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Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact
The Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact was an agreement signed between the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and the leader of the main Tamil political party in Sri Lanka S. J. V. Chelvanayakam on July 26, 1957. It advocated the creation of a series of regional councils in Sri Lanka as a means to giving a certain level of autonomy to the Tamil people of the country, and was intended to solve the communal disagreements that were occurring in the country at the time. The act was strongly opposed by certain sections of the Sinhalese (while a few Tamil politicians opposed it for not going far enough), and was eventually torn up by Prime Minister Bandaranaike in May 1958 due to the pressure of Buddhist monks. The abandonment of the pact led to tensions between the two communities, resulting in a series of outbreaks of ethnic violence in the country which eventually spiraled into the 26 year Sri Lankan Civil War. Prime Minister Bandaranaike's later attempts to pas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. It shares a maritime border with the Maldives in the southwest and India in the northwest. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital of Sri Lanka, while the largest city, Colombo, is the administrative and judicial capital which is the nation's political, financial and cultural centre. Kandy is the second-largest urban area and also the capital of the last native kingdom of Sri Lanka. The most spoken language Sinhala language, Sinhala, is spoken by the majority of the population (approximately 17 million). Tamil language, Tamil is also spoken by approximately five million people, making it the second most-spoken language in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has a population of appr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trincomalee
Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast of the island overlooking the Trincomalee Harbour, Trincomalee has been one of the main centres of Sri Lankan Tamil dialects, Sri Lankan Tamil speaking culture on the island for nearly a millennium. With a population of 99,135, the city is built on a peninsula of the same name, which divides its inner and outer harbours. It is home to the famous Koneswaram temple from where it developed and earned its historic Tamil name ''Thirukonamalai''. The town is home to other historical monuments such as the Pathirakali Amman Temple, Bhadrakali Amman Temple, Trincomalee, the Trincomalee Hindu Cultural Hall and, opened in 1897, the R. K. M. Sri Koneswara Hindu College, Trincomalee Hindu College. Trincomalee is also the site of the Trincomalee railway s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kelaniya
Kelaniya ( ) is a suburb of Colombo in the Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province, Sri Lanka. Located from Colombo Fort, it is known for the Buddhist temple built on the banks of the Kelani River, which divides the suburb from Colombo District. The temple is also a religious centre for veneration of the figures Vibhishana and Avalokiteshvara. It is also known as the location of the University of Kelaniya. Historical and cultural significance Kelaniya (''Kalyanam'') is mentioned in Ramayana and in the Buddhist chronicle, the Mahawansa which states that the Buddha visited the place in the 5th century BC, after which the stupa, dagoba of the temple was built.Wilhelm Geiger (Tr), ''The Mahavansa, or The Great Chronicle of Ceylon'', Oxford, OUP, 1920. Sri Lankan Buddhists believe that the Buddha visited Kelaniya in order to quell a quarrel between the Nāga leaders of two warring factions: Chulodara (literally "the small-bellied one") and Mahodara (literally "the big-bellied ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temple Of The Tooth
Sri Dalada Maligawa, commonly known in English as the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, is a Buddhist temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is located in the Royal Palace Complex of the former Kingdom of Kandy, which houses the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. Since ancient times, the relic has played an important role in local politics because it is believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country. The relic was historically held by Sinhalese kings. The Temple of the Tooth is a World Heritage Site mainly due to the temple and the relic. Bhikkhus of two particular chapters, the Malwathu chapter and the Asgiri chapter, conduct daily worship in the inner chamber of the temple. Rituals are performed three times daily: at dawn, at noon and in the evenings. On Wednesdays, there is a symbolic bathing of the relic with a herbal preparation made from scented water and fragrant flowers called ''Nanumura Mangallaya''; this holy water is believed to contain healing p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kandy
Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is both an administrative and religious city and the capital of the Central Province. Kandy is the home of the Temple of the Tooth Relic (''Sri Dalada Maligawa''), one of the most sacred places of worship in the Buddhist world. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. Historically the local Buddhist rulers resisted Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial expansion and occupation. Etymology The city and the region have been known by many different names and versions of those names. Some scholars suggest that the original name of Kandy was Katubulu Nuwara located near the present Watapuluwa. However, the more popular historical name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colombo
Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the financial centre of the island and a tourist destination. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to the Greater Colombo area which includes Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the legislative capital of Sri Lanka, and Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia. Colombo is often referred to as the capital since Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is situated within the Colombo metro area. It is also the administrative capital of the Western Province and the district capital of Colombo District. Colombo is a busy and vibrant city with a mixture of modern life, colonial buildings and monuments. It was made the capital of the island when Sri Lanka was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, retaining its capital status when Sri Lanka gained independence in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dudley Senanayake
Dudley Shelton Senanayake (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan wikt:statesman, statesman who thrice served as Prime Minister of Ceylon, from 1952 to 1953 (as the second prime minister of Ceylon), in 1960, and from 1965 to 1970 , and Leader of the Opposition (Sri Lanka), Leader of the Opposition from 1960 to 1964. Senanayake's tenures as prime minister were associated with Democracy, democratic policies focused on agricultural and educational reforms with a pro-western alignment. Born to a Senanayake family, political family, he was the eldest son of Don Stephen Senanayake, D. S. Senanayake, who lead the Sri Lankan independence movement, independence movement that gained self-rule for Ceylon in 1948, with D. S. Senanayake becoming the prime minister of Ceylon. Dudley Senanayake, who was educated at S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, S. Thomas' College and at Corpus C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United National Party
The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party, or as part of its governing coalition, during the periods 1947–1956, 1965–1970, 1977–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2019, and 2022–2024. After suffering a major split in the lead-up to the 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2020 parliamentary elections, the UNP suffered a major collapse, with the party only winning one Appointed and National List Member of Parliament, national list seat and losing all its votes to the new Samagi Jana Balawegaya alliance. Currently, the UNP is a notable Third party (politics), third party in Sri Lankan politics. The UNP has been led by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe since 1994. The party is a member of the International Democracy Union. History Formation (1946–1952) The UNP was founded b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dominion
A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colonial self-governance increased (and, in some cases, decreased) unevenly over the late 19th century through the 1930s. Vestiges of empire lasted in some dominions well into the late 20th century. With the evolution of the British Empire following the 1945 conclusion of the Second World War into the modern Commonwealth of Nations (after which the former Dominions were often referred to as the ''Old Commonwealth''), finalised in 1949, the dominions became independent states, either as republics in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth republics or Commonwealth realms. In 1925, the government of the United Kingdom created the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, Dominions Office from the Colonial Office, although for the next five yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All Ceylon Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress (), is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka. History The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in parliament (50% for the majority Sinhalese, and 50% for ''all'' other ethnic groups). This was immediately rejected by the British Governor General Lord Soulbury as a "mockery of democracy". Due to the cooperation of the ACTC with the United National Party (UNP) a group led by S.J.V. Chelvanayakam broke away in 1949, forming the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), commonly known as Federal Party (FP). The ACTC was largely discredited when their ally the UNP moved away from bilingual and bicommunal policies towards a pro- Sinhalese stance. Thus the FP emerged as the major Tamil party in 1956. In 1972 the ACTC and the FP formed the Tamil United Front, which later evolved into the Tamil United Liberation Front in 1976. Ahead of the 2001 elections, ACTC joined the LTTE-backed Tamil Nationa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walauwa
Walauwa or walawwa is the name given to a feudal/Colony, colonial manor house in Sri Lanka of a Native headmen of Ceylon, native headmen. It also refers to the feudal social systems that existed during the colonial era. The term walauwa is derived from the Tamil language, Tamil word ''valavu'', which denotes a compound or garden, and by implication, a large house with aristocratic connotations. The pinnacle of walauwas in the Sinhala social stratum is the ''wasala walauwa''. Wasala is derived from the word ''Wasasathana'', meaning residence. In the Sinhalese social hierarchy, a wasala walawa would typically be the ancestral residence of a mudaliyar. Walauwas vary in style, elegance and uniqueness depending upon the financial resources of the individual families and in the village or area's social structure. Most walauwas tend to incorporate aspects of traditional pre-colonial Ceylonese architecture, as well as Dutch and later colonial influences. A walauwa usually consisted of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanley De Zoysa
Stanley de Zoysa (27 June 1907 – 10 December 1970) was a Sri Lankan businessmen and politician. He was the former Cabinet Minister of Finance (1956–1959) in S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike's government, subsequently Minister of Interior (1959–1960) and Ceylon's Ambassador to Indonesia. De Zoysa was the son of Sir Francis de Zoysa, KC an Advocate and member of the first State Council, and Lady Ethel Perera Amarasekera Siriwardena. He had several siblings, some of who gained prominence in several fields: Sydney de Zoysa (former Deputy inspector general of police), A. C. "Bunty" de Zoysa (President's Counsel), Violet Rajapakse (who married Tudor Rajapakse), Olga de Zoysa (first Miss Ceylon), and Lucien de Zoysa (famous cricket commentator). His uncle was Sir Ernest de Silva. Sydney de Zoysa was educated at the Royal College, Colombo, he went into business and became a prominent businessmen. Joining the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, he contest the 1956 general election from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
