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    Traditional Knowledge Illustrated in the Palm Leaf Manuscripts of Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka
    (Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Pushpakumara, K.; Dehigama, K.
    Palm leaves played a major role in recording, and preserving information on various aspects of Sri Lankan culture in place of books and paper until the advent of printing in the 19th century. A search through of palm leaf collections in Sri Lanka reveals that they took part significantly in carry forwarding a tradition that considerably influenced to preserve Sri Lankan indigenous traditional knowledge that has been passed orally from generation to generation. Sri Lanka is in the custody of massive repository of manuscript wealth preserved in cultural institutions. However, an overview of literature reflects, studiesare mainly confined to the preservation, historical information andto widely address the documentation aspects of the palm leaf manuscripts of Sri Lanka. This indicates that there is no research focusing on the theme that encompasses the study of paintings that depict the various aspect of traditional knowledge embedded in palm-leaf manuscripts.Theretofore, the present study is undertaken to explore the paintings in the palm leaf manuscripts in Sri Lanka. Anuradhapura district has been selected for the study. A survey has been carried out with a view to find paintings in the undocumented hither to unknown palm leaf manuscripts. Accordingly on the basis of previous pilot surveys, five Gram Sava Divisions were selected from the five different AGA Divisions of Anuradhapura District. In addition to the document analysis, focus group discussions and observations were used to collect data. While the survey produced paintings of various traditional knowledge related to Arts, the Indigenous Medicine, Magic and charms, Astrology and Agriculture, work of artappeared in palm leaf manuscripts related to ancient Sri Lankan agricultural activities are only presented in this paper. Surveying and studying hither to unknown collections at Anuradhapura District of Sri Lanka will be of momentous achievement for the benefit of research and learning. Due to the utmost value of the manuscriptsit is recommended to take over the collections from theheritors with a view to preserve palm leaf manuscripts for the future generations.
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    A study on paintings at Pokunuwita Kithsirimewan Rajamaha Viharaya
    (University of Kelaniya, 2013) Embuldeniya, P.
    Pokunuwita Kithsirimewan Rajamaha Viharaya is a protected monument which has great significance from historical and archaeological aspects. It is located in the Pokunuwita village, Horana division (Kalutara District, Western Province). The ancient image house which has paintings is of great significance throughout archaeological remains at this temple. This ancient image house dates to the last part of Kandyan period based the architecture, sculptures and paintings. Inside the sanctum (Garbha gruhaya) of image house is a seated sculpture of Lord Buddha, two standing sculptures of Lord Buddha, standing sculptures of God Vishnu and God Sumana Saman and paintings of Buddhist monks, God Gambhara and God Katharagama. Also there are paintings of unclear human figures. The outer walls of the sanctum (Garbha gruhaya) of this image house has painting of Suvisi vivaranaya (Twenty-four vivaranas), Thelapaththa jathakaya and Vine motifs (Liyawela). Apart from that there are some paintings at the wooden door of this image house, Further there are paintings of traditional Sinhala decorative motifs related to the part of floral motifs (Udbidha) and geometric motifs (Nirjeewa). This study is based on field research method and library survey method. Therefore the field research method is highly emphasized to record the paintings. In the present day the paintings at this temple are highly weathered and some parts cannot be identified. So in this paper an attempt is made to describe the importance of the conservation of this painting, colours, lines and other features of these paintings.