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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
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

05 January, 2013

SRI LANKA - POETRY [ BY THE LATE SAM WAIDYASEKERA ]


Published from the book - Cameos by Sam Waidyasekera.


Daphne

Soft and silky hair abound
Her skin is fair and clear
With milky freshness,
And eager as Babblers' trills
Her melodious cadences fill
The air with fine refrain.
And I the hermit, if you permit
Gaze with wonder and with love
At the sweetest flower beyond
The bubbling ocean, faltery and uncertain,
While gaily hued moths and words
Flit abut her shapely mouth and tone,
And her proud mein light and limn
The lines of classic grace,
And my pace is fine, and her eyes are mine
They have splendor Divine.


Published with the approval of  the editor of Cameos - Harry Waidyasekera.    

23 August, 2012

SRI LANKA - BOOKS [ HISTORY ]


Ceylon and the Portuguese, 1505-1658
by P. E. Pieris, assisted by R. B. Naish.

Published 1920 by American Ceylon Mission Press in Tellippalai, Ceylon . 
Written in English.                             


            Read     

  The 450th anniversary of the battle of Mulleriyawa - August 23 2012




Mulleriyawa Satana in 1562 was the first major battle between the Portuguese and the Sinhalese and it was one of the most decisive battles in Sri Lankan history. At the time, it was the worst ever defeat for a colonial power on eastern soil. Local chronicles say that the marshlands of Mulleriyawa turned red with blood after the annihilation of the Portuguese by the army of Mayadunne of Sitawaka, a battle commanded by: Tikiri Bandara (subsequently Sitawaka Rajasigha). By winning this battle Sitawaka emerged all-powerful, able to challenge the Portuguese who lost the opportunity to ensure their total control of the island.


 






25 April, 2012

SRI LANKA - ANCIENT BOOKS






Eight Years Wanderings in Ceylon  by Samuel White Baker
Published in 1875 by J. B. Lippincott & co. • 331 pages 


Ceylon was, in the olden time, known by the name of Serendib. In the enchanting " Arabian Nights," frequent mention is made of the Island, as the theater of many of the gorgeous scenes that are splendidly depicted in those Eastern tales. Serendib has ever been a terra incognita, and, therefore, a land of story and romance.


















09 December, 2010

SRI LANKA - POETRY [ BY THE LATE SAM WAIDYASEKERA ]


A Silken Morn



It's a soft silky day
Waves are silken gay,
And greet us shimmery white
As does the diffused light
By benign clouds
Spread among the covered wide.

The sands are getting softer
With friendly purling streams
Of constant intersperse
Sandy crabs jerk and nibble
With lighthouse eyes
And varying size.

I am on the hull
Of a sailing craft
Wood and blade and rope and bamboo,
The wind whips past
The penson mast
Welcoming the after ocean blast.

And I'm light as a lark
And quote as well
Aglow with the ocean spark
And coves and slouching arms
Nestling among thy charms
and hum lully psalms.
Source :' Cameos ' by the late Sam Waidyasekera


07 October, 2010

SRI LANKA- WILHELM GEIGER



Wilhelm Geiger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wilhelm Ludwig Geiger (1856-1943) was a German Orientalist, in the fields 
of Indian and Iranian languages. He was known as a specialist in Pali,Sinhala
 language and the Dhivehi language of the Maldives.

Contents

 [hide]

[edit]Life

He travelled to Ceylon in 1895 to study the language[1]. He appeared on a stamp
 in Sri Lanka, in 1989[2].The physicist Hans Geiger, inventor of the Geiger counter,
 was his son.

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