Sri Lankan Culture and Tradition
The culture of Sri Lanka has been influenced by many things in the past, but has managed to retain much of its ancient, rich aspects. Mostly it has been influenced by religion and colonization by the Dutch, the Portuguese and the British.
Culure with the Buddhism
With the introduction of Buddhism, Pali works Tripitaka, Pali literature came to Ceylon and the Sinhala language was supplemented with Pali words without much difficulty for the language spoken by the people here was much similar to Pali. A vast literature in Sinhala derived influenced by Pali tripitaka. Pali commentaries and other literature brought from India and the Pali works were translated into Sinhala. With the growth of Mahayana and vast literature in Sanskrit, place of Pali was taken over Sanskrit and the Sinhala language.Really became a mixture of Pali and Sanskrit languages Sanskrit literary works as Meghaduta, Ramayana, Maharasrata were studied and their structure was followed in Sinhala prose and verse.
Aryans when they came to Ceylon brought the system of farming and irrigation but most probably not a religion nor art, architecture, sculpture, literature etc. All these were introduced with the advent of Buddhism. Monasteries and temples and other religious edifies were built first of stone and later of brick and mortar as residences for the bhikkus huge stupas were constructed to enshrine the scared relic of the Buddha and his noble disciples. These religious edifies were embellished by a rich legacy of sculptural forms. Interior of the Viharas were decorated with images of the Buddha later with Bodhisattvas, various scenes from Buddha’s life. With divinities etc. when you take all these into the account we could say that there Mahinda not only introduced noblest religion in the world but also a culture of a much advanced form. Introduction of Buddhism and arrival of Aryans to Sri Lanka not only helped socially but helped to enhanced culture of Sri Lanka too.
Aryans first introduced the village system government when they arrived in Lanka. According to historical sources, Vijay’s followers established themselves as chiefs of villagers as indicated by the names Anuradhagama à village of Anradha, Upatissagama à village of Upatissa and so on. They chief most probably captured the adjuring villages and set themselves as rulers or rajas of the area. With the introduction of Buddhism these rulers became more humane for they were expected to rule according to the DasaRajaDhamma – 10 kingly virtues (giving, morality, liberality, straightness, gentleness, self-restriction, non-anger, non-hurtfulness, forbearance and non-opposition. At the beginning kings were not looked upon as gods but ordinary men go=given the leadership to work for the welfare of the people under him according to Buddhist principles. Thus the main duties of the Rajas were to develop agricultures by building tanks and canals to protect the people and lands from foreign invaders, plunderers, robbers etc. and also to protect the religion and build religious edifies and grant land for their upkeep.
Thus Ceylon had a culture based on self-sufficiency. There was actually the barter system prevailing in ancient Lanka. Only the kings could trade with foreigners and transact money. Farmer gave some of his products to the villages potter, smithy, traders on cloths, fancy goods etc. in exchange for pots & pans mammoth blades, axes, fancy goods etc. and as such there was no need for the ordinary man to possess money but he and his family had enough for their sustenance unlike people of the contemporary medieval Europe and England where the 8 years, 10 years old worked as slaves in the work, house, in coal mines in stables for a mere pittance..
This culture based on self sufficiency in Lanka as changed into an export – import oriental economy based on export crops as team rubber, coconut, cinchona, cinnamon, canbamousetc. with a damaging influence to sustainable agriculture which declined at a fast rate with the arrival of the Europeans – Rice was exported and the lands were handed over to the Europeans planters for a mere pittance as the farmers could not produce the “so – call deeds” for the land they cultivated for the time immemorial. Thus money became the pivotal factor upon which everything depended. Family relationships, religious practices, ancient customs receded to the background with a new culture based on money.
New resurgence of former cultural traits is to be seen with the gaining of independence in 1948 and the emergence of national heroes as Walisinghe Harischandra, Angarika Dhrmapala, More and more people became aware of their past cultured heritage and began to take a new interest in ancient customs, classical music, dancing etc. which were fast disappearing features of our cultural heritage. One of the most important is the pride of place given to the sheaf of betel or the “bulath hurulla” This had been an important item in religious and marriage ceremonies, functions, festivals etc. Parents, teachers elders are respected with a shelf of betal at Sinhala New year times and at important functions. This has a power of healing differences among parents and children, relations etc. With betal comes habit of our people having the quid of betal of course with certain other ingredients as obecanuts, bit of chunam, camphor, cardamons, nutmeg, mance, etc. it is said that ours kings had a special officer to prepare the squid of betal for him. In our ancient residences the tray of betal with a spittoon nearby (to empty the reddish saliva from the mouth) could be seen which had gone out of fashion today. Even the upper class ladies of yore had the habit of chewing the quid of betal while gossiping or at leisure or playing indoor games. It is said that in India this habit of chewing the quid of betal is not looked up on down but it is fast disappearing from our society instead the poisonus cigarette has taken its place.
Various types of folk art which should get the pride of place seems to be fading away. One such is the various types of decorations made with the young coconut fronds – gokkola- which is endemic to Sri Lanka for it comes from the coconut tree, At folk – dancing, devil dancing ceremonies, Bali performances, Pirith ceremonies, weddings, funeral & decorations done with gokkola are given prominence in rural areas. Special pavilion made for the Pirit ceremony, Poruwa at a wedding for the couple to stand on, Punkalasa (symbolof propriety) etc. decorated with gokkola are slowly dying away giving place to artificial decorations.
Aryans when they came to Ceylon brought the system of farming and irrigation but most probably not a religion nor art, architecture, sculpture, literature etc. All these were introduced with the advent of Buddhism. Monasteries and temples and other religious edifies were built first of stone and later of brick and mortar as residences for the bhikkus huge stupas were constructed to enshrine the scared relic of the Buddha and his noble disciples. These religious edifies were embellished by a rich legacy of sculptural forms. Interior of the Viharas were decorated with images of the Buddha later with Bodhisattvas, various scenes from Buddha’s life. With divinities etc. when you take all these into the account we could say that there Mahinda not only introduced noblest religion in the world but also a culture of a much advanced form. Introduction of Buddhism and arrival of Aryans to Sri Lanka not only helped socially but helped to enhanced culture of Sri Lanka too.
Aryans first introduced the village system government when they arrived in Lanka. According to historical sources, Vijay’s followers established themselves as chiefs of villagers as indicated by the names Anuradhagama à village of Anradha, Upatissagama à village of Upatissa and so on. They chief most probably captured the adjuring villages and set themselves as rulers or rajas of the area. With the introduction of Buddhism these rulers became more humane for they were expected to rule according to the DasaRajaDhamma – 10 kingly virtues (giving, morality, liberality, straightness, gentleness, self-restriction, non-anger, non-hurtfulness, forbearance and non-opposition. At the beginning kings were not looked upon as gods but ordinary men go=given the leadership to work for the welfare of the people under him according to Buddhist principles. Thus the main duties of the Rajas were to develop agricultures by building tanks and canals to protect the people and lands from foreign invaders, plunderers, robbers etc. and also to protect the religion and build religious edifies and grant land for their upkeep.
Thus Ceylon had a culture based on self-sufficiency. There was actually the barter system prevailing in ancient Lanka. Only the kings could trade with foreigners and transact money. Farmer gave some of his products to the villages potter, smithy, traders on cloths, fancy goods etc. in exchange for pots & pans mammoth blades, axes, fancy goods etc. and as such there was no need for the ordinary man to possess money but he and his family had enough for their sustenance unlike people of the contemporary medieval Europe and England where the 8 years, 10 years old worked as slaves in the work, house, in coal mines in stables for a mere pittance..
This culture based on self sufficiency in Lanka as changed into an export – import oriental economy based on export crops as team rubber, coconut, cinchona, cinnamon, canbamousetc. with a damaging influence to sustainable agriculture which declined at a fast rate with the arrival of the Europeans – Rice was exported and the lands were handed over to the Europeans planters for a mere pittance as the farmers could not produce the “so – call deeds” for the land they cultivated for the time immemorial. Thus money became the pivotal factor upon which everything depended. Family relationships, religious practices, ancient customs receded to the background with a new culture based on money.
New resurgence of former cultural traits is to be seen with the gaining of independence in 1948 and the emergence of national heroes as Walisinghe Harischandra, Angarika Dhrmapala, More and more people became aware of their past cultured heritage and began to take a new interest in ancient customs, classical music, dancing etc. which were fast disappearing features of our cultural heritage. One of the most important is the pride of place given to the sheaf of betel or the “bulath hurulla” This had been an important item in religious and marriage ceremonies, functions, festivals etc. Parents, teachers elders are respected with a shelf of betal at Sinhala New year times and at important functions. This has a power of healing differences among parents and children, relations etc. With betal comes habit of our people having the quid of betal of course with certain other ingredients as obecanuts, bit of chunam, camphor, cardamons, nutmeg, mance, etc. it is said that ours kings had a special officer to prepare the squid of betal for him. In our ancient residences the tray of betal with a spittoon nearby (to empty the reddish saliva from the mouth) could be seen which had gone out of fashion today. Even the upper class ladies of yore had the habit of chewing the quid of betal while gossiping or at leisure or playing indoor games. It is said that in India this habit of chewing the quid of betal is not looked up on down but it is fast disappearing from our society instead the poisonus cigarette has taken its place.
Various types of folk art which should get the pride of place seems to be fading away. One such is the various types of decorations made with the young coconut fronds – gokkola- which is endemic to Sri Lanka for it comes from the coconut tree, At folk – dancing, devil dancing ceremonies, Bali performances, Pirith ceremonies, weddings, funeral & decorations done with gokkola are given prominence in rural areas. Special pavilion made for the Pirit ceremony, Poruwa at a wedding for the couple to stand on, Punkalasa (symbolof propriety) etc. decorated with gokkola are slowly dying away giving place to artificial decorations.
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