Tue, 2010-07-13 | Asian Tribune | By Janaka Perera
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| Sita Eliya Temple, Nuwara Eliya [cjb22] |
Colombo, 13 July, (Asiantribune.com):
The Royal Asiatic Society is inviting the public to participate in a symposium at the Mahaweli Centre, Colombo 07 on July 17 on the negative impact on Sri Lanka by promoting the Ramayana legend for tourism purposes.
Leading academics, scholars and intellectuals will be among the speakers. They include Professor Tissa Kariyawasam (Ramayana in Sinhalese literature), Prof, Oliver Abeynaike (Indian Tourist Authorities’ “Buddhist Circuit” but no Indian “Ramayana Circuit”), Dr. Hema Goonatilake (Marketing Thailand for a mythical Ramayana instead of historical Buddhist sites), Dr. Nihal Perera (The factual pre-history of Sri Lanka), Dr. Malini Dias (Distortions of archaeological evidence) former Ambassador Bandu de Silva (Foreign policy implications of the "Ramayana Trail") and the Venerable Hegoda Vipassi (My travails in refuting the Ramayana Trail).
Presentations will be delivered both in English and Sinhala.
The irony of this whole issue is that Sri Lanka which is historically recognized as the most important seat of Theravada Buddhism is promoting a Hindu fiction while India - the birth place of the Ramayana legend is popularizing the Buddhist circuit instead of Ramayana which is not supported by any historical or scientific evidence, according to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) which earlier filed an affidavit in the Indian Supreme Court to that effect. [...]
The Royal Asiatic Society is inviting the public to participate in a symposium at the Mahaweli Centre, Colombo 07 on July 17 on the negative impact on Sri Lanka by promoting the Ramayana legend for tourism purposes.
Leading academics, scholars and intellectuals will be among the speakers. They include Professor Tissa Kariyawasam (Ramayana in Sinhalese literature), Prof, Oliver Abeynaike (Indian Tourist Authorities’ “Buddhist Circuit” but no Indian “Ramayana Circuit”), Dr. Hema Goonatilake (Marketing Thailand for a mythical Ramayana instead of historical Buddhist sites), Dr. Nihal Perera (The factual pre-history of Sri Lanka), Dr. Malini Dias (Distortions of archaeological evidence) former Ambassador Bandu de Silva (Foreign policy implications of the "Ramayana Trail") and the Venerable Hegoda Vipassi (My travails in refuting the Ramayana Trail).
Presentations will be delivered both in English and Sinhala.
The irony of this whole issue is that Sri Lanka which is historically recognized as the most important seat of Theravada Buddhism is promoting a Hindu fiction while India - the birth place of the Ramayana legend is popularizing the Buddhist circuit instead of Ramayana which is not supported by any historical or scientific evidence, according to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) which earlier filed an affidavit in the Indian Supreme Court to that effect. [...]
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