Browsing by Author "Ariyasinghe, D.A.G."

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Opium Consumption in Sri Lanka during the European Era
(4th International Conference on Social Sciences 2018, Research Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Hewawasan, H.H.N.S.; Ariyasinghe, D.A.G.
“Opium”: which grew widely in Pakistan and Afghanistan was first discovered by Greeks due to its narcotic properties. Arab traders introduced it to the East and Indians knew it through Mohommedan conquerors after china gained knowledge of it. Thus, in the present study, the objective is to analyse the evidences of Opium consumption during the European era. As for the research methodology, primary and secondary historical sources were referred for analysing. In Sri Lanka, Opium has been used in Ayurvedic medicine during the last few centuries. There is no evidence that opium was ever grown successfully in Sri Lanka. Even though Portuguese imported opium, Dutch took various attempts to grow it in Sri Lanka which were never successful. The Dutch did not discourage local inhabitants regarding the opium usage, yet continued the Portuguese monopoly and it is mentioned that it was imported from Surati and Bengal. In the latter part of the seventeenth century, moors carried out the opium trade. Moreover, Malay community popularized the opium habit in Sri Lanka. When British took over the Maritime Provinces in Sri Lanka, all the import duties were prohibited except that of arrack and opium. Along with tobacco and curry powder, travelling merchants freely traded opium during the British period. Sir Thomas Maitland enacted a regulation prohibiting the smoking of opium, without permission from the constable of the division, in Colombo after sunset. After the ordinance of 1867 No.19, the opium shops were licensed and this resulted in providing a huge revenue. It is also noted that there were around 19847 of habitual users of opium by this time. During the 1890s, people of all races gathered into Colombo in protest of the legalization of opium in Sri Lanka and they gave a signed petition addressed to the legislative council regarding this matter. To address the matter then governor appointed a committee and finally the committee recommend all opium shops to be closed. Hence, it can be concluded that all these resulted in opium solely becoming a government monopoly during the British Period.
A study on the Sri Lankan locomotive history revealed from "Yakada Yaka"
(The International Conference on Land Transportation, Locomotive Heritage and Road Culture - 2017, 2017) Ariyasinghe, D.A.G.
In 1864, rail was introduced to Sri Lanka by the British administration as a mode of transportation to distribute coffee from the hill country to the colonial capital, Colombo. Later, even when the tea plantation transcended the coffee plantation, railways were much needed to transport labour, machinery, food to Kandyan highlands. Moreover, even as a support for the development of the coconut and rubber, railways were expanded. Later, railways became an affordable mode of transportation for the general public to travel across the country. Back then during the British rule, Sri Lanka Railways today was known to be the “Ceylon Government Railway (CGR)”. The higher officials were indeed Englishmen whereas the drivers were mainly the Burghers. However, Tamil, Malay and Sinhalese minorities were involved in the railway service as well. In this study, the fictional works of “Yakada Yaka”: The continuing Saga of Sonnaboy Von Bloss and the Burgher railwaymen written by Carl Muller will be analyzed based on the historical and the chronological information the book presents. This information will be cross-checked alongside the secondary sources on locomotive and railway history to ensure the reliability of the study. As for the findings from the fiction, the railway engines that ran to distant destinations have had the names of English governors. i.e. Sir Andrew Mackenzie race upcountry. (Muller, 1994) In addition, the locomotive engines had been numbered according to the arrangement of wheels under the locomotive and tender. Apart from these facts, the lifestyle of Burgher railway men, their habits, problems they faced during work, court cases regarding the railways which are vividly portrayed in the book will be analyzed in this study.