Showing 9 of 46 articles — page 4 of 6
Serendipity: The Word Sri Lanka Gave the World
An English aristocrat coined a word in 1754 based on an old Persian fairy tale about the island - and it has quietly become one...
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The Kingdom of Kandy: The Mountain Fortress That Outlasted Two Empires
For over two centuries, while the Portuguese and then the Dutch controlled Sri Lanka's coast, a single independent kingdom held...
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Dutugemunu and Elara: The Duel That Defined a Kingdom
In 161 BCE, two kings met in single combat outside the gates of Anuradhapura. The story that followed has been told and retold ...
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Avurudu: The Sri Lankan New Year and the Hours Between Years
Every April, the entire island stops for a festival timed to the minute by astrologers - including a strange, beautiful interva...
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The Masks of Ambalangoda: Demons, Healing and Satire
On Sri Lanka's southern coast, carvers have been shaping kaduru wood into fanged demons, bulging-eyed disease spirits and sharp...
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Sandakada Pahana: The Moonstone at the Temple Threshold
That semicircular carved slab at the foot of temple steps is not decoration. It is a compressed diagram of Buddhist philosophy,...
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The Stupa: How Sri Lanka Built Mountains of Brick
The great dagobas of Anuradhapura were among the largest structures in the ancient world - and behind their simple domes lies a...
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Adam's Peak: One Mountain, Four Religions
A single footprint-shaped hollow near the summit of a 2,243-metre peak is venerated by Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christian...
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The Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi: The World's Oldest Recorded Planted Tree
Planted in 288 BCE from a cutting of the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment, this sacred fig at Anuradhapura ha...
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