Learning a Second Language, the contribution of British Council Library.
What is, “Learning a Second Language” has got to do with Long Life?
It may sound ridiculous or not relevant.
Let me untangle the tangled minds.
Suppose in your retirement, you like to visit a foreign country or one of your friends living abroad invites you to visit him/her.
Won’t that be a nice to have a working knowledge of English?
But if your friend is from Germany or France, would it be enough, knowing only English?
English is the business language of the world and if you intend to expand your local business to a foreign soil, it is vital that you have a team with language expertise to communicate and work with.
One cannot become an efficient ambassador, unless you are an expert and well versed with the language of the local community.
Depending on a translator is a handicap.
It was unfortunate in my formative years nobody emphasized the importance of language. If at all they discourage learning English.
I had the common sense that if I were to master science, English was the language of instruction.
The city school I went did not have a proper library. For my luck British Council Library was doing a yeoman service to help young readers of our time. Because of political indifference and interference, the USIS library closed its operation in Kandy long time ago.
I would close my introduction by saying that a sure way to train a dictator is to make him or her learn only the mother tongue of the local community. We have had enough examples in this small country with ethnic division making inroads and politicians capitalizing in the fringe.
None of the above is my reason for encouraging one to learn at least two languages.
Please read on, to get my point of view.
Learning a language and mastering it is no easy task for most of us. This is especially so when it is learned as a second language. When the mother tongue is not taught properly and its advantages and disadvantages are not highlighted, at an early age, children are at a loss to coordinate their interests and achievements. This is true for learning languages and I am yet to find a child who is genuinely interested in learning a language (for example Sinhala or Tamil) for its own beauty.
They become rote learners and drag along, in a system oriented for examination performances. Rather than bringing the best out of the innate talents of children, language difficulty becomes a stumbling block to progress.
If children are forced to learn a single language, there is no way of unlearning the bad habits.
Single language narrows the interests of young children.
If the quality of the available reading material is poor how are we to instill creativity in young minds?
One of the most interesting feature of leaning a second language is that it arouses the creativity along with curiosity.
Learning a language and its intricacies is quite different from learning a language of instruction. For an example English is a suitable medium of instruction for science without which vast knowledge base cannot be tapped.
Similarly, learning a computer language is entirely a different exercise altogether.
So language of upbringing (mother tongue), language of instruction (English) and the language of technical communication (Linux) are few facets of the emerging global trends and requirements.
Only few of us have the mastery of all these aspects of communication. How we could direct our children without unduly burdening them in early years of their life is the challenge for our educationists and reformists.
What is happening is little bit of this and little bit of that and the final chutney (Achcharu) is not of any taste to the child's creative mind.
There is a particular age where children are at ease with learning a second language other than the mother tongue. Beyond this period it is a tedious task for any body. To learn a new language especially the phonetics as an adult is not an easy task. Then there are many other aspects including, grammar, syntax, idioms, expressions and dialects to deal with.
I am no specialist in this game of languages.
As child I was attracted to books initially for the colorful pictures then to the stories. I was in no way attracted to the daily papers except the cartoons. Neither the history nor the literature attracted me but quite unknowingly the science was the theme that interested me.
There was the Russian ‘Sputnik’ and the Lyka the dog going to the outer space in my childhood. Gradually I begun to understand that unless I learn to read English I won’t be able understand all those exciting cartoons (Tin Tin, Denis the Menace and Andy Capp) and science fiction.
Learning English was fun and learning Sinhala was boring,, in early years of my life.
For my luck I had very good Sinhala teacher and a very good English teacher. If not for them I would not have gone far. Even though, I left the homely village life in my formative years to a school in the city, quite frankly I did not learn much in the city school.
It was actually the British Council Library that provided me with all the books I needed. City school library was not much to talk about. So I learned my second language at my own pace at my own leisure.
The seat of knowledge was the British Council Library.
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Monday, March 14, 2016
Single Meal
Reproduction
Single Meal
Single most important principle in Buddhist Practice is its alms (Dhana), the giving away one’s possessions, without expecting anything in return.
This is something of an antithesis to modern world, where, self, image and one’s possessions are dear and belonging.
How it should be practiced by a Buddhist monks is discussed here briefly to make a novice monk adapt to modern trends in a demanding world.
A Buddhist monk ought to be light in baggage and belongings. A monk could have only two cloths (Chivara), one for wearing and another for change. How it should be made is also under strict and elaborate instructions.
The eating habits are also under strict code of practice.
I would discuss that in detail here.
When it comes to eating, if one ignores the morning meal, which is very light indeed, a monk has to survive on a single meal and that has to be taken in the early evening, in the modern day practice.
You may wonder why I took some interest in this.
This examination is scientific in nature.
There are many reasons, and I would state only a few.
If monks in the West practice this according to the strict code, it is a severe test for them, adopting this regime in the winter months. Equally, I have seen some monks who try to adhere to the regime rigidly and religiously have ended up sick and malnourished. If one becomes a Buddhist monk in adult life who had enjoyed somewhat a liberal life, changing to a single meal is a severe restriction on his / her diurnal habits.
One’s hormonal status, glycogen storage and status of the acid secretion in the stomach are habituated by ones daily routine (lifestyle). Changing abruptly, having become a monk should be done on a staggered basis, giving time for the body to adjust. Additionally, many of them do not have an understating of what is a balance diet.
Over years, I have seen many Buddhist monks suffering from food related diseases, especially diabetes mellitus. This is something not welcome and unexpected for my own liking.
I have no intention of going into how one becomes a diabetic but for me somebody on a single meal getting diabetes mellitus was something of an enigma.
In this context, having thought about it, I put the blame squarely on the layman.
Hope, one is not amazed by this statement.
I should go into this briefly.
The upper and the higher middle class families are the ones who get quota for the alms (Dhana) for the residential monks in the city. Their, idea of a meal is a lavish one. Many of them are also diabetic because of their over indulgence.
The offer of alms (Dhana) is not done on a regular basis.
So on the day, all the sugary, starchy, heavy but nutritionally unbalanced is offered. These alms (Dhana) days also happen to fall on weekends and holidays.
The monk has no choice.
He consumes a diet heavy in carbohydrates which stimulate their pancreas to the limits on weekends and practically having an austerity meal, in the rest of the week. My theory is, this up and down (erratic) stimulation of the insulin status, make them prone to diabetes mellitus, in the middle age. This may be aggravated by lack of exercise and having sugary drinks (tea) to counteract, the late evening hypoglycemia.
It is the duty of the layman to look after their welfare on a regular basis instead of a lavish feast once a month.
Medical education is in its prime stage now, especially on nutrition, the doctor should advise the upper middle class families what is a balance single diet for a monk who are practically at the mercy of the rich laymen who impart their inherent diseases on the clergy, unwittingly and unwillingly.
I would give some advice later regarding what to be offered and what ought not to be but for now let me digress a little.
I wanted to test myself whether I can survive on a single meal. I am more than convinced that it is possible and healthy.
But it takes time and it cannot be practiced overnight.
Prehistoric Time -15,000 to 30, 000 ago
Having proved it to myself that I can sustain on a single meal, I delved into man’s prehistoric period and how man survived in adverse climatic conditions and food scarcities.
Hunter gather never had three meals a day.
At best he had only a single square meal, never three meals. He mainly survived on a big game, in a community life style.
He was omnivorous and supplemented his diet with fruits and nuts. He probably did not suffer from diabetes mellitus and his teeth were strong, the enamel was thin but the dentin was thick, hardly had any caries. In times of food shortages and diseases there were signs of enamel deficiency and bone diseases.
These changes are recorded in prehistoric fossils which date back to 15,000 to 30,000 years.
Until such time he became nomadic, milk was in short supply.
Only milk supply was maternal.
The average woman was thin, and she only had children once in four years or so.
It is now believed that when a woman was thin -prehistoric women, had to work hard, almost equaling man’s efforts, like modern day women athletes, in whom the ovulation does not occur, regularly. Additionally, prolong breast feeding without weaning suppresses ovulation.
The man probably was sturdier and taller but comparatively thinner since he had to work hard in hunting exercises. He probably lived a shorter life than a woman (45 years), probably 35 years or so / died not of modern day diseases but as a result of injuries sustained in hunting.
As for prehistoric man is concerned the existence on a single meal was not a fantasy but a fact.
Paleolithic Period- 5000 to 13 000 years
Why man became an agricultural man is a mystery but available evidence suggests dramatic changes in climate at the end of the ice age and the population expansion contributed. With the emergence of the nomadic life and man’s entry into agricultural endeavors, he entered into a sedentary life style.
However, he never gave up game and hunting until such time he domesticated adequate livestock.
I would like to figure out that he was never a pure vegetarian.
The Asian wolf became associated with man around 13,000 years ago probably scavenging around man’s domain. The dogs and wolf can live on a single meal perhaps even longer and with the loss of mammoths and huge game, wolf also found living difficult but drifted with the man for game. His eating pattern, scavenging to begin with which our present day dogs inherit and illustrate by scavenging city dumps, is a reminder that even this period the man existed (present day practice of feeding a single meal to a pedigree dog, which I do not agree) on a single main meal.
Even though, the agricultural practices were extensive, failure of crops was common phenomenon, the demise of Maya Dynasty was a true example of catastrophe in history. In spite of extensive agriculture, food was not in plenty and the food preparation from harvest to meal was labor intensive and man continued to supplement meal on animal and animal sacrifices.
In this period population expanded probably because women becoming comparatively fatter and fertile (it is interesting to note that when a woman is too fat, like in the present day, fertility drops) and their body composition was ideal for reproduction.
But with success there was impending catastrophe too.
Famines were common due to reduction of crops, failure of rain or floods.
The man became shorter and less sturdier due to sedentary life.
We may be able to surmise that even in this period man ate a variable diet, characteristically a single meal which was supplemented by animal, fish, shells, fruits and nuts.
How and when man discovered use of salt and spices is open to question, probably towards the latter stage of Paleolithic time.
Contemporary History from 5000 years to 2500
During this period man was eating mixed diet containing milk (animal), sugar, salt, spices and animal and fish products. In spite of agriculture man never ceased to consume animal food, in fact it became a major constitute, judging by the tribal and religious practices from 5000 to 2000 years.
This is probably the period where single supper or a single meal changed to multiple meals especially the upper classes but slaves and lower classes subsisted on an average single large meal.
The longevity and average health increased proportionately probably doubled compared to the prehistoric period.
Most of the sages and philosophers except hedonists lived an austere life while recommending the same to the masses.
2500 and the emergence of the Vegetarian Life
Even though, some Jainers advocated vegetarian life, it was with the emergence of the Buddhist way of life in India that preceded the current wave of vegetarian (purported to be healthy) food fads.
Neither, Ten Commandments, the Jesus Christ’s sayings nor Muslim Koran abhors sacrifices of animals.
The vegetarian life is comparatively new, probably only 2500 years old in the history of mankind and that is why, there are so many misconceptions. Unlike monkeys, baboons and gorillas who are mostly vegetarians, from which man originated in an evolutionary point of view, the man had always been a carnivorous mammal.
2500 years is a small time in evolutionary time scale, a healthy dialogue on vegetarian diet is mandatory in the present context.
Our intestine and teeth bear different relationships to tree dwelling mammals, some are morphological in nature (genetic) and some are based on the diet (environmental) we eat.
As far as the growth and development of children are concerned my view is that single diet is not adequate.
That is my entry point to discuss another point of view.
Can a young novice monk who has not gone through puberty be sustained on a single diet?
This is a question, I find it difficult to answer even though, I have stated my gut feelings above.
This is one reason, out of the many, I do not agree and defer on ordaining young underage monks. Apart from lack of psychological maturity, to go on an austere life as prescribed by Vinaya is asking too much from a child.
Parents should have a say on these issues.
They should not force a young one into priesthood in their tender years.
American Pie
As a comparison, I thought of writing something relevant. Comparing an average American’s eating habits with our´s is a revelation by itself.
An American eats a cow / bull every ten years.
In every American there are at least 5 cows in him by the time he is fifty. If he has not got mad cow disease or Alzheimer’s disease what he eats in the rest of his life is any American doctor’s guess.
He eats a pig every three years.
He eats at least 50 chickens and one turkey a year.
Some Americans of course eat much more than this.
My worry is every cow/bull he eats, at least an equivalent of 8Kg of fodder is needed to support its life to obtain 1Kg of beef. If an American stops eating 1Kg of beef he is saving about 8Kg of grain for a poor soul in Africa or Bangladesh.
Out of the tons of grain produced half is spent on animal feeds and some American cows are better fed than African kids.
Only to be sacrificed as human food.
The current Pope should give due consideration to these facts and he should give a hearing to this fiasco and if the grain saved by saving the poor cows / or bulls is multiplied by the factor of eight by 1000 (well fed cow’s weight) there is an excess grain in this world to feed everybody.
Equally FAO should take this into cognizant.
Looking by some of Sri-Lankans who lavish on food I cannot say there is any difference to American mentality, here in Sri-Lanka (especially who visit here to take a break from the winter).
Coming back to a single meal, if an American or Western guy sacrifices a single meal a week, like our Buddhist monks who live on a single meal a day, we would be able to feed some hungry children in Africa and Asia without any problem or NGOs.
WHO also should take this fact to their cognizant.
I don’t believe in what our agriculture minister who says, that food prices have gone up because of biofuels. The production of biofuels had been going on for over 25 years.
One should realize that the ancient man and his closest friend the dog survived on a single meal in spite of their aggressive hunting skills.
What should an average Dhana (Single Meal) should contain?
The physiological effect of an average meal should last 18 hours (that is the time when the glycogen storage starts to become depleted) of its intake. The diet should not have high sugary (dessert) components that stimulate surge of insulin and late dumping syndrome due to insulin surge at the time of the meal.
The vegetarian diet has no problem since the fiber makes the release of dietary sugar gradual.
The best dessert for the monks is not ice cream but fruits.
Out of the fruits, the best is bananas which releases its sugars slowly without insulin surges and maintaining a stable blood sugar.
Milk and curd are preferred, since they give ample supply of fat for starving intervals.
Missing ingredient is nuts.
Not only that they contain short chain fatty acids which supply energy for starving intervals, they are rich in healthy vitamins.
I would encourage the young monks to go liberal on fruits and nuts.
A supply of nuts (no aggalas, jaggery or sweets), fruits, papaw, banana and proper breakfast cereal containing millet (Kurrakkan) should be the breakfast for the monks.
Somebody should invest and develop a proper breakfast cereal for our kids. The same breakfast cereal can be used by young monks in their growing years (assuming they are ordained young).
For the monks in the West a Buddhist dietitian with knowledge in Vinaya practice should investigate how their midday Dhana should be constituted.
My belief is many of them are having an inappropriate diet for winter conditions.
I hope a good breakfast cereal will emerge from there for the monks on a meager diet.
My prescription for priesthood is entirely different.
When I see young monks in the TV giving emotional speeches rather than mature sermons, I become sometimes terrified.
Even my twilight years, I sometimes reserve my judgment or giving advice on certain issues.
Never over the telephone.
Only, when I can have an eye to eye contact with the person concerned when I can have an immediate assessment of the person’s psychological makeup and the reactions, I give some advice with lot of reservation.
One can do more damage by volunteering advice not appropriate.
My advice goes as this.
Let the young one follows a simple observational life.
In other words train them to observe in a simple and logical fashion.
Teach the scientific facts in simple doses as they tend to make mistakes, in distinguishing, facts from fiction.
Children prefer fiction in the early years and they should be allowed to change gradually into scientific way of thinking. Even at 16 years of age (formative thinking is established) many find it difficult to grasp scientific concepts clearly.
They have the philosophical views embedded in their brains. Encourage them as much as possible.
This is why they always asks mommy why?
Encourage the philosophical views at an early age, even though, we do not have ready made answers, to their questions.
Training them in “Thinking to Think” is the most appropriate method.
Then only, they should be allowed to think of a religion or religions in their life.
What I stated above is very important, if we are to stop, young ones being taken into terrorist or religious cadres and indoctrinated with fanatic ideas.
That is the only way out.
That is the very thing we are not doing at present and ignoring.
We are slowly encouraging and allowing young militants being made out of innocent minds because of our failure in commonsense education. Some religious and militant groups know very well, the best currency to propagate their rigid views is the young mind.
The Experiment
I was the subject of the experiment.
Not by design but by default.
There was no conviction, compulsion or any consideration for my health. The circumstances had lead me to the experiment fortuitously.
Take it or leave it principle of mine.
I did plunge, unprepared.
Skipping the major meal for good.
I was on probation and I was working alone even though, I was given freehand by my superior. I had to develop my division and had to do research as well as teaching. I did not take it as a big deal but the time table was not to my liking.
The only day, I could concentrate on research work was on Wednesdays and to this day I use Wednesdays exclusively for my work and nothing else. I had to come home for lunch and rush back to work at 1 P.M. My wife was working full time and my elderly mother in law had to prepare meals for us. I did not want to make it very punctual but that meant I used to get back late and being on probation that was not a good omen.
Nearly two and a half hours lost in transit and without enjoying the lunch.
So when the work was heavy I used to skip the lunch.
I used to subsist on bananas and milk.
Milk was essential since I used to get early peptic ulcer symptom by skipping the lunch.
Fortunately banana and milk were cheap and were in liberal supply then.
To this I added Dhal Waddai.
Nuts were eaten in liberal doses and jumbo nuts were cheap then.
Still later I added chocolates, not necessarily dark chocolates.
That was the regime and in about six months, I was very comfortable and no dumping syndrome associated with rice.
I did not lose weight but did not feel any ill effects.
The gastric symptoms which was a worry disappeared spontaneously.
My work output increased tremendously since there were two additional hours to my work schedule.
I did not give much thought to it, till lately.
Come to think about it, when I was working in UK, on many a days, skipped the lunch, only a snack to fill the tommy, lot of coffee, which was the usual thing to do, even in the thick of winter.
Then have a very heavy supper.
This was not a big deal in tropical Sri-Lanka.
Of course this habit has now gone into a much bigger thing.
I decided to stop eating rice altogether, the reason for which I would not state or discuss here.
I have celebrated three years without rice!
It was difficult to begin with and I had to eat junk food since most of the alternative food items like couscous, spaghetti, pasta had gone up in price and some of the replacement items were horrible in taste, to say the least.
But I survived on a variety of diet except manioc for over a year to begin with (and still continuing).
Within six months, I started losing weight but I continued on a single main meal.
Then I did some background study to realize that the best way to lose weight is to stop eating rice.
The reason is that we generally eat three times what is required as calories on a rice diet. Because it is lacking in few amino acids (not total lack but relative deficiency), we make up the lack by eating an excess of rice.
Unlike manioc one can live on a rice diet without malnutrition but one tends to get obese in the long run.
The extra starch is invariably converted to fat in adipose tissues and they remain there happily unless we go on a hunger strike.
A few leafy vegetables, eggs and other grains can make it a balance diet but with a major problem.
With a huge increase in calorie intake.
We put on weight unlike the ones who do manual labor.
The manual worker of course, can utilize this load and easily burn them for extra calories.
So, final conclusion of the experiment is that one can survive on a single main meal, provided that it is a balance diet without losing weight, but if one wants to lose weight one should cut down on rice by at least two third´s of one´s rice portions.
I of course cut rice down to zero (completely) but enjoy liberal amount of chocolates, nuts and junk food and wine too.
Right Constitution
Right Constitution
1.Scientific outlook comes first.
2. Rules of law and fair play and Justice to all living beings (Plants and Animals) is second.
3. Democracy as a force and the tolerance to diverse views is the third.
4.Universal suffrage without bondage, dogma and external powers influencing (encourage the internal powers of the mind) the decision making, is the fourth.
5. Religion has no place or should reign below the above four pillars.
If an individual has a certain conviction for solace, be that be so, but he/she should tolerate views of the others including, especially those who want not to be bound by any religious dogma.
1.Scientific outlook comes first.
2. Rules of law and fair play and Justice to all living beings (Plants and Animals) is second.
3. Democracy as a force and the tolerance to diverse views is the third.
4.Universal suffrage without bondage, dogma and external powers influencing (encourage the internal powers of the mind) the decision making, is the fourth.
5. Religion has no place or should reign below the above four pillars.
If an individual has a certain conviction for solace, be that be so, but he/she should tolerate views of the others including, especially those who want not to be bound by any religious dogma.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Watching this duo, Chithrasena and Viajra was a treat.
Reproduction
I was never into music and dancing.
Watching this duo, Chithrasena and Viajra was a treat.
I hope somebody write a book on them and their family for posterity.
This is an adaptation by Samson Abeyagunawardena of an article by Marianne Nuernberger, published in The Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities, Vol 40. Dr Nuernberger did field research for her doctoral thesis (University of Vienna):Dance is the Language of the Gods:the Chitrasena School and the Traditional Roots of Sri Lankan Stage Dance.
Vajira celebrates her 85th birthday next Tuesday – 15 March. Her legacy to the arts and culture of Sri Lanka is her astonishing family dedicated to dance: Kandyan, Low-country, Sabaragamuwa. The family of three generations comprises dancers, musicians, choreographers, dance teachers, costume designers and dance administrators.As a dancer, Vajira was world class. In 1963 the Perth Festival of the Arts director described her as "a dancer to treasure". The dance critic of Australia’s prestigious national newspaper, The Australian, saw Vajira’s grand-daughter Thajithangani, dance at the Sydney Festival in January 2015 and wrote: If there is a more immediately captivating dancer than Thajithangani, I have yet to meet her/him.
The path to great heights has not been easy..
What was it like in Sri Lanka 65 years ago for a young Sinhala woman, English educated and of the highest caste -goyigama- to go on stage as a professional Kandyan dancer? No other Sinhala woman had done it before. There were hundreds of male ritual dancers performing in the three indigenous styles: Kandyan, Low-country and Sabaragamuwa, but not a single female professional dancer of any of these styles. In the culture of that time, a woman who dared to dance in one of the indigenous styles was believed to be ill, insane and possessed by demons.
Vajira dared.
Vajira
was eighteen in 1950 when she married Chitrasena who had founded the
Chitrasena Dance Company in 1943. He was pioneering in adapting the
traditional dances of the Sinhalese to the modern stage so that
theatregoers in Sri Lanka and overseas could enjoy them as
sophisticated entertainment.Chitrasena was handsome, charismatic and on the path to achieving iconic status as a dancer. How did Vajira adapt to be the spouse of such a man? How did she cope with being a professional dancer in a culture where ritual dance was a domain of males only.
After marriage, Vajira worked with Chitrasena to become the "inventor" of a graceful female style– lasya - of Kandyan dance, of modern stage dance training and of children’s ballet. Together they raised the standard of virtuosity for the Kandyan dance and added, with sympathetic understanding , new dimensions to the classical repertoire of movement.
Vajira’s lasya interpretation find its most effective expression in her adaptation of the Gajaga Vannama, a traditional up-country dance of the royal court of Kandy. Her modified choreography of this dance has even been incorporated into the curriculum of the government art colleges. The song texts of the older Vannams include descriptions of various birds and animals, but no interpretations of the texts were originally shown in the dance. The choreographies of the Vannams of the Chitrasena and Vajira School introduced such interpretations. From that time onward, Vajira was given the opportunity to develop her own choreographies at the Chitrasena School; the female parts she created had the lasya quality. All the major ballets of the Chitrasena-Vajira School from 1952 onward were the outcome of the collaboration between Chitrasena and Vajira.
Vajira is an astonishing woman. Age has not deprived her of her intensity, her vitality – an austerely restrained form of tenacious energy – or of her extraordinary courage. Whenever I remember Vajira, I see her as a teacher leading the dance in front of the regular rows of her pupils. I remember her smile, her stringency, the earnestness of her talk when speaking about her longing for a peaceful time and a place to meditate. It was no surprise for me to learn that Vajira’s extraordinary success in the role of the young and beautiful Sisi in Chitrasena’s ballet Karadiya can be viewed as a creation of her own identification with the oppressed and confused state of that tragic character.
There is no suggestion here that Vajira alone broke through the gender barrier to stage dance, that she set the pace for the first Sinhalese female religious specialists and ritualists. Numerous women came before her. Sinhalese historians write about a lost tradition of female ritual dancers who were similar to the devadasis of India. Then there were the female ecstatic priestesses of the Tamil Hindu rituals in Sri Lanka who gained importance through the rise of Kataragama as a religious centre also for the Sinhalese. To a certain degree, women in Sri Lanka have always had some kind of silent power and authority inside their homes. There is no despising of widows, no killing of female babies after birth. A further factor is that in recent times, the social order has opened up to women opportunities to work outside the family.
Since the beginning of the 1980s Sinhalese female ritual dancers could for the first time be seen to practice as exorcists and dance priestesses. In the same way that men of groups other than the traditional Berava caste took over the ritualistic dance-art, women now appeared on the scene to get their share of the activities of the new ritualist.
There is no suggestion here that Vajira’s modern dance-art solely caused this change. Rather, I believe that as the traditional dance-art had socio-religious significance, modern stage-dance and school-dance gave considerable impetus to the opening-up of religious and ritual functions to women. Modern non-ritual dance has astoundingly managed to close the gap between castes and sexes on the terrain
of its rituals. It has become a social bridge to the new ritual forms. It has also contributed to new female professions in this field. And Vajira was the first Sinhala woman who made dance in the Kandyan style her full-time profession. Is it too much then to say that her life’s contribution reaches far beyond the sphere of stage dance?
Vajira is no ritual dancer. She was a stage dancer for 50 years. Now she is principal of the Chitrasena-Vajira Dance School, where she also teaches. It is difficult even today for a Sri Lankan woman to become a professional dancer and stay on for the rest of her working life. Most women who learn to dance go on to teach and do not devote themselves to dancing on stage. However, Vajira’s pioneering work has ensured that a number of teachers and stage dancers earn a steady income. She is an artist who has spent months perfecting the choreographies of the Ballets of Chitrasena. She is a pedagogue who has researched dance teaching methods in India, Russia, the US and Europe. And she is a mother, grandmother and great grand-mother.
Vajira
has choreographed 26 productions, of which eleven are children’s
ballets and the rest adult’s ballets. Her numerous performances in Sri
Lanka include several one-and two-week festivals celebrated every year
from 1965 on. During the celebrations at the Lionel Wendt Theatre in
1996 commemorating her 50 years of dancing, she announced her last
appearance on stage. Alas, there have been no more Chitrasena-Vajira
Dance Festivals since then.The third generation has now taken over management of the Chitrasena-Vajira School of Dance and of the Dance Company. Vajira’s mantle as principal dancer of the Chitrasena-Vajira Dance Company passed on to her elder daughter, Upeka and then in 2011 on to her grand-daughter Thajithangani. Grand-daughters Heshma and Umadanthi, are the company’s artistic director and administration manager respectively. The company does not have a principal male dancer. It has been unsuccessful in attracting personable young males to go through the six years of rigorous training required before they can come into serious contention for selection as principal male dancer.
What of the future?
The Chitrasena-Vajira Dance Foundation (CVDF) aspires to create a self-sustaining Centre for the dance that includes:
- a healthy pool of new talent drawn from all parts of Sri Lanka;
- a growing base of trained teachers across the country;
- a professional dance company that provides opportunities for artists to meet, collaborate and commit to the dance;
- and a program of outreach, education and marketing to increase the base of knowledgeable and discerning audience at national and international level.
The CVDF has an approved plan for the construction of a cultural centre, designed by a renowned architect, on the site of its present temporary premises at Elvitigala Mawatha, Colombo -5.The plan includes a hall for teaching classes, a studio in which to conduct rehearsals, a studio for creative work, an apartment for the resident principal, a library, dormitories for males and females, toilets, kitchen, dining room and storage room.
-The dormitories are for students who travel from distant outstations and have to stay overnight.
lArun Abey, a Sri Lankan expatriate long settled in Australia, is patron of the CVDF. At a Kalayathanaya event in February 2014 he, on behalf of the three generations of the Samson and Annapurni Abeyagunawardena family settled in Australia, pledged $(A) 100,000 (about eleven million Sri Lanka rupees) to the CVDC Endowment Fund and invited others to chip-in.
Vajira hopes, more than anything else, that many Sri Lankans, expatriates and well-wishers would chip-in so that the Chitrasena-Vajira Cultural Centre she dreams of would be built in her lifetime. Please chip-in when you wish Vajira a happy birthday next Tuesday – 15 March.
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Long Life
Nobody seems to have addressed this issue of Long Life of our yesteryear Buddhist monks and their secrets.
I have a list of reasons and they are listed not in any order of merits.
1. Simple Monastery Life
2. Vegetarian Diet
3. Meditation Practice
4. Rituals like Recitation of Stanzas by heart
5. Multi-language Capability (as many as six to eight)
6. Wondering life style (No fixed aboard)
7. Village Life Style
8. Simple exercises like walking from temple to temple
9. Herbal medicines and their use
10. Sleeping (resting) Schedule
Having analyzed the impact of above observations, I have formulated the following for working adults.
1. You are, What You Eat
It is very simple and easy to change food habits.
I am not asking you to change to a vegetarian diet.
Two meals are sufficient, healthy breakfast and one major meal according to the life style.
One must never miss the breakfast (after all you are breaking the overnight fast).
At least carry a snack with you, if you have to run for the bus or train and eat it on the go, once you have boarded the transportation.
Fruits and nuts are for your breaks, if you have any, not tea and coffee.
Chocolates are OK but not Coca Cola.
Milk should be a daily accompaniment (think of the osteoporosis when you are 70) and soothing for your stomach and duodenum.
2. Things you have to STOP
There is no place for smoking in healthy living.
3. Drink in Moderation
That got to be alcohol (100 mg the most).
4. Never in Life
Never hashish.
They lead you to urge or try more potent ones.
5. Plenty in Life
Exercise in plenty.
6. Never not Enough
Good Friends are never enough.
7. Mental Culture
All waking hours.
My prescription is 3M (Minute Moment Meditation)
8. Plant Watching (my addition)
If your favorite pot plant is dying, there is something wrong with you.
I discourage keeping pet fish unless an aquarium keeper visits you at short notice.
It can be a pain.
I have plenty of pet Fish.
9. Games
Including computer games.
10. Grandchildren
Having grandchildren is a contentious issue.
I will leave at that.
Many more items can be fitted into this list of priorities and I do not intend to go beyond this point.
11. Summary
1. If you smoke, quit today.
Avoid Passive smoking!
2. Get plenty of exercise.
Walking is a great all around activity.
3. Limit your drinking or no alcohol.
4. Eat fruits, nuts and vegetables daily
5. Get enough sleep each night.
Sleep can help to recharge your immune systems as well as give you the energy you need each day.
6. Maintain a healthy weight.
Consider reducing starch, fat and meat in your diet.
7. Schedule your health checkups.
8. Become Educated.
Learn about medical conditions that you may have.
Or be at risk for developing.
9. Practice Meditation
Practice stress management.
Your emotions can affect your health.
10. Have a hobby (Minimum “Plant Watching”)
Practice simple computer games.
Frozen Bubble is my favorite with the cellphone
12. Balancing your Brain (my addition)
This is a concept I have developed on my own.
There are many techniques including learning a new language but less demanding ones can be formulated.
I have discussed this elsewhere!
I have a list of reasons and they are listed not in any order of merits.
1. Simple Monastery Life
2. Vegetarian Diet
3. Meditation Practice
4. Rituals like Recitation of Stanzas by heart
5. Multi-language Capability (as many as six to eight)
6. Wondering life style (No fixed aboard)
7. Village Life Style
8. Simple exercises like walking from temple to temple
9. Herbal medicines and their use
10. Sleeping (resting) Schedule
Having analyzed the impact of above observations, I have formulated the following for working adults.
1. You are, What You Eat
It is very simple and easy to change food habits.
I am not asking you to change to a vegetarian diet.
Two meals are sufficient, healthy breakfast and one major meal according to the life style.
One must never miss the breakfast (after all you are breaking the overnight fast).
At least carry a snack with you, if you have to run for the bus or train and eat it on the go, once you have boarded the transportation.
Fruits and nuts are for your breaks, if you have any, not tea and coffee.
Chocolates are OK but not Coca Cola.
Milk should be a daily accompaniment (think of the osteoporosis when you are 70) and soothing for your stomach and duodenum.
2. Things you have to STOP
There is no place for smoking in healthy living.
3. Drink in Moderation
That got to be alcohol (100 mg the most).
4. Never in Life
Never hashish.
They lead you to urge or try more potent ones.
5. Plenty in Life
Exercise in plenty.
6. Never not Enough
Good Friends are never enough.
7. Mental Culture
All waking hours.
My prescription is 3M (Minute Moment Meditation)
8. Plant Watching (my addition)
If your favorite pot plant is dying, there is something wrong with you.
I discourage keeping pet fish unless an aquarium keeper visits you at short notice.
It can be a pain.
I have plenty of pet Fish.
9. Games
Including computer games.
10. Grandchildren
Having grandchildren is a contentious issue.
I will leave at that.
Many more items can be fitted into this list of priorities and I do not intend to go beyond this point.
11. Summary
1. If you smoke, quit today.
Avoid Passive smoking!
2. Get plenty of exercise.
Walking is a great all around activity.
3. Limit your drinking or no alcohol.
4. Eat fruits, nuts and vegetables daily
5. Get enough sleep each night.
Sleep can help to recharge your immune systems as well as give you the energy you need each day.
6. Maintain a healthy weight.
Consider reducing starch, fat and meat in your diet.
7. Schedule your health checkups.
8. Become Educated.
Learn about medical conditions that you may have.
Or be at risk for developing.
9. Practice Meditation
Practice stress management.
Your emotions can affect your health.
10. Have a hobby (Minimum “Plant Watching”)
Practice simple computer games.
Frozen Bubble is my favorite with the cellphone
12. Balancing your Brain (my addition)
This is a concept I have developed on my own.
There are many techniques including learning a new language but less demanding ones can be formulated.
I have discussed this elsewhere!
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Sphere of Activity
Ambidextrous of Activity
Instead of a programmed or rigid life style, I am proposing a balancing act or the right and the left coordination technique, in daily living and practices.
It is simple.
Learn to use both hands.
If you are right handed in writing try to use left hand for toilet cleaning (wipe the back with the left hand with tissues or without tissues).
Try combing with the left hand on alternative days.
Try the same with shaving.
I believe one has to be ambidextrous when shaving anyway.
If you take Route A for your walk (not jogging) one day, the next day make it the Route B and reroute your walking (for example turning left, where you turned right the day before and vice versa).
Never take the same route in two consecutive days.
It is difficult but with perseverance one can reschedule the routes.
In other words become ambidextrous in all your activities.
I have observed many right handed people have left handed strokes.
I postulate the concept that when one neglects an activity over time, that side of the brain gets less blood flowing in day to day life. So I believe the atherosclerotic patches appear on blood vessels supplying, that side of the brain, first. Or may be when shower of fat particles leave a plaque from the aorta or its major branches, the slow circulation (narrow to begin with) has a greater chance of obstruction.
Mind you I have been teaching atherosclerosis all my life.
Its emphasis changed over time and current belief is it is due to inflammation that trigger thrombosis.
I am entitled to have my own views about atherosclerosis / thrombosis, saga.
I do not even believe the cholesterol theory since cholesterol is a vital biochemical molecule which even produce sex hormones.
Now they have changed the concept to free radical damage and oxidized cholesterol and scavenger receptors in macrophages having a role (going back to inflammation theory).
So trying to promote blood flow to the non dominant side of the brain by actively promoting ambidextrous activity is a plausible strategy.
This I believe is very healthy but a simple method and prevent strokes on the non dominant side of the brain.
I would expand on this further stating that learning a second language promote the activity of the creative brain or the non dominant brain and the second language is located on the right side (the activities are represented in the opposite side of the brain due to crisscrossing of nerve fibers in the brain stem).
In actual fact the evolution has promoted this by design but we tend to neglect.
The Chinese are adept at using both hands.
The ancient Chinese wisdom was to promote children to be ambidextrous and knitting embroidery, crotchet are Chinese inventions.
My mother who lived up to nineties was a good exponent of these dying arts.
She also possessed the ability of two languages, thanks to British education.
Sphere of Activity
Few lines about sphere of activity is in order.
My definition of sphere of activity is the extent of the expansion of your geographical movement in your daily activities including work, shopping, going to the library or bookshops or any recreational activity, including meditation and religious activities.
That covers a lot and unfortunately the cellphone extends your sphere of activity beyond the shores.
I consider telephone as a hindrance except when one travels aboard.
The car also expands it.
I believe in reducing the sphere of activity to the minimum functionality one needs for survival.
Of course it reduces the traffic-jams of present day and one less person on the road is better for this planet wellbeing (less fuming exhaust).
Why go to a meditation retreat when one can do “Moment Meditation” or “Plant Watching” as an exercise at home?
Instead of a programmed or rigid life style, I am proposing a balancing act or the right and the left coordination technique, in daily living and practices.
It is simple.
Learn to use both hands.
If you are right handed in writing try to use left hand for toilet cleaning (wipe the back with the left hand with tissues or without tissues).
Try combing with the left hand on alternative days.
Try the same with shaving.
I believe one has to be ambidextrous when shaving anyway.
If you take Route A for your walk (not jogging) one day, the next day make it the Route B and reroute your walking (for example turning left, where you turned right the day before and vice versa).
Never take the same route in two consecutive days.
It is difficult but with perseverance one can reschedule the routes.
In other words become ambidextrous in all your activities.
I have observed many right handed people have left handed strokes.
I postulate the concept that when one neglects an activity over time, that side of the brain gets less blood flowing in day to day life. So I believe the atherosclerotic patches appear on blood vessels supplying, that side of the brain, first. Or may be when shower of fat particles leave a plaque from the aorta or its major branches, the slow circulation (narrow to begin with) has a greater chance of obstruction.
Mind you I have been teaching atherosclerosis all my life.
Its emphasis changed over time and current belief is it is due to inflammation that trigger thrombosis.
I am entitled to have my own views about atherosclerosis / thrombosis, saga.
I do not even believe the cholesterol theory since cholesterol is a vital biochemical molecule which even produce sex hormones.
Now they have changed the concept to free radical damage and oxidized cholesterol and scavenger receptors in macrophages having a role (going back to inflammation theory).
So trying to promote blood flow to the non dominant side of the brain by actively promoting ambidextrous activity is a plausible strategy.
This I believe is very healthy but a simple method and prevent strokes on the non dominant side of the brain.
I would expand on this further stating that learning a second language promote the activity of the creative brain or the non dominant brain and the second language is located on the right side (the activities are represented in the opposite side of the brain due to crisscrossing of nerve fibers in the brain stem).
In actual fact the evolution has promoted this by design but we tend to neglect.
The Chinese are adept at using both hands.
The ancient Chinese wisdom was to promote children to be ambidextrous and knitting embroidery, crotchet are Chinese inventions.
My mother who lived up to nineties was a good exponent of these dying arts.
She also possessed the ability of two languages, thanks to British education.
Sphere of Activity
Few lines about sphere of activity is in order.
My definition of sphere of activity is the extent of the expansion of your geographical movement in your daily activities including work, shopping, going to the library or bookshops or any recreational activity, including meditation and religious activities.
That covers a lot and unfortunately the cellphone extends your sphere of activity beyond the shores.
I consider telephone as a hindrance except when one travels aboard.
The car also expands it.
I believe in reducing the sphere of activity to the minimum functionality one needs for survival.
Of course it reduces the traffic-jams of present day and one less person on the road is better for this planet wellbeing (less fuming exhaust).
Why go to a meditation retreat when one can do “Moment Meditation” or “Plant Watching” as an exercise at home?
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Plant Watching
Plant Watching
Super market chains, convenient in many ways, allowing the customer to buy some chocolates and a tot on the way home can play a significant role in “trend setting”. At least is in the West most of the established supermarkets have garden centers incorporated in the complex so that gardening is encouraged especially, the indoor variety. Unlike here, every year the gardener has to redo quite regimental in practice, what he did the year before if he or she wants to keep the garden good looking in spring and summer. The gardening is an expensive hobby there and most of them turn to indoor plants as an alternative to expensive outdoor gardening. So on there way home in addition to a tot most of them buy a sturdy indoor (tropical) plant (with a leaflet on how to care the plant).
This is an important hobby of majority of the healthy elderly pensioners who had made their contribution to their country when they were young and hearty. The secret of their health is when they were young and healthy they did their jobs to best of their abilities however menial the jobs would have been (dignity of labour) with dedication (which is lacking in this parts of the world) and in retirement (because of their good work habits when young) keep on doing worth while pastimes which include gardening.
Them taking a tot I do not find disruptive (part of their secret for not getting heart attacks) and the added calories they consumed were easily dissipated in their daily healthy activities (this is not true of the new breed of yuppies). Outdoor gardening apart the indoor gardening adds a new dimension to their life in winter. The outdoor activities are curtailed because of the inclement winter weather and looking after the indoor plant is also not easy due to dry conditions. Equally keeping indoors warm is difficult and expensive. If the indoor plants look unhealthy it is a sure sign something amiss in the household. Some help is needed either financially or otherwise. So plant watching is a health indicator in that setup and the pensioner who looks after their plants well looks after his or her health too. Unfortunately this is rapidly changing for the middle class in the West and only the rich can enjoy their retirement.
Unlike here there are no meditation practices and watching the indoor plant for five minutes is a close substitute (approximates its health contribution in many ways) to a well trained-mind of meditation practice, especially if it is done without any attachment to the plant for its own well being.
In other words it is the practice of equanimity.
Watching for signs of ill health in the leaves and watering and adding a bit of mineral support as and when necessary and making this a daily routine is very satisfying. Instead sitting in front of the idiot box this is what most of the elderly did in the yesteryear.
So plant watching is bit of meditation practice for the elderly in the west.
So what about our pensioners in general?
The pittance they get as their pensions would drive most of them to either madness or depression if not for the extended family support. This was true of my father and my father in law.
Why most of them do not commit suicide is something worth pondering?
Probably most of them lived an austerity life all their life and living on pension was no different with their inborn tolerance.
Probably the other reason is Buddhist attitude to life.
Any government, industry and business community that ignore senior citizens having utilized their human labour when young is not worth considering as equal opportunity partners or clients. Global economy is casting a dark shadow on senior citizens and they are treated as economic waste and outcasts. Unfortunately countries like us trapped in their aid packages are advising the opposite of the responsibility and concern in good governance.
Meditation and plant watching are not the exercises that I recommend.
Human rights, equal opportunity and dignity are important issues to elderly.
Resigning them to elderly homes is not the solution if they are healthy both physically and mentally. If they are medically incapacitated some form of medical insurance is mandatory. Most of the paid insurances have hidden clauses and not worth considering.
Examples are hearing and vision impairment.
A set of denture is not within their finances.
They are fading away like a plant without water. That is a bit of meditation one should do when watering plants.
In a country where legislators are given a pension after five-year stint and ex-presidents are given such important packages, this is an anomaly, an aberration and an example par excellence of double-dealing. Please give some respect and dignity to the elderly. Just talk a bit and spend some time with them whenever an opportunity comes one’s way.
That probably is the best Christmas gift one can give without any expense.
What made me to write this was watching a few pensioners (either separated from their family or living alone) doing their shopping for a “chummery”. They were chopping many other items in their shopping list for their favorite drink
Chocolates not included.
Super market chains, convenient in many ways, allowing the customer to buy some chocolates and a tot on the way home can play a significant role in “trend setting”. At least is in the West most of the established supermarkets have garden centers incorporated in the complex so that gardening is encouraged especially, the indoor variety. Unlike here, every year the gardener has to redo quite regimental in practice, what he did the year before if he or she wants to keep the garden good looking in spring and summer. The gardening is an expensive hobby there and most of them turn to indoor plants as an alternative to expensive outdoor gardening. So on there way home in addition to a tot most of them buy a sturdy indoor (tropical) plant (with a leaflet on how to care the plant).
This is an important hobby of majority of the healthy elderly pensioners who had made their contribution to their country when they were young and hearty. The secret of their health is when they were young and healthy they did their jobs to best of their abilities however menial the jobs would have been (dignity of labour) with dedication (which is lacking in this parts of the world) and in retirement (because of their good work habits when young) keep on doing worth while pastimes which include gardening.
Them taking a tot I do not find disruptive (part of their secret for not getting heart attacks) and the added calories they consumed were easily dissipated in their daily healthy activities (this is not true of the new breed of yuppies). Outdoor gardening apart the indoor gardening adds a new dimension to their life in winter. The outdoor activities are curtailed because of the inclement winter weather and looking after the indoor plant is also not easy due to dry conditions. Equally keeping indoors warm is difficult and expensive. If the indoor plants look unhealthy it is a sure sign something amiss in the household. Some help is needed either financially or otherwise. So plant watching is a health indicator in that setup and the pensioner who looks after their plants well looks after his or her health too. Unfortunately this is rapidly changing for the middle class in the West and only the rich can enjoy their retirement.
Unlike here there are no meditation practices and watching the indoor plant for five minutes is a close substitute (approximates its health contribution in many ways) to a well trained-mind of meditation practice, especially if it is done without any attachment to the plant for its own well being.
In other words it is the practice of equanimity.
Watching for signs of ill health in the leaves and watering and adding a bit of mineral support as and when necessary and making this a daily routine is very satisfying. Instead sitting in front of the idiot box this is what most of the elderly did in the yesteryear.
So plant watching is bit of meditation practice for the elderly in the west.
So what about our pensioners in general?
The pittance they get as their pensions would drive most of them to either madness or depression if not for the extended family support. This was true of my father and my father in law.
Why most of them do not commit suicide is something worth pondering?
Probably most of them lived an austerity life all their life and living on pension was no different with their inborn tolerance.
Probably the other reason is Buddhist attitude to life.
Any government, industry and business community that ignore senior citizens having utilized their human labour when young is not worth considering as equal opportunity partners or clients. Global economy is casting a dark shadow on senior citizens and they are treated as economic waste and outcasts. Unfortunately countries like us trapped in their aid packages are advising the opposite of the responsibility and concern in good governance.
Meditation and plant watching are not the exercises that I recommend.
Human rights, equal opportunity and dignity are important issues to elderly.
Resigning them to elderly homes is not the solution if they are healthy both physically and mentally. If they are medically incapacitated some form of medical insurance is mandatory. Most of the paid insurances have hidden clauses and not worth considering.
Examples are hearing and vision impairment.
A set of denture is not within their finances.
They are fading away like a plant without water. That is a bit of meditation one should do when watering plants.
In a country where legislators are given a pension after five-year stint and ex-presidents are given such important packages, this is an anomaly, an aberration and an example par excellence of double-dealing. Please give some respect and dignity to the elderly. Just talk a bit and spend some time with them whenever an opportunity comes one’s way.
That probably is the best Christmas gift one can give without any expense.
What made me to write this was watching a few pensioners (either separated from their family or living alone) doing their shopping for a “chummery”. They were chopping many other items in their shopping list for their favorite drink
Chocolates not included.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Secrets of Long life
Secrets of Long life
I was on a long holiday and that was the longest for over a decade. One week holiday for me is very long and holidays any longer than that would kill me of boredom. In my profession there is nothing called “Long Holidays” and even on holidays people would approach you with some bizarre problems and I pretend not to be a doctor and amazingly some even have questioned my credentials confused as they often are.
I only get bemused in such an occasion and pretend not to be, aggravating their own confusion further.
I have digressed and delayed this writing so long, it is time for me to get to the job at hand.
Nobody seems to have addressed this issue of long life of our yesteryear Buddhist monks and their secrets.
I have a list of reasons and they are listed not in any order of merits.
However, I would like to address one or two of them in detail.
1. Simple Monastery Life
2. Vegetarian Diet
3. Meditation Practice
4. Rituals like Recitation of Stanzas by Heart
5. Multi-language Capability (as many as six to eight)
6. Wondering life style (No fixed aboard)
7. Village Life Style
8. Simple exercises like walking from temple to temple
It is now emerging in the West that not only physical activity but also mental activity and alertness enhance long life.
The key elements on recent research are
1. Speed of Action (mental activity),
2. Reasoning
3. Memory
Even though, the memory scores low in the above study mentioned, yesteryear Buddhist monks in meditation practiced these activities very well and that would have been the secret of their long life.
For the mind which is always active and to freeze its attention and to hold this attention to whatever the element of meditation, the speed is the vital element.
The focus of attention is something they were adept at and the speed at which they went into trance states are probably a testament to their devotion to task at hand.
The core elements of Buddhism are based on reasoning of ones happiness or suffering they were brought up as seasoned thinkers.
Even though, they avoided argumentation (not all) they were thinkers of a different kind with a focus on one object i.e. The Nibbana.
Memory power needs no elaboration since stanzas were handed down for many centuries by heart till they were documented later. Even then they practiced verbal tradition without books for a long time. Putting the verses down on ola leaves was more difficult (before the print media) than remembering them by heart.
I have my own analysis of the medical matters.
It is quite evident most of the strokes occur on the left side in patients with dominant right hand. The right hand dominance may have contributed to the premature atrophy and low flow of blood to the right side (activities are represented on the opposite side of the brain) of the brain with atherosclerosis.
My interest is more on the ability of these monks on many languages. It is emerging that the mother tongue is localized to one side of the brain and the second and third languages are localized to the other side in general terms. So they have been using both sides of the brain throughout their life and the meditation especially the "Metta Meditation" brings a balance of blood flow to both sides of the brain especially to the deep hidden parts of the brain.
That probably was their secret for long life.
My adaptation for the current century with IT and computer technology are as follows.
1. Start playing computer games (which require manual -ambidextrous-dexterity) when young and continue to play them when old
2. Learn many languages as possible other than ones mother tongue
3. Metta Meditation
I often wonder whether the present day monks practice any of those practiced by the yesteryear monks.
23rd of December, 2006
I was on a long holiday and that was the longest for over a decade. One week holiday for me is very long and holidays any longer than that would kill me of boredom. In my profession there is nothing called “Long Holidays” and even on holidays people would approach you with some bizarre problems and I pretend not to be a doctor and amazingly some even have questioned my credentials confused as they often are.
I only get bemused in such an occasion and pretend not to be, aggravating their own confusion further.
I have digressed and delayed this writing so long, it is time for me to get to the job at hand.
Nobody seems to have addressed this issue of long life of our yesteryear Buddhist monks and their secrets.
I have a list of reasons and they are listed not in any order of merits.
However, I would like to address one or two of them in detail.
1. Simple Monastery Life
2. Vegetarian Diet
3. Meditation Practice
4. Rituals like Recitation of Stanzas by Heart
5. Multi-language Capability (as many as six to eight)
6. Wondering life style (No fixed aboard)
7. Village Life Style
8. Simple exercises like walking from temple to temple
It is now emerging in the West that not only physical activity but also mental activity and alertness enhance long life.
The key elements on recent research are
1. Speed of Action (mental activity),
2. Reasoning
3. Memory
Even though, the memory scores low in the above study mentioned, yesteryear Buddhist monks in meditation practiced these activities very well and that would have been the secret of their long life.
For the mind which is always active and to freeze its attention and to hold this attention to whatever the element of meditation, the speed is the vital element.
The focus of attention is something they were adept at and the speed at which they went into trance states are probably a testament to their devotion to task at hand.
The core elements of Buddhism are based on reasoning of ones happiness or suffering they were brought up as seasoned thinkers.
Even though, they avoided argumentation (not all) they were thinkers of a different kind with a focus on one object i.e. The Nibbana.
Memory power needs no elaboration since stanzas were handed down for many centuries by heart till they were documented later. Even then they practiced verbal tradition without books for a long time. Putting the verses down on ola leaves was more difficult (before the print media) than remembering them by heart.
I have my own analysis of the medical matters.
It is quite evident most of the strokes occur on the left side in patients with dominant right hand. The right hand dominance may have contributed to the premature atrophy and low flow of blood to the right side (activities are represented on the opposite side of the brain) of the brain with atherosclerosis.
My interest is more on the ability of these monks on many languages. It is emerging that the mother tongue is localized to one side of the brain and the second and third languages are localized to the other side in general terms. So they have been using both sides of the brain throughout their life and the meditation especially the "Metta Meditation" brings a balance of blood flow to both sides of the brain especially to the deep hidden parts of the brain.
That probably was their secret for long life.
My adaptation for the current century with IT and computer technology are as follows.
1. Start playing computer games (which require manual -ambidextrous-dexterity) when young and continue to play them when old
2. Learn many languages as possible other than ones mother tongue
3. Metta Meditation
I often wonder whether the present day monks practice any of those practiced by the yesteryear monks.
23rd of December, 2006
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Sri-Lankan Prehistoric Data
Ceylon Prehistoric Data
Millions and millions of years ago, the continents of Antarctica, Australia, Africa, South America, and India formed a single landmass, situated somewhere near Antarctica.
This landmass, named Gondwanaland, then broke up.
India with Sri Lanka and Madagascar attached moved upward into Asia.
My theory proposes a different context to the above mentioned statements.
Today, India and Sri Lanka stand on the same ocean shelf. The continental shelf has an average width of about 12 miles around the island, where the mean depth of water is only about 200 feet, beyond which there is an abrupt drop to 3000 feet roughly two miles from the shore. Within 10 miles it drops further to 6000 feet and eventually plunging deep to 18,000 feet.
About 12 million years ago, Sri Lanka started to separate from the Indian subcontinent due to fluctuations in the sea level. Siran Deraniyagala says that the sea level would have dropped on at least 17 occasions within the last 700,000 years.
The last separation from India would have occurred about 10,000 years ago.
During the Stone Age, Sri Lanka was linked to India by a wide land bridge across Palk Strait.
Today, the sea is barely 100 feet deep in the Palk Strait due to limestone deposition.
Prehistoric data are rudimentary in our context and a global picture cannot be made from the available archaeological data.
There are many reasons but for completeness, sake I would briefly mention only a few.
Number one is we never had the scientific inclination to record events accurately. The period before 2500 years is only a folklore and romantic tales of many inaccuracies.
The prehistoric man probably lived in caves. They had to share these caves with the big cats, if there were any. It was probably the battle between the man and the beast. Probably the man won most of the battles due to their shear numbers and the winning outcome provided meat for subsistence.
When the last of the colonizers arrived from India, there would have been pitch battles which were deliberately deleted from our history books.
Probably our real ancestors retreated and few probably survived as Vaddhas in the jungles and caves.
The colonizers probably brought in diseases with them including small pox, which would have wiped out many natives (almost to extinction).
I have some reservation about the current Veddhas.
There is hardly any difference from the main race except their rudimentary language. I believe they were drifters from the main stream who preferred hunting as opposed to rigidly imposed Buddhist way of life.
Then of course some of the Buddhist monks with the inclination for meditation practices occupied most of the accessible caves as their birth right.
They of course destroyed any evidence of or any remnants of prehistoric life for good.
Another conjecture here is that most of the caves of prehistoric importance have taken the name of Alu Lena meaning caves with ash.
What it means may be that the prehistoric evidence were torched to ashes before converting them to temples by the occupants (mostly Buddhist monks).
I am puzzled why the new colonizers, the rulers, monks and civilians destroyed these artifacts.
One possibility was that they were scared of the demons in these caves and pulverized everything that was prehistoric.
I do not want to believe that scenario since Buddhist monks have Pirith or vocal recitals to protect them.
I am inclined to believe the destruction of any artifacts left, going back to 10,000 years was a deliberate act to conceal or suppress the unwritten history probably, the most intense warfare in Ceylonese history, the ancient man had with the new visitors from India.
They would have left bony evidence of violence and multiple fractures and pulverizing them to ashes was the only option left for the victors.
When the colonizers of the West came in 2000 years later they did not have any on record of the ancient man to write about.
The archaeological collections I have extracted from various sources are stated below.
One must take them with a pinch of salt.
The interpretations, if not biased may be largely exaggerated.
They are not my interpretations.
My Interpretations
However, I would like to go back to my theory of the Origin of Ceylon with some slant to the prehistoric findings.
There were evidence of sea shells found in the interior of the country such as Kitulgala (2000 feet above sea level) and Balangoda (2000 to 3000 feet above sea level) plain.
If I repeat the three uplifts of the landmass of Ceylon, it would appear that present Kitulgala and Balangoda would have been under sea water many million years ago.
The first peneplain formed after the original uplift due to the meteorite hit remained at 500 to 1000 feet.
This is probably the current lower plains of the coastal region from sea to the foothills.
The second uplift contributed another 1000 to 2000 feet making the second peneplain at a level of 1500 to 2500 feet. Kandyan Plateau at a higher level and Balangoda Plateau at a lower level.
The third or fourth uplift made the hills in the middle of the country with rugged peneplain that rose up to 8000 feet forming mountain ranges.
What it mean is that the final and the massive uplift due to the last meteorite contributed 4000 to 5000 feet of height to the landmass.
Now Kitulgala is around 2000 feet above sea level which is close to Ginigathhena Gap through which the road enters the hill country. This region could have been under water before second uplift of the landmass. The second uplift would have brought the seabed with it sea shells up and some of which got trapped between the two peneplains.
Kitulgala and Balangoda are located in the border zone where the gaps that leads to the upcountry are formed due to erosion.
Of course Ginigathhena was where the trade passed through from the coast to the upcountry. Any trader would have brought sea shells there. That is the explanation given by the archaeologists (see below).
My counter argument is by the time the sea shells were brought in from the sea (unless very well preserved) they would be rotten (once in Kitulgala).
Far better one eats them where they originated, in the coastal zone, instead of trading with the hill country folks.
Of course sea salt was one ingredient that came up through the pass even in the prehistoric time (for preserving food).
The word Bellan in Sinhala means shells.
The word Alu means ashes.
Archaeological excavations indicate that there were prehistoric settlements in Sri Lanka about 300,000 or even 500,000 years ago. There is firm evidence at present that there were prehistoric settlements in Sri Lanka about 127,000 years ago. The evidence comes from excavations in coast of Bundala, at Patirajawela, and Wellegangoda. Settlements of the prehistoric period, known as the Stone Age, dating between 125,000-1000 BCE, have been found at Pidurangala, Patana, Dambulla and Mapagala. Settlements of the proto-historic period known as the early Iron Age, dating from 1000-500 BCE have emerged at Ibbankatuwa and Pansalgodella. Other possible sites for early iron age settlements are Kadurugoda, Mantota, and Kelaniya.
People first settled in the coastal zones, and then moved up to fertile tracts and to locations, in the central hills where there were mineral resources.
Evidence of settlements could be found in Kitulgala, Karadupone and Ravana Ella, all entry points to the hills.
The central hills were mined for gems in the prehistoric period. There are remnants of camps, and caves in the wet zone. The camps were small, suggesting occupation by not more than a couple of nuclear families at most. Almost all were close to a stream or spring or were at the confluence of the tributaries with the main river. The network of footpaths that link the existing Purana villages today, pass through most of the sites identified. So it is possible that many of these footpaths were in existence during early times. The earliest villages may have been about 3 hectares each.
The occurrence of marine shells at inland sites such as Batadomba Lena (Diva Guhava) points to an extensive network of contacts (Batandomba lena is a pre historic cave system in Sudagala, 5 km away from the town of Kuruwita) between the coast and the hinterland. There is evidence from Belilena that salt had been brought in from the coast at a date more than 32,000 years ago.
The earliest form of cultivation was chena and kurakkan was the earliest food. Kurakkan came here in 10,000 BCE. It is a very hardy grain and was used as a substitute for rice.
There were many varieties of kurakkans.
Rice cultivation can be seen from about 250 BCE. Wetland rice cultivation in its early form was an indigenous development.
Excavations at Fa Hien Lena near Bulathsinhala, Batadomba lena, near Kuruwita, Belilena, at Kitulgala (Belilena is a famous large cave in Sri Lanka. It is located 8 km from the town of Kitulgala. It holds evidence of a lost generation of Sri Lankans some 12,000 years old.), Alu lena at Attanagoda near Kegalle, Bellan Bandi Palassa near Embilipitiya and Bandarawela, provided information on the early settlers and their habitat.
Fragmentary remains of an extinct race of Neanderthal Man were found. Fa Hien Lena yielded the earliest evidence of anatomically modern man in South Asia.
He was labeled Balangoda Man.
Balangoda Man was at an estimated height of 174 cm for males and 166 for females. The bones were robust, with thick skull bones. The teeth were conspicuously large. Balangoda Man appears to have settled practically every nook and comer of Sri Lanka ranging from the damp and cold high plains such as Maha Eliya (Horton Plains) to the and lowlands of Mannar and Wilpattu and the equatorial rain forests of Sabaragamuwa.
The camps were invariably small thus suggesting occupation by not more than a couple of nuclear families at most. They have eaten a very wide range of food plants and animals. They ate wild breadfruit and wild bananas.
They have gobbled up every conceivable animal, from elephants to snakes, rats, snails and small fish. Tortoises and terrapins probably had been consumed. The diet has been well balanced judging by the robust skeletal remains.
Balangoda man, like stone age man elsewhere, had succeeded in domesticating the dog, about 7500 years ago.
Remains of early iron age man had been found in just one site, Pomparippu. The biological anthropology of this Early Iron Age man is different to that of Balangoda Man.
Fossils of animals and plants from the Jurassic period (I have my doubt about dating this far into 65 million years) have been found at Tabbowa wewa. Fossil bones of rhinoceros were found in Ratnapura. Tigers inhabited Sri Lanka about 135,000 years ago. Their bones and teeth were found at Batadomba Lena recently. Fossils of hippopotamus, the ridge browed elephant, the Asian elephant, the buffalo, the gaur, (The gaur, Bos gaurus, also called Indian bison, is the largest extant bovine, native to South Asia and Southeast Asia)and the rhinoceros have also emerged.
The island appears to have been colonized by the Balangoda Man (named after the area where his remains were discovered) prior to 34,000. They have been identified as a group of Mesolithic hunter gatherers who lived in caves.
Fa Hien Cave has yielded the earliest evidence (at 34,000 years) of anatomically modern humans in South Asia.
Several of these caves including the well known Batadombalena and the Fa Hien Cave have yielded many artifacts that points to them being the first modern inhabitants of the island. There is evidence from Beli-lena that salt had been brought in from the coast earlier than 27,000 years.
Several minute granite tools of about 4 centimeters in length, earthenware and remnants of charred timber, and clay burial pots that date back to the Stone Age Mesolithic people who lived 8,000 years ago have been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Varana Raja Maha vihara and also in Kalatuwawa area.
The skeletal remains of dogs from Nilgala cave and from Bellanbandi Palassa, dating from the Mesolithic era, about 4500 BCE, suggest that Balangoda People may have kept domestic dogs for driving game. The Sinhala hound is similar in appearance to the Kadar Dog, the New Guinea Dog and the Dingo. It has been suggested that these could all derive from a common domestic stock. It is also possible that they may have domesticated jungle fowl, pig, water buffalo and some form of Bos (possibly the ancestor of the Sri Lankan cattle which became extinct in the 1940s).
The Balangoda Man appears to have been responsible for creating Horton Plains, in the central hills, by burning the trees in order to catch game. However, evidence from the plains suggests the incipient management of Oats and Barley by about 15,000 BCE.
The transition in Sri Lanka from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age has not been adequately documented.
A human skeleton found at Godavaya in the Hambantota district, provisionally dated back to 3000 - 5000 BCE was accompanied by tools of animal bone and stone.
Iron Age
A large settlement appears to have been founded before 900 BCE at the site of Anuradhapura where signs of an Iron Age culture have been found. The size of the settlement was about 15 hectares at the beginning but it expanded to 50 hectares, to a 'town' size within a couple of centuries.
A similar site has been discovered at Aligala in Sigiriya.
Millions and millions of years ago, the continents of Antarctica, Australia, Africa, South America, and India formed a single landmass, situated somewhere near Antarctica.
This landmass, named Gondwanaland, then broke up.
India with Sri Lanka and Madagascar attached moved upward into Asia.
My theory proposes a different context to the above mentioned statements.
Today, India and Sri Lanka stand on the same ocean shelf. The continental shelf has an average width of about 12 miles around the island, where the mean depth of water is only about 200 feet, beyond which there is an abrupt drop to 3000 feet roughly two miles from the shore. Within 10 miles it drops further to 6000 feet and eventually plunging deep to 18,000 feet.
About 12 million years ago, Sri Lanka started to separate from the Indian subcontinent due to fluctuations in the sea level. Siran Deraniyagala says that the sea level would have dropped on at least 17 occasions within the last 700,000 years.
The last separation from India would have occurred about 10,000 years ago.
During the Stone Age, Sri Lanka was linked to India by a wide land bridge across Palk Strait.
Today, the sea is barely 100 feet deep in the Palk Strait due to limestone deposition.
Prehistoric data are rudimentary in our context and a global picture cannot be made from the available archaeological data.
There are many reasons but for completeness, sake I would briefly mention only a few.
Number one is we never had the scientific inclination to record events accurately. The period before 2500 years is only a folklore and romantic tales of many inaccuracies.
The prehistoric man probably lived in caves. They had to share these caves with the big cats, if there were any. It was probably the battle between the man and the beast. Probably the man won most of the battles due to their shear numbers and the winning outcome provided meat for subsistence.
When the last of the colonizers arrived from India, there would have been pitch battles which were deliberately deleted from our history books.
Probably our real ancestors retreated and few probably survived as Vaddhas in the jungles and caves.
The colonizers probably brought in diseases with them including small pox, which would have wiped out many natives (almost to extinction).
I have some reservation about the current Veddhas.
There is hardly any difference from the main race except their rudimentary language. I believe they were drifters from the main stream who preferred hunting as opposed to rigidly imposed Buddhist way of life.
Then of course some of the Buddhist monks with the inclination for meditation practices occupied most of the accessible caves as their birth right.
They of course destroyed any evidence of or any remnants of prehistoric life for good.
Another conjecture here is that most of the caves of prehistoric importance have taken the name of Alu Lena meaning caves with ash.
What it means may be that the prehistoric evidence were torched to ashes before converting them to temples by the occupants (mostly Buddhist monks).
I am puzzled why the new colonizers, the rulers, monks and civilians destroyed these artifacts.
One possibility was that they were scared of the demons in these caves and pulverized everything that was prehistoric.
I do not want to believe that scenario since Buddhist monks have Pirith or vocal recitals to protect them.
I am inclined to believe the destruction of any artifacts left, going back to 10,000 years was a deliberate act to conceal or suppress the unwritten history probably, the most intense warfare in Ceylonese history, the ancient man had with the new visitors from India.
They would have left bony evidence of violence and multiple fractures and pulverizing them to ashes was the only option left for the victors.
When the colonizers of the West came in 2000 years later they did not have any on record of the ancient man to write about.
The archaeological collections I have extracted from various sources are stated below.
One must take them with a pinch of salt.
The interpretations, if not biased may be largely exaggerated.
They are not my interpretations.
My Interpretations
However, I would like to go back to my theory of the Origin of Ceylon with some slant to the prehistoric findings.
There were evidence of sea shells found in the interior of the country such as Kitulgala (2000 feet above sea level) and Balangoda (2000 to 3000 feet above sea level) plain.
If I repeat the three uplifts of the landmass of Ceylon, it would appear that present Kitulgala and Balangoda would have been under sea water many million years ago.
The first peneplain formed after the original uplift due to the meteorite hit remained at 500 to 1000 feet.
This is probably the current lower plains of the coastal region from sea to the foothills.
The second uplift contributed another 1000 to 2000 feet making the second peneplain at a level of 1500 to 2500 feet. Kandyan Plateau at a higher level and Balangoda Plateau at a lower level.
The third or fourth uplift made the hills in the middle of the country with rugged peneplain that rose up to 8000 feet forming mountain ranges.
What it mean is that the final and the massive uplift due to the last meteorite contributed 4000 to 5000 feet of height to the landmass.
Now Kitulgala is around 2000 feet above sea level which is close to Ginigathhena Gap through which the road enters the hill country. This region could have been under water before second uplift of the landmass. The second uplift would have brought the seabed with it sea shells up and some of which got trapped between the two peneplains.
Kitulgala and Balangoda are located in the border zone where the gaps that leads to the upcountry are formed due to erosion.
Of course Ginigathhena was where the trade passed through from the coast to the upcountry. Any trader would have brought sea shells there. That is the explanation given by the archaeologists (see below).
My counter argument is by the time the sea shells were brought in from the sea (unless very well preserved) they would be rotten (once in Kitulgala).
Far better one eats them where they originated, in the coastal zone, instead of trading with the hill country folks.
Of course sea salt was one ingredient that came up through the pass even in the prehistoric time (for preserving food).
The word Bellan in Sinhala means shells.
The word Alu means ashes.
Archaeological excavations indicate that there were prehistoric settlements in Sri Lanka about 300,000 or even 500,000 years ago. There is firm evidence at present that there were prehistoric settlements in Sri Lanka about 127,000 years ago. The evidence comes from excavations in coast of Bundala, at Patirajawela, and Wellegangoda. Settlements of the prehistoric period, known as the Stone Age, dating between 125,000-1000 BCE, have been found at Pidurangala, Patana, Dambulla and Mapagala. Settlements of the proto-historic period known as the early Iron Age, dating from 1000-500 BCE have emerged at Ibbankatuwa and Pansalgodella. Other possible sites for early iron age settlements are Kadurugoda, Mantota, and Kelaniya.
People first settled in the coastal zones, and then moved up to fertile tracts and to locations, in the central hills where there were mineral resources.
Evidence of settlements could be found in Kitulgala, Karadupone and Ravana Ella, all entry points to the hills.
The central hills were mined for gems in the prehistoric period. There are remnants of camps, and caves in the wet zone. The camps were small, suggesting occupation by not more than a couple of nuclear families at most. Almost all were close to a stream or spring or were at the confluence of the tributaries with the main river. The network of footpaths that link the existing Purana villages today, pass through most of the sites identified. So it is possible that many of these footpaths were in existence during early times. The earliest villages may have been about 3 hectares each.
The occurrence of marine shells at inland sites such as Batadomba Lena (Diva Guhava) points to an extensive network of contacts (Batandomba lena is a pre historic cave system in Sudagala, 5 km away from the town of Kuruwita) between the coast and the hinterland. There is evidence from Belilena that salt had been brought in from the coast at a date more than 32,000 years ago.
The earliest form of cultivation was chena and kurakkan was the earliest food. Kurakkan came here in 10,000 BCE. It is a very hardy grain and was used as a substitute for rice.
There were many varieties of kurakkans.
Rice cultivation can be seen from about 250 BCE. Wetland rice cultivation in its early form was an indigenous development.
Excavations at Fa Hien Lena near Bulathsinhala, Batadomba lena, near Kuruwita, Belilena, at Kitulgala (Belilena is a famous large cave in Sri Lanka. It is located 8 km from the town of Kitulgala. It holds evidence of a lost generation of Sri Lankans some 12,000 years old.), Alu lena at Attanagoda near Kegalle, Bellan Bandi Palassa near Embilipitiya and Bandarawela, provided information on the early settlers and their habitat.
Fragmentary remains of an extinct race of Neanderthal Man were found. Fa Hien Lena yielded the earliest evidence of anatomically modern man in South Asia.
He was labeled Balangoda Man.
Balangoda Man was at an estimated height of 174 cm for males and 166 for females. The bones were robust, with thick skull bones. The teeth were conspicuously large. Balangoda Man appears to have settled practically every nook and comer of Sri Lanka ranging from the damp and cold high plains such as Maha Eliya (Horton Plains) to the and lowlands of Mannar and Wilpattu and the equatorial rain forests of Sabaragamuwa.
The camps were invariably small thus suggesting occupation by not more than a couple of nuclear families at most. They have eaten a very wide range of food plants and animals. They ate wild breadfruit and wild bananas.
They have gobbled up every conceivable animal, from elephants to snakes, rats, snails and small fish. Tortoises and terrapins probably had been consumed. The diet has been well balanced judging by the robust skeletal remains.
Balangoda man, like stone age man elsewhere, had succeeded in domesticating the dog, about 7500 years ago.
Remains of early iron age man had been found in just one site, Pomparippu. The biological anthropology of this Early Iron Age man is different to that of Balangoda Man.
Fossils of animals and plants from the Jurassic period (I have my doubt about dating this far into 65 million years) have been found at Tabbowa wewa. Fossil bones of rhinoceros were found in Ratnapura. Tigers inhabited Sri Lanka about 135,000 years ago. Their bones and teeth were found at Batadomba Lena recently. Fossils of hippopotamus, the ridge browed elephant, the Asian elephant, the buffalo, the gaur, (The gaur, Bos gaurus, also called Indian bison, is the largest extant bovine, native to South Asia and Southeast Asia)and the rhinoceros have also emerged.
The island appears to have been colonized by the Balangoda Man (named after the area where his remains were discovered) prior to 34,000. They have been identified as a group of Mesolithic hunter gatherers who lived in caves.
Fa Hien Cave has yielded the earliest evidence (at 34,000 years) of anatomically modern humans in South Asia.
Several of these caves including the well known Batadombalena and the Fa Hien Cave have yielded many artifacts that points to them being the first modern inhabitants of the island. There is evidence from Beli-lena that salt had been brought in from the coast earlier than 27,000 years.
Several minute granite tools of about 4 centimeters in length, earthenware and remnants of charred timber, and clay burial pots that date back to the Stone Age Mesolithic people who lived 8,000 years ago have been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Varana Raja Maha vihara and also in Kalatuwawa area.
The skeletal remains of dogs from Nilgala cave and from Bellanbandi Palassa, dating from the Mesolithic era, about 4500 BCE, suggest that Balangoda People may have kept domestic dogs for driving game. The Sinhala hound is similar in appearance to the Kadar Dog, the New Guinea Dog and the Dingo. It has been suggested that these could all derive from a common domestic stock. It is also possible that they may have domesticated jungle fowl, pig, water buffalo and some form of Bos (possibly the ancestor of the Sri Lankan cattle which became extinct in the 1940s).
The Balangoda Man appears to have been responsible for creating Horton Plains, in the central hills, by burning the trees in order to catch game. However, evidence from the plains suggests the incipient management of Oats and Barley by about 15,000 BCE.
The transition in Sri Lanka from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age has not been adequately documented.
A human skeleton found at Godavaya in the Hambantota district, provisionally dated back to 3000 - 5000 BCE was accompanied by tools of animal bone and stone.
Iron Age
A large settlement appears to have been founded before 900 BCE at the site of Anuradhapura where signs of an Iron Age culture have been found. The size of the settlement was about 15 hectares at the beginning but it expanded to 50 hectares, to a 'town' size within a couple of centuries.
A similar site has been discovered at Aligala in Sigiriya.
Amazing Contrast of Ceylon
Amazing
Contrast of Ceylon
I
have just completed a book on Ceylon.
It
describes the amazing beauty with so many rivers and waterfalls.
I
have discussed the plight of our wild elephants briefly, where
Buddhist monks who preach Avihinsa (Metta) are involved in this
illicit trade of Baby Elephants Trade.
Not
only monks but some lower court judges involved.
Toady
I met my pharmacist who happened to be a Tamil gentleman.
He
told me he was fined Rs.25,000/= without any hearing after a visit by
the Flying Squad.
Offense
was having in the shelf for disposal, 5 tablets of date expired
medicine.
There
was no legal transaction at all.
I
can bet there is not a single pharmacy in this country, not having
drugs with expiry date in their shelves (including Government Stores).
What
is illegal is selling them not keeping it in a side shelf for
safe disposal.
This
Tamil gentleman was wrongfully fined.
Whereas
a monk who possessed illegally a baby elephant is protected.
The
corollary is, a Buddhist can violate common law with impunity but not
a Tamil Hindu.
This
is why I am against giving special status to Buddhism in the Constitution.
It
is the duty of the monks to protect the Dhamma, not Baby
Elephants illegally captured.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Palm Tree
Palm Tree
Torrential rains and inclement weather spared me some plant watching activity.
This time of course palm variety.
Looking outside from an advantage, a bird's eye view, I could see only one coconut tree about ten feet tall and probably of the same age with no signs of flowering.
Looking down the precipice a few out of the twenty odd palm trees that survived the dry spell has sprung into activity.
After a year long vigil and watering (when I had time) their survival was a bit of a miracle.
The soil not conducive and the water logging not possible (due to the incline) their survival may have been contributed by my vigil, perhaps.
Palms unlike the coconut (which loves the salty soil) are plants that love hot humid and muddy conditions, which support their roots with fungal symbiosis.
The torrential rain was the most conducive and for nearly a decade we did not have similar weather conditions.
I have tried all varieties including arecanut with no success over ten year period so my mind wondered the last time there was a spill over at Victoria Dam.
Incidentally this was after the elections and the change over from the previous regime to the present.
The saying prevalent at that time was “to wash the sins of the previous regime”.
This time whose sins I would not wonder or ponder!
Coming back to palm trees there are over 1000 ornamental varieties and they are very expensive and home delivered for the wealthy in United States.
In Sri-Lanka context, the “Cap Rukha”, the gifted plant is vandalized by the rich developers. Very soon they will be exported to US polythene wrapped. This is quite an irony.
I am not sure where the coconut, the arecanut and the Kithul tree's position in the merit order on the1000 palm trees of the gardener's guide to tropical trees.
I guess the Americans who are likely to be categorized very tall in the merit list of democracy do not like tall trees in their neighborhood.
Also their democratic nuts are not as hard as a coconut and they do not like the impact of coconut falling on their heads.
This is why the oil industry in America had a vicious campaign against coconut oil for nearly fifty years.
The real reason though is that they have lost their evolutionary talent like that of the monkeys in climbing trees and swinging from one tree to another.
Going from country to country and looking for ecological trouble spots is only a pastime.
This is where our politicians who have a coconut size head and arecanut (some of them peanut sized- the American variety) sized brains should explore the possibility of exporting the coconut trees to America.
The justification is that when the next tsunami hits our shores they can re-export them back as aid for the Sri-Lankans (tourists included) to climb and save their lives.
The coconut trunks well preserved would be a new form of life support system developed in America.
Few of the tourists of course saved their life hanging on to them a year ago. They could share the experience with the few tree climbers left in this country. We can promote this as a new millennium sport.
Since most of the tree climbers (party climbers) have joined the parliament over the past half a century they can act as trainers and referees in this sport of tree climbing.
One a lighter note and in a scientific sense the real reason for declining interest in coconut, arecanut and Kithul tree is that all three of them are labour intensive like the tea industry.
Only way to revive these flagging industries is to promote selective breeding of high yielding variety with short trunks so that harvesting is not labour intensive.
For some unknown genetic reasons the short plants and animals have the ability to withstand adverse environmental conditions and it is not a challenge to go for such a variety. One of the reasons that the tall trees and dinosaurs disappeared from this planet is their enormous size. They could not withstand the adversity.
One area we are far behind is the palm oil industry and our Asian giant in hibernation, Malaysia, pioneered the research in this.
They have gone for palm oils even destroying their rain forest. We have to learn a lot from them. Biodiesel is going to be an area we should explore instead of drilling for gas /oil in limited resources offshore.
For me looking down the plane and seeing the coconut trees spanning the landing site is a fascinating scene.
Sadly this scenery is not going to be there in another ten years.
The developers are eying every peace of land to plunder.
In the process they are developing social and economic disasters in the so-called palaces they are building. The coconut triangle is going to be zigzag in no time.
We have so many ministers and ministries in this country a Palm Ministry would not be a burden to the country. In any case some of the parliamentarians are coming from that back ground both in oiling the palms (heads included) and climbing the trees and this is a one sure way to climb the political hierarchy.
For the super market chains and range for this Christmas should include the imported artificial palm trees from India, which do not need any watering, plant care or plant watching.
For a change we could have Santa on a palm tree.
How about that?
21st December 2005
Torrential rains and inclement weather spared me some plant watching activity.
This time of course palm variety.
Looking outside from an advantage, a bird's eye view, I could see only one coconut tree about ten feet tall and probably of the same age with no signs of flowering.
Looking down the precipice a few out of the twenty odd palm trees that survived the dry spell has sprung into activity.
After a year long vigil and watering (when I had time) their survival was a bit of a miracle.
The soil not conducive and the water logging not possible (due to the incline) their survival may have been contributed by my vigil, perhaps.
Palms unlike the coconut (which loves the salty soil) are plants that love hot humid and muddy conditions, which support their roots with fungal symbiosis.
The torrential rain was the most conducive and for nearly a decade we did not have similar weather conditions.
I have tried all varieties including arecanut with no success over ten year period so my mind wondered the last time there was a spill over at Victoria Dam.
Incidentally this was after the elections and the change over from the previous regime to the present.
The saying prevalent at that time was “to wash the sins of the previous regime”.
This time whose sins I would not wonder or ponder!
Coming back to palm trees there are over 1000 ornamental varieties and they are very expensive and home delivered for the wealthy in United States.
In Sri-Lanka context, the “Cap Rukha”, the gifted plant is vandalized by the rich developers. Very soon they will be exported to US polythene wrapped. This is quite an irony.
I am not sure where the coconut, the arecanut and the Kithul tree's position in the merit order on the1000 palm trees of the gardener's guide to tropical trees.
I guess the Americans who are likely to be categorized very tall in the merit list of democracy do not like tall trees in their neighborhood.
Also their democratic nuts are not as hard as a coconut and they do not like the impact of coconut falling on their heads.
This is why the oil industry in America had a vicious campaign against coconut oil for nearly fifty years.
The real reason though is that they have lost their evolutionary talent like that of the monkeys in climbing trees and swinging from one tree to another.
Going from country to country and looking for ecological trouble spots is only a pastime.
This is where our politicians who have a coconut size head and arecanut (some of them peanut sized- the American variety) sized brains should explore the possibility of exporting the coconut trees to America.
The justification is that when the next tsunami hits our shores they can re-export them back as aid for the Sri-Lankans (tourists included) to climb and save their lives.
The coconut trunks well preserved would be a new form of life support system developed in America.
Few of the tourists of course saved their life hanging on to them a year ago. They could share the experience with the few tree climbers left in this country. We can promote this as a new millennium sport.
Since most of the tree climbers (party climbers) have joined the parliament over the past half a century they can act as trainers and referees in this sport of tree climbing.
One a lighter note and in a scientific sense the real reason for declining interest in coconut, arecanut and Kithul tree is that all three of them are labour intensive like the tea industry.
Only way to revive these flagging industries is to promote selective breeding of high yielding variety with short trunks so that harvesting is not labour intensive.
For some unknown genetic reasons the short plants and animals have the ability to withstand adverse environmental conditions and it is not a challenge to go for such a variety. One of the reasons that the tall trees and dinosaurs disappeared from this planet is their enormous size. They could not withstand the adversity.
One area we are far behind is the palm oil industry and our Asian giant in hibernation, Malaysia, pioneered the research in this.
They have gone for palm oils even destroying their rain forest. We have to learn a lot from them. Biodiesel is going to be an area we should explore instead of drilling for gas /oil in limited resources offshore.
For me looking down the plane and seeing the coconut trees spanning the landing site is a fascinating scene.
Sadly this scenery is not going to be there in another ten years.
The developers are eying every peace of land to plunder.
In the process they are developing social and economic disasters in the so-called palaces they are building. The coconut triangle is going to be zigzag in no time.
We have so many ministers and ministries in this country a Palm Ministry would not be a burden to the country. In any case some of the parliamentarians are coming from that back ground both in oiling the palms (heads included) and climbing the trees and this is a one sure way to climb the political hierarchy.
For the super market chains and range for this Christmas should include the imported artificial palm trees from India, which do not need any watering, plant care or plant watching.
For a change we could have Santa on a palm tree.
How about that?
21st December 2005
Lady's Only
Lady's Only
This happened in
A royal suite
Of an elite hotel in Colombo
A partially sighted
Gentleman of ill repute
Having poor sight
Due to bilateral upper quadrant hemianopia
Ventured into
A ladies toilet
Quite fortuitously
He was almost finishing
His nature's call
When a lady of a high society
Dock in to drop anchor
Seeing the man's posterior
Aghast,
Exclaimed
" This is ladies only facility"
The man in turn
Turned round zipped up
"This was a ladies specialty"
And zipped away
The lady did not know
Whether to agree or disagree
In hindsight the
Man knowing that
He had tertiary
Or the neurosyphilis
To be precise
And his prompt exit
From the facility
Did secure
No further embarrassment
To his integrity
5th October 2006
This happened in
A royal suite
Of an elite hotel in Colombo
A partially sighted
Gentleman of ill repute
Having poor sight
Due to bilateral upper quadrant hemianopia
Ventured into
A ladies toilet
Quite fortuitously
He was almost finishing
His nature's call
When a lady of a high society
Dock in to drop anchor
Seeing the man's posterior
Aghast,
Exclaimed
" This is ladies only facility"
The man in turn
Turned round zipped up
"This was a ladies specialty"
And zipped away
The lady did not know
Whether to agree or disagree
In hindsight the
Man knowing that
He had tertiary
Or the neurosyphilis
To be precise
And his prompt exit
From the facility
Did secure
No further embarrassment
To his integrity
5th October 2006
Monday, February 22, 2016
Beautiful Mind
Beautiful Mind
Can the mind be beautiful?
Yes of course.
How do you do that?
When the mind is detached from both the convergence and divergence strategy of a dogma, the turnaround is the beautiful mind.
It flows into the unconquered and the blissful state.
One has to work on it.
It does not come automatically.
Can the mind be beautiful?
Yes of course.
How do you do that?
When the mind is detached from both the convergence and divergence strategy of a dogma, the turnaround is the beautiful mind.
It flows into the unconquered and the blissful state.
One has to work on it.
It does not come automatically.
State of Conversion
State of Conversion
Lack of imagination and insight leads to a state of mind called conversion.
It is a fix or rigid state of mind filled with prejudices, be that it may be religion, nationality, race or any cultural dogma.
I believe this is where the cultural instinct get ingrained, if the population is isolated and not exposed to the rest of the world.
This is probably residing in our genome.
Religion apart from black and white race dogma is the result of this conversion strategy of mankind.
Any other dogma falls within this frame work.
The existence of god and a creation of an almighty wisdom are byproducts.
Once inside this dogma, science takes a back seat.
Albert Einstein put this succinctly.
Science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind.
Lack of imagination and insight leads to a state of mind called conversion.
It is a fix or rigid state of mind filled with prejudices, be that it may be religion, nationality, race or any cultural dogma.
I believe this is where the cultural instinct get ingrained, if the population is isolated and not exposed to the rest of the world.
This is probably residing in our genome.
Religion apart from black and white race dogma is the result of this conversion strategy of mankind.
Any other dogma falls within this frame work.
The existence of god and a creation of an almighty wisdom are byproducts.
Once inside this dogma, science takes a back seat.
Albert Einstein put this succinctly.
Science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind.
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Lack of Imagination
Lack of Imagination
Children are born with imagination to make up for their lack of conceptualization of a given situation.
Many adult who can conceptualize a given problem unfortunately loses the ability to think imaginatively.
The religion uses this lack of creativity to insinuate with bizarre concepts.
The god created this world is one such concept.
Unfortunately, “Big Bang Theory” of creation of the universe has fallen into this same trap of a dogma.
We have not put an alternative theory to counteract it.
This has made the science to ignore the Dark Matter and its hidden physics.
Children are born with imagination to make up for their lack of conceptualization of a given situation.
Many adult who can conceptualize a given problem unfortunately loses the ability to think imaginatively.
The religion uses this lack of creativity to insinuate with bizarre concepts.
The god created this world is one such concept.
Unfortunately, “Big Bang Theory” of creation of the universe has fallen into this same trap of a dogma.
We have not put an alternative theory to counteract it.
This has made the science to ignore the Dark Matter and its hidden physics.
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