A Meeting of Cultures: The Unique Vernacular Chapel at Trinity College, Kandy-by Ranil Bibile Source:Thuppahis Ranil Bibile … reproducing an old essay without all its pictorial  embellishments because the author does not have the original photos in his computer “as .jpegs as the articles were composed 20+ years ago and there have been many computer changes since then.”   Kandy! The very name is redolent of history, culture, festivals, dances, caparisoned elephants, and historic rituals. Ancient temples nestle in remote corners of this Cande Udarata – the old Kandyan Kingdom. The architecture, hipped roofs, frescoes, wood carvings and antiquities of these places of worship provide a veritable feast for the eyes, vying for attention with the surrounding vistas of cloud-capped mountains, rivers, waterfalls and verdant plateaus. Kandyan architecture has a sublime beauty all its own, adroitly captured into words by the savant Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy when in 1905 he wrote his famous ‘Open Letter to the Kandyan ...

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SIR PONNAMBALAM ARUNACHALAM (1853-1924) Source:island.lk On the 98th Death Anniversary which falls on January 9, 2022 Compiled by Sega Nagendra and Suresh Murugaser, great grandchildren of Sir P. Arunachalam FAMILY Ponnambalam Arunachalam was the youngest Son of Gate Mudaliyar A. Ponnambalam. He was born on September 14, 1853, to a highly respected and a well-educated professional family originally from Manipay, Jaffna. Gate Mudaliyar Arumuganathapillai Coomaraswamy, his maternal grandfather, was the Tamil representative of the first Legislative Council established in 1834, following the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron report of 1832. Colebrooke, coming from England, which was agitating for reform of the electoral system, was surprised at the autocratic powers exercised by the Governor of Ceylon since 1802. He effected a reduction of those powers by setting up an Executive and Legislative Council. Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy, who was Arunachalam’s mother’s brother, had been a friend of Lord Houghton, Palmerston and Disraeli, in ...

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COLOMBO-CHETTY BUGGERS – by Des Kelly Quite apart from the Burghers, who still bear the same fond “alias”, the introduction by Maxwell Gerreyn, of the C.C.B. need absolutely no enhancement at all, so, as far as I am concerned, lets get on with it, and give our e’Lanka’s special members/readers, far & wide, a most interesting account of this very minute, yet important minority of Ceylon, then, Sri Lanka, now. Let me just take the chance, as a Burgher Bugger, to wish all the Colombo-Chetty Buggers, only the very best for the New Year of 2022. We do love them, especially when I remember that it was those buggers we always went to, during the “good old days”, when we needed a loan. My friends, please read on, and “thank you” again, Maxie.           Desmond Kelly. (Editor-in-Chief) e’Lanka. BRIGHT STARS OF COLOMBO CHETTY COMMUNITY by ECB ...

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