Profiling Sri Lanka for posterity

Sri Lanka A guide to the resplendent island

Author: Siri Ipalawatte
A Sarasavi Publication
Reviewed by Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa

“Janani Janma Bhumischa Swarsadapi Gariyasi”

‘One must honour one's mother and one's motherland, more than heaven itself.

National Motto of the Nepal Kingdom

To feel the fullness of one's true humanity, one must stand steadily on the sacred soil of one's own motherland.

The warmth of your native land nourishes you. The very air you breathe, in the land of your birth, suffuses your whole being with a fresh and ever-renewing verse and vitality.

One may travel far and wide and may roam the earth, leaving the soul-soothing coziness of one's mother country behind. But, if he has imbibed the ethereal spirit of that chosen country, it will remain in the inner recesses of his being, indelibly for ever.

Such a fervent diasporic patriot will invariably harbour a keener ardour for the land of his birth, then a person who continued to live in his home country for scores of years. Such an entrenched resident is so familiar with the land of his birth that he is not enchanted by its allure.

On the other hand, the traveller, constantly refers to the memory of his native land. These cherished images sharpen his yearning for the land in which he was born.

That kind of person, at times to covert his yearnings into writing.

If such a writer gets tempted to embelish his impressions of his country, that too is understandable.

But, to my utter surprise, I came upon a work of a diasporic Sri Lankan, who profiles the island comprehensively with a sober, scholarly restraint and academic logicality.

Adoration

In the first instance, this work emerges from his undiminished adoration of his mother country. But he never allows illogical emotional effusiveness to take the upper hand.

The outcome is a responsible, carefully crafted work of scholarly depth.

The book bears the title Sri Lanka – A guide to the resplendent island.

The author, Dr. Siri Ipalawatte, has garnered a multiplicity of academic distinctions, from prestigious institutions – both here and abroad. To my mind, the tone of the work, seems that of a owner of a rare treasure-trove, who displays it to his intimate friends, speaking in a hashed, awe-filled accents.

The contents reflect an exceptionally deployed planning skill.

The frontispiece is a map of Sri Lanka indicating significant sites.

Clarity

The text of the book is distinguished by its clarity of expression. The reader will be especially grateful to the author for the telling detail provided, enabling an authritative view to be established.

The lavish illustrative matter enhances the effectiveness of the text. The tabulated information is exceptionally user-friendly.

Tables indicating the details of mountains, rivers and waterfalls for instance, are a vivid example of the ready information the work provides.

Each section of the book is, in a way, a little book by itself. The author traces the history of the land, highlighting certain areas, that conventional historical books may not generally dwell upon.

In a few pithy and succinct passages, the author gives an impressive resume of the early history of the land. This kind of remarkable approach to the subject matter is the dominant characteristic of this work.

The author describes the work as “A guide.”

It could very well be that the author long familiar with the needs of people abroad who wish to be kept informed about Sri Lanka crafted the book primarily with the foreign reader in mind.

But, my considered view of the matter is that Dr. Siri Ipalawatta's work is quite an effective vade mecum even for local people, when they travel about in the country as domestic tourists, bent on pilgrimage or pleasure-tours.

Over and above such guidance, this is 'must’ reading for most Sri Lankans, as they are getting alarmingly alienated from their indigenous heritage, in the slip-stream of developments.

The work is so thorough that the another if he so wishes can challenge anyone to show some issue he has not focussed upon.

The format of the book is an easy-to-use print version.

Though the book is modest in size, its deluxe information, supplied with an appealing combination of apt text-and-image, can very well claim the stature of a minor coffeetable publication.

After my in-depth perusal of this pragmatic and aesthetically satisfying guide book, I have a suggestion for the author.

He could select some of the more important sections of the book and print them as separate well-illustrated publications. Some readers may value such a series.

We must invite this kind of diaspora member to visit the mother country more often and to produce further works, in terms of what they yearn for in their inheritance, when it is viewed from a diasporic and of course, nostalgic perspective.