Kings of Sri Lanka

King / Queen	Ruling Period	Year	Capital
Vijaya married Kuveni	38 Years	543 - 505 BC	Thammanna Nuwara
Upathissa	01 Year	505 - 504 BC	Upathissa Nuwara
Panduwas Dev	30 Years	504 -474 BC	Upathissa Nuwara
Abhaya	20 Years	474 - 454 BC	Upathissa Nuwara
Pandukabhaya	70 Years	437 - 367 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Mutasiwa	60 Years	367 - 307 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Devanampiyathissa	40 Years	307 - 267 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Uththiya	10 Years	267 - 257 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Mahasiwa	10 Years	257 - 247 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Surathissa	10 Years	247 - 237 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Sena & Guththika	22 Years	237 - 215 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Asela	10 Years	215 - 205 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Elara	44 Years	205 - 161 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Dutugemunu	24 Years	161 - 137 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Saddhathissa	18 Years	137 - 119 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Thullaththana	01 Month	119-- BC	Anuradhapuraya
Lajjithissa	09 Years & 08 Month	119 - 109 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Kallathanaga	06 Years	109 - 103 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Wattagamini Abhaya ( Walagamba )	05 Month- ( 1st rulling time )	103 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Walagamba	12- Years ( 2nd rulling time )	89 - 76 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Pualahattha	03 Years	103 - 100 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Bhahiya	02 Years	100 - 98 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Panayamara	07 Years	98 - 91 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Piliyamara	07 Month	91 - 90 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Dhatiya	02 Years	90 - 89 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Mahasilu Mahathissa	14 Years	76 -- 62 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Choranaga	12 Years	62 - 50 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Thissa ( Kuda Thissa )	03 Years	50 - 47 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Anula & Her Husbands-- 1 st Woman to lead	04 Years & 03 Month	47 - 42 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Kutakannathissa	22 Years	42 - 20 BC	Anuradhapuraya
Bhathiya , Bhathika Abhaya, Bhathiya Thissa	28 Years	20 BC - 09 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mahadeliya Mahanaga	12 Years	09 - 21 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Amanda Gamini	09 Years-	21 - 30 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Kanirajanuthissa	03 Years	30 - 33 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Chulabhaya	02 Years	33 - 35 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Queen Seewali	04 Month	35 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Eylanaga	09- Years	35 - 44 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Chandramukhaseewa	08 Years	44 - 52 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Yasalalakathissa	07 Years & 08 Month	52 - 60 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Subharaja	06 Years	60 - 66 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Wasabha	44 Years	66 - 110 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Wankanasikathissa	03 Years	110 - 113 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Gajaba - I	22 Years	113 - 135 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mahallakhanagha	06 Years	135 - 141 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Bhathiya Thissa - II	24 Years	141 - 165 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Kanitthathissa	28 Years	165 - 193 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Chulanaga ( Kujjanaga )	02 Years	193 - 195 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Kunchanaga	01 Years	195 - 196 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Sirinaga	19 Years	196 - 215 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Voharikathissa	22 Years	215 - 236 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Abhayanaga	08 Years	236 - 244 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Sirinaga - II	08 Years	244 - 246 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Vijayakumara	01 Year	246 - 247 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Sangathissa	04 Years	247 - 251 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Sirisangabhodhi ( Sirisagabo )	02 Years	251 - 253 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Ghotabhaya	13 Years	253 - 266 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Detuthis - I ( Jettathissa )	10 Years-	266 - 276 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mahasen	27 Years	276 - 303 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Sirimewan	28 Years	303 - 331 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Detuthissa - II	09 Years	331 - 340 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Buddhadasa	29 Years	340 - 369 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Upathissa - I	42 Years	369 - 410 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mahanama	22 Years	410 - 432 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Soththisena	01 Day	432 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Chaththagrahaka	01 Year	432 - 433 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Miththasena	01 Years	433 - 434 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Pandu		434 - 459 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Parinda		434 - 459 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Kudaparinda		434 - 459 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Thirithara		434 - 459 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Dhatiya		434 - 459 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Phitiya	Total 27 years	434 - 459 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Dhatusena	18 Years	459 - 477 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Kashayapa	18 Years	477 - 495 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mugalan -- I	18 Years	495 - 512 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Kumaradasa ( Kumara Dhathusena )	09 Years	512 - 521 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Keerthisena	09 Month	521 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Siwa	25 Days	521 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Upathissa - II	01 Year	521 - 522 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Silakala	13 Years	522 - 535 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Dathappabhuthi ( Dhapuphasen )	06 Month	535 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mugalan -- III	20 Years	535 - 555 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Kithsirimewan- ( Keerthi Sri Megawarna )	19 Years	555 - 573 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mahanaga	03 years	573- -575 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Agbo - I ( Agrabhodhi )	34 Years	575 - 608 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Agbo - III	10 Years	608 - 618 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Sangathissa	02 Month	618 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mugalan - III	05 Years	618 - 623 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Asigrahaka ( Shilamegawarna )	09 Years	623 - 632 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Agbo - III	06 Month ( 1st rulling time)	632 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Jetthathissa ( Detuthissa )- - III	05 Month	632 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Agbo- - III	16 Years- ( 2nd rulling time )	632 - 648 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Dathasiwa - I	02 Years	648 - 650 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Kashayapa -- II	09 years	650 - 659 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Dappula - I	03 Years	659 - 662 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Haththadatha ( Dhatopathissa - II )	09 Years	659 - 667 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Agbo - IV ( Aggabhodhi )	16 Years	667 - 683 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Daththa	02 Years	683 - 684 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Haththadatha-	06 Month	684 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Manawamma	35 Years	684 - 719 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Agbo - V	06 Years	719 - 725 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Kashshapa - III	06 Years	725 - 731 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mahinda - I-- ( Mihindu )	03 Years	731- 733 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Agbo- - VI	40 Years	733 - 722 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Agbo - VII	06 Years	772 - 718 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mihindu - II	20 Years		Anuradhapuraya
Dappula -II ( Udaya - I )	05 Years	797 - 802 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mihindi - III	03 Years	802 - 805 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Agbo - VIII	11 Years	805 - 816 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Dappula - III	16 Years	816 - 831 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Agbo - IX	02 Years	831 - 833 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Sena - I	20 Years	833 - 853 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Sena - II	35 Years	853 - 887 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Udaya - II	11 Years	887 - 898 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Kashshapa- - IV	17 Years	898 - 915 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Kashshapa- - V	09 Years	915 - 924 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Dappula - IV	07 Month	924 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Dappula - V	12 Years	924 - 935 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Udaya - II	03 Years	935 - 938 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Sena - III	08 Years	938 - 946 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Udaya - III	06 Years	946 - 952 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Sena - IV	03 Years	952 - 955 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mihindu - IV	16 Years	955 - 972 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Sena - V	10 Years	972 - 982 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Mihindu - V	36 Years	982 - 1018 AC	Anuradhapuraya
Vijayabahu - I	55 Years	1055 - 1110 AC	Polonnaruwa
Jayabahu - I	01 Year	1110 AC	Polonnaruwa
Vickramabahu	21 Years	1110 - 1131 AC	Polonnaruwa
Gajaba - II	22 Years	1131 - 1153 AC	Polonnaruwa
Maha Parakramabahu - I	33 Years Picture below	1153 - 1186 AC	Polonnaruwa
Vijayabahu - II	01 Year	1186 - 1187 AC	Polonnaruwa
Mihindu ( mahinda ) - IV	05 Days	117 AC	Polonnaruwa
Nishshankamalla	09 Years Picture below	1187 - 1196 AC	Polonnaruwa	**1
Veerabahu - I	01 Day	1196 AC	Polonnaruwa
Vickramabahu - II	03 Month	1196 AC	Polonnaruwa
Chidaganga	09 Month	1196 - 1197 AC	Polonnaruwa
Leelawathi	03 Years ( 1st rulling time )	1197 - 1200 AC	Polonnaruwa
Leelawathi	01 Year ( 2nd rulling time )	1210 AC	Polonnaruwa
Leelawathi	07 Month ( 3rd rulling time )	1212 AC	Polonnaruwa
Sahasamalla	02 Years	1200- - 1202 Ac	Polonnaruwa
Kalyanawati	08 Years	1202 - 1210 AC	Polonnaruwa
Darmshoka	01 Year	1210 AC	Polonnaruwa
Anikanga	17 days	1210 AC	Polonnaruwa
Lokeshwara	09 Month	1211 AC	Polonnaruwa
Parakramapandu	03 Years	1212 - 1215 AC	Polonnaruwa
Kalinga- Maga	21 Years	1215 - 1236 AC	Polonnaruwa
Vijayabahi - III	04 Years	1220- 1224 AC	Dambadeniya
Parakramabahu - II	35 Years	1234 -1269 AC	Dambadeniya
Vijayabahu - IV	03 Years	1267 - 1270 Ac	Dambadeniya
Buvanekabahu - I	12 Years	1270 -1283 AC	Dambadeniya & Yapahuwa
Parakramabahu - III	06 Years	1287 - 1293 AC	Polonnaruwa
Buwanekabahu - II	09 Years	1293 - 1302 AC	Kurunegala
Panditha Parakramabahu - IV	24 Years	1302 - 1326 AC	Kurunegala
Buwanekabahu - III			Kurunegala
Vijayabahu - V			Kurunegala
Buvanekabahu - IV	12 Years	1341 - 1353 AC	Gampola
Parakramabahu - V	15 Years	1344 - 1359	Dedigama & Gampola
Vickramabahu - III	17 Years	1357 - 1374 AC	Gampola
Buvanekabahu - V	37 Years	1372 - 1408 AC	Gampola
Veerabahu - II	05 Years	1392 - 1397 AC	Raigama
Veeraalakeshvara	12 Years	1397 - 1410 Ac	Raigama
Parakramabahu - VI ( 1 st King in Kotte)-157 th King	55 Years	1412 - 1467 AC	Kotte
Jayabahu - II	05 Years	1467 - 1472 AC	Kotte
Buvanekabahu - VI	09 Years	1472 - 1480 AC	Kotte
Parakramabahu - VII	04 Years	1480 - 1484 AC	Kotte
Veeraparakramabahu - VIII	24 Years	1484- 1508 AC	Kotte
Darma Parakramabahu - IX	20 Years	1508 - 1528 AC	Kotte & Kelaniya
Vijayabahu - VII	12 Years	1510 - 1522 AC	Kotte
Buwanekabahu- - VII	30 Years-	1522 - 1551 AC	Kotte
Darmapala	46 Years	1551 - 1597 Ac	Kotte
Mayadunna	60 Years	1521 - 1581 AC	Seethawaka
Rajasinghe - I	39 years	1554 - 1593 AC	Seethawaka
Don Pilip	01 Year	1591 AC	Mahanuwara
Wimaladarmasuriya - I	13 years		Mahanuwara
Senarath	31 Years	1604 1635 AC	Mahanuwara ( Senkadagala )
Rajasinghe - II	52 Years	1635 - 1687 AC	Senkadagala
Wimaladarmasuriya - II	20 Years	1687 - 1707 AC	Mahanuwara ( Senkadagala )
Narendrasinghe	32 Years	1707 - 1739 AC	Mahanuwara ( Senkadagala )
Vijaya Rajasinghe	08 Years	1739 - 1747 AC	Mahanuwara ( Senkadagala )
Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe	35 years	1747 - 1782 AC	Mahanuwara ( Senkadagala )
Radhirajasinghe	16 Years	1782 - 1798 AC	Mahanuwara ( Senkadagala )
Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe ( 177 th King)	17 Years picture below	1798 - 1815 AC	Mahanuwara ( Senkadagala )	**2

  Rulers of Jaffnapatam ( 1210- 1619 AD)

 Parliament of Sri Lanka

Resources on Rawana

King Pulasthi

Visravamuni- Children by others- Kuvera, Karan, Tirisara

Children by Kekasi ( daughter of Sumali-Yakka) - Ravana, Kumabhakarna, Surpanka, Vibheeshana

Ravana + Mandodaree

Children- Indrajith, Athkayan, Akshan, Tirisira, Narantakan, Devantakan

As per Arachaeo Astronomy research of Mr.Hari and his team (historical Rama) from India, Ravan was born on 10 January 5114 BC

Valmiki Ramayan 

Ravana and Sigiriya

Ravana, mighty Emperor 

Was it Ravana's bridge? 

Historical records on Rama & Ravana 

Vimanas- Ravana's flying machines 

Historical Rawana- Latest Book By Mr.N.C.K Kiriella  

Ravana was a great chanter of the Sama Veda, and a great devotee of Lord Shiva who had visited Mount Kailash, which he could have very well done from northern Yadu regions like Mathura. Ravana was well versed in Sanskrit and the composer of the famous Shiva Tandava Stotra. While one may argue that such a composition was of a later time than Ravana, it still shows a tradition that connects him with Sanskrit. His native tongue does not appear to have been Dravidian. 

King Ravana is known to have been a very learned and pious man, a wise, just and peaceful rule, a loving husband, a fond father & brother. A famous flutist & composer well versed in Vedas, Angas and Sastras. He is called Dasis Ravana which means the king with 10 great talents. He was a descendant of Surya Wansha and Hela Raskshasa tribe. (Ancient Sinhalese tribe) He was one of the best fighters in Angampora, the traditional martial arts of ancient Sinhale.

King Dasis Ravana was a great Scholar in Ayurvedic medicine. He was the person who invented Arka Shastra. The book Arka Prakshaya reveals this truth to the present world. He wrote several books revealing the cures for many diseases. In one book he wrote "Eating beef cause to infect ninety eight new diseases to human beings. The book "Kumara Tantraya" which reveals the treatments for infant diseases was written by him accepting the request of his pregnant queen Mandodari. 

In available records Ravana also comes out as a just ruler who governed the country very well. There was internal peace and no feud. He was the head of civil, judicial, military and spiritual administration of his vast and extensive realm. There was obedience not through fear but out of love for the safety of peace-giving monarch. Harmony prevailed.

Watch these videos

Legal Theory Lexicon: Path Dependency

The phrase "path dependency" is used to express the idea that history matters--choices made in the past can affect the feasibility (possibility or cost) of choices made in the future.  This entry in the Legal Theory Lexicon introduces this idea to law students, especially first-year law students, with an interest in legal theory.

The General Idea of "Path Dependency"  

The general idea of path dependency is that prior decisions constrain (or expand) the subsequent range of possible or feasible choices.  That is, a decision, d, made at t₁ may affect the choice set, S = (c₁, c₂, . . . c_n) at t₂.  We can define a choice set as a set of actions that a given agent could take.  Or to expand the path metaphor, if we imagine a network of paths through time, from past to future, decisions to branch at an earlier point on the chosen path may affect the destinations that one can reach from a later point on the path.  Sometimes, if we choose the left fork, we may be able to reach exactly the same destinations we could have reached via the right fork, but sometimes, our choices foreclose some possibilities altogether.  It isn't always the case that in the long run, there's still time to change the road you're on.

Click to read

Legal Theory Lexicon: Efficiency, Pareto, and Kaldor-Hicks

Almost every law student get's some introduction to normative law and economics in their first year of law school.  One of the basic ideas of normative law and economics is that the law should be "efficient."  But what does efficiency mean?  For economists, "efficiency" is a technical idea--with only a tangential connection to the use of "efficiency" in ordinary speech.  In order to understand economic efficiency, we will look at what are called the Pareto principles and a related idea that is sometimes called Kaldor-Hicks efficiency.

In addition to explicating the idea of efficiency, we will take a qucik look at some of the criticisms that might be made of this concept.  Although many economists operate on the assumption that "efficiency" is an uncontroversial good, that conclusion is controversial both inside and outside of the discipline of economics.

Click to read

Legal Theory Lexicon: The Law Is A Seamless Web

F.W. Maitland, the famous legal historian wrote, "Such is the unity of all history that any one who endeavors to tell a piece of it must feel that his first sentence tears a seamless web."  (A Prologue to a History of English Law, 14 L. Qtrly Rev. 13 (1898))  Maitland didn't actually say that the "law is a seamless web," but he is usually given credit for the idea that the law forms some kind of "organic unity" or is characterized by strong interconnections.  The idea that law is seamless web is ambiguous--the aphorism expresses different ideas on different occasions.  This post in the Legal Theory Lexicon series will explicate the seamless web metaphor and its several implications for legal theory.

Click to read

Legal Theory Lexicon: Contractarianism, Contractualism, and the Social Contract

Some of the key conceptual tools deployed by legal theorists are likely to be familiar to most law students from their undergraduate education.  One of these is the notion of the "social contract"--familiar from Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau.  But unless you were an undergraduate philosophy major or have some graduate work in philosophy, you may not be as familiar with some of the ideas that have grown out of the social-contract tradition.

Click to read

Shin on Unconscious Discrimination

A steadily mounting body of social science research suggests that ascertaining a person's conscious motives for an action may not always provide a complete explanation of why he did it. The phenomenon of unconscious bias presents a worrisome impediment to the achievement of fair equality in the workplace. There have been numerous deeply insightful articles discussing various aspects of this problem and canvassing its implications for antidiscrimination law.

Click to read

      

Advaita Vedanta - Adi Sankara's views

Adi Sankara's treatises on the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras are his principal and almost undeniably his own works. Although he mostly adhered to traditional means of commenting on the Brahma Sutra, there are a number of original ideas and arguments. He taught that it was only through knowledge and wisdom of nonduality that one could be enlightened.

Sankara's opponents accused him of teaching Buddhism in the garb of Hinduism, because his non-dualistic ideals were a bit radical to contemporary Hindu philosophy. However, it may be noted that while the Later Buddhists arrived at a changeless, deathless, absolute truth after their insightful understanding of the unreality of samsara, historically Vedantins never liked this idea. Although Advaita also proposes the theory of Maya, explaining the universe as a "trick of a magician", Sankara and his followers see this as a consequence of their basic premise that Brahman is real. Their idea of Maya emerges from their belief in the reality of Brahman, rather than the other way around.

Sankara was a peripatetic orthodox Hindu monk who traveled the length and breadth of India. The more enthusiastic followers of the Advaita tradition claim that he was chiefly responsible for "driving the Buddhists away". Historically the decline of Buddhism in India is known to have taken place long after Sankara or even Kumarila Bhatta (who according to a legend had "driven the Buddhists away" by defeating them in debates), sometime before the Muslim invasion into Afghanistan (earlier Gandhara).

Although today's most enthusiastic followers of Advaita believe Sankara argued against Buddhists in person, a historical source, the Madhaviya Sankara Vijayam, indicates that Sankara sought debates with Mimamsa, Samkhya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika and Yoga scholars as keenly as with any Buddhists. In fact his arguments against the Buddhists are quite mild in the Upanishad Bhashyas, while they border on the acrimonious in the Brahma Sutra Bhashya.

The Vishistadvaita and Dvaita schools believed in an ultimatelysaguna Brahman. They differ passionately with Advaita, and believe that his nirguna Brahman is not different from the Buddhist Sunyata(wholeness or zeroness) — much to the dismay of the Advaita school. A careful study of the Buddhist Sunyata will show that it is in some ways metaphysically similar as Brahman. Whether Sankara agrees with the Buddhists is not very clear from his commentaries on the Upanishads. His arguments against Buddhism in the Brahma Sutra Bhashyas are more a representation of Vedantic traditional debate with Buddhists than a true representation of his own individual belief. (See link: Sankara's arguments against Buddhism)

Click to read

Media Links & Blogs

Links- Media/Blogs

• Asia Tribune-2007 Spe Salvi
• Blogs & Videos Since 2005
• CHRM site-domestic inquiries
• Citehr- Maslow's peak experience
• Colombo Today- 2009- Center of Excellence
• Daily News -2002 e-Consciousness
• Receiving the Mayor of Vandeheim-2006
• Satellite interview with Prof.Tony Nader- 2000
• SL Govt Official News Portal
• Sri Lanka Inst of Directors- Managing with head & heart
• Sri Lanka today news on IT center
• Sri Lanka UN Fr Org News 2006
• Sunday Observer-2003- Pulse of harmony
• Sunday Times-2002 Going beyond the outer show
• Top 100 Science Professor Blogs -Psychology
• With Dr.Samanta KITT University

Ramayana & Historical Rawana- Latest Book By Mr.N.C.K Kiriella

Prof.Madurasinghe's foreword to this new book....

Sri Lanka is at a point of transition. The resultant collective consciousness will provide an ideal platform to critically re-examine certain historical and cultural assumptions carried over the years and a willingness to open to a paradigm shift in thinking. It is natural when critical  scholarship progresses, new names, places, and traditions will emerge challenging hitherto accepted views. This is an inevitable aspect of growth and progress if we embrace them with a spirit of humility and transcend the barriers of petty partisan polemics.

 

This book 'Ramayana & Historical Rawana' edited by Mr.Neil Kiriella  is a valiant attempt to capture such new findings and bring in historicity to our legends aimed at the general public. This effort is indeed salutary and hopefully will lead to a lively debate and help untangle many webs woven around the pre- historical myths that have been passed down from generation to generation.

 

There is a growing body of emerging research to suggest that modern human beings evolved in South Asia, South-East Asia, and perhaps in South China. This challenges the widely held view that they originated inAfrica. This will drastically change the current views we hold about our pre -history.

Dr. Siran Deraniyagala, Former Commissioner of Archaeology , at a discussion held at the Hotel Sigiriya in Dec 2000, as well as at several lectures he delivered subsequently stated that as a result of radiocarbon- tests and excavations carried out in the recent years, the picture of our early civilisation is beginning to drastically change.

The discovery of cultivation of oats and barley, and herding about 10,000 years ago (initially at 17,000 B.P.) in the Horton Plains has given a totally new dimension to what has been known about the origin of farming and herding in the world. It has so far been assumed that it was West Asia, South-East Asia and East Asia, which formed separate cradles of revolution in the subsistence strategy. But now we have yet another nucleus - namely, South Asia.

 

This research was taken further by Dr. D.T. Hawkey of Arizona State University, where she used dental morphological traits to establish the genetic distance between populations. It is comparative work of the greatest value, and what she says is that these dental traits are genetically determined, and have nothing to do with environment. She has done comparative work not only on the Sri Lankan population but various Indian groups and further a field into West Asia and South-East Asia on the one hand, and Australia on the other. She has come up with important results on the genetic affinities of our prehistoric humans. This has confirmed the results of the earlier work done by Cornell University.

There is a large volume of  evidence to suggest that Sri Lanka was a major player on the world stage. WhileChina was still engaged in formative and destructive wars, Sri Lanka had great kings, great art and monumental works of irrigation and buildings. This little island was evidently on a par with ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and Egypt of the Pharaohs. Long before the Romans (400 BC), Sri Lanka had hydro spas, swimming pools, public baths with spray-jet showers, major irrigation reservoirs and hydro-engineering skills that worked accurately to a fall of one inch in one kilometre.

In the light of emerging evidence , it is also salutary that a vast of people have started to appreciate an ancient ruler who lived in Sri Lanka by the name of Ravana. This name became familiar to people from the story of Rama and Seetha in Valmiki's Ramayana, which is the oldest edition of Ramayana and is the source of all Ramayana that is relevant in various cultures .  King Kumaradasa who lived in the sixth Century AD authored Janakiharana which reflects the Rama-Seetha story that was popular among the masses.

 

Legend has it that  King Ravana was  a very learned and pious man, a wise, just and peaceful Ruler, a loving husband, a fond father & brother. A famous flutist & composer well versed in Vedas, Angas and Sastras. He is called Dasis Ravana which means the king with 10 great talents. He was a descendant of Surya Wansha and Hela Raskshasa tribe. (Ancient Sinhalese tribe) He was one of the best fighters in Angampora, the traditional martial arts of the people.

King Dasis Ravana was a great Scholar in Ayurvedic medicine. He was the person who invented Arka Shastra. The book Arka Prakshaya reveals this truth to the present world. He wrote several books revealing the cures for many diseases. In one book he wrote "Eating beef is the cause to infect ninety eight new diseases to human beings. The book "Kumara Tantraya" which reveals the treatments for infant diseases was written by him accepting the request of his pregnant queen Mandodari. 

In available records Ravana also emerges as a just ruler who governed the country very well. There was internal peace and no feud. He was the head of civil, judicial, military and spiritual administration of his vast and extensive realm. There was obedience not through fear but out of love for the safety of the peace-giving monarch. Harmony prevailed.

Legend also has it that Ravana had his abode on the summit of an awesome rock,  and that his kingdom ofLankapura surrounded it. It is said that the rock itself was used as a device rather like a sundial to calculate time in his kingdom. In ancient times this rock was known as Lanka Pabbata or Lankagiri, both of which mean Rock of Lanka.

Going down to the southern coast to Galle is another interesting place associated with the Rama and Sita legend. It is a mountain called Rhumassala Kanda. From the top of this mountain you get a panoramic view of the Galle harbour and its environs. On a clear day you could even see Adam's Peak, Sri Pada.

As the author skillfully navigates from ancient legends to historical sites and dwells on Brahmi scripts , Rock inscriptions and Asura Empire, you will surely find it a rich source of many challenging views that may appear contrary to what you have hitherto believed. That would then serve the purpose of the authors well indeed !! "In Sri Lanka there is historical and archaeological evidences Rishi Thrunabindu, Rishi Pulasthi, Rawana and his dynasty. Taking all these into thought an attempt is made to indicate the incidents that meet recorded history. The reader may be puzzled by the differing theories of the origins and its analysis."

 

 

Ramayana Research Team

Kings of Sri Lanka   

Home Page 

 

 

Human Physiology and Veda

The Unified Field of Natural Law

From Prof.Tony Naders' book: Modern science has located the home of all of the Laws of Nature as a Unified Field, which gives rise to and administers the entire universe through its own self-interacting dynamics. It describes this field as the unified source of the four fundamental forces of Nature, from which all force fields throughout the universe are derived.

The above diagram shows the four fundamental forces of Nature, from which all force fields emerge. Modern science has discovered that these fundamental forces are unified on the level of the Unified Field.

 

The Unification of the Four  Fundamental Forces of Nature is the Unified Field of Natural Law

This discovery is described mathematically by the Lagrangian of Superstring Theory, which presents the detailed structure of the Unified Field.

Maharishi's Vedic Science identifies the Unified Field as an unbounded field of consciousness—an eternal, silent ocean of intelligence that underlies all forms and phenomena. This field of pure consciousness is the unified element in Nature on the ground of which the infinite variety of creation is continuously emerging, growing, and dissolving.

Maharishi has provided a profound account of how this purely abstract field expresses itself into material creation. In his description, he explains how fully awake, self-referral consciousness moves within itself, and in this self-interaction it unfolds its own, infinitely dynamic structure. This dynamic structure is the totality of all the Laws of Nature that create and administer creation; this same structure is found in the forty branches of Veda and the Vedic Literature.

Veda and the Vedic Literature in Human Physiology

This historical discovery is that the human physiology, including the DNA at its core, has the same structure and function as the holistic, self-sufficient, self-referral reality expressed in the forty branches of Veda and the Vedic Literature. He explains that each of the forty branches of Veda and the Vedic Literature can be located in both structure and function in the human physiology.

Vyakaran

For example, Maharishi describes Vyakaran as the branch of the Vedic Literature that embodies the expanding quality of self-referral consciousness. The tendency of Veda to sequentially elaborate itself—to unfold from its first syllable to the forty branches of the Vedic Literature—is expressed by Vyakaran. Raja Raam locates the similarity between this expansive tendency and the function of the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus releases factors that activate the pituitary gland, neurohypophysis, and the autonomic nervous system. These releasing factors represent the expansion necessary for the evolution of the endocrine and autonomic response, which leads to biochemical and physiological responses that bring the system to a new state of balance.

Structurally the Ashtadhyayi, the principle text of Vyakaran, is comprised of 8 Adhyayas (or chapters) of 4 Padas (a metrical unit) each, totaling 32 Padas. Similarly, the hypothalamus is comprised of 8 regions—anterior, posterior, middle, and lateral, right and left—with 4 nuclei each, making 32 nuclei, corresponding to the 32 Padas of the Ashtadhyayi. Raja Raam noted a correspondence between each Pada of the Ashtadhyayi and specific anatomical functions.

Vyakaran and the Hypothalamus

This diagram illustrates a cross section of the cerebral cortex and a highlight of the anterior hypothalamus areas, corresponding to the first and second chapters of Vyakaran. The 4 nucleii in each area correspond to the 4 divisions of each chapter. The other three chapters have been similarly correlated with different aspects of the hypothalamus.

Nyaya

A second example of the relationship between Veda and the human physiology is Nyaya, the branch of the Vedic Literature that Maharishi describes as the embodiment of the distinguishing and deciding quality of consciousness, which simultaneously comprehends opposite qualities of consciousness.

Nyaya corresponds functionally to the thalamus, which relays sensory inputs to the primary sensory areas of the cerebral cortex, conveying information about motor behaviour to the motor areas of the cortex. Structurally, there are 10 Ahnika (chapters) of the Nyaya Sutras, and 10 areas of the thalamus: rostral, medial, lateral, caudal, and intralaminar, each found on both sides of the brain. Furthermore, while the Nyaya Sutras describe 16 topics of reasoning (Pramana, Prameya, etc.), the thalamus functions through 16 groups of cells called nuclei.

The first of the 16 areas of Nyaya (Pramana) corresponds to the first nuclear group of the thalamus called the pulvinar. Pramanahas 4 subdivisions—Pratyaksha (direct perception), Anumana(inference), Upamana (comparison), and Shabda (verbal testimony)—which correspond respectively to the 4 subdivisions of the pulvinar. The first subdivision connects the superior colliculus with areas of the cortex and is responsible for higher order visual integration—i.e. perception (Pratyaksha). The second connects the superior colliculus and the temporal cortex with areas of the cortex and of the temporal cortex. These areas are involved in functions such as vision, hearing, memory, and language—together they are at the basis of processes of inference (Anumana). The third part of the pulvinar connects the parietal cortical areas back with other parietal cortical areas, and is responsible for polymodal sensory integration. This area gives a higher order perception about sensory inputs in relation of one with the other, serving the function of comparison (Upamana). The fourth connects the temporal cortex with the superior temporal gyrus and is responsible for memory, language, and speech. This is the basis of verbal testimony (Shabda). The fifteen following categories of Nyaya are similarly linked to different aspects of the thalamus, in structure and function.

Nyaya in the Thalamus

In this diagram, we see (on the right) a view of the thalamus with its 16 nuclei. On the left, we see the names of the nucleii and the 16 aspects of Nyaya to which they correspond.

Click for details of Prof.Tony Nader's book

Vagueness and Ambiguity

This week the Legal Theory Lexicon entry focuses on "ambiguity" and "vagueness"--two important concepts for the theory of interpretation.  Some legal texts are ambiguous--they can have two or more distinct meanings.  And some legal texts are vague--they use concepts that have indefinite application to particular cases.  And some legal texts are both vague and ambiguous--they have multiple meanings, some (or all) of which have indefinite applications.  Because "vagueness" and "ambiguity" are basic concepts in the theory of interpretation, its important to master each of them and to understand the difference between them.

As always, this entry in the Legal Theory Lexicon is aimed at law students, especially first year law students, with an interest in legal theory.

Click to read