Centre for Heritage Studies University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka

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Author: search.filters.author.Dissanayaka, Ganga Rajinee

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    Culture behind glass
    (Centre for Heritage Studies, University of Kelaniya, Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2019) Zoysa, Asoka de; Dissanayaka, Ganga Rajinee
    Responding to “Role of museums as soft power”, the beginning of a long winded process of restitution and repatriation of the “Colonial Legacy” in European museums is discussed. Based on theoretical viewpoints expressed in Stephen E. Weil’s article ‘Being about Something to Being for Somebody…’ (1999) and Claudia Augustat’s key note address at the ICH Conference (2018) ‘The humanistic turn in museum anthropology’ in Kelaniya, this study on the offer of repatriation of selected objects from the Reijksmuseum, Amsterdam (The Netherlands) to the National Museum, Colombo (Sri Lanka) The key object of this selection is the “Canon from Kandy” which seems to have been a gift from Lewke Disava to the King of Kandy in 1745/46, and subsequently looted by the Dutch during the attack on Kandy and finally arrived in the Reijksmuseum, Amsterdam in1885. At the ICAS Conference in Leiden 2019 (The Netherlands), the discussion on repatriation of cultural objects in the process of “Decolonizing the Museum” was opened arguing that transferring of objects from one museum to another does not necessarily mean that the troubled object history of the past will necessarily “restitute” the lost heritage of the colonized, lost due to looting by the powerful colonizer. In other words, the objects are transferred from one museum to another to be gazed behind glass. This will not lead to any understanding of very complex relationships of the past and present. Although information regarding the canon has been published by R. L. Brohier (1960) and most recently on line, the other objects that may be in the future sent back to Colombo are not known. The choice of objects is debatable. Power of the two museums is not balanced. Nevertheless, they can be seen as a “soft power” that could play a more active role in cultural diplomacy, if understood and implemented in a sensitive manner.
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    Soft power of Western Sabaragamuwa region
    (Centre for Heritage Studies, University of Kelaniya, Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2019) Dissanayaka, Ganga Rajinee
    The Sabaragamuwa Region has not been identified as having a unique cultural heritage at par with the Upcountry Kandyan Region and the Southern and Western Maritime Region. The Western part of the modern province includes the ancient Pahala Bulathgama, Hatarakorale, and Satkorale served at the buffer region to the Upcountry. The core area is also called “Deyyane Rata” (Country of the Gods), with its seats of ecclesial power in Pelmadulla, Kiriella and at Srī Pāda. The jungle tracks that connected the Mahavāsala in Kandy to the seats of maritime power of the Dutch VOC in the South, were linked by networks of Pirivenas (seats of leaning) and Devales (seats of divine power): They have been traced from our library research and field trips. These mapping exercises are the base of the ongoing research. The soft power of the Cave Image Houses of this region will be highlighted in this presentation. According to the palm leave manuscripts, Cave Image Houses were rare in the vicinity of royal city but common in the periphery of the kingdom, jungles and boundaries where political power contested such as caves where monks lived in meditative seclusion. As our current research shows, they were also centers of resistance against the Dutch and later British which is a less discussed area. The Master-Pupil Traditions established by Ven. Velivita Saranamkara in mid 18th century show later continuations in two main traditions in the south: The ‘Vehalla Tradition’ and ‘Mulkiriga Tradition’. The final outcome of the current research that will be showcased at the conference is how the master-pupil-traditions which connected Cave Image Houses on the jungle tracks of Sabaragamuwa created a protective soft power of the region. The ongoing research funded by the AHEAD Project for the Faculty of Humanities has brought light to many unknown geo-political aspects of this region.