BOOK REVIEW
TITLE : JOURNALS OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY OF
SRI LANKA
NEW
SERIES VOLUME 61 PART 1 AND 2 2016
EDITOR : VIDYAJOTI E. WALTER MARASINGHE
PUBLISHER : BIANNUAL PUBLICATION OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC
SOCIETY OF SRI LANKA
Reviewed by Hemantha
Situge
e-mail :
hsituge@gmail.com
blog : Hemantha
Situge@blogspot.com
The Journals of the
Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (JRAS) New Series, Volume 61 Part 1 and 2
for 2016 edited by Vidyajoti E. Walter Marasinghe were distributed among the
members of the RAS at the Annual General Meeting of the 172nd year
held on Saturday 25th March at the auditorium of the Mahaweli
Centre.
JRAS, Volume 61
Part 1 for the year of 2016 contains three articles, a book review and ‘a
tribute’. They are : Mahinda Somathilake on ‘Ajanta Murals and their Chronology
: A Critical Analysis’ from pages 1 to 32, Chandana Jayawardene on ‘Counting and
Computation Abilities in Early Sri Lanka : A Review based on Buddhist Literature’
from page 33 to 68 and Sarath Chandrajeewa on ‘Veheragala Avalokitēsvara
Bodhisatva : An Inquiry into Its Style and Period (The Mahayana Buddhist Bronze
Statue in Colombo Museum)’ from pages 69 to 106, the review by Anad Singh on
the book titled : ‘Buddhism at Sãranãth’ is found from pages 107 to 110 and the
tribute of Hema Goonetileke on Dr. Christopher Reynolds is from pages 111 to
113 of the journal.
This reviewer
wishes to make the following comments on the first article. At page 3 Somathileke
states that : “Thenceforth, after centuries of neglect, the caves of Ajanta
were discovered in the first part of 19th century AD, the earliest
recorded visitor being some officers of the Madras Army who saw the paintings
in 1819”. However Benjamin Rowland in his ‘The Ajanta Caves – Early Buddhist
Paintings from India UNESCO 1963’ at P5 has stated that : “In the year 1817 the
manoeuvres of a company of British Soldiers resulted in the discovery of the
greatest cycle of Indian wall-paintings in the rock-cut cave temples of the
Ajanta gorge …………”
The second comment,
which this reviewer wishes to place on record is that the reference found in D.
B. Dhanapala’s ‘Buddhist paintings from shrines and temples in Ceylon’ Collins
London 1964 on the significance of Ajanta cave Buddhist paintings for Sri Lanka.
Though the learned writer attaches a foot note at page 16 of the journal but it
is in a different context from the very same book cited by the reviewer i.e.
cave 17 paintings on the advent of King Vijaya. Three scenes found in the cave
17 would have been a merit worthy point of comment for the learned writer at
least in a foot note; aptly it is the only place of connection to the Sinhala
Culture. The first scene from the Simhala Avadana which depicts : “The
army on the march, led by Simhala who is riding a white elephant.” The
second scene also from Simhala Avadana which depicts : “Under a tent, Simhala
and one of the ogresses, momentarily transformed into a beautiful woman, are
conversing while, to the left, other ogresses are engaged in their gruesome
practices”. The third scene is also from Simhala Avadana which depicts :
“The sacred horse and its groom.” Cave 17 is somewhat is dealt with by Sarath
Chandrajeewa at P79-80 in the same issue in his article. The painting on the advent
of King Vijaya has had adorned the ‘Sinhala Bauddhaya’ commemorative
issue in 1915.
The third comment
which this reviewer wishes to make on this article is that Vini Vitharana in
his ‘Sri Lanka – the Geographical Vision’ Department of Educational
Publications Sri Lanka 1996. (The thesis accepted by the University of Ceylon
Peradeniya for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy - 1966) at page 195 he states
that : “Mookerji (1957, 29-30) (History of Indian Shipping) believes that the
Jãtakas such as the Mahãjanaka, Valãhassa and Sańkha and the story of Vijaya
stand evidence to the prevalence of large ship in Sri Lankan waters during the
ancient times. He also presents several bits of sculptural, artistic and
numismatic evidence from Sãnchi, Kanhēri, Āndhra, Ajantã and Borobudur ranging
from 2nd century BC to the 11th century AD in support of
a claim for the prevalence of extensive shipping in the Indian Ocean (ibid 35,
41-42, 45-50)’. This reviewer neither sees any iota of material cited by the
learned writer on numismatic evidence nor on Mukerji cited to by Vitharana supra.
The article carries
a subtitle ‘Paintings and their Chronology’. Benjamin Rowland cited above has
stated that (at page 145) “It is said that the great Buddhist sage Asanga lived
for a time at Ajanta. He is remembered as the exponent of the Yogachara
docrine, in which all reality is a dream, and for his conjuring of the Hindu
gods into the Buddhist pantheon……. A reflection of Asanga’s teachings may
perhaps be seen in the composition of the Great Bodhisattva in the presence of
his sakti the Buddhist counter part of the female energies of the Hindu gods.” This
reviewer does not find that Mahinda Somathileke has endeavoured to go into the
times of the great Buddhist sage Asanga who has supposed to have lived for a
time at Ajanta.
The article
contains one map and nine photographs where no photo accreditations are found
therein. Did the JRAS violate the copyrights of any previous photographer or an
author? The editor of JRAS has over looked the fact that Somathileke has not
used diacritical marks as per ‘Guide lines to the Contributors’.
The second article
is of Chandana Jayawardene’s is a review based on Buddhist Literature - the
article does not say whether it is published or unpublished literature. The
article does not cite the following : B. C. Law’s ‘History Pali Literature of
Ceylon Vol. I and II London 1933. Louis de Zoysa’s ‘Catalogue of Pali,
Sinhalese, and Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Ceylon Government Oriental Library
Colombo’ 1876 and the ‘Catalogue of Pali, Sinhalese and Sanskrit Manuscripts in
the Temple Libraries of Ceylon’. Colombo 1885. D. M. de Z. Wickramasinghe’s ‘Catalogue
of Sinhalese Mss in the British Museum’ London 1900 and the ‘Catalogue of the
Sinhalese Printed Books in the Library of the British Museum’ 1901, A. B.
Keith’s ‘History of Sanskrit Literature’ Oxford 1928, W. A. de Silva’s ‘Catalogue
of Palm Leaf Manuscripts’ (Memoirs of the Colombo Museum) Vol I 1938, James de
Alwis’s ‘A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit, Pali and Sinhalese Literary Works
of Ceylon’, Vol I (1870) 2 and 3, William Skeen Government Printer Colombo and
Somapala Jayawardhana’s Hand book of Pali Literature Colombo 1994.
Another noteworthy
omission is that Wilhelm Geiger’s ‘Culture of Ceylon in Medieval Times’ edited
by Heinz Bechert Wiesbaden : Otto Harrassowitz 1960 which is not cited to in
his article.
The third article
is of Sarath Chandrajeewa’s. This reviewer fervently believes that it is
Veheragala where the title is found as Veragala (see : first paragraph it is
referred to as Veheragala) How did this error seep in throughout the article?
Nandasena Mudiyanse
in his ‘Three unpublished Mahãyãna Bronzes from Ceylon in the British Museum’
JRASCB Vol XIV, 1970 pages 46 to 49 has described from the Hugh Nevill
collection which is assigned the British Museum Registration Numbers
1898-7-1-135 (figure 1) and 1898-7-1-136 (figure 2) where he has stated that :
“The deity sits in Maharajalila, the left hand sitting resting on the
asana while the right holds a lotus flower in bloom. The left leg hangs
down, but the right is bent and is placed on the seat”. (emphasis added)
At page 04 of the
journal this reviewer finds a photo of the Avalokithēsvara Bodhisattva. But
curiously at P31 of the journal in Somathileke’s article cave 1 part of a photo
of Ajanta Cave paintings : Padmapani Bodhisattva typically resembles Avalokitēśvara
Bodhisattva of Veheragala in Sarath Chandrajeewa’s article. Sarath Chandrajeewa
in his article totally ignores this painting or Nandasena Mudiyanse’s account
cited by this reviewer.
This reviewer finds
a photograph which appears in the Wikipedia free encyclopeadia on
Avalokitēśvara Bodhisatva ‘a bronze statue of Avalokitēśvara from Sri Lanka CA
750 CE from Burmingham Museum of Art’ is also not adverted to by Sarath
Chandrajeewa in his article.
This reviewer is of
the fervent opinion that cave 1 of Ajanta mural painting Padmapãni Bodhisattva
furnishes the right hand clue of posture of the carrying a flower in statue of
Veheragala. Any observer would find that these two have strikingly similar features.
Curiously Sarath Chandrajeewa aptly agrees with the reviewer though he has not
cited cave 1 painting of the Ajanta murals.
John Clifford Holt
in his book titled : ‘Buddha in the Crown Avalokitēśvara in the Buddhist
Tradition of Sri Lanka’ Oxford University press 1991 states that the first to
fourth statues from Tiriyaya cited in his work from Ulrich Von Shroeders’ book,
the figure 12 (Holt’s) the bronze statuette from Boston Museum belongs to
Ananda Coomaraswamy’s collection, figure 16 of Holt from Natha devale from
Kandy all there statues are in lion’s roar posture – thus lokeshwara features.”
Nandasena Mudiyanse’s ‘Mahãyãna Monuments of Ceylon,’ M. D. Gunasena Colombo
1967 is not referred to by the learned author. Pl to Pl 14 contains no
accreditations to the photographs that appears therein. Did the JRAS violate
the copyrights of a previous photographer or an author?
The book review by
Srikant Ganvir at page 110 has published his personal e-mail hitherto which no
JRAS have published same for a contributor. It should be borne in mind that the
inner back cover instructions ‘Guide to Contributors’ (item no. iii) is only
for communication purpose and not for publication purpose. The title of the
book sought to be reviewed has been carried as Sing Anand 2014, ‘Buddhism at
Saranath’. The final article remains a tribute where it is found as “Tribute
Hema Goonetileke” in the contents.Whither the title Dr. Christopher Reynold? Did the past journals of the RAS SL publish
this column as an obituary or as a ‘tribute’ or as an appreciation? Secondly could
a person who writes on another academic could he or she make personal
recollections or remarks on the very same person? Did the JRAS contain this
tradition?
The Part 2 of
Volume 61 New Series of the JRAS the contents reads as follows : Shanthi Jayawardene’s
‘Uri Lanka’s Tãrã Devi,’ from pages 1 to 20, S. Sarath Mathilal de Silva’s ‘The
Concept of Equality : its Scope, Developments and International Legal Regime’
from pages 31 to 54, Ramla Wahab-Salman’s ‘A History of the ‘Ceylon Moor’ Press
(1882 - 1889) from pages 55 to 70, Susantha Goonetileke’s ‘Happiness and the
Psychological Contents of Anuradhapura Society’ from pages 71 to 88 and Uda
Hettige’s Tribute on Prof. Senaka Bandaranayake from pages 89 to 90. It is
evident that JRAS part 2 is a slimmer and contains less pages than the part 1
because it has only ninety pages. JRAS Part 1 is only replete with hundred and
twelve pages.
Once this reviewer
perused the first article in part 2 volume 61 only he could realize that ‘Uri
Lanka’ is an error for ‘Sri Lanka’ – it is a ‘printer’s devil’ !
This article on ‘Tara
devi’ is on a museum object found in the British Museum. The article neither
contains the museum object inventory reference number of figure 1 nor of figure
2 solid cast gilt bronze 0.17 meters Tara Devi. The writer Shanti Jayawardene
has even not attempted to trace at least the museum object number of figure 3
Tara Devi seated found in the National Museum Colombo nor figure 11
Avalokitēsvara Tiriyãya cited in page 9 JRAS. This reviewer finds it as a sine
qua non to identify the museum object by the museum inventory number as the
museum inventory contains information that would have furnished the reader of
the RAS of the day it reached the museum and how it reached the museum the
background of the object of study to the academic or the member of RAS. The
article on ‘Sri Lanka’s Tãrã Devi contains figure 1 to figure 27. This reviewer
did not find any of these figures are mentioned or referred in the article in
parenthesis. The reviewer identifies this as a lapse in the JRAS.
Another salient
omission by Shanthi Jayawardene is that he has not referred to U .Von
Schroeder’s ‘The Golden Age of Sculpture in Sri Lanka’ Visual Dharma
Publication, Hong Kong 1990. vide : at 90 -1 Samadhi Goddess (no 30) is Jayawardene’s figure 3 where National Museum
object no. 40.474.144 registered in 1940
w.w.w.britishmuseum.org/research/collection-online-object_details on Acquisition
notes ; original papers (June 1830) – To Mr. Henry Ellis (Principal Librarian)
from Sir Robert Brownrigg reports that the image ‘was found in the NE part of
Ceylon between Trincomalee and Batticalou’. The height 143 cm (not including
plinth), width 44 cm, depth 29.5 cm, date 08th Century (circa)
culture period Anuradhapura. The museum identification no. 1830,0612.4 which is
displayed in the room number 33 of the British Museum.
But P. E. P.
Deraniyagala in his article cited in f.n. 2 by Shanthi Jayawardene (at P 23
JRAS, Volume 61 Part 2) at P 268 has stated that : as “………. high dug up near
Trincomalee ……….” Therefore what Jayawardene says cannot be accepted i.e. “Her
find spot is not known ………..”
The description
provided by British Museum online is as follows :
“Goddess. A
standing figure of a female deity (Tãrã) solid cast in bronze and gilded. The
figure has a high tubular coiffure (jatamukuta) held in place by a medallion
flanked by makara-s (water creatures) The medallion was probably set with stones
as were the lower body dressed in tight – fitting cloth knotted at the hips.
The upper body is uncovered. The proper right hand is in varadamudrã (gesture
of giving) left hand in katakahastamudrã (the hand pose wherein the tips of the
fingers are applied to the thumb so as to form a ring, as if to hold a flower).
The two middle fingers of the right hand are missing as are toes from both
feet.”
Therefore this
reviewer finds that the description provided by Shanti Jayawardene is
inadequate when he compares it with the British Museum on line description.
On a careful
perusal the reviewer could observe that Shanthi Jayawardene in his article on
‘Sri Lanka’s Tara’ has cited the tenth century ‘Mihintale inscription of Mahinda
IV which records the existence of a house for the goddess mininã – a Sinhala
name for Tãrã Devi (vide : at P7 supra) and ‘A tenth century pillar inscription
of Kassapa V who followed the Tantric Trikãya doctrine.’ (vide : at P10 ibid)
But he has not provided the reader the Epigraphia Zeylanica or the Inscription
of Ceylon, or University of Ceylon or JRAS reference at least in a foot note
which would have provided the reference
to the description of the epigraphy record.
The next comment
which the reviewer wishes to make is that a new unaccepted way of writing has
emerged by the figures provided therein. That is by mentioning the once who
holds the copyright i.e. © British Museum, © National Museum, © Ulrich Von
Schroeder, © CCF and © Senake Bandaranayake. This reviewer condemns this mode
of writing as it is a sheer violation of the copyright law of the country.
The next article is
written by S. Sarath Mathilal de Silva on the ‘The Concept of Equality : Its Scope,
Developments and International Legal Regime’ The writer is identified at the
beginning of the article itself as an Attorney-at-Law in which hitherto is not found
at the beginning of an article in the JRAS.
The third article
is by Ramla Wahab-Salman on ‘A History of the ‘Ceylon Moor’ press (1882-1889)
which refers to Orabi Pasha – page 65-6 in the JRAS Part 2. This reviewer finds
that a book published by Frewin and Co. Colombo in 1983 titled : ‘Orabi Pasha –
The Egyptian Exiles in Ceylon’ written by A. C. Dep. is not referred to by the
writer Wahab – Salman. Arnold Wright’s ‘Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon’
1903 also contains some material on Orabi Pasha. Wahab - Salman has turned a blind
eye to the said material. This reviewer’s next comment is that she even has not
referred to Dr. Lorna Dewaraja’s ‘History of Muslims in Sri Lanka’ authoritative
book published for Muslim of Sri Lanka 1994.
At P56 in her
article Wahab-Salman provides a definition to the word “Moor” by citing Quadri
Ismail former news editor of the Sunday Times newspaper of Sri Lanka.
This reviewer does not find that she has used the Glossary by S. A. W. Mattau
published by the National Archives as volume III 1985-6.Also see P581-3 Hobson-jobson by Yule and Burnell 1903.
Muslim Nesan (Muslim Friend)
referred to in the said article emerged ere (vide : at page 61 JRAS) the
National Archives was established in 1885. Ramla Wahab – Salman does not
indicate whether Muslim Nesan was subsequently registered at the
National Archives of Ceylon.
Susantha Goonetileke’s
articles titled : ‘Happiness and the Psychological Contents of Anuradhapura Society’
down below at page 71 contains RAS address, phone number, email and even his personal
mobile number which is against the JRAS tradition. The tribute on Professor
Senaka Bandaranayake by Uda Hettige is another personal tribute which is not found
in the JRAS tradition.
The reviewer could
lay his hands only on a very few reviews on the JRAS. They are viz. No. 3856 of
volume 152 (1943) of Nature that world renowned magazine on nature, No. 09
volume 43 of Museum Journal and M. N. Pearson’s review on JRAS, NS, volume 39
special number Colombo 1995 published in JRAS volume XL, NS, 1996 P182-3
The JRAS in recent
times does not include the proceedings of the General Meetings, lectures and
Council Meeting records. The reviewer asserts that after volume 59 was
published in 2011 for the past six years no JRAS has published these records.
Isn’t all past Councils of the RAS since 2011 are responsible for this serious
lapse. O’temporaes O’mores What times What practices!! This reviewer also sees
that the past journals published colour photographs for the articles
contributed (e.g. vide: volumes 40, 46 and 49 special number) Quo Vadis the
JRAS? Has JRAS declined in the standards?
The JRAS is highly
acclaimed as a peer reviewed journal. This review on JRAS Volume 61 part 1 and
2 for 2016 is written with a fervent intention to ascertain despite these
serious lapses, errors and inelegancies whether the Editor Vidyajoti E. Walter
Marasinghe together with the publications committee 2015/2016 led by the Chairman
Dr. Malini Dias, Dr. Hema Goonetileke (Ex-officio President RASSL) Dr. Subhangi
Herath, Mr. Wijeratne Bohingamuwa, Mr. H. Mahinda Goonasekara and Ms. S. L.
Ranasinghe have acted within the parametres of the law and or within the
objectives of RAS. This reviewer is of the fervent opinion that there is a
paramount duty cast on the members RAS to continue hundred and seventy year old
legacy for posterity. Thus otherwise the Latin maxim would come into play in
the future that : “Ex diuturnitate temporis omnia praesumuntur rit et solennitur
esse acta – From lapse of time, all things are presume to have been done
rightly and regularly.
