Ceylon and the Portuguese, 1505-1658
Ceylon and the Portuguese, 1505-1658

Author: Paulus Edward Pieris

Publisher: Asian Educational Services

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 9788120613720

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The Story Of The Portuguese In Ceylon Is Of More Than Local Interest, For It Depicts For Us A Characteristic Phase Of The Beginning Of European Expansion In The East. A Hundred And Fifty Three Years After The Portuguese First Landed In Ceylon They Were Expelled From The Country, Leaving The Gloomy Word Failure Writ Large Over All Their Actions. That However Was Not All, For They Left The Sinhalese A Broken Race, With Their Ancient Civilization Brought Ot The Verge Of Ruin, And Their Scheme Of Life Well-Nigh Destroyed.

Encounters on the Opposite Coast: The Dutch East India Company and the Nayaka State of Madurai in the Seventeenth Century
Encounters on the Opposite Coast: The Dutch East India Company and the Nayaka State of Madurai in the Seventeenth Century

Author: Markus Vink

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2015-10-14

Total Pages: 782

ISBN-13: 9004272623

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In Encounters of the Opposite Coast Markus Vink provides a narrative of the first half century of cross-cultural interaction between the Dutch East India Company (VOC), one of the great northern European chartered companies, and Madurai, one of the 'great southern Nayakas' and successor-states of the Vijayanagara empire, in southeast India (c. 1645-1690). A shared interest in trade and at times converging political objectives formed the unstable foundations for a complex relationship fraught with tensions, a mixture of conflict and coexistence typical of the 'age of contained conflict'. Drawing extensively on archival materials, Markus Vink covers a topic neglected by both Company historians and their Indian counterparts and sheds important light on a 'black hole in South Indian history'.

Devas, Demons and Buddhist Cosmology in Sri Lanka
Devas, Demons and Buddhist Cosmology in Sri Lanka

Author: Achala Gunasekara-Rockwell

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-08-19

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 1000630862

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This book examines the worship of devas and demons in Sri Lanka, illustrating how diverse influences interacted to create the Sinhala Buddhist cosmology. The work explains the processes by which apotheosis plays an important role in revitalizing that cosmology. The author offers an examination of holy sites associated with the worship of Hūniyam. These sacred spaces each have a unique background historically, and the ritualists associated with these sites have divergent understandings concerning Hūniyam. Building upon the examination of the temples, the book delves into the iconography of Hūniyam, illustrating his transformation from demon to deity in the manner that he is depicted in imagery associated with his worship. The book moves to a discussion of Aritṭ ạ Kivenḍu Perumāl, a South Indian adventurer, demonstrating the likelihood that he is the historical figure later apotheosized as Hūniyam. Sri Lankan society felt his impact so strongly that in death he became a demon in the Sinhala Buddhist cosmology. Finally, the book demonstrates that the same apotheosis processes are at work today. This book will be of interest to researchers and students engaged in the study of religion, anthropology, folklore, and history, specifically in the South Asian context.

The History of Sri Lanka
The History of Sri Lanka

Author: Patrick Peebles

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2006-08-30

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 0313024715

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Sri Lanka—an island nation located in the Indian Ocean— has a population of approximately 19 million. Despite its diminuative size, however, Sri Lanka has a long and complex history. The diversity of its people has led to ethnic, religious, and political conflicts that continue to exist. Peebles describes the experiences of the country, from its earliest settlers, to civil war, to its current state, allowing readers to better understand this often misunderstood country. With an emphasis on the 20th century, chapters discuss the economy, religion, culture, and government of Sri Lanka. A timeline outlines key events in Sri Lankan history, as well as biographies of notable people, and a bibliographic essay.

Buddhist Precept & Practice
Buddhist Precept & Practice

Author: Richard F. Gombrich

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-11-12

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 1136156232

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First published in 1995. This study is intended as a contribution to the empirical study of religion, and in particular to the study of religious change. Using empirical method of using documents, interviews and experiments the author tests his old hypotheses in order to formulate new ones that my lead him to the truth. He focusses on the distinctions used throughout this book, that are between what people say they believe and say they do, and what they really believe and really do, using his research of the Sinhalese Buddhists in Ceylon