independent Sri Lanka is presently undergoing, with power cuts, long fuel queues, road blocks of protesters, soaring prices of transport and food items, etc., can we expect our tourism industry to resist such challenges with physical and psychological resilience? Will our renewed hopes for the revival of tourism in Sri Lanka wither away? ***

Lines and patterns depicting geometric, animal, bird and plant shapes have been drawn on the dry plains of southern Peru near the town of Nazca. These bewildering designs, visible from an aircraft and the surrounding foothills, have given birth to numerous suppositions and superstitions. Yet, despite all the research, no plausible explanation has been offered so far to unravel the mystery of the intricate designs, the existence of which was first mentioned by a Spanish chronicler in the 16^th century. 

Certain mysterious gigantic designs cut in the coastal desert floor, near the town of Nazca in southern Peru, have given archaeologists something to rack their brains over. These designs, known as geoglyphs, dating back to nearly 2000 years, have been created by scraping the rocky surface off the yellow subsoil to appear as straight and parallel lines, triangles, rectangles, quadrangles and trapezoids while spirals and zigzags form more distinct shapes of a monkey, a dog, a spider, a lizard, a whale, a hummingbird, a condor, and other birds. Another curious and inexplicable design concerns a slender rod with line and reel, similar to one used by fishermen.

The site of the world-renowned Nazca lines, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, is found over 300 km southeast of Lima, the capital of Peru. In total, there are more than 800 straight lines, 300 geometric figures and 70 animal, bird and plant designs, called biomorphs. Some of the furrows extend over a distance of nearly 50 km, crossing valleys and ravines and mountains, while the biomorphs range from 15 to 366 m in length. The new technology with drones has also helped discover the hitherto unnoticed figure of a relaxing cat when plans were underway to create a new path leading to an observation platform that would serve as a vantage point for visitors to see the geoglyphs. According to the Ministry of Culture in Peru, the figure was on the verge of disappearing owing to its existence on a steep slope prone to natural erosion.

The mention of the Nazca lines was first made by Pedro Cieza de León (1520-1554) in his book of 1553. Being a Spanish conquistador and chronicler of Peru, he described them as “trail markers”. Then, in 1586, Luiz Monzón reported having seen the “roads”. Although the crisscrossed lines were partially visible from the nearby hills, Peruvian military and civilian pilots were the first to report them in the 20^th century. 

In 1927 Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía Xesspe spotted them while he was hiking through the foothills. He discussed them at a conference in Lima in 1939.  His research led to the conclusion that the lines formed part of ancient sacred roads. Xesspe never flew over the area and so only saw the straight lines and failed to see the figures. 

An astronomical calendar?

While Dr. Paul August Kosok (1896-1959), an American historian from Long Island University in New York, was in Peru from 1940-41 to study its ancient irrigation systems, he flew over the land and thus was afforded the opportunity to be the first to make an in-depth aerial examination of the lines. He chanced to see how lines converged on the horizon at the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. The winter solstice occurs when either of Earth’s poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the sun and it happens twice each year. Kosok began to study how the lines might have been etched and he tried to fathom their meaning and purpose. Finally, he came to the conclusion that this unique area could be named as “the largest book of astronomy in the world”. According to him, the designs were laid in order to show the paths of the stars in such a way that the agricultural work of the year could be organised in due season.

Kosok also noticed that some of the radial centres were formed by small mounds, upon which vague structural outlines, undoubtedly of great antiquity, could be seen. No one knows whether they are contemporary with the linear tracings or they were built later to give the place a sacred character.  

Kosok’s work was continued by Maria Reiche (1903-1998), the famous German-born Peruvian mathematician, archaeologist and technical translator, nicknamed the “Lady of the Lines”. She researched the desert drawings exhaustively for 40 years until her death, even taking up residence in a small house near the site to protect them single-handedly from reckless visitors. Reiche shared with Kosok, her predecessor, the theory of an astronomical calendar. Some Peruvian archaeologists too supported the Kosok-Reiche theory, but Johan Reinhard, a National Geographic Explorer-in Residence, debunked it in his book on the origin of Nazca Lines, claiming that the lines led to places where rituals were performed to obtain water and fertility for crops. He said that in such an arid region with so little rain, water was clearly an important factor. Most of the furrows are wide enough for a procession to pass along them which would suggest that they might have been used for ceremonial purposes, says French author Robert Charroux (1909-1978), a pioneer of the theory of ancient astronauts. 

According to Reinhard, spiral designs have been found at other ancient Peruvian sites as well. Claiming that animal symbolism is common throughout the Andes, he argued that spiders are thought to be a sign of rain, hummingbirds are associated with fertility and monkeys are found in the neighbouring Amazon rainforest. (Peru has the second-largest portion of this rain forest after Brazil, comprising 60% of the country) 

Johnny Islas, presently Peru’s chief archaeologist for the lines, says that the latest research indicates that the purpose of the lines was to ask the gods for water and fertility in this dry area. Anthony Francis Aveni (born in 1938), an American anthropologist and archaeoastronomer, agreed with Reinhard, saying that the straight lines and trapezoids are related to water. 

The British-born American Astronomer Gerald Stanley Hawkins (1928-2003) used a computer in 1960 to check the astronomical interpretation of the Nazca patterns. The study proved that they were not designed as a celestial calendar.

An astroport for aliens: a crackpot theory?

Some people believe that the designs must have been made by unknown extraterrestrial beings in a remote past while others hold the view that the Nazca desert may have been used as an astroport by interstellar spacecraft thousands of years ago. Erich Anton Paul von Däniken (born in 1935), a Swiss author of several books (originally written in German and translated into English by Michael Heron) and a key figure for popularising the alien involvement in the culture and religion of early humans, suggested that the Nazca lines were the work of ancient astronauts. Däniken’s books attracted so many tourists to the Nazca region. But, the theories, expounded in his books, including the best-selling Chariots of the Gods – Was God an Astronaut?, published in 1968, have been rejected downright by both orthodox scientists and Christian theologians. 

Hot air smoke balloons: Woodman’s theory 

Jim Woodman, an American explorer in the 1970s, theorised that the Nazca people could have been the first inventors of hot air smoke balloons. He based his argument on the assumption that the geoglyphs could be sighted only from an aircraft and hence they could not have been drawn without aerial assistance. To support his theory Woodman cited pottery he had found in Nazca burial grounds that depicted hot air balloons. He also suggested that the Nazca people would have sent off their dead in these balloons to fall into the Pacific Ocean, which symbolically signified the journey of the deceased towards the Sun. Similar to the theories of Däniken, the suppositions of Woodman were debunked by experts. Firstly, they pointed out that the Nazca lines can be seen from the surrounding hills as well, as shown by archaeologist Xesspe. Secondly, the Nazca people, like the Incas, buried their dead without sending them off to a celestial destination. Thirdly, critics contended that the winds in the Andean region blow from west to east and so the balloons would not float towards the ocean, but crash instead onto the mountains. 

No consensus of opinion so far

It is also presumed by some scholars that the Nazca people used to read the different weather signs from the flight patterns of seabirds. Native Indians of Peru still believe in the magical powers of animals and they see the shapes of these animals in the stars. A few theorists are of the view that the figures of the animals are reproductions of the shapes made by constellations. It is also theorised that the lines could have been the magical religious cult expressed in a theatrical ritual.

Still others conjecture that they were places of assembly or of astronomical observation. According to some, the region would have been a ground, guided by the spirits. Burnt offerings were made to the Nazca gods there, suggest others. Yet, no one has come to a single platform for a common agreement. The Nazca etchings, a striking testimony to Peru’s rich pre-Columbian heritage, still remain one of the world’s greatest archaeological conundrums. 

Today the Nazca region is also crossed by the 30,000 km long Pan-American Highway, stretching from Chile to Alaska. The government of Peru has banned walking or driving over the Nazca area except by special permission. Yet, the encroachments over the years into the protected Nazca area by squatters raising pigs, were reported to be endangering the geoglyphs.

Since the 2000s, tourism in Peru makes up its third largest industry next to fishing and mining. Tourism is the most rapidly growing industry there and it is growing faster than any other country in South America. ***

It was first described as a sloth by Portuguese who saw this animal  in South America. Then in the 1800s ,was reclassified as a bear. It is a shaggy, maned dishevelled looking animal, very unique and also found in India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. 

It is considered a threatened species, as there are fewer than 3000 sloth bears in Sri Lanka according to Field researcher Rohan Peris, with the low estimates going to 500. It is mostly found in the dry zone in north west and south east .

Lanka’s distinct subspecies of the sloth bear, Melursus ursinus inornatus, has no predator,although in India, tigers are known to kill sloth bears. Leopards aren’t as ready to attack. According to Dr Kalinga Padmalal, Senior Lecturer at Open University and considered the father of modern Sri Lankan zoology, it is an apex predator and Leopards may fight them, but generally they stay away. 

Veddas, the indigenous people in Sri Lanka, have their own methods of avoiding bears, which they come across frequently in their hunts and stay away likely places where sloth bears frequent, while foraging for honey. They have distinct warning calls to give warning of their arrival, so that the animal has adequate time to scatter. 

The sloth bear spends its life, foraging for bugs, beetles and termites, breaking open large termite mounds with its claws. It is also known as to be fond of a local fruit known as palu, according to field researcher Rohan Peiris. The claws are used for penetrating termite mounds, which can be dense, like a rock-hard fossil. Once they’ve cut open a fissure, they suck out the bugs through a gap in the teeth, aided by the tongue, almost like a vacuum. It is an interesting sight. 

Veddas say that they fear bears more than elephants because according to them, “an elephants will kill you fast, but a bear will leave you crippled for life.” Many a Vedda or villager whose had an unfortunate encounter have lost limbs or eyes or left crippled. 

However, the army once kept an orphaned bear cub in their base camp close to Anuradhapura and the bear was fond of humans, but those raised in captivity will definitely be different.

Sloth bears are the only bears to routinely carry their young on their backs. Unlike the grizzly or polar bear, it is very small. It is also smaller than the black bear. You can see males hanging around a female with Cubs, which is unlike in other bears where the males play no part and will attack a female with Cubs. They are also less territorial and aggressive with each other. 

Dr Padmalal says that studying bear habits would have to take place at night time since it is nocturnal and elusive 

If you are lucky, you can see a sloth bear in Yala and Wilpattu national parks when you visit Sri Lanka. 

The story goes back to the 18^th century when the coastal belt of Sri Lanka was under the sway of the Dutch colonialists. In 1672 a fleet of French warships landed at the eastern port of Trincomalee. On its way the French had fought several battles at sea with the Dutch and conquered them. At the time King Rajasinghe II, ruler of the independent kingdom of Kandy and the Dutch were sworn enemies. On hearing of the good news of the defeat of the Dutch, the king accorded a warm welcome to the French. Later the fleet left the country but the second commanding officer named Gascogne stayed back and married a Portuguese woman, taking up residence in Kandy. 

In 1686 the son of King Rajasinghe II ascended the throne as Vimaladharmasuriya II. The son born to Gascogne was named Pedro Gascon (To facilitate pronunciation, Gascon was changed to Dascon). Though his parents were Christians, a temple (Piriven) education was preferred for the child under the guidance of Buddhist monks. It was at the temple school that Dascon met the son of King Vimaladharmasuriya II and they became fast friends. Dascon won a special affection of the king and the two children often played together at the palace. As the Kandyan nobility plotted to prevent the now young crown prince from being the next heir to the throne, he fled the palace stealthily and later managed to quell the rebellion, thwarting the attempts of the conspirators. In 1707 he was enthroned as King Vira Parakrama Narendrasinghe at the age of 17 and to show his gratitude to his childhood friend who gave wholehearted support to the prince to crush the insurrection, Dascon was appointed to the post of Maha Adhikaram (Chief Minister) after two years, thus earning the wrath of the noblemen.

In 1708 the king brought a pretty princess from South India from the Nayakkar royal clan to be his queen consort, named Pramila Devi. She was the daughter of Lord Pitti Nayakkar and Lady Abhirami Devi. King Narendrasinghe is generally described as a playful, quarrelsome and wicked king addicted to alcohol and gambling, and fond of women. This earned for him the nickname “Sellam Nirindu” (meaning in Sinhalese “Playboy King”). Yet, surprisingly, another version describes him as a personage who devoted himself to further religion and literature, who lived at peace with the Dutch invaders. 

Nevertheless, it so happened that while the king was enjoying himself with his concubines at the harem in the palaces of Senkadagala and Kundasale, Pramila was doomed to be left alone at Hanguranketha, the other palace of the king. It was then that a forbidden love developed between the handsome minister and the forlorn queen consort. Pramila is said to have studied the Sinhalese language from Buddhist monks and she later became versed in poetry. Dascon too had an inborn talent to be a poet. Both of them exchanged poems of love and were inflamed with passion for each other. This romance became an open secret in the palace.

Then Pramila contracted a disease which the royal physicians could not diagnose. Prior to conducting a ritual, a life-seized image in clay resembling the queen, had to be made. A sculptor was commissioned in this task under the supervision of Dascon. When, on completion of the work, the minister noted the absence of a birth mark on one thigh of the queen and asked the sculptor to correct it, king’s suspicions grew, wondering how his faithful friend could have known this. Incensed at the assumption of a possible sexual relationship between the two in his absence, the king promptly incarcerated him. While in prison, Dascon wrote poems, asking for pardon, to be handed over to the king. Yet, the nobleman named Levke Rala, the protagonist of the conspiracy, who had always been burning with jealousy of Dascon, accusing him of alleged missionary activities, saw to it that the poems never reached the king. With no explanation coming from the friend for his breach of trust, the king ordered to behead Dascon in 1710. Only after his death, King Narendrasinghe came to know the truth. Levke Rala, who had by then replaced Dascon as Chief Minister, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Pramila, who saw her lover being taken to the executioner, was distraught with grief. A legend says that she committed suicide by eating a poisonous tuber of a wild plant, thus drawing an illicit love-affair to a tragic end. 

As Pramila bore no children to King Narendrasinghe who died in 1739, her brother from South India ascended the throne as King Srivijaya Rajasinghe, conforming to the then custom, as King Narendrasinghe had refused appointment of his brothers, born to royal concubines, as his successors to the Kandyan throne. This decision of the king marked a turning-point in the nearly 2400-year long unbroken dynasty of Sinhalese kings in the country.

Although orthodox historians have sought to view this historical romance as a forbidden love, open-minded commentators now try to give the story a human and emotional slant. The popular teleplay (2014-2015) on this story, written and directed by the award-winning Sinhalese actor Jackson Anthony, and telecast on a private channel, has made an attempt in this direction. 

Others argue that the relationship could be no more than a mere friendship between two persons drawn together with a common interest: poetry. They say that the birth mark cannot be clear proof of an erotic relationship. It is said that Dascon chanced to see the spot unwillingly when he was trying to bring Pramila to safety while she was having a bath and faced a threat from a group of criminals. Still others assert that the whole story seems to have been exaggerated and may have been a part of the plot of the nobility to avenge Dascon’s prominent position in the palace in their struggle for power. 

The royalty from South India, called “Nayakkar” or “Nayak” (a Sanskrit word for “leader”) belonged to a clan from the city of Madurai in the present-day Tamil Nadu state. Their mother tongue was Telugu though they spoke both Sinhalese and Tamil as the languages of the palace. The dynasty of the four Nayakkar monarchs who ruled in Kandy for nearly 100 years professed Hinduism though they were patrons of Theravada Buddhism in South Asia. Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe, the last Nayakkar king of Sri Lanka, was deposed by the British in 1815 and taken as a royal prisoner to the Vellore Fort in South India where he died of an illness in 1832. He was succeeded by King George III as king of British Ceylon.***

Efforts from these organizations alone will not bring positive results on people’s wellness. It’s the duty and responsibility of every leader of a country to recognize, support, and encourage best practices of well-being for all citizens in every possible way.  

In Sanskrit, Yoga means “Yuje” and Hinduism believed to have influenced the development of Yoga. From the earliest times to date, the most prominent and popular destination to experience yoga is believed to be the Indian continent. Building on such foundations – ancient and present scholars have come up with a number of terms and definitions to describe yoga which can be seen in many forms in a more contemporary context. For some it’s a science, a mystery, embracing nature, and for others, a gateway for one’s well-being and lifestyle. However, despite the categorization, it’s widely accepted and documented that practicing Yoga has produced positive results for millions of people.

The beginning of a long journey

Human behavior despite time and place has been closely in connection with nature, and early humans were capable of understanding the need of protecting its ample and invaluable resources. They quietly listened, watched, and felt the activities around them, being vigilant was important for survival. One particular area they focused was the movement of animal species. Knowledge gathered through such activities across a long span of time, made the early man notice certain postures and positions that made animals relax while sleeping or resting on different surfaces of their preferences.  

These motionless and concentrated postures and subsequent calm behavior of animals created excitement and stimulated the early humans to ‘watch and learn’ further. They went on to make changes and adopted these postures to fit into their lifestyles. It will be interesting to explore further as to ‘how’ the earlier humans, with the support of animals and the environment, contributed to laying the foundation to modern-day Yoga.

‘Thus came the opportunity for the early humans to embrace a feeling of inner relaxation, a moment of happiness and calm, totally a different experience’.

Further they used their skills to illustrate and carve their findings and thoughts in caves, wood and stones for future generations. Least they knew some of these postures one day would assist mankind to embark on a physical and a spiritual journey of experiencing a calmer and tranquil state of mind. 

Civilizations flourished under the reign of Kings. All societies in the area came under one rule and habits of different cultures and their practices must have inevitably been interesting topics of exploration. At some stage, information on these previously observed preliminary relaxation styles adopted by certain groups reached the walls of palaces.

Later with the help of the Brahmans, Rishi, and other noble’s, the development and documentation of the yoga practices – was looked into. Once it was adopted by the Royals it was prohibited to the commoner. 

Though it’s hard to discover an exact timeline of its origin, Historians reveals Yoga practices started over 5,000 years ago, during the Indus – Sarasvati civilization in Northern India. “Yoga was mentioned in the form of rituals, mantras, and songs in the “Rigveda” the oldest known Sanskrit text. Evidence surfaces of a rishi in India known as “Pathanjali” documenting a book based on ancient traditional practices on Yoga between the period of BC 300 – BC 200. This book has highlighted the importance of balancing one’s body, soul, and mind to enhance mental, spiritual, and physical well-being. 

‘Yoga is practiced and taught to achieve one’s physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing to support a better lifestyle’

Sri Lanka – Experience a ‘yoga awakening’

In Sri Lanka Yoga is practiced in many religious and non – religious institutions and attracts many learners, professionals, and amateurs. In keeping with ancient traditions and wisdom of Ayurveda, Indigenous medicine (‘Hela Wedakama’), meditation and yoga, Sri Lanka offers a wide range of wellness opportunities for the upliftment of one’s mental and physical relaxation. Many overseas visitors would make a ‘great escape’ from their busy schedules and prefer seeking relief from traditional methods. 

With a ‘feel at home’ atmosphere, Sri Lanka offers a splendid opportunity to experience wellness in various environments within a short span of travel within the country. With the cool climate of the central region, sunny and breezy west coast, warmer beaches and shallow waters of the east coast and north-central parts with dense jungles, rivers and ancient ruins, it’s a kind of an ‘embracing yoga with nature’ type of experience. Blessings from nature continue as NASA and German scientist made a unique discovery of Sri Lanka as the lowest gravity point when comparison to the rest of the world. Yoga experts believe this geographic positioning may help people to achieve better mental relaxation and flexibility during yoga sessions.  

‘During Yoga retreats Yoga and Yogini instructors will compassionately steer you beyond all boundaries to reach the heights of your physical and spiritual healing. You will be amazed to discover your own story at the end of each session.

Sri Lankan Tourism Development Authority offers figures of tourist arrivals for each year along with the purpose of visit. To obtain the latest information on the Tourism Industry/statistics in Sri Lanka please visit: https://www.sltda.gov.lk/en

Benefits of practicing yoga:

• Achieving happiness 

• Helps relieve stress and anxiety

• Balances your hormones

• Smooth function of lungs

• Increase blood circulation and feeling energetic

• Help get rid of bad toxins and purifies the blood

• Managing better sleep 

• Experiences a smooth digesting

• Better complexion

• Delays the aging process 

To achieve maximum benefits of Yoga, 

• People with serious ailments should refrain from practicing yoga

• Recommended to seek guidance from a professional yoga teacher

Few interesting facts on Yoga

• The yoga industry is worth more than $84 billion worldwide.

• Lack of flexibility is what holds 32% of non-yogis from trying yoga out.

• Aside from in-person classes, 24% of people also use yoga apps or yoga guided by videos to    practice.

• A research conducted on 52 women with anxiety and depression has shown a decrease in symptoms after 12 Sessions of hatha yoga.

• 54% of yoga practitioners said that yoga helps them release tension.

• 94% of yoga practitioners say they do yoga for wellness-related reasons.

• 15 minutes of yoga practice every day changes the brain’s chemistry and boosts mood.

• Japan has had a 413% yoga growth rate in just five years.

• In Germany, only 10% of respondents claim they practice yoga regularly.

• Around 30% of the Dutch prefer meditation yoga or mindfulness.

• 59% of yoga practitioners in the US believe that yoga helps improve their sleep.

• More than 43% of yoga practitioners are between 30 and 49 years old.

• 72% of yoga practitioners are female.

Statistics Source – https://comparecamp.com/yoga-statistics/

For more information please visit – https://www.un.org/en/observances/yoga-day

Sir James Emerson Tennent (1804-1869), author and traveller who was knighted in 1845 and appointed colonial secretary to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), narrates in 1859 in one of his writings how an associate of a team of British archaeologists happened to pursue a herd of wild elephants along a trail in the vicinity of the Kala Wewa tank in the north central province when he stumbled upon a colossal standing Buddha statue in the forest the existence of which had been unknown to Europeans before. He then led Tennent and others to the spot where they stood in awe at the sight of this statue, carved out of a large granite cliff only a narrow piece of rock joining the statue to the cliff to support the colossus.

This is the famous Buddha statue at Avukana, a village 176 km northeast of Colombo. Measuring a height of nearly 12 m, its construction is credited to King Dhatusena of Anuradhapura, constructor of the Kala Wewa tank. What is so salient about this 5^th century AD statue is that it is considered the country’s only statue that has remained intact, withstanding the ravages of time. Moreover, the serenity and compassion that emanate from the face of Buddha and the dexterity of the sculptor have been commented on by scholars over the years. The statue is so upright that raindrops falling on its head will drip along the nose vertically to land on a spot between the feet. The pleats of the tightly worn robe are carved delicately. The right hand is in the posture of giving his blessing to all creatures and the left hand portrays the gathering up of the robe, ready to cross a river: a representation of the cycle of rebirths. 

Conflicting stories are recounted with regard to the origin of the statue. One legend, which is often quoted, is that a master, well versed in carving statues, arrived in Sri Lanka from the land of ‘Avakan’ (present-day Afghanistan) to teach this art to local sculptors. It so happened that ultimately a Guru-Gola (master-pupil) competition followed to carve a standing Buddha statue. Whoever completed the statue first had to announce it by ringing a bell (another version is uttering a booing sound to notify that he had won). The pupil from Sri Lanka started work at Avukana while the master from Afghanistan set to work at a forest hermitage named Res Vehera (or Sasseruwa), located in the vicinity. The pupil succeeded in finishing the statue first and the master, knowing of the achievement of his pupil, felt ashamed and hurled himself to death off the cliff. Those who support this legend argue that the word ‘Avukana’ derives from the word ‘Avakan’ to denote Afghanistan, the land of origin of the master. They further point out the striking similarity between the unfinished statue at Res Vehera (hence, inferior in craftsmanship compared to the statue at Avukana) and the two Buddha statues in the Bamyan valley of central Afghanistan, 130 km northwest of Kabul (In an act of vandalism, these two statues were blown up and destroyed by the Taliban in 2001). All the three statues have been cut into the rock whereas the Avukana statue has been cut away from the cliff. Yet, some historians refute this tale and assert that the Res Vehera temple antedates the Avukana statue by nearly 200 years and this temple was built by King Devanampiya Tissa (307-267 BC), first Buddhist monarch in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, they say that the word ‘Avukana’ in Sinhalese literally means ‘sun eating’ (avu=sun and kana=eating) or ‘exposed to sun’.

Another opposing story is told, which is just the opposite. According to this, the master completed the work first and the pupil lost the contest.

Still another story, as told by an aged villager, is that the statue is the result of a competition between two brothers of a family of sculptors to whom this art of sculpturing had been handed down by their forbears. They undertook the project under the orders of King Dhatusena and the work, supposedly, took three years for completion. When the elder brother ‘won the race’ the younger brother was dismayed at the news even though he was his own brother. He committed suicide by jumping off the edge of the rock.

The king and his subjects, bemoaning the untimely end of the younger brother, attended to his cremation in a worthy manner. 

Finally, the carving of the statue is generally attributed to a skilled sculptor named Barana. Reportedly, it had taken seven years before the work was executed. The king, impressed with the finesse and grace of the statue, granted him a whole village as a royal award. This village still exists by the name of ‘Galwaduwagama’ (village of the sculptor).

In addition to the Avukana statue, King Dhatusena built 18 irrigation tanks including Kala Wewa and a massive irrigation canal named Yodha Ela that vouch for the skill of hydraulic engineers of ancient Sri Lanka. It has a capacity of 123 million cubic meters and covers an area of 2,580 ha. The king defeated the invaders from South India and reunited the country. Yet, due to more raiding armies from South India, the succeeding monarchs were compelled to shift their capital elsewhere. With the passage of time the sites of archaeological interest were swallowed by forests only to be rediscovered many centuries later by the British. This encroachment, in a way, was a blessing in disguise, as it helped turn away the attention of the advancing enemies and protect the sites against elements.***

Despite prostitution being illegal, there seems to be little effort to crack down on it. It’s common to see sex workers waiting for clients within a few feet of police in Thailand. The police either sympathize with the girls and decide not to enforce the law or they know that even attempting to do so would be an unending task.

The Thai sex industry is worth an estimated $4.5 billion a year, with the majority of this money coming from tourists visiting Thailand for sexual services. The total number of visitors to Thailand in 2015 was recorded at 30 million, which means that 5% (or 1.25 million) were sex workers or their clients. 

In some parts of Asia there’s little difference between prostitution and travel agencies: they both offer “tour packages” complete with hotels, meals and entertainment – you can even book your own room. And it’s not uncommon for the agency operators to also provide escorts or masseuses as part of their service offering. 

Thailand isn’t unique in this respect; other countries such as Cambodia are renowned for being hotspots for sex tourism, where women are available on every street corner and bars have full-time staff dedicated solely to servicing male customers. In many cases these women will be working illegally but if caught they can expect to be deported.

The closure of these businesses also comes at an interesting time since it coincides with the Thai government’s decision earlier this year to crack down anyone caught working as a prostitute in Thailand. This law could lead many women into prostitution into jail for up six months or more – on top of any fines which may be imposed by local authorities. This new legislation came as part of the government’s ‘War on Prostitution’ campaign which has been in place since last year.

Although the Thai government isn’t keen on its country’s image as being a sex tourist hub, it must acknowledge that for many people it is their sole means of income and that they lack the experience to enter another profession. The collapse of the sex industry, whether through the pandemic or government programs could also trigger a wave of jobseekers saturated the employment markets of other professions.

The majority of these women are from rural areas and have little choice but to work in this trade due to a lack of education or job opportunities; they are often sold into prostitution by their parents at a young age and have no other option than to continue working within the industry once they’re old enough.

The Thai government has had some success with campaigns such as ‘Turn Off The Red Light’ – which aim to educate tourists about how their actions can lead directly towards human trafficking, child exploitation and rape – many still don’t really understand what it takes for these women (and men) to survive each day. 

It’s a step in the right direction to educate tourists on the human rights abuses they may be funding through hiring sex workers but in reality it’s only solving half of the problem. The government needs to implement education programs to wean sex workers off of their preferred trade and get them back into the conventional labour market.

And so far, not one government department has stepped up to offer financial support for any kind of rehabilitation project that would allow them out of this life-long cycle. This situation doesn’t just affect those who work on the streets though: the closure of sex tourism businesses has also affected the hundreds of thousands of Thai people that work within the industry, as well as those who rely on it for their livelihoods. 

The Kingdom’s sluggish vaccine rollout is also worsening the collapse of its tourism industry. Thai officials say they are waiting to see how effective their new vaccine will be before moving forward with widespread vaccinations, but some experts warn that this strategy may backfire as more people become infected in the meantime. 

The Thai government’s decision to wait has been criticized by both local and international health authorities who fear the country’s tourism industry will suffer if it does not quickly implement a vaccination campaign.

In 2020 Thailand was praised for its efforts to control the spread of the virus and, minus the drop in tourism, managed to maintain a somewhat normal standard of life for everyone. Bars and restaurants were open for most of the year, even nightclubs were full. It was easy to forget what was happening all over the world if you were living in Thailand in 2020.

Unfortunately, the tables have turned at the time of writing this article (May 2021). Thailand has been hit by a surge of the so-called Indian variant which has a higher transmission rate than previous Covid strains. 

Cases and deaths have spiked and the country is now in its third and worst wave of the pandemic so far. Although there are no curfews like there were this time last year, life in Thailand is far from normal and seems like it won’t return to pre-Covid normalcy until the rollout of the vaccine.

The government’s rollout of the vaccine has been disappointingly slow so far, with only 2.9% of the population receiving one dose and 1.4% fully vaccinated. This rate lags far behind its poorer neighbour, Cambodia, that has given 13.8% of its population one dose and 10% are fully vaccinated. 

Granted, Cambodia’s population is only a fraction of Thailand’s, but it goes to show how detrimental the Kingdom’s culture of bureaucracy and fragmented government departments can be when it comes to agile decision-making. 

While it’s likely that Thailand’s infamous sex industry will return to its previous heights, or even exceed them, it’s a matter of when and it doesn’t seem like it will be any time soon or even this year, for that matter.

Mass vaccinations are due to roll out on June 7th and they will include everyone in the country. Priority will be given to locals and based on profession, with expats given secondary status.

Their plight, in fact, is regrettable. It is mere poverty that has plunged them into the world’s oldest profession, in most cases, against their wish. It is a pity!

They are the indigenous people of Sri Lanka, called “Veddas” although they call themselves “Wanniya-laetto” (forest dwellers). Some say that the word “Vedda” originates from the Pali word for “bowman”. “Vadi” in ancient Sinhalese also means “one who roams the forest”. But others say that it comes from the Tamil word “Vedan” meaning hunter. Another name given to this primitive community is “Sabara”. It is possible that the province of Sabaragamuwa (or village of the Sabara) owes its name to their presence in this region in earlier times.

It is said that the Veddas have a racial affinity to the Kadar and Chenchu people of South Asia, to the Andaman islanders and to the Semang of the Malaysian peninsula. Anthropologists have also traced their origin back to the aborigines of Australia. The Veddas are a timid racial stock of short stature. According to Mahavamsa, Pali chronicle on the history of Sri Lanka, the Veddas are the descendants of Disala and Jeevahaththa, respectively the daughter and son of the Aryan Prince Vijaya (543-505 BC), the founder of the Sinhalese race, who was exiled from his father’s kingdom in North India due to his mutinous behaviour and landed in Sri Lanka with 700 followers. On landing at a place named Thammenna in northwestern Sri Lanka, he fell in love with a beautiful princess named Kuveni from the “Yakka” (demon) tribe. Vijaya was enthroned as the first recorded Sinhalese king of Sri Lanka although he later banished his wife from the kingdom and married the daughter of an Indian king. When Kuveni went to her relatives for help, they killed her for betrayal and the two children escaped to Sabaragamuwa. Xuanzang, the 7^th century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar and pilgrim, said that the forest dwellers were referred to as “Yakkas”.  Yet, anthropologists claim that the origin of the Veddas dates as far back as the Stone Age of the country. According to Prof. S. U. Deraniyagala, Sri Lanka’s former Director-General of Archaeology, the Veddas settled in every nook and cranny, ranging from the cold and misty Horton Plains in Central Sri Lanka to the arid lowlands of Mannar and Wilpattu, to the equatorial rainforests of Sabaragamuwa. Successive arrivals of Aryan and non-Aryan Dravidian immigrants and colonisers from the Indian sub-continent had an adverse effect on the insular home, occupied for uncounted millennia by the Veddas, who were compelled to leave for the arid forest plains of Uva province in eastern Sri Lanka where they struggled to preserve their age-old traditions, worldview and lifestyle. Their prehistoric cultural memory and sound knowledge of the forest helped them meet the challenges to their survival amidst outside pressure from the new communities.

Today a majority of Wanniya-laetto has taken Sinhalese or Tamil names, adopted Sinhalese or Tamil as their language, Buddhism or Hinduism mixed with their animistic beliefs as their religion, depending on where they live, as a strategy to avert extinction. They have equally adopted the diet and attire of these communities. The Veddas in the north central Anuradhapura and eastern Bintenna regions speak

Sinhalese, an Indo-European language and have taken up cultivation of rice whereas the Veddas in the predominantly Tamil east coast speak Tamil, a Dravidian language and are engaged in fishing. Nevertheless, what they speak is a creole, mixed with Sinhalese words, although linguists have noted words of unique origin in the Vedda language and a language they spoke among themselves only understood by them.

A 1978 survey had identified 6,000 Veddas in the Anuradhapura district alone. Uruwarige Vanniya, the current chieftain of the Dambana tribe and son of the respected Vedda leader Tissahamy who died in 1999 at the age of 96, said that in 2008 there were more than 1,500 families in the whole island with a majority living in Dambana and Pollebedda villages in the Uva province. Eastern Veddas live in Vakarai in Batticaloa district, numbering around 100 families.

In the distant past the Veddas dwelled in caves, several families in one cave. They hunted wild animals and gathered honey from hives, using smoke from burned dried leaves to chase the bees away. The game and food were not kept to oneself and shared among the family members and friends no matter how meagre the game was. Although men and women were treated as equals, the men had to go for hunting and gathering honey while the women had to collect vegetable roots. They practised monogamy and there was no caste system. Meats were dried or smoked, at times stuffed in the hollow of a tree, filling it with honey and then sealing it. If a person died of an illness, the Veddas would leave him in the cave and shift to another cave, covering the body of the deceased with dried leaves, only to return there after many years. They believed in the transmigration of souls and “demon relatives” or “Nae Yakku”. To avert diseases and misfortune that these dead relatives would bring forth, the Veddas conducted rituals and dances to appease them. The Vedda children received special care. The lullabies the Vedda mothers sing are probably the oldest in the world, needing to be preserved. Sung to three varying tunes and rhythms, these cradle songs are thought to be those sung by princess Kuveni to lull her two babies to sleep.

Robert Knox, English sea captain, who was held captive by King Rajasinghe II, made the first western account on Veddas in his book published in 1681. He described them as “wild men” though there was also a “tamer sort”. Later in 1881 anthropologist Rudolph Virchow published a report on them in Germany followed by British physician and ethnologist Charles Gabriel Seligman in 1911. The Sri Lankan surgeon Dr. Richard Lionel Spittel, of Dutch origin, is undoubtedly the best authority on these indigenous people. His novels on them, also translated into Sinhalese, became best-sellers in this country. His death in 1969 shocked the Vedda community who called him “Sudu Hura”, a term of endearment meaning “white-skinned gentleman”. 

In 2016 the Veddas requested the authorities to embody their rights in any new constitution: right to live in the forest, hunt animals and be engaged in agriculture in harmony with the nature, give them concession for education and employment and be recognised as a separate minority community.

For its part, the government of Sri Lanka has sought to promote literacy among this community and allow them to have access to health facilities. Today the Veddas sell honey, artefacts, etc. to visiting locals and foreigners and others do odd jobs to earn a living. In Dambana there is a Wanniya-laetto Heritage Centre.

The advent of the radio, TV, mobile phones, computers, etc. seems to have brought about changes in the thinking and lifestyle of the young Vedda generation. Today they are eager to go to cities for greener pastures, to get better educational and employment opportunities, leaving the cherished traditions and customs of their elders behind. This then raises the vital question whether a Vedda should remain a Vedda all the time. Are they not entitled to be absorbed into the social and economic mainstream of the country? They do have that right! Yet, the allurement of the so-called civilised society should not be allowed to make inroads upon their moral values and worldview.  ***

   Sixty-four islands are strewn on the river which owes its name to the 39 ha ‘Madu’ island, the largest of the 16 smaller islands. An abandoned Hindu temple stands on the smallest of all, which is but a mass of rock.

   In the course of a study to assess the biodiversity of this unique ecosystem, carried out by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), founded in 1948 in France, over 300 different species of plants and trees along with an abundance of floral species, have been recorded. The wetland is said to be the habitat for 14 species of mangroves while 28 species of reptiles including venomous snakes like cobras, vipers, and also pythons rat snakes, live on the islands covered with dense forests. Species of amphibians and mammals number 13 and 18 respectively. They include frogs, toads, tortoises, carnivorous mangrove monitors, hog deer, porcupines, otters, golden palm civets, black monkeys, foxes, insect-eating bats, squirrels, etc. In addition, a variety of aquatic snail species as well as 50 brackish and freshwater fish species find shelter in this zone. The wetland is also a bird paradise where some 100 bird species (among them cormorants and birds endemic to Sri Lanka) can be seen hovering among the trees along with 60 species of butterflies.

Mangroves, which form a characteristic feature of this wetland landscape, are small trees growing in saline or brackish water. Being trees that resist salt, they are adapted to survive in harsh conditions. The trees are provided with a complex salt infiltration and root systems. They are equally adapted to low oxygen levels of waterlogged mud. Mangroves prop themselves above the water level with stilt roots and can then absorb air through pores in their bark called ‘lenticels’.

   The mangroves also serve as a protective shield against floods, soil erosion, storm surge, tsunamis and pollutants. Their massive root structure is capable of dissipating wave energy. Sri Lanka’s mangrove forests have diminished by 70% since 1915 owing to agriculture and aquaculture. The thriving shrimp farms pose a greater threat to these trees that are destroyed when such farms are built, causing the concern of ecologists. Fortunately, cutting down mangroves to be used as firewood is now on the decrease.

   The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance is an international treaty for the conservation of wetlands throughout the world. The treaty was signed in 1971 in Ramsar city of Iran. The list of wetlands of such importance included 2,331 Ramsar Sites by May 2018, covering more than 2.1 million sq. km. The country with the largest extent of these wetlands is Bolivia in South America, with approximately 148,000 sq. km.  

   Sri Lanka, a signatory to the treaty, has three internationally recognised Ramsar Sites including Madu Ganga which is of more scenic beauty. The other two are Bundala and Wilpattu. Bundala, in the Southern Province, 245 km southeast of Colombo, became the first Ramsar Site on 15^th June 1990, with an area of 6,216 ha. Wilpattu, in the Northwestern and North Central Province, 180 km north of Colombo, was designated as a Ramsar Site on 02^nd February 2013, with an area of 131,693 ha. 

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

   In addition to being an area of ecological, geographical and also mineralogical significance, Madu Ganga wetland is also steeped in history of the country which boasts of a long period of 2,500 years. Stone monuments and pillars, moonstones, ancient stairs, etc. of archaeological interest, have been discovered. At the temple on Kothduwa island where I have been on several occasions, stands the Bo tree (Ficus Religiosa), sacred to the Buddhists. It is said to have sprung up from one of the 32 buds from the sacred Bo tree in Anuradhapura in the North Central Province, which, in turn, is thought to be the southern branch of the original Bo tree in India under which Buddha attained Enlightenment.

   The story says that Prince Dantha and Princess Hemamali, bringing Buddha’s sacred tooth relic to Sri Lanka from India in the 4^th century AD, hiding it in the hair of the princess, and disguised as Brahmins, landed at Welitota (presently Balapitiya) before they hid the relic at Kothduwa.

   Balapitya is mentioned in ancient chronicles as Welitota. Deva Pathiraja, a minister to King Parakramabahu IV who reigned in the 14^th century AD, was staying in this area with his army to annihilate foreign invaders who had landed there. Legends say that Welitota was re-named Balapitiya after the Sinhalese word “Balasena” meaning ‘troops’ (of the minister). It is also believed that the minister planted the Bo bud on the Kothduwa temple premises.

   Today Balapitiya has become a major centre of tourist attraction. Businessmen in the area ferry motor boats across Madu Ganga, taking tourists under mangrove tunnels to see the temples, stopping over at islands where cinnamon powder and oil are sold to visitors.

To catch shrimps the islanders use bamboo structures where oil lamps are hung. The shrimps who are attracted by the light at night will be collected the following day. The islanders also make a living by making ropes from coconut fibres.

Near the bank of the river locals also provide a so-called foot massage to the visitors. Small fish, bred in tanks, peck at the dead skin of the tourists, causing a tickling sensation.