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90-486: Thomas William Rhys Davids was one of three British civil servants who were posted to Sri Lanka , in the 19th century, the others being George Turnour , and Robert Caesar Childers (1838–1876). At this time Buddhism in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon ) was struggling under the weight of foreign rule and intense missionary activity by Christians . It was an administrative requirement that all civil servants should be familiar with

180-625: A British invasion in 1803 but successfully retaliated. The First Kandyan War ended in a stalemate. By then the entire coastal area was under the British East India Company as a result of the Treaty of Amiens . On 14 February 1815, Kandy was occupied by the British in the Second Kandyan War , ending Sri Lanka's independence. Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the last native monarch of Sri Lanka,

270-535: A Pāḷi chronicle written in the 5th century CE, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are said to be the Yakshas and Nagas . Sinhalese history traditionally starts in 543 BCE with the arrival of Prince Vijaya , a semi-legendary prince who sailed with 700 followers to Sri Lanka, after being expelled from Vanga kingdom (present-day Bengal ). He established the Kingdom of Tambapanni , near modern-day Mannar . Vijaya (Singha)

360-765: A bhikkhu and the son of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka arrived in Mihintale carrying the message of Buddhism. His mission won over the monarch, who embraced the faith and propagated it throughout the Sinhalese population . Succeeding kingdoms of Sri Lanka would maintain many Buddhist schools and monasteries and support the propagation of Buddhism into other countries in Southeast Asia. Sri Lankan Bhikkhus studied in India's famous ancient Buddhist University of Nalanda , which

450-430: A severe economic crisis occurred caused by rapidly increasing foreign debt, massive government budget deficits due to tax cuts, falling foreign remittances, a food crisis caused by mandatory organic farming along with a ban on chemical fertilizers, and a multitude of other factors. The Sri Lankan Government officially declared the ongoing crisis to be the worst economic crisis in the country in 73 years. In August 2021,

540-417: A 24,000 strong army. Unlike previous invaders, he looted , ransacked and destroyed everything in the ancient Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa Kingdoms beyond recovery. His priorities in ruling were to extract as much as possible from the land and overturn as many of the traditions of Rajarata as possible. His reign saw the massive migration of native Sinhalese people to the south and west of Sri Lanka, and into

630-438: A complete manuscript. While palm-leaf manuscripts have likely been in use since before the 5th century CE, existing examples date from the 18th century and later, with the largest number having been created during the 19th century. Because of the materials used and the tropical climate, manuscripts from earlier eras are generally not found intact in palm-leaf form, and many manuscripts have been badly damaged. During

720-463: A fledgling Tamil militancy in the north during the 1970s. The policy of standardisation by the Sirimavo government to rectify disparities created in university enrolment, which was in essence an affirmative action to assist geographically disadvantaged students to obtain tertiary education, resulted in reducing the proportion of Tamil students at university level and acted as the immediate catalyst for

810-453: A food emergency was declared. In June 2022, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declared the collapse of the Sri Lankan economy in parliament. The crisis resulted in Sri Lanka defaulting on its $ 51 billion sovereign debt for the first time in its history, along with double-digit inflation, a crippling energy crisis that led to approximately 15 hour power cuts, severe fuel shortages leading to

900-499: A proportional payment per volume). But the payment for issues dating prior to 1901 is now increased 50 per cent". Upon acknowledging how little time she had left, she wrote in a diary entry "It is not likely I shall be here to finish to our work”, referring to the re-issuing of the original translations of Vinaya, Milinda, and Jataka. Foyley died in 1942, leaving the presidency of the Society to William Henry Denham Rouse. Presidents of

990-426: A result of the depression of 1847 stalled economic development and prompted the governor to introduce a series of taxes on firearms, dogs, shops, boats, etc., and to reintroduce a form of rajakariya , requiring six days free labour on roads or payment of a cash equivalent. These harsh measures antagonised the locals, and another rebellion broke out in 1848. A devastating leaf disease, Hemileia vastatrix , struck

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1080-550: A scholar, Rhys Davids could appreciate faith through an understanding of uncovered knowledge. According to Foyley, Rhys Davids’ goal for the Pāli Text Society was to “fructify the new attention that had just begun to be given to monastic libraries of ‘palm-leaf manuscripts.” In Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Carolina Augusta Foyley Rhys Davids recounts how by 1936, the society

1170-492: A variety of names. According to the Mahāvaṃsa , the legendary Prince Vijaya named the island Tambapaṇṇĩ (" copper-red hands" or "copper-red earth"), because his followers' hands were reddened by the red soil of the area where he landed. In Hindu mythology , the term Lankā ("Island") appears but it is unknown whether it refers to the modern-day state. The Tamil term Eelam ( Tamil : ஈழம் , romanized:  īḻam )

1260-557: Is Pidurutalagala , reaching 2,524 metres (8,281 ft) above sea level. Sri Lanka has 103 rivers. The longest of these is the Mahaweli River , extending 335 kilometres (208 mi). These waterways give rise to 51 natural waterfalls of 10 metres (33 ft) or more. The highest is Bambarakanda Falls , with a height of 263 metres (863 ft). Sri Lanka's coastline is 1,585 km (985 mi) long. Sri Lanka claims an exclusive economic zone extending 200 nautical miles , which

1350-401: Is One Guinea a year, for texts, or a text and Journals, and ten shillings a year for a translation, payable in advance. Publications, two volumes a year, and, when possible, a translation, are sent post free on receipt of the subscription. Back issues are sent post free on payment of the subscription for the year, or years, in which the volumes were issued (that is, of One Guinea a year or

1440-438: Is approximately 6.7 times Sri Lanka's land area. The coastline and adjacent waters support highly productive marine ecosystems such as fringing coral reefs and shallow beds of coastal and estuarine seagrasses . Sri Lanka has 45 estuaries and 40 lagoons . Sri Lanka's mangrove ecosystem spans over 7,000 hectares and played a vital role in buffering the force of the waves in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami . The island

1530-560: Is being compiled by Margaret Cone, with the first of three volumes (A - Kh) published in 2001. By 1922, when T. W. Rhys Davids died, the Pāli Text Society had issued 64 separate texts in 94 volumes exceeding 26,000  pages, as well a range of articles by English and European scholars. The Pāli Text Society signed an MoU between the Dhammakaya Foundation, Thailand, on 1996 for collaboration and published

1620-433: Is considered the oldest human-planted tree (with a continuous historical record) in the world. ( Bodhivaṃsa ) Sri Lanka experienced the first of many foreign invasions during the reign of Suratissa , who was defeated by two horse traders named Sena and Guttika from South India. The next invasion came immediately in 205 BCE by a Chola named Elara , who overthrew Asela and ruled the country for 44 years. Dutugamunu ,

1710-543: Is memorable for two major campaigns – in the south of India as part of a Pandyan war of succession, and a punitive strike against the kings of Ramanna ( Burma ) for various perceived insults to Sri Lanka. After his demise, Sri Lanka gradually decayed in power. In 1215, Kalinga Magha , an invader with uncertain origins, identified as the founder of the Jaffna kingdom, invaded and captured the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa . He sailed from Kalinga 690 nautical miles on 100 large ships with

1800-639: Is the first of the approximately 189 monarchs of Sri Lanka described in chronicles such as the Dīpavaṃsa , Mahāvaṃsa , Cūḷavaṃsa , and Rājāvaliya . Once Prakrit speakers had attained dominance on the island, the Mahāvaṃsa further recounts the later migration of royal brides and service castes from the Tamil Pandya kingdom to the Anuradhapura kingdom in the early historic period. The Anuradhapura period (377 BCE – 1017 CE) began with

1890-740: Is the highest-ranked South Asian nation in terms of development and has the second-highest per capita income in South Asia. The country has had a long history of engagement with modern international groups; it is a founding member of the SAARC , the G77 and the Non-Aligned Movement , as well as a member of the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Nations . In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by

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1980-706: The Ceylon Civil Service and the legal, educational, engineering, and medical professions with natives. New leaders represented the various ethnic groups of the population in the Ceylon Legislative Council on a communal basis. Buddhist and Hindu revivalists reacted against Christian missionary activities. The first two decades in the 20th century are noted by the unique harmony among Sinhalese and Tamil political leadership, which has since been lost. The 1906 malaria outbreak in Ceylon actually started in

2070-518: The Granary of the East , Sri Lanka's geographic location and deep harbours have made it of great strategic importance, from the earliest days of the ancient Silk Road trade route to today's so-called maritime Silk Road . Because its location made it a major trading hub, it was already known to both East Asians and Europeans as long ago as the Anuradhapura period . During a period of great political crisis in

2160-735: The Indian Plate , a major tectonic plate that was formerly part of the Indo-Australian Plate . It is in the Indian Ocean southwest of the Bay of Bengal , between latitudes 5° and 10° N , and longitudes 79° and 82° E . Sri Lanka is separated from the mainland portion of the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait . According to Hindu mythology , a land bridge existed between

2250-725: The Kingdom of Kotte , the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka and sought to control its maritime trade, with a part of Sri Lanka subsequently becoming a Portuguese possession . After the Sinhalese–Portuguese War , the Dutch colonial empire and the Kingdom of Kandy took control of those areas. Dutch Ceylon was taken by the British Empire , which extended control over the whole island, colonising it as British Ceylon from 1815 to 1948. A national movement for political independence arose in

2340-563: The Moors , Indian Tamils , Burghers , Malays , Chinese , and Vedda . Sri Lanka's documented history goes back 3,000 years, with evidence of prehistoric human settlements dating back 125,000 years. The earliest known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka , known collectively as the Pali Canon , date to the fourth Buddhist council , which took place in 29 BCE. Also called the Pearl of the Indian Ocean , or

2430-752: The Palaeolithic , Mesolithic , and early Iron Ages . Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala (37,000 BP), named after the Chinese traveller monk Faxian ; Batadombalena (28,500 BP); and Belilena (12,000 BP) are the most important. In these caves, archaeologists have found the remains of anatomically modern humans which they have named Balangoda Man , and other evidence suggesting that they may have engaged in agriculture and kept domestic dogs for driving game. The earliest inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of

2520-660: The Portuguese , the independent existence of the Jaffna kingdom came to an end. During the reign of the Rajasinha II , Dutch explorers arrived on the island. In 1638, the king signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company to get rid of the Portuguese who ruled most of the coastal areas. The following Dutch–Portuguese War resulted in a Dutch victory, with Colombo falling into Dutch hands by 1656. The Dutch remained in

2610-573: The Sinhalese —to Kandy and built the Temple of the Tooth . In spite of on-going intermittent warfare with Europeans, the kingdom survived. Later, a crisis of succession emerged in Kandy upon king Vira Narendra Sinha 's death in 1739. He was married to a Telugu -speaking Nayakkar princess from South India ( Madurai ) and was childless by her. Eventually, with the support of bhikkhu Weliwita Sarankara and ignoring

2700-453: The Vedda people , an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. During the protohistoric period (1000–500 BCE) Sri Lanka was culturally united with southern India, and shared the same megalithic burials, pottery , iron technology, farming techniques and megalithic graffiti . This cultural complex spread from southern India along with Dravidian clans such as

2790-551: The Velir , prior to the migration of Prakrit speakers. One of the first written references to the island is found in the Indian epic Ramayana , which provides details of a kingdom named Lanka that was created by the divine sculptor Vishvakarma for Kubera , the God of Wealth. It is said that Kubera was overthrown by his rakshasa stepbrother, Ravana . According to the Mahāvaṃsa ,

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2880-667: The open-access Myanmar Manuscript Digital Library. The Pāli Text Society was founded with the goal of spreading the academic merit of Buddhism across Europe. It is a learned Society, dedicated not only to the translation of the Pāli Canon, but to the publication of a variety of Buddhist literature, the teaching of the Pāli language, and to spread their publications to libraries across Europe. The Pāli Text Society, specifically its founder, Thomas William Rhys Davids, and his wife, Carolina Augusta Foyley Rhys Davids,  have been attributed to creating

2970-502: The Congress lost momentum towards the mid-1920s. The Donoughmore reforms of 1931 repudiated the communal representation and introduced universal adult franchise (the franchise stood at 4% before the reforms). This step was strongly criticised by the Tamil political leadership, who realised that they would be reduced to a minority in the newly created State Council of Ceylon , which succeeded

3060-533: The IPKF in 1990. In October 1990, the LTTE expelled Sri Lankan Moors (Muslims by religion) from northern Sri Lanka. In 2002, the Sri Lankan government and LTTE signed a Norwegian-mediated ceasefire agreement. The 2004 Asian tsunami killed over 30,000 and displaced over 500,000 people in Sri Lanka. From 1985 to 2006, the Sri Lankan government and Tamil insurgents held four rounds of peace talks without success. Both LTTE and

3150-427: The Indian mainland and Sri Lanka. It now amounts to only a chain of limestone shoals remaining above sea level . Legends claim that it was passable on foot up to 1480 CE, until cyclones deepened the channel. Portions are still as shallow as 1 metre (3 ft), hindering navigation. The island consists mostly of flat to rolling coastal plains, with mountains rising only in the south-central part. The highest point

3240-570: The Netherlands might deliver Sri Lanka to the French, the British Empire occupied the coastal areas of the island (which they called the colony of British Ceylon ) with little difficulty in 1796. Two years later, in 1798, Sri Rajadhi Rajasinha , third of the four Nayakkar kings of Sri Lanka, died of a fever. Following his death, a nephew of Rajadhi Rajasinha, eighteen-year-old Kannasamy, was crowned. The young king, now named Sri Vikrama Rajasinha , faced

3330-696: The Pāli Text Society have included: Sri Lanka Sri Lanka , historically known as Ceylon , and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia . It lies in the Indian Ocean , southwest of the Bay of Bengal , separated from the Indian peninsula by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait . It shares a maritime border with the Maldives in

3420-549: The Roman text editions of the Pāli Canon was not financially rewarding, but was achieved with the backing of the Buddhist clergy in Sri Lanka who underwrote the printing costs. Childers published the first Pāli-English dictionary in 1874. This was superseded in 1925 by the new dictionary which had largely been compiled by T. W. Rhys Davids over 40 years, but was finished by his student William Stede. Currently another dictionary

3510-468: The areas they had captured, thereby violating the treaty they had signed in 1638. The Burgher people , a distinct ethnic group, emerged as a result of intermingling between the Dutch and native Sri Lankans in this period. The Kingdom of Kandy was the last independent monarchy of Sri Lanka. In 1595, Vimaladharmasurya brought the sacred Tooth Relic —the traditional symbol of royal and religious authority amongst

3600-464: The arrival of Portuguese soldier and explorer Lourenço de Almeida , the son of Francisco de Almeida , in 1505. In 1517, the Portuguese built a fort at the port city of Colombo and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592, after decades of intermittent warfare with the Portuguese, Vimaladharmasuriya I moved his kingdom to the inland city of Kandy , a location he thought more secure from attack. In 1619, succumbing to attacks by

3690-478: The bill posed a grave concern for the Tamil community, which perceived in it a threat to their language and culture. The Federal Party (FP) launched a movement of non-violent resistance ( satyagraha ) against the bill, which prompted Bandaranaike to reach an agreement ( Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact ) with S. J. V. Chelvanayakam , leader of the FP, to resolve the looming ethnic conflict. The pact proved ineffective in

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3780-443: The coffee plantations in 1869, destroying the entire industry within fifteen years. The British quickly found a replacement: abandoning coffee, they began cultivating tea instead. Tea production in Sri Lanka thrived in the following decades. Large-scale rubber plantations began in the early 20th century. By the end of the 19th century, a new educated social class transcending race and caste arose through British attempts to staff

3870-493: The colonial era, many palm-leaf manuscripts were disassembled and destroyed, with individual pages of texts being sold as decorative objets d'art to Western collectors. The Pāli Text Society created the Fragile Palm Leaves project to collect, catalogue, and preserve these artifacts, including scanning them into electronic formats in order to make them available to researchers without threatening their preservation. In 2001

3960-510: The conquest led by king Parâkramabâhu VI 's adopted son, Prince Sapumal . He ruled the North from 1450 to 1467 CE. The next three centuries starting from 1215 were marked by kaleidoscopically shifting collections of capitals in south and central Sri Lanka, including Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa , Gampola , Raigama , Kotte , Sitawaka , and finally, Kandy . In 1247, the Malay kingdom of Tambralinga which

4050-472: The country based on the rule of law and amalgamated the Kandyan and maritime provinces as a single unit of government. An executive council and a legislative council were established, later becoming the foundation of a representative legislature. By this time, experiments with coffee plantations were largely successful. Soon, coffee became the primary commodity export of Sri Lanka. Falling coffee prices as

4140-447: The country for the first time in over a century. Upon his request, ordained monks were sent from Burma to Sri Lanka to re-establish Buddhism, which had almost disappeared from the country during the Chola reign. During the medieval period, Sri Lanka was divided into three sub-territories, namely, Ruhunu , Pihiti and Maya . Sri Lanka's irrigation system was extensively expanded during

4230-607: The course of the 26 year long conflict. 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings carried out by the terrorist group National Thowheeth Jama'ath on 21 April 2019 resulted in the brutal death of 261 innocent people. On 26 April 2019 an anti terrorist operation was carried out against the National Thowheeth Jama'ath by the Sri Lanka Army with the operation being successful and National Thowheeth Jama'ath's insurgency ending. Economic troubles in Sri Lanka began in 2019, when

4320-591: The danger of not writing it down so that even if some of the monks whose duty it was to study and remember parts of the Canon for later generations died, the teachings would not be lost. After the council, palm-leaf manuscripts containing the completed Canon were taken to other countries such as Burma , Thailand , Cambodia and Laos . Sri Lanka was the first Asian country known to have a female ruler: Anula of Anuradhapura (r. 47–42 BCE). Sri Lankan monarchs undertook some remarkable construction projects such as Sigiriya ,

4410-651: The discipline of Buddhist studies. Scholar George D. Bond writes that the historical significance of the Davids’ family work, as well as the Society’s work, “ contributes to a new understanding of the British Raj in India and Ceylon”. Furthermore, the Davids’s understood that not only did Buddhism in Sri Lanka hold a rich religious history, but that Pāli itself was the second oldest language East Asian religious texts had been recorded in,

4500-520: The early 1900s, but the first case was documented in 1906. In 1919, major Sinhalese and Tamil political organisations united to form the Ceylon National Congress, under the leadership of Ponnambalam Arunachalam , pressing colonial masters for more constitutional reforms. But without massive popular support, and with the governor's encouragement for "communal representation" by creating a "Colombo seat" that dangled between Sinhalese and Tamils,

4590-600: The early 20th century, and 1948, Ceylon became a dominion . It was succeeded by the republic of Sri Lanka in 1972. Sri Lanka's more recent history was marred by the 26-year Sri Lankan Civil War , which began in 1983 and ended in 2009, when the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam . Sri Lanka is a developing country , ranking 78th on the Human Development Index . It

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4680-650: The eldest son of the southern regional sub-king, Kavan Tissa , defeated Elara in the Battle of Vijithapura . During its two and a half millennia of existence, the Sinhala kingdom was invaded at least eight times by neighbouring South Indian dynasties such as the Chola , Pandya , and Pallava . There also were incursions by the kingdoms of Kalinga (modern Odisha ) and from the Malay Peninsula as well. The Fourth Theravāda Council

4770-479: The entire PTS edition of the Pāli canon on CD-ROM. In 1994, the Pāli Text Society inaugurated the Fragile Palm Leaves project, an attempt to catalogue and preserve Buddhist palm-leaf manuscripts from Southeast Asia. Prior to the introduction of printing presses and Western papermaking technology, texts in Southeast Asia—including the Pāli scriptures—were preserved by inscription on specially preserved leaves from palm trees. The leaves were then bound together to create

4860-445: The establishment of the Anuradhapura kingdom in 380 BCE during the reign of Pandukabhaya . Thereafter, Anuradhapura served as the capital city of the country for nearly 1,400 years. Ancient Sri Lankans excelled at building certain types of structures such as tanks , dagobas and palaces. Society underwent a major transformation during the reign of Devanampiya Tissa , with the arrival of Buddhism from India. In 250 BCE, Mahinda ,

4950-486: The face of ongoing protests by opposition and the Buddhist clergy. The bill, together with various government colonisation schemes , contributed much towards the political rancour between Sinhalese and Tamil political leaders. Bandaranaike was assassinated by an extremist Buddhist monk in 1959. Sirimavo Bandaranaike , the widow of Bandaranaike, took office as prime minister in 1960, and withstood an attempted coup d'état in 1962. During her second term as prime minister,

5040-415: The first South Asian country to liberalise its economy. Beginning in 1983 , ethnic tensions were manifested in an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the LTTE. An LTTE attack on 13 soldiers resulted in the start of a civil war, and in response anti-Tamil race riots took place, allegedly backed by Sinhalese hard-line ministers, which resulted in more than 150,000 Tamil civilians fleeing

5130-543: The first Sri Lankan president to resign in the middle of his term. On the same day the President's House was stormed, protesters besieged and stormed the private residence of the prime minister and burnt it down. After winning the 2022 Sri Lankan presidential election , on 21 July 2022, Ranil Wickremesinghe took oath as the ninth President of Sri Lanka. He implemented various economic reforms in efforts to stabilize Sri Lanka's economy, which has shown slight improvement since. On 23 September 2024, Anura Kumara Dissanayake

5220-510: The first being the Vedanic tradition. The linguistic merit of Pāli was so culturally significant because, as Foyley writes, the language was “ as dead as is Latin, and yet as alive, built out of old Indian dialects as the vehicle of the Canon…”. The motivation for the formation of the Pāli Text Society has its roots in Thomas William Rhys Davids’ Civil Service career. Since he had familial connections to ministry, and he received his education in Germany, studying both Greek and Sanskrit, Rhys Davids

5310-468: The government instituted socialist economic policies, strengthening ties with the Soviet Union and China, while promoting a policy of non-alignment. In 1971, Ceylon experienced a Marxist insurrection , which was quickly suppressed. In 1972, the country became a republic named Sri Lanka, repudiating its dominion status. Prolonged minority grievances and the use of communal emotionalism as an election campaign weapon by both Sinhalese and Tamil leaders abetted

5400-420: The government resumed fighting in 2006, and the government officially backed out of the ceasefire in 2008. In 2009, under the Presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa , the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the LTTE, bringing an end to the 26 year long civil war on 19 May 2009, and re-established control of the entire country by the Sri Lankan Government. Overall, between 60,000 and 100,000 people were killed during

5490-445: The island, seeking asylum in other countries. Lapses in foreign policy resulted in India strengthening the Tigers by providing arms and training. In 1987, the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was signed and the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was deployed in northern Sri Lanka to stabilise the region by neutralising the LTTE. The same year, the JVP launched its second insurrection in Southern Sri Lanka, necessitating redeployment of

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5580-442: The language, literature, and culture of the land in which they were posted, so the three men studied with several scholar monks where, along with an introduction to Sinhala culture and language, they became interested in Buddhism. The Pāli Text Society was founded on the model of the Early English Text Society with Rhys Davids counting on support from a lot of European scholars and Sri Lankan scholar monks. The work of bringing out

5670-652: The legislative council. In 1937, Tamil leader G. G. Ponnambalam demanded a 50–50 representation (50% for the Sinhalese and 50% for other ethnic groups) in the State Council. However, this demand was not met by the Soulbury reforms of 1944–45. The Soulbury constitution ushered in dominion status , with independence proclaimed on 4 February 1948. D. S. Senanayake became the first Prime Minister of Ceylon . Prominent Tamil leaders including Ponnambalam and Arunachalam Mahadeva joined his cabinet. The British Royal Navy remained stationed at Trincomalee until 1956. A countrywide popular demonstration against withdrawal of

5760-451: The local king Vira Alakesvara of Gampola . Zheng He captured King Vira Alakesvara and later released him. Zheng He erected the Galle Trilingual Inscription , a stone tablet at Galle written in three languages ( Chinese , Tamil , and Persian ), to commemorate his visit. The stele was discovered by S. H. Thomlin at Galle in 1911 and is now preserved in the Colombo National Museum . The early modern period of Sri Lanka begins with

5850-414: The mountainous interior, in a bid to escape his power. Sri Lanka never really recovered from the effects of Kalinga Magha's invasion. King Vijayabâhu III, who led the resistance, brought the kingdom to Dambadeniya . The north, in the meanwhile, eventually evolved into the Jaffna kingdom . The Jaffna kingdom never came under the rule of any kingdom of the south except on one occasion; in 1450, following

5940-441: The name given to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese when they arrived in 1505, was transliterated into English as Ceylon . As a British crown colony , the island was known as Ceylon; it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. The country is now known in Sinhala as Śrī Laṅkā ( Sinhala : ශ්‍රී ලංකා ) and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai ( Tamil : இலங்கை , IPA: [iˈlaŋɡaɪ] ). In 1972, its formal name

6030-440: The project was formalised as a nonprofit in Thailand as the Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation. In February 2013, the Pāli Text Society, Sendai University , and the University of Toronto , along with local partners, began an ongoing initiative to digitise and catalogue Myanmar's palm-leaf manuscripts, including collections from U Pho Thi Library in Thaton , and Bagaya Monastery in Inwa. The digitised manuscripts are available at

6120-409: The publication of the new dictionary was one of the most costly expenses over the past three years, but how support from donations and subscriptions to the Society's works helped to keep the Society financially stable, both attributed to Foyley's economic genius. The following is the subscription plan for the Pāli Text Society, as Foyley records it in the 1926 report: " The Subscription to the Society

6210-439: The reign of Parākramabāhu the Great (1153–1186). This period is considered as a time when Sri Lanka was at the height of its power. He built 1,470 reservoirs – the highest number by any ruler in Sri Lanka's history – repaired 165 dams, 3,910 canals, 163 major reservoirs, and 2,376 mini-reservoirs. His most famous construction is the Parakrama Samudra , the largest irrigation project of medieval Sri Lanka. Parākramabāhu's reign

6300-437: The rice rations resulted in the resignation of prime minister Dudley Senanayake . S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was elected prime minister in 1956. His three-year rule had a profound influence through his self-proclaimed role of "defender of the besieged Sinhalese culture". He introduced the controversial Sinhala Only Act , recognising Sinhala as the only official language of the government. Although partially reversed in 1958,

6390-413: The right of "Unambuwe Bandara" , the crown passed to the brother of one of Narendrasinha's princesses, overlooking Narendrasinha's own son by a Sinhalese concubine . The new king was crowned Sri Vijaya Rajasinha later that year. Kings of the Nayakkar dynasty launched several attacks on Dutch controlled areas, which proved to be unsuccessful. During the Napoleonic Wars , fearing that French control of

6480-495: The rise of militancy. The assassination of Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiyappah in 1975 by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) marked a crisis point. The government of J. R. Jayawardene swept to power in 1977, defeating the United Front government. Jayawardene introduced a new constitution , together with a free-market economy and a powerful executive presidency modelled after that of France. It made Sri Lanka

6570-451: The so-called "Fortress in the Sky", built during the reign of Kashyapa I , who ruled between 477 and 495. The Sigiriya rock fortress is surrounded by an extensive network of ramparts and moats. Inside this protective enclosure were gardens, ponds, pavilions, palaces and other structures. In 993 CE, the invasion of Chola emperor Rajaraja I forced the then Sinhalese ruler Mahinda V to flee to

6660-493: The southern part of Sri Lanka. Taking advantage of this situation, Rajendra I , son of Rajaraja I, launched a large invasion in 1017. Mahinda V was captured and taken to India, and the Cholas sacked the city of Anuradhapura causing the fall of Anuradhapura kingdom . Subsequently, they moved the capital to Polonnaruwa . Following a 17-year-long campaign, Vijayabahu I successfully drove the Chola out of Sri Lanka in 1070, reuniting

6750-502: The southwest and India in the northwest. Sri Lanka has a population of approximately 22 million and is home to several cultures, languages and ethnicities. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the population, followed by the Sri Lankan Tamils , who are the largest minority group and are concentrated in northern Sri Lanka; both groups have played an influential role in the island's history. Other long-established groups include

6840-701: The suspension of fuel to all non-essential vehicles, and more such economic disorder. Due to the crisis, massive street protests erupted all over the country, with protesters demanding the resignation of the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa . The protests culminated with the storming and siege of the President's House on July 9, 2022, and resulted in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing to Singapore and later emailing his resignation to parliament, formally announcing his resignation and making him

6930-497: The translation of Apadna, published by the Society in 1925 and 1927 respectively. A 1926 annual report, published in the second edition of The Journal of the Pāli Text Society (1924-1927), reveals that the Society had recently published a new Pāli Dictionary to replace Robert Caesar Childers's, which Foyley quoted to be "antiquated and imperfect", the funding of which was provided by donors in Japan. In that same report, Foyley mentions how

7020-606: Was a common recurrence that members of the Anglican clergy would hold public debates against the Buddhists clergy and lay people alike of Sri Lanka. While these debates were intended to be demonstrations of Christian superiority, they actually increased the interest in Buddhism, both in the community and for Rhys Davids. From there, Rhys Davids went on to study the Pāli language and Sinhalese with Ceylon Monk, Yatramulle Sri Dhammarama. Dhammarama

7110-594: Was a vassal of Sri Vijaya led by their king Chandrabhanu briefly invaded Sri Lanka from Insular Southeast Asia . They were then expelled by the South Indian Pandyan dynasty. However, this temporary invasion reinforced the steady flow of the presence of various Austronesian merchant ethnic groups, from Sumatrans (Indonesia) to Lucoes (Philippines) into Sri Lanka which occurred since 200 BCE. Chinese admiral Zheng He and his naval expeditionary force landed at Galle, Sri Lanka in 1409 and got into battle with

7200-464: Was changed to "Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka". Later, on 7 September 1978, it was changed to the "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka". As the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years and possibly even as far back as 500,000 years. The era spans

7290-404: Was dedicated to the process of Anglicization, and committed to “instilling English ideas of industry and liberty among people” . However, his wife, Carolina Foyley Rhys Davids, documents that her husband, despite both his familial and educational ties to the study of religion, was atheist, and that his fascination with Sri Lankan culture came from a place of greater academic cultural curiosity. It

7380-636: Was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khalji . It is probable that many of the scriptures from Nalanda are preserved in Sri Lanka's many monasteries and that the written form of the Tripiṭaka , including Sinhalese Buddhist literature, were part of the University of Nalanda. In 245 BCE, bhikkhunī Sanghamitta arrived with the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi tree, which is considered to be a sapling from the historical Bodhi Tree under which Gautama Buddha became enlightened. It

7470-437: Was employed by the British government to serve as an administrator in Sri Lanka from 1864 to 1872. During this decade of his career, Rhys Davids was posted in both Galle and Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, serving as a clergyman, a judge, Secretary to Governor William Henry Gregory, and as Archeological Commissioner. According to scholarly reviews of his work by George D. Bond and Ananda Wickremeratne,  Rhys Davids’ Civil Service work

7560-591: Was exiled to India. The Kandyan Convention formally ceded the entire country to the British Empire. Attempts by Sri Lankan noblemen to undermine British power in 1818 during the Uva Rebellion were thwarted by Governor Robert Brownrigg . The beginning of the modern period of Sri Lanka is marked by the Colebrooke–Cameron reforms of 1833. They introduced a utilitarian and liberal political culture to

7650-496: Was held at the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya in Sri Lanka under the patronage of Valagamba in 25 BCE. The council was held in response to a year in which the harvests in Sri Lanka were particularly poor and many Buddhist monks subsequently died of starvation. Because the Pali Canon was at that time oral literature maintained in several recensions by dhammabhāṇaka s ( dharma reciters), the surviving monks recognised

7740-461: Was losing financial support due to the economic state of the country during The Great Depression. Following the passing of her husband, Thomas William Rhys Davids, in 1922, Foyley took over the Society’s president; like her husband, her career was in Buddhist Studies, and she was a scholar of both the Pāli language and Sanskrit. However, because Foyley’s educational background was in economics, she

7830-400: Was sworn in as Sri Lanka's new president after winning the presidential election as a left-wing candidate. On 14 November 2024, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's National People's Power (NPP), a left-leaning alliance, received a two-thirds majority in parliament in Sri Lankan parliamentary election. Sri Lanka, an island in South Asia shaped as a teardrop or a pear/ mango , lies on

7920-447: Was the one that managed the Society’s finances, and furthermore, it was Foyley who helped pull the Society out of debt. Foyley dedicated her entire career to completing the work of her late husband. Under her presidency, she was able to publish two editions of "Journal of the Pāli Text Society", both which took roughly three years to complete. She also continued to work on the translations of the classic Pāli Texts, including two volumes on

8010-495: Was the one who taught Rhys Davids of the Pāli Canon, on which he later dedicated his public career to, including the formation of the Pāli Text Society. Although, in Europe during this period of time, Buddhist studies did not exist as an academic discipline, Rhys Davids sought to challenge Eurocentric ideas of Christian supremacy in order to argue in support of Buddhism as a valid religious area of knowledge. Despite his apparent atheism, as

8100-503: Was used to designate the whole island in Sangam literature . The island was known under Chola rule as Mummudi Cholamandalam ("realm of the three crowned Cholas"). Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā ( Ancient Greek : Ταπροβανᾶ ) or Taprobanē ( Ταπροβανῆ ) from the word Tambapanni . The Persians and Arabs referred to it as Sarandīb (the origin of the word " serendipity ") from Sanskrit Siṃhaladvīpaḥ . Ceilão ,

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