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Quote - Joseph Pulitzer

"PUT IT BEFORE THEM BRIEFLY SO THEY WILL READ IT, CLEARLY SO THEY WILL APPRECIATE IT, PICTURESQUELY SO THEY WILL REMEMBER IT AND, ABOVE ALL, ACCURATELY SO THEY WILL BE GUIDED BY ITS LIGHT" ***** JOSEPH PULITZER *****
DISCOVER - SRI LANKA: PROLOGUE

IN PRAISE OF MY BEAUTIFUL ISLAND,
INFORMATION, PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEO.

THE 13th CENTURY VENETIAN TRAVELER MARCO POLO DESCRIBED THE ISLAND AS 'THE JADE PENDANT IN THE INDIAN OCEAN'. THE ABUNDANCE OF GEMSTONES, SPICES, RAIN FORESTS AND WILDLIFE; THE MAGNIFICENT BEACHES, ANCIENT RUINS AND A WRITTEN HISTORY OF OVER 2500 YEARS MAKE THIS ISLAND A TOURISTS' PARADISE.

THE RUINED CITIES OF ANURADHAPURA AND POLONNARUWA ILLUSTRATE THE GLORY OF THE ANCIENT KINGDOMS. THE GIGANTIC STUPAS AND BUDDHA STATUES ARE AMONG THE BIGGEST MAN MADE STRUCTURES OF THE WORLD. THE MASSIVE RESERVOIRS, BUILT BY ANCIENT KINGS TO IRRIGATE THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF LAND, ARE MARVELS OF HYDRO ENGINEERING. THERE ARE EIGHT UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN SRI LANKA

THE ISLAND WAS KNOWN TO THE GREEKS AS 'TAPROBANE' AND TO THE ARABS AS 'SERENDIB'. EARLY MERCHANTS VISITED THE ISLAND IN SEARCH OF GEMSTONES AND SPICES, MAINLY CINNAMON AND PEPPER. COFFEE AND TEA PLANTATIONS WERE STARTED BY THE BRITISH COLONIAL RULERS. CEYLON TEA IS FAMOUS THE WORLD OVER.

TOURISM INDUSTRY IS A MAJOR MONEY SPINNER FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL ISLAND. THE VAST EXPANSE OF BEACHES, RAIN FORESTS AND NATIONAL PARKS WITH HERDS OF WILD ELEPHANTS, THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS WITH LITHE WATER FALLS, BRING IN THE TOURISTS. THE ISLAND IS DOTTED WITH HUNDREDS OF HOTELS TO ACCOMMODATE THE TRAVELER. AN ISLAND OF 25,000 SQ; MILES HAS 103 RIVERS AND 25000 RESERVOIRS, MOSTLY MAN MADE. WITH VARYING CLIMATIC CONDITIONS THIS IS TRULY A 'SMALL MIRACLE'.

" THE ISLAND OF SRI LANKA IS A SMALL UNIVERSE, IT CONTAINS AS MANY VARIATIONS OF CULTURE, SCENERY AND CLIMATE AS SOME COUNTRIES A DOZEN TIMES ITS SIZE........I FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THERE IS ANY COUNTRY WHICH SCORES SO HIGHLY IN ALL DEPARTMENTS - WHICH HAVE SO MANY ADVANTAGES AND SO FEW DISADVANTAGES. LOVELY BEACHES, BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPES, IMPRESSIVE RUINS, A VIBRANT CULTURE AND CHARMING PEOPLE- NO WONDER SRI LANKA IS A SMALL MIRACLE ".***** Arthur C. Clark *****




Over: 70 Pages, 800 Posts, 1000 Photographs and 900,000 Page views

06 December, 2010

SRI LANKA - MONARCHS [ SINCE 543 BC ]



The following is a list of Sri Lankan monarchs since 543 BC. The main 
source for many of these monarchs are the chronicles of the island maint-
ained by monks, known as the DipavamsaMahavamsaChulavamsa and the 
Rajaveliya. This list should be used with the following factors kept in mind. 
Firstly the dates provided for the earliest monarchs are difficult to objectively 
verify; those which are particularly difficult to know have been denoted with 
a (?) mark. Secondly in terms of succession it is difficult to divide the mona
rchs into 'houses' or 'dynasties' as often the throne was passed around 
amongst related individuals within a particular clan; especially in medieval 
times there were no articulated rules of succession and whoever was in 
possession of the sacred Tooth Relic had a good claim to being called king, 
which was around the times of the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa to the Kingdom 
of KandyThirdly the list only includes monarchs who had possession of most 
of the island and the power at any one time, therefore monarchs from kingdoms 
and sub kingdoms such as RuhunaMaya Rata, Dhakkinadesa and the Jaffna 
kingdom are not on this list. Also the island of Sri Lanka has been invaded by 
many foreign powers over its 2500 year history, mainly from South India, and 
some even seizing the throne making the island part of its empire. Most not
able is the Cholas in 985 and British in 1815. The Portuguese and the Dutch 
however did not seize the Kandyan throne but only occupied territory within 
the island.

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Source : Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia

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