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In 100 pint-sized chapters, The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka, makes accessible an engaging account of an island renowned for a history many times larger and more byzantine than that of far bigger nations. From prehistory to the present day, each short chapter makes lucid a period of the island’s history, telling the intricate story of its rulers, people, and progression.
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21 CE – 66 CE “By blood a king, in heart a clown.” Alfred Lord Tennyson King Amandagamani Abhaya's ascent to the throne in 21 CE was both fair and orderly. Even so, the dynastic DNA had long before morphed into a penchant for regicide, and in 30 CE this fatal habit was to reappear, heralding the dynasty’s final moments – ones that not even the most…
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77 BCE – 21 CE “Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.” Back When We Were Grownups, Anne Tyler It took over barely 40 years for the penultimate Vijayan kings to lay out the full and final road to oblivion, years that made the mafia tales of the Prohibition era or a Shakespearean tragedy appear tame.…
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103 BCE – 77 BCE “And then there were none” Agatha Christie With the murder of Khallata Naga, the Anuradhapuran Kingdom made the leap to regularizing regicide as if it was no more unusual than brushing one’s teeth. Valagamba – the rightful heir and son of King Saddha Tissa – had first to defeat and kill Kammaharattaka, Khallata Naga’s nemesis, befo…
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161 BCE – 103 BCE “There is a great deal of ruin in a nation.” Adam Smith For a glorious, albeit extended moment, it seems as if the Vijayan good times had returned. Dutugemunu's nature, clear from his early childhood, was naturally geared to dominate, take control, and direct. Not for nothing does island history remember him as “the great”. Certai…
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205 BCE – 161 BCE “The sword of justice has no scabbard.” Antione De Riveral Invaders are rarely liked and often forgotten. But the 44 year reign of the Tamil king, Ellalan, merits much more than a modest footnote in the island’s story. Unlike almost all other conquerors before or since, Ellalan cherished his kingdom as much as any man might his ow…
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367 BCE – 205 BCE “What goes up must come down” Isaac Newton The death of Sri Lanka’s visionary king, Devanampiya Tissa, ushered in a period of unnerving calm. All seemed fine with the state – and yet something, somewhere, was going fatally wrong, leaving it wide open to invasion. If there was a serious shortcoming in the reign of Devanampiya Tissa…
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367 BCE - 205 BCE “When a defining moment comes along, you define the moment, or the moment defines you.” Kevin Costner A modest mystery immediately greets the hard pressed historian on encountering the death of Sri Lanka’s first and possibly greatest king, Pandu Kabhaya. His impossibly long reign – some 70 years ( - and that following an extended …
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437 BCE – 367 BCE. "It was the nearest thing to heaven." An Affair to Remember. Barely 100 years into their first royal dynasty, Sri Lanka had the great good fortune to encounter Pandu Kabhaya’s - one of its greatest kings. Inheriting, at best, a kinglet, he passed onto his successors a fully functioning kingdom that for over 200 years became a byw…
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505 BCE – 437 BCE. “No matter how rough the sea, I refuse to sink.” Unknown. Prince Vijaya’s greatest achievement, apart from surviving, was less what he did than what he left behind – a dynasty that ran (ignoring regnal interruptions) for over 600 years, putting it comfortably ahead of Mings and Moguls, Valois, French Bourbons, German Hohenzollern…
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543 BCE – 505 BCE. “All I say is, kings is kings, and you got to make allowances.” Mark Twain. The country’s first recorded king was to found a dynasty that would last 600 years – though its first 100 years were anything but plain sailing. Expelled from either Bengal or Gujarat (scholars argue, as scholars do) by his father, Prince Vijaya, the foun…
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1,500,000 BCE to 543 BCE. “Wide open and unguarded stand our gates.” Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Adam’s Bridge was a bridge crying out for repair, even before the great storm of 1470 shattered it forever. Unpredictable, and uneven, sailing had long been the better option. But for Sri Lanka’s first settlers – who had still to master boats – a short walk …
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1470. ”Storms make trees take deeper roots.” Dolly Parton. A no-nonsense prologue to Sri Lanka’s story might carefully begin 1.5 million years ago. But 1470 offers a much more iconic, and intriguing date. The year is laden with symbolism; and symbolism, like cricket, is something the country does with ease. As years go, 1470 was actually a rather m…
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