Sri Lankan History, Culture and Heritage
Sri Lankan History, Culture and Heritage tests chronology, the irrigation civilisation, religious and cultural transmission, colonial rule and the making of modern Sri Lanka.
Core sequence
- Anuradhapura: from about the 4th century BCE; Buddhism arrives in the 3rd century BCE under Devanampiya Tissa; Mahavamsa and Culavamsa record the tradition.
- Polonnaruwa: capital after Anuradhapura; major irrigation works and Buddhist monuments.
- Sigiriya: 5th-century CE rock fortress associated with Kashyapa I.
- Kandy: last independent kingdom; falls to the British in 1815.
- Colonial sequence: Portuguese (1505), Dutch, British; independence in 1948.
- Heritage: Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Kandy, Galle Fort and Sinharaja are World Heritage sites.
- Living culture includes the Esala Perahera, Sinhala and Tamil literature, and craft traditions.
Worked example
Place in order: Portuguese arrival, arrival of Buddhism, fall of Kandy, construction of Sigiriya. Reasoning: Buddhism 3rd century BCE; Sigiriya 5th century CE; Portuguese 1505; Kandy 1815. Order: Buddhism, Sigiriya, Portuguese, Kandy.
Traps
- Mixing Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa dates.
- Treating the Mahavamsa as a neutral administrative record; it is a religious chronicle.
- Confusing Portuguese, Dutch and British legacies.
- Ignoring Tamil and Muslim cultural contributions.
- Assuming 'heritage' means only monuments, not living practices.