Pictorial depiction of Sri Lanka's history

Reviewed by Ranga CHANDRARATHNE

The coffee table book Glory of the Royal Cities, a visual celebration of ancient Sri Lanka by Sunil de Costa fulfils a need for a pictorial depicting the salient periods of Sri Lankan history.

The book offers in chronological order a wealth of information about the ancient seats of governance from Anuradhapura to Jaffna and about the kings who ruled the island nation over centuries. Apart from the rare pictures depicting the ancient royal cities, the book offers a comprehensive account covering almost all the salient information of the entire history of the land from 'soil of Thambapanni' to Madamahanuwara where the last king of Sri Lanka Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe was captured.

The chapter on Thambapanni among other things, states that Thambapanni means the copper coloured palm and that Taprobane would have been derived from Thamanna or Thambapanni. The book offers rare insights into not -so famous places of interest which are associated with the important events in the history of Sri Lanka.

Haththikuchchi

The important yet relatively unknown site featured in the book is Haththikuchchi. Although Haththikuchchi is neither associated with a kingdom nor an important event in the history, it associates with a legend describing the death of king Srisangabo or Sirisangabodhi who was said to have donated his head to a traveller from Anuradhapura. King Sirisangabo ruled during 247-249 AD in Anuradhapura. According to the legend, king Sirisangabo abdicated the throne and became a hermit, passing the throne to his brother Gotabhaya.

However, Gotabhaya offered a cash reward for anyone who would bring him Sirisangabo's head.

A traveller from Anuradhapura carrying a parcel of rice and water met a hermit at Attanagalla and the traveller shared the lunch with the hermit. Having inquired about the political situation in Anuradhapura, the hermit declared that he was king Sirisangabo and offered his head. However, since the excavation of the Haththikuchchi archaeological site in 1948 by Prof. Senerath Paranavithana, the legend has been re-interpreted suggesting that the place where the traveller from Anuradhpura met king Sirisangabo was not Attanagalla but Haththikuchchi or Rajanganaya Vihara which is 25 kilometers off the city of Anuradhapura. Haththikuchchi is an archeological site around 148 acres consisting of 8 dagobas (Pagodas), 16 pounds and 38 caves. The site is off four and half kilometres on Kurunegala-Anuradhapura road , a couple of kilometers passing Galgamuwa town.

The site was believed to have been constructed by king Devanampiya Tissa and 500 enlightened Bhikkhus are believed to have resided there.

The chapter on the Royal city of Ruhuna is a noteworthy account which offers readers an in-depth description on Rohanapura -Magama. The Royal city of Ruhuna or Magama is Tissamaharamaya.

There is a school of thinking that the kingdom of Ruhuna is much older than the kingdom of Anuradhapura and said to be the largest kingdom of Sri Lanka only second to Anuradhapura. It was founded by king Mahanaga, brother of king Devanampiyatissa (247-207 BC).

Author Sunil de Costa, a retired judge has taken the pictures for the book. Apart from the rare collection of pictures on diverse archaeological sites and royal cities, the book is a repository of facts and figures on the history of Sri Lanka.

The historical information has been presented in an objective manner making the book a trustworthy source on the history of Sri Lanka.