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Simon’s THOMIA sways Sri Lanka-by Rohan Pethiyagoda Reviewing the new book THOMIA written by Richard Simon, in The Island, 16 March 2025 Source:Thuppahis As schools go, St Thomas’s College Mt Lavinia has, since its inception in 1851, had a disproportionate influence on the affairs of Sri Lanka. In ways both good and bad, it created the modern incarnation of this country. After all, four of our first five prime ministers were Thomians (‘Thomian’, by the way, is a Latin diminutive of Thomas, like Tom in English). The passage of almost 175 years more than justifies a book on the history of the school. Most such histories, however, tell the story of the school through the lives of visionary founders, eminent principals, and illustrious past pupils. That’s if the author is someone other than Richard Simon. His ‘Thomia’ is a magisterial account of the social and political evolution of Sri Lanka from the early ...

Mar 24, 2025 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , , , ,
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Jayasekera’s Study of British Colonialism in Ceylon reviewed-by Chandra R De Silva Chandra R De Silva, in Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences 41(1) 2018, pp 65-68, with highlighting emphasis being the Work of The Editor, Thuppahi Source:Thuppahis reviewing Confrontations with Colonialism: Resistance, Revivalism and Reform under British Rule in Sri Lanka 1796- 1920, Vol. I, by P. V. J. Jayasekera (Colombo: Vijitha Yapa, 2017), Rs. 1500. In one of the most challenging and thought-provoking history books published in Sri Lanka in the last decade, P. V. J. Jayasekera has used a wide variety of sources to challenge a number of existing interpretations relating to Sri Lanka under British colonial rule in the nineteenth century. While the book is based partly on his own doctoral dissertation completed in 1970, in Jayasekera’s own words “The scope and the foci of the original study have been substantially changed (p. ix)” in view of new theoretical approaches in the study of colonial history and the ...

May 1, 2024 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , , , ,
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VICTOR  MELDER  SRI  LANKA LIBRARY 7, Benambra Street, Broadmeadows, Vic 3047, Australia. Telephone + 61 3 9309 4040 E-mail < melder.rjvm1935@bigpond.com > Web Site < www.vmsl-library.com > THOSE WISHING TO DONATE BOOKS & OTHER PUBLICATIONS TO THIS LIBRARY, THEY ARE MOST WELCOME. PLEASE CONTACT ME AT ABOVE ADDRESS, BY EMAIL OR TELEPHONE. Thank You.                                        ACQUISITIONS   FOR  THE  MONTH  OF  MARCH  2024 BOOKS. Slave In A Palanquin, Colonial Servitude & Resistance in Ceylon by Nira Wickramasinghe, 2020 The Ceylon Roll of Honour, A Record of Service in the Great War, 1914-1918 – Times of Ceylon                     (No’s 1 – 2, Donated by Suren Ratwatte, Toorak, Vic) The Story of the Sri Lanka Muslims by V. Vamadevan, 1999. The Kandyan Wars, The British Army in Ceylon, 1803-1818 by Geoffrey Poewll, 1973.  Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy, A Study in Non Alignment, by H.S.S.Nissanka, 1984.  Germans in Dutch Ceylon, Vol 1, translated by ...

Apr 1, 2024 Posted by In Articles, Victor Melder Tagged , ,
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When Ceylon celebrated the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria-By Avishka Mario Senewiratne and Nilantha Perera   Statue of Queen Victoria in Colombo Since the fall of Kandy in 1815, Ceylon significant for its innumerable resources and pivotal geographic location, became a colony of the British. Queen Victoria was British Ceylon’s 4th monarch after George III, George IV, and her uncle William IV. However, unlike her predecessors or successors, the impact Victoria created in Britain and her colonies was so paramount that even her 64-year reign has been dubbed ‘the Victorian Era’. She is associated with Britain’s great age of industrial expansion, economic progress and especially the territorial expansion of the empire. When Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837, Britain was largely a trade power. During her rule, Britain became a mighty empire and the world’s most powerful nation. Victoria remained popular in Britain as well as her colonies, throughout ...

May 16, 2023 Posted by In Articles Tagged , ,
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