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| Sunday, 16 May 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Ships ahoy! by Lakmal Welabada
Asoka Nanayakkara is gifted with an exceptional talent to turn out miniature replicas of various things out of bits of this and that gathered from waste bins. Vintage cars, history of the bicycle and miniature ornaments were among the themes of creations he has turned out from time to time. Asoka is an accountant by profession. Doing intensive research on a theme and turning out some creative thing is his best past time. This time, he has worked on the theme of 'history of boats/ships'. "Human beings picked up the idea of using a plank to travel by river after seeing animals crossing the water standing on a floating log. This seems to have been the origin of the idea of water transport," explained Asoka pointing out two miniature models he has made with a toy animal and a toy human figure fixed on wood sticks (logs) to show the beginning of water transport.
The first ever raft was made of bamboo and papyrus in Egypt. For this Asoka has used conduit pipes used for electrical installations and a handle of an umbrella. It was discovered that Asirians made a raft out of animal-skin and wood. Wild boar skin seemed to be used mainly for this since it gave the effect of a balloon which helped to float in the water. Asoka made his miniature boat as a replica of the Asirian raft out of wooden sticks and toy pigs. Then there was a raft or boat made of wood and animal skin. Asoka had used a coconut shell and men's belts for his creation. He used a plastic pencil case to give the effect of a carved tree trunk for the replica of a boat that was found on Zurich lake in Switzerland. He has also made The replica of the ship that king Vijaya used to sail from India to Sri Lanka in 543 - 505 B.C. Asoka says that he had found a picture of a flag which was believed to be the flag of Jaffna province in ancient times.
The emblem on the flag was a musical instrument with a lion face called 'Yal'. In Tamil, 'Yalpanam' is the name given to Jaffna. Through his research Asoka has imagined the ships of ancient times would have looked a lot like 'Yal'. Apart from this, the first boat with a sail, the ferry, the Duyfken ship which sailed from Holland to Australia on the silk route in 1606 A.C., the ship in which Robert Knox came to Sri Lanka in 1655 - 1793 A.C., the ship that was believed to be used by the Portuguese to invade Sri Lanka, the ship that was used to set afloat Princess Vihara Maha Devi in 209 - 164 B.C.and the first steam boat are among the other replicas Asoka has invented. |
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