Sunday, 10 Sep 2023
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Text and pix by Mahil Wijesinghe
One day of the full moon in 247 BC, King Devanampiyatissa met Mahinda Thera, the son of Emperor Asoka on the Mihintale hill. A strange conversation was struck up between the king who was hunting deer and the Thera who had been appointed to take Buddhist teachings to the island of Lanka, as they sat beneath a mango tree at the top of the hill.
King Mahinda asked:
- O king...
We were on the exact middle of Sri Lanka, the centrepoint of the island to visit the Nalanda gedige where Hindu and Buddhist art met in lime and stone over a thousand years ago.
Although not included in the tourist map, it’s worth taking a diversion on your way to Dambulla from Kandy to visit this lesser known solitary monolith shrine. The temple is located 20 kms North...
Cinnamon Gardens, better known today by its postal code designation of ‘Colombo-7,’ is Colombo’s most fashionable residential district. It takes its name from the aromatic spice that originally drew the Portuguese and the Dutch to Sri Lankan shores. At one time, this whole district was covered with spice plantations. No cinnamon is grown here today, but the name has...
“Listen, hornbills are striking!” shouted my son as a couple of Ceylon Grey Hornbills on the branch of a tree in the distance made a loud bird call in the forest canopy that greeted us. It may not be a strange sight to this forest since it’s home to them. Although I have frequented this forest a dozen times to meet the Bhikkus of the hermitage, this time we visited it...
The devotees flock to the bank of Kalu Ganga to seek blessings in the water-cutting ceremony that is a ritual blending with revelry. Soon after the 5-day long Randoli Perahera came to a close last Friday (13), the water-cutting rituals began the following day.
At dawn, a small procession left for the Kalu Ganga at the ferry crossing of Kotabe, located less than a...
Text and pix by Mahil Wijesinghe
The Sabaragamuwa Maha Saman Devala is an abode interwoven with folklore, history and heritage. Come July-August, the premises of...
As we celebrate the 137th birth anniversary of D.R. Wijewardene, founder of the Associated Newspapers Ceylon Limited (ANCL) or...
The Independence Memorial Hall is a tribute to the courageous Sri Lankan national heroes who fought to achieve liberation from...
“The wild, the free, the beautiful”, a fascinating pictorial book by legendary photographer, the late Nihal Fernando, published...
After visiting the Mudu Maha Vihara at Pottuvil, we came to the Pottuvil bazaar passing Arugam Bay – the sun-drenched and palm...
Embekke woodwork
It was only years later when I was at school that I discovered there was much more to see off the beaten path on the way to Kandy...
Having passed the overgrown lush greenery along Siyabalanduwa to Lahugala on the A4 (Colombo-Batticaloa) Road, we suddenly...
The historically important archaeological site of the Veheradiulana ancient monastic complex is located upon a rocky ridge above...
The Kataragama festival in July, which pays homage to the Hindu God Skanda, brings together Sri Lankans of all faiths. I took...
The Nillakgama Bodhigaraya is a true Bodhigaraya near the Hettigama tank at Kithalawa, Hettigama in Galgamuwa. Six kilometres...
Turning left from the dusty junction of Buduruwagala on the Tissamaharama-Tanamalwila-Wellawaya highway, we drove through a...
My destination is Gota Pabbatha Rajamaha Vihara, better known as the Godawaya temple, on a rocky boulder with a panoramic view...
Digital cameras have made my job easier – no more carrying lots of photographic equipment and hundreds of delicate rolls of films...
The less beaten track from Panama to Okanda, one of my favourite places in the wilds and heritage sites of Sri Lanka, is an...
The morning sun picked up the long shadows through the trees and we decide to go down a road filled with milestones, achievements...
Migahajadura is a serene farming village in the northern part of the Hambantota district. Although it is not yet nine in the...
Animals have always fascinated me. They are, in the American painter and writer Achsah Barlow Brewster’s words, “hidden in the...
The attraction for pilgrims on Poson Poya is Anuradhapura with Mihintale which is of enormous spiritual significance to Sri...
Dambadeniya is a majestic, isolated, ancient city off the Kurunegala- Giriulla road. From the Kurunegala town off the Giriulla...
I had heard plenty of stories about a place known until a few decades ago, as the Rajangana ruins, but I could not go there all...