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| Sunday, 17 October 2004 |
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Right of reply : Catholic heritage before the advent of Portuguese This is in response to the article of D.E. Mendis titled 'Catholic heritage before the advent of Portuguese' in the Sunday Observer of September 19. It has numerous inaccuracies, distortions and unhistorical evidence. As a result of persecutions directed against the Christians in Persia by King Faros 11 they fled to Eastern countries including India. But to identify these Persian Christians as Nestorian Catholics is misleading. Bishop Nestorius who was the architect of the heresy of Nestorianism was excommunicated after the conclusions of the Ecumenical Council held in Episi in A.D. 431 and Nestorianism was an independent body without having any connections with the Holy See whatsoever. So the term 'Nestorian Catholics' is inconsistent with the strict sense of Roman Catholicism. It is worthwhile to keep in mind that there was no distinct difference between Compidian Catholics (sic) and Nestorians after the advent of Nestorianism in India in the 5th century. Paranavithana theory and Christians in Sigiri era To prove that there was Catholic faith in Sri Lankas during the Era of Maurya Dynasty Mr. Mendis relies extensively on Prof. Paranavithana's 'findings'. The writer says the archaeological and the historical factors in the Paranavithana's books provide the backdrop about the Catholic faith in Sri Lanka and during this period Catholic faith was a practising religion and received recognition and patronage from the royalty. For the knowledge of the reader I wish to point out that nowhere did Prof. Paranavithana use the word 'Catholic' as mentioned by the writer. He always referred to them as Christians. Mr. Mendis elaborate about the Maurya Dynasty and their activities and their relationship with the Catholics at that time are all based on Prof. Paranavithana's book, 'The Story of Sigiri'. I do not intend to examine the contents of this book which is impossible in a letter like this, but wish to emphasise on the material he used to expound his theory about the Christians in the Sigiri Era contrary to the accepted Mahavamsa recordings. In 1960s and early 1970s Paranavithana propounded certain theories based on what he called the interlinear inscriptions which he discovered within a short period of time. He noticed that there were some writings in very minute characters shallowly incised in between and over the lines of the already recorded statements of the stones which were already in existence. The readers must keep in mind that these stones are not discovered newly and they were subjected to Paranavithana's scrutiny during his long years in the Department of Archaeology. So, all of a sudden he discovered these so-called inscriptions scattered all over Sri Lanka and South India within a short period of time and complied three completed books including the 'Story of Sigiri' based on these new 'discoveries'. According to Paranavithana the purpose of having these documents recorded in this strange manner, it thus appears was to convey to future generations the intimate relations that existed between the royal families of Ceylon and Sri Vijaya (Malaysia). Inscriptions Prof. R.A.L.H. Gunawardena, a scholar in history who examined one of these so-called inscriptions by using the estampages supplied by Prof. Paranavithana himself has this to say: "..... one would expect 'superficially incised minute letters' to be easily defaced by being exposed to the elements. But Paranavithana gives a continuous reading of this portion. What I saw in this portion was a jumble of criss-cross lines and blotches, evidently the marks of erosion. Here and there, while looking for the writing that Paranavithana speaks of, one may sometimes notice what appears like the form of a letter. But this could easily be one's imagination. However on examination of the slab and the two estampages it quite clear that it is impossible, even for a trained epigraphist, to get a continuous reading as Paranavithana has done. This portion of the slab is completely weathered away in a large number of places and leaves only white blotches in the estampages." (University of Ceylon Review Vol.XXV Nos. 1&2 1967 pp.910) A critical review made by another historian Prof. K. Indrapala regarding Paranavihana's Ceylon and Malaysia says: "The nature and contents of these 'historical documents' which were discovered within the surprisingly short period of nearly eight months are indeed amazing .... The trained eyes of some of our former epigraphists like Dr. D.M. de Z. Wickramasinghe who worked on some of these epigraphs containing these 'unique documents' had failed to notice even the existence of any writing between or over the lines of the original records. Even the author, during his long career in the Archaeological Department never suspected the existence of such documents. - Sunil C. Perera |
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