Vijayabahu, Gajabahu, and meanings of names-By Uditha Devapriya Source:Island The Sri Lanka Navy recently commissioned Vijayabahu, a former US Coastguard Cutter. The ship joins two other US origin vessels in the Navy. For some reason, the name seems to have caused consternation among certain circles. Alan Keenan of the International Crisis Group, for instance, has noted on Twitter that it is “loaded with social and political meaning” and that “it’s hardly an advertisement for the multi-ethnic, multicultural #SriLanka western govts say they want to promote.” He cites two other names, Gajabahu and Samudura. The Pali and Sinhalese Chronicles depict both Gajabahu and Vijayabahu as national heroes: Gajabahu (113-136 AD) for having led a campaign to rescue 12,000 Sinhala captives in the Chola (or Soli) kingdom, and Vijayabahu (1055-1110 AD) for having driven Chola invaders from Polonnaruwa and laid the foundation for the unification of the polity by one of his successors, Parakramabahu (1123–1186 ...
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THE CREATION OF THE HUNTER Source:Island Review: Robert Sidharthan Perinbanayagam, Professor of Sociology (emeritus), Hunter College of the City University of New York Gananath Obeyesekere (Colombo: Sailfish Publications:2022) In earlier works Obeyesekere demolished the claims of both Western scholars and European colonizers that cannibalism was a general practice among the natives of some of the countries they sought to rule and exploit and with his work he de-apotheosized Captain Cook and his sanctification by some western scholars. In his work on Sri Lanka he was at it again. With his book on the Pattini cult and the practices at the temple in Kataragama, he challenged certain constructions about Sinhala society and its ethnic make-up and religious practices. In his work on Buddhism in modern Sri Lanka he showed how it was influenced by Protestant Christianity just as it did in Bengal, in the shape of the Brahma Samaj. And so ...
Gananath Obeyesekere’s 1975 Article on Murder by Sorcery – By Michael Roberts Gananath Obeyesekere: “Sorcery and Premeditated Murder: The Canalization of Aggression”[1] Source:thuppahis.com In this paper I want to deal with a series of interrelated problems beginning with the following specific questions and propositions. First: how far can we make inferences about the human psyche and social structure from official statistics computed by government agencies, in this case statistics on homicide and crimes of violence? Criminology as a discipline is especially concerned with this problem, and criminological studies in Sri Lanka have made social structural, cultural and psychological inferences from the statistical data.[2] At the outset, let me emphasize that I am not concerned with the conventional debate about the accuracy of governmental statistics. Criminologist who have dealt with this issue are agreed that Sri Lanka’s official statistics on homicide and violent crimes are reasonably accurate, and on the face ...
May 30, 2022
Posted by eLanka admin In
Articles, Michael Roberts
Tagged crimes, criminological studies, Criminology, Gananath Obeyesekere, human psyche, Sorcery, Sri Lanka, violent crimes
Obeyesekere links Kasyapa with Sinhabahu-by Rajitha Weerakoon Source:Dailymirror “With the prime place in Sigiriya given to the lion, Mahavamsa states: Kasyapa, in fear of his brother, fled to the great rock Sigiriya. He cleared the land roundabout, surrounded it with a wall and built a staircase in the form of a lion” Mysteries of Sigiriya, continue to inspire scholars to unravel its hidden stories. Examining the psychology of its architect and presenting a startling interpretation of his edifice is anthropologist Professor Gananath Obeyesekere in his “The Buddha in Sri Lanka, Histories and Stories.” Expounding his theory under the chapter “Sigiriya narratives: tellers of stories, writers of histories,” he writes: the significance of Sigiriya is in relation to the psychology of the father-killer in which he (Kasyapa) commemorates the arche-typal father-killer of Sinhala myth Sinhabahu (lion limb) who after killing his father, the lion, constructed a new city named “Sinhapura” – the ...
Remembering Neelan and Sithie (written for the 21st Death Anniversary of Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam) Source:GroundViews This is the time to remember Neelan and Sithie Tiruchelvam. Along with Kumari Jayawardena, their living rooms were spaces where scholars and activists from all over Sri Lanka, South Asia and the world came to think, discuss, break bread and just laugh. They helped build institutions that brought together the best of young people from all over world with inquiring minds and a thirst for justice. This was the 1980s and the 1990s. It was a time when ideas were important. Today we are all implementers. Along with people like Charles Abeyesekere, Suriya Wickremesinghe, Savithri Goonesekere and Gananath Obeyesekere they created a sense of solidarity and a space for the “community of the sensitive” to be protected and warded off from the brutality that was taking place outside. ...
Jul 31, 2020
Posted by eLanka admin In
Articles
Tagged Gananath Obeyesekere, Kumari Jayawardena, Neelan and Sithie, Regi Siriwardena, Savithri Goonesekere
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