Brief Notes no. 8— by Wimal Kalapuge dated 18 January 2021

THE MINOANS OF CRETE

BY Margaret Mead.

(The full chapter as extracted from the book titled “PEOPLE AND PLACES”-Bantam Books.)

So far we have described the ways of people who were known to us while they lived — people who have disappeared from the earth on their seal hunts, their raiding for horses, their wars, and their dances while explorers and artists and anthropologists could study them and report on what they found. But a large part of the most interesting activities of the man — most of his older attempts to build strong permanent civilizations — have disappeared from the earth, leaving only crumbling buildings, designs on the rims of broken pots, and plundered tombs to tell the story. The richer the old civilization was in gold and silver and precious stones, the more likely it is that the ruins have been robbed by many generations until often nothing is left to us. We are dependent on accidents, like an earthquake or a volcanic eruption that covered a whole city with lava, to get a full material picture of what an ancient city was like. Pompaii was one of these accidents; Knossos, the capital of the great Minoan civilization of Crete, was another.

Crete is a small Island In the Mediterranean, almost the same distance from Asia, Africa,and Europe, with high mountains which are landmarks for sailors. There for some six thousand years have lived a slight, olive-skinned people, some of whose ancestors perhaps first came into Europe from Anatolia in Asia. In classical times Greeks and then the Romans came to Crete. In the ninth century the Island fell to the Saracens and became a stronghold of pirates. Later, for four hundred years it belonged to Venice in the period when this Italian city was a center of great seagoing enterprises; and then for two hundred years it was ruled uneasily by the Turks while Christians and Moslem’s struggled for control until at last, in 1931, the Island became part of Greece. On the hillside, once heavily forested, olive trees have grown for thousands of years. But in modern times no one dreamed that underneath a mound here, on top of a hill there, and there, just inland from the beach, lay buried the remains of a great Bronze Age civilization — the first great empire built on sea trade.

True, schoolboys in England and Italy, Germany and France, studied as part of Greek mythology, the story of Theseus, the hero who slew the Minotaur and found his way out of the Labyrinth guided by Ariadne’s thread. But the classical scholars who wrote the books studied by schoolboys thought these tales were simply myths, fanciful stories made up by the Greeks, not history — just as they thought the Trojan War was not history. The Iliad and the Odyssey were part of our past because they were great poems, but no one thought that Agamemnon or Odysseus had been real persons, their lives transformed by storytellers and poets.

Then in the nineteenth century something happened in a small town in Germany which changed our knowledge of the history of the world, a kind of thing which might ,happen in any town to any boy who was really curious and adventurous. A boy named Heinrich Schliemann, the son of a poor minister, listened to a drunkard recite the beautiful epic poems composed by the Greek poet Homer almost three thousand years before. Deeply excited by the poetry and believing the story of the Iliad to be true, the boy decided that one day he would go and find the lost city of Troy. As a man, he taught himself Greek and studied the old texts, including a second-century account of a place which tourists at that time were told was the site of Troy.

In 1870, when he was forty-eight years old and had become a rich man, Schliemann went to northern Asia Minor, but he could not believe that Troy could really have stood at the traditional site, for there the land was so rocky that Achilles could not have dragged Hector around the walls as the poem describes. So he began his digging in a more likely place. There he found a whole series of cities, one buried beneath the other, and what he confidently believed was the golden treasure of Priam, King of Troy. Interrupted in his digging, he went to Greece and there at Mycenae in 1876, dug up what he thought must be the tomb of Agamemnon. There also he found clues which might have led him to Crete, but he died before he could follow them up and before he discovered that the tomb at Mycenae could not have been Agamemnon’s after all but belonged to an earlier and still unknown culture. Other men carried on the work of excavation. One thing, however, puzzled all those who first worked on this civilization: The Mycenaeans, though they were in every other way an advanced people, seemed to have had no form of writing.

Then in1892 another clue turned up in the form of a small carved cornelian seal shaped like a bead, supposedly from Sparta, which a traveler sent to the Ashmolean Museum in England. Arthur Evans, an archaeologist, later famous for his work in Crete, who believed that the Mycenaeans must have had writing, realized at once that the carvings on the bead might be some form of picture-writing. As soon as possible he went to Greece where he found bead-seals, all of which, he soon discovered, came from Crete. In1894 he went to Crete, there found even more bead-seals. Cretan country women called them “milk stones” and wore them around their neck, believing they were magical charms. As he traveled around the Island Evans also found innumerable fragments and recognized that here, far older than the Classical Greek and Roman ruins, must be an altogether forgotten civilization. And on a little knoll, known as Kephala Hill, about three miles back from the sea and the ancient port, Evans found signs of some huge buried buildings. There he decided to begin his digging to find out, if he could, who the mysterious people were who had invented the unknown form of writing on the bead-seals.

So a boy and a bead, taken together, showed the way. The work of Kephala. Hill began in 1900 and continued until the great palace of Knossos was revealed, some parts of it looking as if they had been abandoned only yesterday. In one room lamps were gathered as if to be filled for the day;in another section of the palace workmen’s tools were found where they had been laid down. Here at Knoss Sir Arthur Evans spent the rest of his life, matching his imagination against the broken fragments of pictures on the walls, the works of architects and painters and sculptors and potters, putting together bit by bit the history of Minoan Crete which ended eight hundred years before the flowering of classical Greece and was even older than the civilization of Mycenae.

The great palace of Knossos was not the work of one period, but was built and rebuilt over several hundred years, and beneath it were the remains of even earlier settlements going back to a period before 3000 BC. Norway’s the last disaster the only one;at least two hundred years before, the palace had been destroyed by an earthquake and had had to be rebuilt. Each time alterations were made some older part of the building was walled in or roofed over; because this happened, archeologists have been able to work out how one style, one way of doing things, succeeded another in time. Nor was Knossos the only remaining ruin. Gradually,as men worked, other small palaces were unearthed and also roads and whole towns.

As it was the last built, the palace at Knossos had many floor levels and broad sweeping stairways. Wooden columns long since decayed, like everything else that was perishable, had supported the inner halls. Light was let in by deep shafts edged with stone gutters down which the rain swept to flush the drains into deep sewers. These shafts let light into the interior rooms. The Minoans had the most elaborate plumbing in the ancient world, until modern times. From the palace and the buildings around it, from the paintings on the walls, from miniature figures, from the innumerable seals and tablets used to identify things stored away or counted, it is possible to tells good deal about the Minoans; how they looked, how they dressed, and what they did. With the help of other excavation on the eastern half of the Island it is possible to reconstruct something of their life.

Unlike ancient Egypt or Europe of the Middle Ages, Minoan Crete was not one of the civilizations in which kings and nobles or priests lived in great palaces and built enormous monuments while the rest of the people lived in huts and hovels. In the towns there were many medium-sized houses with terraces and wide windows. The palace itself was built of materials for which no great masses of slave labor were needed. In fact, though there probably were slaves, no slave quarters have been found. As there were no fortification, the Minoans must have lived at peace with one another, protected from outsiders by the sea and by the galleys — rugged with square sails and rowed with a single bank of oars — in which they carried on their far-flung trade. Women seem to have had a high position, for they appear in pictures of every kind of occasion mingling freely with men. Bull-grappling seems to have been the most exciting sport. In many scenes young unarmed men and girls are shown grasping the great horns of charging bulls and vaulting over their backs — a far more dangerous and exacting sport than modern Spanish bullfighting. Some people now think that perhaps Theseus’ Labyrinth was really the palace of Knossos which, dimly remembered in all its complexity and irregularity, must have been as puzzling to visiting foreigners as the Pentagon in Washington was when it was first built, and that the Minotaur was a memory in which the sacred king and the sacred bulls of the arena had become linked together.

Pictures show us young men wearing scanty kilts, broad tight belts that gave them a wasp waist, and leather boots; older men wore cloaks. Women dressed in short jackets and either flounced bell-bottom skirts or full pants with ruffles; they also wore large hats and high-heeled sandals. Warriors are shown with crested bronze helmets but without body armor except at a late date. They are shown carrying spears or rapiers and sometimes daggers, and protecting themselves with tall shields shaped like a figure eight, which gave them room to thrust their swords but also made them vulnerable to sword thrusts. From other records, we know that the Minoans used bows and arrows and that late in their history they began to use horse-drawn chariots. But for most part, people were carried in open palanquins, a kind of chair with a canopy, if they did not walk on the narrow roads.

There is an openness about many things in Minoan Crete — the great open stairways and doorways of the palace, the unfortified shores, the unarmed acrobats of the bull rings, and the slightly protected warriors. When the great palace fell, it must have been taken in surprise attack. The conquerors must have invaded the Island without warning, killing, looting, and burning — for there are many signs that the palace was destroyed by a great fire. At about the same time, though no one can tell which came first, there must also have been a devastating earthquake. The people elsewhere in Crete continued their old way of life for around three hundred years. But, though some of the rooms in the palace were made livable again, the palace was never rebuilt and later it was avoided as if it was a haunted place.

The palace builders were not the first inhabitants of Crete. These came much earlier, a Stone Age people who lived in caves and rock shelters in the mountains, little clusters of people widely separated from another, each with a way down to the sea. About these early people we know little as yet, except that they were good potters and made tools of polished stone and knew how to spin thread — for we have found spools and spindle whorls — and carried on some trade across the Aegean Sea.

Around 3000 BC another wave of immigrants arrived who built towns on the sea coast. They had much wider trade connections, especially with Egypt, from which country they brought home new ideas for vases of polished and brilliantly coloured stone and designs for seals, delicately carved. These people also worked in copper and gold. So the Island flourished and the people became prosperous. On a site where there had been a settlement since Stone Age times, the palace builders began their ambitious work.

The Minoans were businessmen and traders who established posts — perhaps even colonies — as faraway as ships could sail to islands and sea oasis to which they carried great jars of olive oil from the Island groves, and articles made by their craftsmen and artists. From the coast of Asia Minor to Spain things have been unearthed which came from Minoan Crete or which were influenced by Minoan styles. Indirectly, their trade extended even farther; in faraway Britain, blue Minoan crafted beads have been found and in Crete an amber disk bound in gold, matching another made in Britain. In later Minoan times, Cretan crossed to Mycenae, in Greece, where another new civilization was growing and where these skilled craftsmen and artists used old techniques to make new designs showing the life of the Mycenaeans.

After Knossos fell, Minoan civilization declined, and it much later a new wave of barbarians swept down across Greece and destroyed the related civilization of Mycenae. Then slowly, during hundreds of years, the very memory of the Island kingdom faded until, some people think, it became a legend from which the Greek philosopher Plato took his idea of a lost Atlantis.

The excitement of finding the palace at Knossos was the beginning of work which has occupied archaeologists ever since, as they have tried to date periods in Minoan history by matching styles and objects of known dates in Egypt. So, for instance, in Egyptian tombs there are pictures of Minoans, known to the Egyptians as “Keftians”, bringing gifts to the prime ministers of the Pharaohs. And gradually, as new work is done in Asia Minor, on the Aegean Islands,in Italy, in Sicily and Sardinia, in the Balearic Islands, and in Spain, as well as in Greece itself, we are discovering in new detail the breadth of the Minoan world.

By arrangement with the Greek Government, all the rich finds made in Crete must remain there. So the beautiful vases and reconstructed paintings in fresco are still in danger of being destroyed by earthquakes. However, using modern methods, copies have been made and sent elsewhere in the world so these ancient things will not be lost again. And they will be safe as long as the people of the earth do not permit a world war to start in which the copies might be destroyed.

But what of the bead which took Evans to Crete in the hope that some ancient form of writing might be discovered? In fact, the discoveries which were made went beyond all expectations, for though the writing Minoan Crete was linked up with Mycenae and other parts of the Greek world and also with other parts of the ancient world.

At Knossos, Evans discovered four styles of writing — two forms of picture-writing and two forms of script, which he called LinearA and Linear B — each of which succeeded the other in time except that Linear B was used only at the palace while in the rest of Crete people continued to use Linear A. From these discoveries it appears that while Minoans must have got the idea of writing from elsewhere — probably Egypt, for some of the signs in the early hieroglyphics are like those used in Egypt — they developed their own script independently, first in the form of pictures which stood for objects and ideas and then in the form of signs which stood for clusters of sounds. In Linear B writing, for instance, there are probably eighty-eight different sound symbols.

Almost all the writing we have from Knossos seem to have to do with recording business, keeping accounts, and who supervised the work. The earliest writing is on seals or on building stones, perhaps masons’ marks showing who the workmen were who built a part of the palace. Later accounts and records are much more diversified, and from these — because often pictures of objects were set down beside written statements about them — we know that crops and animals the Minoans had,what occupations men followed, and what their tools and gear were. We know that they developed an advanced arithmetic, for they had numbers running into tens of thousands and used both decimals and fractions.

The earlier seals suggests that at that time only a few people may have been able to read and write, for even a man who could not write could imprint something with the correct seal. But later, when the linear writing developed, there must have been many clerks and accountants to keep records on the thousands of thin clay tablets as well as supervisors to check them. We know, too, that Minoans were careful and systematic, for the clay tablets were neatly filed and labeled — sometimes even indexed along the side — and boxed in special cases and stored away in special rooms on shelves. Indirectly there is some evidence that they may also have had other,more perishable writing materials and that they used pens and ink as well as instruments for incising clay; but nothing of this kind has survived.

But what was the language? At first it was believed that the four types of writing recorded one language, which scholars nearly despaired of working out because they could find no records with translations into some known language. But then, in the late 1930’s and again in the 1950’s, tablets were discovered at Mycenae with the same writing which Evans had called Linear B at Knossos, bringing Mycenae and Crete together again as at the beginning. At this time a young English scholar, an architect named Michael Ventris, who as a boy had heard Evans describe the Minoan mystery and had determined to solve it if he could, decided that this writing might be an early form of Greek.And he was right. After more than fifty years of work, we can begin to read both Myocenaean records and the latest Minoan ones in Linear B.

With this the mystery is both solved and not solved. For now we know that the earlier forms of writing in Crete were used for a different language. What this was is not yet clear. Some scholars think it may be a form of Akkadian, a Semitic language spoken by people who lived north of the Babylonians. But no one is certain as yet. And when we know what language was recorded in Linear A, we shall still have to solve other mysteries.

What happened at the palace of Knossos when it was built for the last time? Did Mycenaeans who earlier had been influenced by the Minoans grow strong enough to take over the rule of the palace? And if they did, who were the destroyers of the palace some years later? Perhaps only when the many scholars in many countries, each of whom is working on his own part of the ancient world, can put all the parts together, will the pieces from Minoan Crete fit into the whole so well that we shall have before us a real picture of a whole civilized that existed long before the people we know of as our own cultural ancestors began to keep records. (End)

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The origin of Insurance or the provision of monetary subsistence for widows and orphans is mentioned in detail at pages 506–510 in the book “ SAPIENS” by Yual Noah Harare. This narration is presented in summary form with the sole intention of drawing the attention of interested readers to the historical origin of thrift and endowment, on which the whole Insurance industry is founded at present.

In 1744 two Presbyterian priests living in Scotland, Alexander Webster and Robert Wallace, thought of initiating a provident fund to support the widows and orphan children left destitute at the demise of clergymen.

The idea was to raise contributions from the church ministers from their income at an affordable amount and raise a fund that could be invested in a profitable venture. The proceeds earned from this investment to be paid to those deserving destitutes for as long as needed.

An elaborate process of calculations were required to arrive at the following critical information.

1. the amount of contribution required to be collected in installments to meet the objectives of the fund.
2. the number of anticipated deaths of ministers per year.
3. how many survivors need support per year and for how long etc.,

Instead of seeking divine assistance in finding solutions to the above probing questions, they were very practical and contacted a Professor of Mathematics from the University of Edinburgh by the name Colin MacLaurin. Three of them collectively gathered all relevant data available to arrive at the conclusions which indicated the number of likely deaths per year, and at what age. And also the number of likely dependents and for how long the sustenances will be needed etc.

This arduous task was made much easier because of the recent developments in the fields of Statistics and Probability carried out by Jacob Bernoulli’s in the Law of Large numbers. Also, at that time the, the Actuary Tables published 50 years ago by Edmund Halley were available and they were of immense use in this this investigation.As for instance, Halley has had concluded by his survey that the probability of a 20 year old’s death in a given year is 1 in100 whereas a 50 year’s old person’s living chances is only 1 in 39! Based on a regime of rigorous calculations they arrived at the following conclusions.

1. on the average, they could anticipate having 930 Presbyterian priests living at any given time.
2. On the average, 27 of them are expected to die each year, leaving behind 18 widows. Only 5 of them would leave orphaned children.
3. Based on these findings, Webster and Wallace inaugurated a Fund on following terms and conditions.
4. a nominal contribution of £2 12s 2d.a minister could guarantee a widow to receive a minimum of £10 a year (a big amount at that time -1765)
5. if a larger endowment of £25 was anticipated , the contribution has to be relatively increased up to £6 11s 3d.
6. By the year 1765, the initiators of the Fund anticipated the total capital in the Fund to be £58,348 but to the amazement of everybody the actual amount realized was just short of one single sterling pound, proving that their calculations were nearly perfect and accurate.
7. The Fund inaugurated in 1765, to provide for widows and orphans of the ministers of the Church of Scotland is known today simply as Scottish Widows, and its present worth of assets is over £100 billion. It is one of the leading pensions and insurance companies in the world today. (end)

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THE MAHAWANSA — The ancient Sri-Lanka Chronicle.

(‘The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’ of Sri Lanka)

1836 Turnover’s translation

1889 L.C.Wijesingha — reprinted

1908 Wilhelm Geiger — revised edition(German) — translated the MAHAWANSA which was originally written in Pali into German.

Mabel H.Bode translated the German into English, Geiger revised the English translation. This is a literal translation and a correct reproduction of statements recorded in the Chronicle.

1908 E.M.Coomaraswamy (a Tamil scholar) translated Geiger’s book Dipawansa and Mahawansa (1905). Like the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which was written by Christian monks and laity, the Mahawansa too was written by Buddhist monks and laity. Dipavamsa and Mahawansa are Ceylonese Chronicles based upon older material. The contents have been critically analyzed. ( R.O.Franke, Fleet, Kern, V.A.Smith ). They are sources of history and there is both internal and external evidence to show that they are trustworthy as sources of history. “The Chronicles would not suffer in comparison with the best of Chronicles….. written in England or in France”” (Rhys David’s) in Buddhist India 1903 p.274.

The Chronicles do not contain pure history only and represent also traditions of the time. The authors wished to write the truth and there is an obvious attempt to make out a systematic chronology.

1. Dipawansa was composed at the close of 4th. Century A.D. At this time there was already a Chronicle of the history of the Island called Atthakatha (The Truths or True Stories). The recorded history originally came down to the time of the arrival of Mahinda Thero in Ceylon (May 246 B.C.). Later was continued down to the reign of Mahasena (ie., to the beginning of 4th Century A.D.)
2. Buddhagosa bases his historical introduction to Samantha Pasadika on Dipawansa but also draws directly from Atthakatha.
3. The author of Mahawansa is Mahanama. King Dhatusena (bestowed thousand pieces of gold) and gave orders to write a Dipika on Dipawansa at the beginning of 6th. This Dipika is the Mahawansa. The author of Mahawansa has copied Dipawansa (which is in Pali verse). Therefore Mahawansa is the same as Dipawansa but a rearrangement or a new treatment of it.
4. Mahawansa Tika was composed between 1000–1250 A.D. when additions were made to Dipawansa and Mahawansa.
5. When a critical analysis of the Chronicles (eg.by Fleet) following events and dates can be established
6. a. Conversion of Sri Lanka to Buddhism by Mahinda and Sangamitta.
7. b. King Asoka of India and King Devanampiyatissa were contemporaries.
8. c. KingAsoka had sent missions earlier.
9. d. Transportation of a branch of Bodhi tree from Uruwela to Anuradhapura DATES (as following)
10. 1. Buddha’s death (Nirvana). 483 B.C.
11. 2. King Asoka’s abiseka. 264 B.C.
12. 3. Devanampiyatissa’s1st. abiseka 247 B.C.
13. 4. Devanampiyatissa’s 2nd. abiseka 246 B.C. April
14. 5. Arrival of Mahinda in Ceylon. 240 B.C. May
15. (Transportation of Bodhi tree)
16. SUMMARY (as follows)
17. The ancient Sri Lankan Chronicles were in two parts- (a)The Mahawansa and. (b)Chulawansa.
18. (a) MAHAWANSA. -covered the period from King Vijaya to King Mahasena (543 B.C. to 301A.D.) and was written between 459 A.D. to 477 A.D.

(b)CHULAWANSA covered the period from 301 A.D. It was written from 1266 A.D. (King Parakrama Bahia) upto 1758 (King Kithsiri Rajasinghe).The writings from 1758 until 1815, when the British conquered Ceylon are being researched by Scholars both in Sri Lanka and abroad — Buddhism (2500 years old) spread both to Iran, Iraq, Greece and Albania through the works of the the Buddhist missionaries (Arahat) before Christianity and Moslem religions. In fact present day Iran and Iraq were then known as Pallivabhogya. The first University of the world established by Buddhist monks was Nalanda University (2 B.C.) in India. It will be interesting to ‘research’ the origin of other Universities — the first University in Europe Italy’s Bologna University, Sorbonne (France) , Oxford and Cambridge.

Historians and Scholars from the world acclaim that Mahawansa is one of the oldest known chronicles in existence. The Mahawansa is chronicled in several parts, the first of which was Mahanamma — a reputed teacher at one of the Buddhist Pirivenas in Anuradhapura in the 5th. Century A.D.

The author of Mahawansa categorically states that his manuscript is based on previous work written on the same subject by the ancients. It was the Dipawansa, or the Dipawansa Tika.

Both the style of writing or recording in in the Dipavamsa and Mahawansa adopts the style very much in vogue during that period, ie,based on the literary format in the ‘Aththakatha’ — which freely translated means — True Stories.

The Mahawansa and the Dipawansa were both recorded in Pali — one of the classical languages of that period — and inscribed on ‘ola’ leaves.

As one of the oldest known chronicles of a nation’s progress,it has evoked world-wide interest.

• In 1903 Rhys David’s comment “..the Chronicles would not suffer in comparison with the best chronicles..written in England or in France…..”
• In 1908 , Willemstad Geiger — a German historian and linguist made a translation of the text from Pali into German,
• Later Mabel H. Bode converted the German rendering into English.

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BRIEF NOTE

THE SHAPING OF SRI LANKA’s HISTORICAL TRADITION

Written by Kamanthi Wickramasinghe

As published in Daily Mirror of 14.Nov.2020

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Entwined In a deep-rooted historical and cultural fabric, Sri Lanka has been a Centre of attraction in the Indian Ocean for centuries. It’s historical tradition was documented in the Dipawansa and the Mahawamsa, which were later translated by colonists who subsequently pioneered in shaping the historical narratives for generations to come.Addressing the 129th. lecture of National Trust of Sri Lanka, Prof. Gamini Keerawella, a senior professor in modern history at the University of Peradeniya with research interests in historiography under the British rule in Sri Lanka and peace and security in the Indian Ocean shed light on ‘Colonial knowledge formation under the British rule and modern historiography.’

BEGINNING OF SRI LANKA’s HISTORICAL TRADITION

Sri LANKA’s historical tradition began after the arrival of Mahinda mission. This was around the 3rd. Century BC and during that time there were at least 20 Chiefdoms in Sri Lanka” Prof. Keerawella said. “One of them was on the banks of Malwatu Ora in Anuradhapura and there were others in Eastern part of Sri Lanka such as in Trincomalee, Batticaloa and others down South and West. There were internal conflicts. The Asokan Maurya also wanted to propagate the Dharmawijaya and therefore grabbed the opportunity “.

Prof. Keerawella said that Sri Lanka had one of the oldest and continues historical traditions in Asia. “The origin of this tradition could be traced back to the introduction of Buddhism to the island on the 3rd. century BC.when the Buddhist cannons were presented they accompanied a historical introduction in the form of “Atta Katha” in order to prove that it was the true Buddhist teachings. Accordingly, “Atta Katha” of the Pitakas-Sutra, Abhidharma and Vinaya Pitakas became an integral part of the introduction of Buddhism. This historical tradition was naturalized in the Sri Lankan native style and Sinhala “Attta Katha” were produced with added details of history of the Island. That was the beginning of Sri LANKA’s historical tradition.

REFERENCE TO THE MAHAVAMSA

“As a number of Buddhist centers of learning emerged in the Island, there were many variations of historical narrations” he continued. “Available evidence clearly shows that ancient historical thinking of the Island was enriched with multiple perspectives.

In order to understand the ancient historical traditions of the Island, Mahawansa and its Tika commentary Vamsatha pakasini are very useful.According to Mahavama-Tika

Mahawamsa was based on Seehala Atta Katha Mahawamsa.The Vamsatha pakasini mentioned about Uttara Vihara Atta Katha and Uttara Vihara vaasi Mahawamsa.

“”Uttara Vihara was Abayagiriya — a rival Buddhist Centre that competed with Maha Vihara”, he explained. “The Uttara Vihara historical perspective was not similar to Maha Vihara. Almost all quotations from Uttara Vihara Atta Katha in Mahawamsa are to either point out differences in traditions or to provide additional information not found in Seehala Atta Katha. The earliest known Chronicle in the Island was not Mahavamsa.The Dipavamsa was written around mid 4th. Century.”

“As distinguished historian Lakshan S. Perera pointed out the Dipavamsa gives a clear indication of our early historical traditions. Many references to Bikkunis have led scholars to suppose that this may be the work of Bikkunis of the Attaka Nagari.Even though there were multiple narrations of history, the Mahavamsa has continued to shape the dominant historical thinking of the Island for generations.The Mahavamsa was in circulation as reference material for generations up to the 18th. Century “ he added.

PIONEERING COLONIALISTS

He pointed out how the identification of Sinhala language with the newly invented Indo-European family of languages, the people who speak Sinhala with the Aryan race and the parallel identification of the Tamil language with the Dravidian family of languages and the Tamil speaking people with the Dravidian race had a far reaching impact on on the reading of the past of Sri Lanka.

Sir Alexander Johnston, the third Chief Justice of Ceylon, linked Sri Lanka to the emerging oriental scholarships in the West. He was instrumental in translating the Mahavamsa from its original Pali text with the help of one Rajapaksa, the native head of Cinnamon Department. He also came across texts such as the Rajavaliya and Rajaratnakaraya.

George Turner came to Sri Lanka as a colonial civil servant after acquisition of the Kandyan kingdom and the suppression of the 1818 uprising. When he was posted in Ratnapura as magistrate in1820 Turner obtained his language training from the Buddhist sangha at the Mulkirigala Temple. Rev. Selkirk who authored the “Recollection of Ceylon” published in London in 1844 was another example. Sir James Tennent — the colonial secretary of Ceylon 1845–1850 published his two volumes “ Ceylon: An Account of the Island, Physical, Topographical Notes of its Natural History, Antiquities and Production” in London in 1859. It was the most comprehensive in scope and most scholarly work authored by British administrators in Ceylon.

As such, George Turner, Herman Oldenburg, Wilheim Greiger, Edward Muller, C.W..Nicholas and Senarath Paranavithana have been identified as true orientalists.

Orientalism began to shape the reading of Sri Lankan history from the second half of the 19th. Century.The impact of the identification of language groups of Aryan and Dravidian can be clearly seen in the history of Sinhala language presented by James De Alwis.

Upon appointing an official to read and document rock inscriptions, a Department of Archeology came into being in 1890. The appointment of H.C.P.Bell as first Commissioner of Archeology marked the turning point in archeological research in Sri Lanka.

Incipient nationalist movement in the late 19th. And 20th.century, gave birth to a host of writings based on the glorious past of the Island. Most comprehensive presentation of Sri Lankan history emerging from the Sri Lankan nationalist movement were found in the writings of Walisundara Harischandra, who paid attention to Anuradhapura and ruined cities and Paul E Pieris. The frames and concepts they employed to depict glorious past were indeed of colonial construct. This shows that colonial historiography and national historiography are two sides of the same coin

BIRTH OF HISTORY TEXTBOOKS

“During the second half of the 19th. Century Swabasha schools extended rapidly, parallel to the socio-economic translation in the Country,” he added. “Inclusion of history as a school curriculum created a need for history textbooks. First such publication was “Helladiv Rajiniya ‘’ written by one John Perera, head master of Colombo TeacherTraining College in 1858. When Vidyodaya and Vidyalankara Pirivena were established in 1873 and in 1875 respectively, history was considered a key discipline. “” Itihasaya” written by Rev.Weligama Sumangala Thero was an attempt to fulfill the need for history textbooks. At the same time, Sinhala translation of Mahavamsa was done by Rev. Hikkaduwe Sumangala and Batuwanthudawe Dhaammakiththi came out of the press. Tendency further evolved in the early 20th. Century. “Sketch of Ceylon History’’ by Ponnambalam Ramanathan in 1908 and “Outline of Ceylon History “ by Donald Obeysekara in 1911 were early writings mainly meant for the general public. Most scholarly presentation was H.W.Codrington’s “ A Short History of Ceylon” published in 1926.

Thereafter, history became an academic discipline with the establishment of the University system in Sri Lanka.

This shows that reading of Sri Lankan history and the construction of knowledge on the past in the 19th. Century evolved as a colonial project and continues to provide the basic tempo in mainstream historical writings even today. (End)

Some of the early History books worthy of reference.

1.Description of Ceylon by Sir James Cordiner

2.An account of the interior of Ceylon and of its inhabitants. by John Davy.(2 Volumes)

3.Sketches of the natural history of Ceylon. by Sir James Emmersion Tennent.( 2 Volumes)

4.Recollection of Ceylon, after a residence of nearly thirteen years. byRev. James Selkirk

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BRIEF NOTE №9 dated 1–10–2020

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

FROM HARARI’s book SAPIENS

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About 13.5 Billion years ago the BIG BANG occurred in the Universe, bringing about MATTER , ENERGY, TIME and SPACE.

The study of these fundamental features is called PHYSICS.

About 300,000 years after the BIG BANG, MATTER and ENERGY in combination created ATOMS.(the tiniest particle).These ATOMS in gathering together formed MOLECULES

The study of ATOMS, MOLECULES and their combined interaction is called CHEMISTRY.

About 3.8 Billion years ago on planet EARTH,certain molecules combined to form particularly large and intricate structures called ORGANISMS

The study of these ORGANISMS is called BIOLOGY

About 70,000 years ago the species on the planet called HOMO SAPIENS began to form even more elaborate structures called CULTURES.

The subsequent development of these human cultures is called HISTORY.

The course of HISTORY was changed by 3 important REVOLUTIONS.

1.COGNITIVE REVOLUTION — started about 70,000 years ago.

2.AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION — started about 12,000 years ago.

3.SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION — started about 500 years ago.

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THE FUTURE OF EMPLOYMENT

BASED ON YUVAL NOAH HARARI’s book Homo Deus (page 1564)

During the 19th. Century. The Industrial Revolution created a huge urban proletariat resulting in the spread of Socialism because it was the only creed that could manage the unpresidential needs, hopes and fears of the new working class.

Socialism won over the world by promising salvation through steam and electricity.

By adopting the best features of Socialism, eventually Liberalism triumphed over Socialism.

On the 21s. Century we could anticipate the advent of a new UNWORKING CLASS. They will not contribute to the prosperity,power and glory of the society.

This useless class, besides being UNEMPLOYED will continue to remain UNEMPLOYABLE.

In September 2013 two researchers from Oxford, Carl Benedict Frey and Michael Osborne published the paper ‘The Future of Employment’ in which they listed the likely professions that will be taken over by computer algorithms within the next 20 years.

They estimated that 47% of US jobs are at high risk of annihilation by the year 2033.

• 99% of Telemarketers and Insurance underwriters
• 98% of Sports referees.
• 97% of Cashiers
• 96% of Chefs
• 96% of Waiters
• 94% of Para Legal Assistants
• 91% of Tour Guides
• 89% of Bakers
• 89% of Bus Drivers
• 88% of Construction Labourers
• 86% of Veterinary Assistants
• 84% of Security Guards
• 83% of Sailors
• 77% of Bartenders
• 76% of Archivists
• 72% of Carpenters
• 67% of Lifeguards

Some safe jobs are in the fields of Archeology, that lies in the range of 0.7%.

New vocations are envisaged in Virtual World Designers

The big question that needs an answer is, to find what we should teach our children now?

Because most of what is being taught now in school is bound to be irrelevant by the time they are forty years old, it is advisable to refer to the website and learn what the future holds for about 700 vocations. (End)

(www. oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The Future of Employment.pdf.)

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ARTIFICIAL PANCREAS

BASED ON YUVAL NOAH HARARI’s book Homo Deus (page 1574)

It is likely that during our own lifetime many decisions regarding our body health will be taken over by Computer algorithms such as IBM’s WATSON.

In 2014 researchers at YALE University announced the successful creation of an ARTIFICIAL PANCREAS’ controlled by an iPhone.

52 Diabetic patients were involved in this experiment with each participant having an implanted tiny sensor coupled to a tiny pump installed in the abdomen of each of them.

The pump was connected to small tubes containing Insulin and Glucagon, the two hormones that together regulate sugar levels in the blood.

The sensor constantly measures the sugar levels in the blood and transmits the data to an iPhone. The iPhone in response activates the tiny pump whenever needed to inject the required amount of Insulin or Glucagon without any external human intervention. (End)

(refer www.todayonline.com/world/artificial-pancreas-controlled-iPhone-shows promise-diabetestrial? single page=true.)

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THE STORY OF MONEY

BASED ON YUVAL NOAH HARARI’s book Homo Sapiens (page358)

In 1519 HERNAN CORTES together with an armada of Spanish conquistadors invaded Mexico, where an isolated human civilization called AZTEC was in habitat.

Gold was in wide use in Mexico at that time, but CORTES showed an unusual attachment to gold though it was considered as an insignificant metal of no worthwhile use to Aztecs.The reason given by CORTES was that gold was of medicinal value to Spaniards as they suffered from an ailment in the heart.

AZTECS were using Cocoa beans and bales of hand woven cloth and very rarely gold dust as medium of exchange during that period.

Ancestors of Spaniards who lived in about 1200 were involved in a religious war with adherents of Muslim faith in kingdoms of Iberia and North Africa. Having won over these territories, the Spaniards issued coins minted out of gold and silver bearing the insignia of the Cross as a mark of gratitude for God’s divine grace in winning these battles.

MILLARES was a square shaped gold coin minted by Christians bearing in flowing Arabic script the phrase “There is no God except ALLAH and Mohamed is ALLAH’s messenger.” Even Catholic bishops of Melgueil and Agde issued these faithful copies of Muslim coins and God fearing Christians happily used them without any fuss.

BARTER- mutual exchange was the accepted norm of exchange during hunter- gatherer stage of human survival . There was no money in use, until the onset of Agricultural Revolution. But barter can only be effective in a situation where the range of items for transaction is limited to a manageable few.Therefore creation of MONEY was an absolute necessity of a REVOLUTION in the attitude of people’s mind. Here the people show willingness to accept ‘something’ as value accumulation in exchange for goods and services, and also as a convenient store of wealth for use at any desired time in the future. The most common form of money in use was the coin.

Prior to coins some of the other items used as currency are such as Shells, Cattle, Animal hides, Salt, Grains,Beads, Cloth, and Promissory notes Etc.All over Africa, South Asia, East Asia and Oceania cowry shells were used extensively as money.Until recently as early 20th century cowry shells were used to pay taxes in British Uganda.

In modern Prisons and POW Camps, Cigarettes have often served as the equivalent of money and the exchange value for products and services within the confines are all regulated on the mutually accepted terms of exchange as agreed upon.

The fact is that coins and banknotes are a rare commodity as a form money.

The total sum of money in circulation in the world is estimated to be US $60 Trillion.Yet the sum total of coins and banknotes in circulation amounts to less than 10% of that value ( US $6 Trillion).

More than 90% of all money — ie. US $ 50 Trillion appears as figures only in the Computer servers of the world. There does not occur a single physical transaction of cash either in the form of coins or banknotes, other than of course computer switchovers with the rare exception of some illicit deals when suitcase loads of banknotes change hands under cover.

However, for complex commercial systems to function some kind of money is indispensable.The reason being that everybody needs money at all times to satisfy all our needs most of the time and money is the sole medium of exchange and the store of value. Money converts almost everything into almost anything else.

Cowry shells and Dollars have value assigned to them only in our common imagination.Money is not a material reality — it is a psychological construct.It works by conversion of matter into mind.TRUST is the raw material from which all types of MONEY are minted.

MONEY is a system of mutual trust. MONEY IS THE MOST UNIVERSAL AND MOST EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF MUTUAL TRUST EVER DEVISED, by human beings.

This Trust was created by a very complex and long-term network of political, social and economic relations

On one side of a Dollar note it is printed “In God We Trust”

This says it all, once we place our trust in God, King,Commoner and all other sundry

have no other option but to rely on that TRUST.

History’s first known MONEY -Sumerian barley money — that appeared in Sumer around 3000 BC, the same time and place in which writing too emerged. Money was an answer to the intensified economic activities while writing was helpful for administrative work.

Barley money was simply Barley, Fixed amounts of barley grain were used as a universal measure for evaluating and exchanging all other goods and services.

SILA was the commonly used measuring device, which was equal to 0.25 gallons.

Standardized bowels of one sila measure was mass produced and distributed widely for use by all citizens in Sumer.

The adopted conversion table in force is as follows.

Salaries for males. = 60 Silas per month

for females. = 30 Silas per month

A Foreman was paid 1200–5000 Silas

Barley being a grain was edible and therefore possessed inherent biological value, though there was difficulty in storing and transporting. But people apparently gained trust in money that lacked inherent value.

During 3rd. millennium BC. there appeared in Mesopotamia silver SHEKEL. It was not a coin but a 0.3 ounces of silver. It is mentioned in Hamburabi’s Code that penalty for killing a slave was 20 silver Shekels.Most monetary terms in the Old Testament are mentioned in silver rather than coins. Silver, unlike barley, lacked inherent value, but its value is universal.

The first coins in history were struck around 640 BC. by King Alyattes of Lydia in Western Anatolia. These coins had two standardized weights of gold or silver with an imprint to indicate identification mark.All modern coins are descendants of the Lydian coins.

Empire building was made much easier by the use of coins as was seen by the smooth spreads of power, glory and authority of Romans gold coin currency used throughout the vast domains of Roman Empire held territory and other neighbouring friendly countries in Asia and Africa.

The name ‘Denarius’ has now become a generic name for currency in many countries in the MiddleEast.

For thousands of years, Philosophers, thinkers and prophets have vilified money and called it the root cause of all evil. Besides that, money is the apogee of human tolerance. Money is more open minded than language, state laws, cultural codes, religious beliefs and social habits. Money is the only trust system created by humans that can bridge almost any cultural gap without discrimination on the basis of religion, gender, race, age or sexual orientation. Total strangers without any mutual trust can be brought together to cooperate with the use of money.

Money is based on two universal principles.

1. Universal convertibility; Land can be converted into loyalty, justice into health, violence into knowledge.
2. Universal trust; build trust and cooperation between any two opposing parties.

But the negative effects of these aspects are seen when money creates a cold form of demand and supply.It corrodes local traditions, intimate relationships and human values.

Human relationships in families and communities have always been based on belief in ‘PRICELESS’ things, such as HONOUR, LOYALTY , MORALITY and LOVE.

These things are not marketable, and they cannot be bought or sold for money. But there are rare instances when money prevails to force through these barriers. Vigilance is therefore, essential at all times to avert the dire consequences of such misfortune money is capable of bringing about. (End)

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CAPT. JAMES COOK’s CONTRIBUTION TO HUMANITY

(In ref. to Page 565 of HARARI’s Book SAPIENS and LES DEUS)

The distance from SUN to EARTH was a baffling question for Astronomers ever since COPERNICUS (Polish-1473–1543) argued that Sun and not the Earth for that matter was at the center of the Universe. A reliable method for finding the distance was agreed upon at the middle of 18th. Century. It was known through observation that periodically VENUS comes on transit between the Sun and Earth. It was collectively agreed to use simple trigonometrical methods by the measurement of the distances of observation of the planets involved from various locations on Earth to find the distance between Earth and the Sun.

Astronomers predicted the next transition of VENUS to occur in I761 and 1769., in 1761 scientists observed the transit from Siberia, North America, Madagascar, and South Africa

As 1769 approached. Scientists were getting ready to observe the impending transit of Venus from locations in Northern Canada, California and South Western Oceania. As insisted upon by the Royal Society of London, the eminent astronomer Charles Green ( British-1734–1771) was sent to Tahiti accompanied by a team of eight others from various different disciplines which included some artists as well because photography was not in use at that time. Botanists John Banks ( British -1743–1820) and Daniel Solander ( Swedish 1733–1782) were also included in this team.

Capt. James Cook (British-1728–1779) being an experienced seaman and an accomplished Geographer and an eminent Ethnographer was given the command of this expedition.

left England in 1768 and were able to observe the transit of Venus from a location in Tahiti in 1769. Having toured several Pascific Islands in addition to Australia and New Zealand, they returned to England in 1771.

As a result of this expedition, Europe gained a vast amount of beneficial information

0and one of the most advantageous gains was in the field of medicine.for which Capt. James Cook deserves full credit for his historic contribution in discovering new territories for the expansion of British Empire.

Naval expeditions at that time suffered heavy losses by way of sailor’s lives due to a mysterious ailment called SCURVY. Between 16th and 18th. Centuries Scurvy has brought the loss of about 2 million sailors. In 1747 a British physician named James Lind (1716–1794) investigated the cause of this ailment and found that sailors on voyages lacked fruits and vegetables as part of diet intake, and as a result they were deficient in Vitamin C. ,Royal Navy was reluctant to accept this conclusion, but Capt. Cook was willing to abide by this conclusion. Accordingly he pioneered the idea of providing ample stocks of fruits and vegetables for the consumption of sailors in all ships he commanded, thus eliminating the curse of scurvy altogether from sailors on voyagers.

(Refer;Stephen R. Brown’s book “SCURVY”, Thomas Dunne Books, St.Martin Press

Kenneth John Carpenter’s book “HISTORY OF SCURVY & VITAMIN C”

Cambridge University Press 1986 )

In addition to the historic contribution of medicinal breakthrough, Capt. James Cook was also responsible for bringing under British occupation a vast territory comprising the South Western Pascific which includes Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand. This resulted in the settlement of millions of Europeans while causing the total annihilation of native cultures along with the naive populations.

TASMANIA, the small Island lying south of Australia is one of the classic examples of such baneful disasters. An entire population of over 10,000, living in isolated civilizations were wiped out totally from existence within 100 years of Cook’s expedition. The entire Island was re-populated with alien citizens brought in from mainly Europe and elsewhere. (End)

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CUNEIFORM SCRIPT

Cuneiform Script is the method of writing adapted by the Sumerians in about 3000 years BC.

British discovery of Cuneiform script used throughout the Middle East brought about a breakthrough not only in regard to linguistics but extended to the areas of races in human species as well.

Europeans came to know of this strange script in 1618 when a Spanish diplomat in Persia was sightseeing in the ruins of Persepolis. The first transcript of cuneiform texts was published by European scholars in 1657.

In 1830 a British officer named Henry C. Rawlinson (1880–1895) with the guidance of a Kurdish youth climbed a precipitous cliff in Zagros mountain and saw Behistun Inscription, which was etched on a massive smooth stone slab surface of about 50x80 feet wide.

The BEHISTUN INSCRIPTION is the most important document of the entire ancient NEAR EAST and a major key to understanding its languages.

This had been etched on the command of King Darius 1,around 500 BC. in 3 languages using cuneiform script — old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian.

By 1847 the transcription project undertaken by Rawlinson was completed and thereafter he embarked upon the tedious task of deciphering the old Persian part of the inscription. With the knowledge Rawlinson gathered by doing the first undertaking, he ventured boldly to decipher the balance part of the inscription.

The entire script was thus completed and published for public information in 1857.

This is one remarkable breakthrough that brought the fate of the ancient Middle Eastern Empire to the awareness of the modern world.

British Philologist William Jones (1746–1794) arrived in India in September 1783 to serve as a judge in the Supreme Court of Bengal. He, was fascinated by the ancient wonders in India, and in 1784 he founded the Asiatic Society,

In 1786 he published his observations on Sanskrit Language. He showed the surprising similarities Sanskrit had with languages such as Latin, Greek as well as several others like Gothic, Celtic, Old Persian, German, French and English.

For instance, in Sanskrit mother is called ‘Matar’ whereas in Latin it is ‘Mater’ while it is called ‘Mathir’ in Old Celtic.

William Jones surmised that all these languages must share a common origin, developing from a now forgotten common ancestor.

He was the first to identify what later on was known as ‘ Indo-European Family’ of Languages.