National Archives rich with heritage

Priyanka KURUGALA

The National Archives Department has a vast collection of the national intangible cultural heritage of Sri Lanka. People who want to study the intangible cultural heritage could visit the National Archives Department, Directress Dr Saroja Wettasinghe told the Daily News.

If people handover any of their intangible cultural heritage collections the National Archives Department is ready to protect them for the future generation, she emphasized.

Language, customs, dress, indigenous medicine, folk lore, bali-tovil, traditional dancing, psychological beliefs are some examples of intangible cultural heritage, she noted.

The Cultural Department, Lever Brothers (Unilevers) and some people have handed some intangible cultural heritage to the National Archives Department. Folk songs, rhythms of traditional dancing and Bera Vadana are the folk rituals the institutes and individuals have offered the National Archives Department, she said.

Those collections were done by veteran artistes like W B Makuloluwa, Lional Ranwala, and S de S Kulathilake. In addition, certain events related to the subject had been collected by the Cultural Department. A disc on Maname musical drama provided by Tissa Amarasekara could also be seen, she said.

There are number of collections of Nurthi Gee, Nelum Kavi, Vedi Gee, Pel kavi, Seepada, Religious songs, Dalada Kavi, Shanthi Karma, Sokari,Vannam, rhythms of aesthetic instruments, Portuguese songs. Also many colour slides on events such as reciting traditional music, musical instruments, and historic sites can also be seen.

Documenting these traditional intangible heritages are very important to transfer traditional knowledge from generation to generation.

It is a good method to preserve the knowledge. If they did not document these things the knowledge will be lost, she said.

The National Archives Department is not doing research on this subject but collecting traditional and intangible heritages. The main subject of the Department is preservation and conservation of our archives, she said.