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| Friday, 16 April 2004 |
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Saddhamangala Karunaratne felicitation volume by Lakshman de Mel Dr. Saddhamangala Karunaratne graduated in 1946 from the University of Ceylon and in 1949 he obtained his M. A. specialising in Pali. In 1950 he joined the Department of Archaeology as an Assistant Commissioner. This was in the heyday of the Department of Archaeology, with Dr. Senarat Paranavitana, an outstanding an eminent scholar historian and epigraphist as Commissioner Dr. Karunaratne had the good fortune of having his training in epigraphy under Dr. Pranavitana and later he went on to Cambridge where he got his Ph.D. His thesis for the Ph.D. was 'The Brahmi Inscriptions of Ceylon'. This research work was under the supervision of Dr. K. R. Norman, Professor of Indian studies at the University of Cambridge. In 1979, Dr. Karunaratne was appointed to the post of Archaeological Commissioner, which position he held till 1983. The results of his research on the Brahmi inscriptions are published as a special volume (JII) of the Epigraphia Zaylanica, the prestigious epigraphical volume started in 1905 by Dr. D. M. de Z. Wickramasinghe. This felicitation volume has been published in order to recognise, at least in a modest way, Dr. Karunaratne's contribution to epigraphy and archaeology. The volume consists of 40 articles in Sinhala and English both by local as well as foreign scholars in various fields of learning. A very wide spectrum of subjects is covered in these articles ranging from archaeology to ethnology and grammar. The writers have opened up new vistas of scholarship with fresh insights. Prof. K. R. Norman writes on the transmission of Asoka Edicts. He discusses the various ways in which the inscriptions were issued, their actual physical transmission to the locations where they were inscribed. He concludes that Asoka dictated the edicts which were then written down from dictation and distributed to the various sites. He also believes that every communication Asoka or his secretariat sent out must have had an address associated with it, so that the imperial messengers could know where they were taking it. Dr. Abaya Aryasinghe's short study of Brahmi numerals in Sri Lanka is devoted to a specialised field where he attempts to discuss the origin of the Brahmi numerals. There has been no unanimity as to the origin of the numerical system; some scholars favouring and Egyptian origin, while others favour that the signs were developed by Brahmanical scholars. His remarks that only a few numerical figures are found in the inscriptions of Sri Lanka are followed up with references to where such instances occur such as the Dhakkhina Stupa slab inscription, the Wilewewa rock inscription and the Weweltenne rock inscription. The writer attempts to compare these with what may be contemporaneous developments in India. In his article, "Murals of Ajanta rock Caves of India and Sigiriya-Dambulla complex of Sri Lanka", Dr. Ananda Guruge observes that natural barriers such as the Himalayan range and Sri Lanka's position as an island did not prevent the spread of Buddhism and its cultural impact. The continental Silk Route and the maritime Silk Route encouraged and facilitated brisk cultural exchanges. He enumerates instances of such exchanges such as the visits by Buddhagosa and other commentators to Sri Lanka; the mission of Sri Lankan nuns led by Devasara to China in the fifth century AD Dr. Guruge takes the Sigiriya and the Dambulla paintings together and compares and contrasts them with those of Ajanta. He refers to the role played by caves and cave in the early Buddhist monastic tradition. He elaborates on the role of painting in Buddhism from the time of the Buddha, down through the years primarily for instruction and secondarily for decoration. His comments on paintings in several caves in Ajanta are followed by an evaluation of the Sigiriya paintings. He starts by referring to the possibility of a long-lasting tradition of Buddhist art that could have flourished over several centuries from about the 3rd century B.C. Regarding apsara paintings which he calls the primary attraction of Sigiriya, Dr. Guruge's conclusion is that they have no religious significance at all. This conclusion needs re-examination in the light of the latest theory developed by Dr. Raja de Silva that Sigiriya was a pabbata-vihara and not a replica of Alakamanda. (To be contiuned) |
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