This is story of a girl born in Vavuniya – By Dr Harold Gunatillake
Ending up at the University of Oxford Anthropologist Historian St Antony’s Liaison Officer for Texas Lives in Sugar land, Texas This is a life story of a close friend, never met in life, living so far -Sugar Valley-Texas, in the US, and my wife and I, in Sydney Australia, but the friendship is so close, like living next door to each other. Her name is Agnes Thambinayagam Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together. Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer. Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget. Today, I am going to relate to you the achievements of this lady, born in Vavuniya, in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka.
Agnes was born in her mother’s home in Vavuniya, northern Sri Lanka in 1949. Her early childhood days were spent in her father’s village Mirusuvil, Jaffna. She spent most of her childhood life learning about people in Chetty-Kullam, Chavakacheri, Vidataltivu and Kilinochchi where her father was stationed as the headmaster of Roman Catholic Schools. She attended junior and high school at Holy Family Convent, a private Catholic Girls’ School in Jaffna. After leaving school, she taught mathematics, science and piano at Little Flower Convent in Karampon, Kayts and at St Antony’s R.C. School in Pasaiyoor, Jaffna.
Agnes moved to England in 1976 and worked for the British civil service in Manchester and the Inland Revenue in Cambridge. Agnes Thambynayagam has conducted extensive research into Sri Lankan history between 1498 and 1832. A https://youtu.be/c2D00M5-Kgo Website: www.Doctorharold.com significant portion of her research was conducted during her tenure at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, England, in 2003-2007. She moved to the United States with her family in 1984. Agnes taught as a substitute teacher at Four Winds Special Education School in New York and Danbury Schools in Connecticut.
Agnes holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Houston, Texas and a Masters’s degree in Education from the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut. She studied the culture of India at the University of Western Connecticut, Buddhism and Hinduism at the University of Oxford and Anthropology at Oxford Brookes University
in England. Agnes is an amateur photographer and has also played table tennis and badminton competitively in Sri Lanka, USA and UK.
Let me now talk about the history book she wrote on the history of Sri Lanka: 1498-
1833
Agnes Thambynayagam has conducted extensive research into Sri Lankan history between 1498 and 1832. A significant portion of her research was conducted during her tenure at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, England, in 2003-2007.
There are many markers to suggest that the impact of Portuguese and Dutch rule on the society of Sri Lanka remains very deep. However, systematic studies of the impact are rare. The purpose of this book is to show the effect of this rule in a number of related fields: the development of social institutions, the transformation of religious practices, the establishment of an educational system and the evolution of language. The plural society we see in Sri Lanka today came about due to the occupation and settlement of the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British and other Europeans. Between 1505 and 1832, the population of the island evolved through the intermixing of people from European countries who had entered and settled “The Gentiles” is a fine addition to any history collection focusing on southeast Asia. A first piece of academic research, an excellent read, Reviewed by Ron Standerfer for Reader Views writes there is nothing I enjoy more than reading a book that is described by the publisher and critics as “controversial” or “provocative.” “The Gentiles: A History of Sri Lanka 1498-1833,” a carefully researched and well-written book by Agnes Padmini Thambynayagam is such a book. Hope you enjoyed this story of the girl from Vavuniya, her visions and missions of life, and the great outstanding achievements, now living with her husband in retirement in Sugar Land
This is a living story. Hope you enjoyed it and stay safe and goodbye for now,
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