Review: The Buddha and the Sahibs and Ashoka—The Search for India’s Lost Emperor.

  

A review by my Uni batch mate, Sunil Koswatta

Charles Allen has written two books on The Buddha and the Sahibs and Ashoka—The Search for India’s Lost Emperor. The second book, written about a decade after the first one, is largely an expansion of the first.

 

Both are the stories of the “Orientalists” who discovered India’s lost history, the lost Emperor Ashoka, and the Buddha Dhamma that thrived in India during Ashoka’s time. Their methods of discovery were crude, sometimes outright criminal by today’s standards. However,there were honest“sahibs” who dedicated their whole lives to science and discovery; conversely, there were opportunistic and greedy “sahibs” whose only objective was wealth. Allen weaves his tale in a way to take the readers along with the discoverers while (mostly) permitting the readers to judge for themselves.

Among the most interesting are William “Oriental” Jones, who established the Asiatic Society of Bengal; James Prinsep, who deciphered Ashoka texts; George Turnour, who translated Mahawansa from Pali to English; Alexander Cunningham, who discovered many of the Buddhist pilgrimage sites; Dr. Waddell, who discovered Kapilavastu and Lumbini; and John Marshall, who finally introduced proper methods of archeological excavation.

Prinsep worked to decipher the lettering on the pillar known as the “Feroz Shah’s Lat” or “Delhi No 1” for four years. His breakthrough came when he examined two dozen brief inscriptions of the same lettering at the Great Stupa at Sanchi. Prinsep guessed that these short inscriptions could only be records of donations. He was struck by the fact that almost all short transcripts ended with the same word with two characters: a snake-like squiggle and an inverted T followed by a single dot. 

Here, he observed that the language was not Sanskrit but a vernacular modification of it, which had been fortunately preserved in Pali scriptures of Ceylon and Ava, a nineteenth century Burmese kingdom.

 Prinsep’sassistant with Pali was a Sinhalese named “Ratna Paula” (quite likely a corruption of the name “Rathanapala”).Both in Sanskrit and in Pali, the verb “to give” was “dana” and the noun “gift” or “donation” was “danaṁ” sharing the same Indo-European root as the Latin “donare” (to give) and “donus” (gift). This led to the recognition of the word “danaṁ,” teaching Prinsep the two letters, d and n of Brahmi 1. The snake-like squiggle represented the sound “da”, and the inverted T with the single dot the sound “naṁ.” 

Too, Prinsep noticed that a single letter (like an inverted y) appeared frequently before or near the terminal word. Prinsep determined this letter to mean “of,” the equivalent of Pali “ssa,” based on his earlier investigations of the coins from Saurashtra. If his hunch was correct, then the general structure of each sentence was something like “So-and-so of the gift.”Prinsep’s translation of one such Sanchi inscription is “Isa-palitasa-cha Samanasa-cha danaṁ” (The gift of Isa-Palita and of Samana.)

 

The opening sentence of Delhi No 1 had been observed to repeat itself again and again at the start of many sections or paragraphs of text in the pillar inscriptions and on the rock edicts. This,Prinsep could now read as “Devanampiyapiyadasi raja hevaṁ aha.” After conferring with Ratna Paula, Prinsep concluded that this opening phrase was best represented in English as “Thus spake King Piyadasi, Beloved of the Gods.” Prinsep published his findings in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in April, 1837.

 But who was the author of these extraordinary edicts? Who was Piyadasi? Prinsep couldn’t find a Piyadasi in all Hindu genealogical tables that he consulted. Only one possible candidate presented himself, one who had emerged from George Turnour’s translations of the Pali Chronicles of Ceylon: “King Devanampiatissa succeeded his father on the throne of Ceylon in the year of Buddha 236. He induced Dharmasoka, a sovereign of the many kingdoms into which Dambadiva was divided, and whose capital was Pataliputta, to depute his son Mahinda and his daughter Sangamitta, with several other principal priests to Anuradhapura for the purpose of introducing the religion of Buddha.”

In a letter sent to Prinsep on June 6th of 1837, Turnour excitedly revealed the identity of Piyadasi. “I have made a most important discovery. You will find in the introduction to my Epitome that a valuable collection of Pali works was brought back to Ceylon from Siam, by George Nodaris, mudaliar in 1812. This collection of Pali texts included a copy of the Island Chronicle, the original chronicle from which the later Great Dynastic Chronicle took its earliest historical material, but a less corrupted version—and with crucial differences. While casually turning the leaves of the manuscript I had hit upon an entirely new passage relating to the identity of Piyadasi … who, the grandson of Chandragupta, and own son of Bindusara, was at the time Viceroy of Ujjayani.” King Devanmpriya Piyadasi of the Feroz Shar Lat inscription (Delhi 1) was not King Devanampiathissa of Lanka, as Prinsep had assumed. He was his Indian contemporary Ashoka Maurya.

After Prinsep’s death his work was continued. Alexander Cunningham relied on the accounts of the Chinese pilgrims Faxian and Xuanzang to discover the Buddhist pilgrim sites. Faxian’s Records of Buddhist Kingdoms was translated in 1836, and Xuanzang’s History of the Life of Xuanzang and His Travels in India was translated in 1853. Faxian, who travelled to India in 400 CE, identified Ashoka as Wuyou Wang (The King Not Feeling Sorrow). Faxian visited Sankisa, and Lumbini, and from Lumbini travelled south to cross the Ganges at the point he describes as “the confluence of the five rivers,” just upstream of the capital of the country of Maghada: Pataliputra. Faxian describes Wuyou’s palace and his towering city walls and gates as being inlaid with sculpture-work. About two hundred years later, when Xuanzang arrived, the Buddha Dhamma was in decline and the Pataliputra was all but abandoned. Cunningham conducted his field surveys with copies of Faxian’s andXuanzang’s travels in his knapsack. He tracked down almost all sites visited by the Chinese pilgrims, including Sravasti, Kosambi, Ayodya, Sankisa, Taxila, and Nalanda.

However, Cunningham assumed that Pataliputra must have been swept away by the changing course of the Ganges. Dr. Waddell thought otherwise. Taking together both Faxian and Xuanzang accounts,Waddell prepared a chart of Ashoka’s palaces and other chief monuments, and his chart led him over a railway line that marked the southern limits of “old” Patna, to a series of mounds known as Panch Pahari or the Five Brothers. He wrote afterwards, “I was surprised to find most of the leading landmarks of Ashoka’s palaces, monasteries, and other monuments when reexamined so very obvious that I was able in the short space of one day to identify many of them beyond all doubt.” Around the modern village Kumrahar, Waddell found various fragments of sculpture and other confirmatory details and learned from the villagers that whenever they sunk wells, they stuck massive wooden beams at a depth of about 20 feet beneath the ground. Megasthenes, a Greek diplomat who stayed at Pataliputra for six months during the Emperor Chandragupta’s reign, had recorded that Pataliputra was surrounded by wooden walls.

As mentioned before, not all sahibs treated their objects respectfully. James Campbell, the Commissioner of Customs, Salt, Opium and Akbari in Bombay Presidency in the 1890s, excavated several sites in Gujarat. Among his early triumphs was finding a new Ashokan rock edict, which he had allowed to be taken to bits, mislaid, and lost. A relic subsequently identified by the accompanying inscription as a segment of Buddha’s alms bowl was thrown away. He then moved on to tear apart the “Girnar Mound,” a large stupa a few miles south of the famous Girnar rock inscription. In spite of some irresponsibility, all of these men contributed to the rediscovery of India’s past. The books that tell their stories are excellent, and in this reviewer’s judgment both belong in any Sri Lankan’s private library.

Sunil Koswatta

What the Modern World Owes Slavery

At this time when all the talk in Sri Lanka is about human rights violations, it may

be also the time to look at slavery and its economic gains for the west.

Excerpts

Haitian slaves began to throw off the “heel of the French” in 1791, when they rose up and, after bitter years of fighting, eventually declared themselves free. Their French masters, however, refused to accept Haitian independence. The island, after all, had been an extremely profitable sugar producer, and so Paris offered Haiti a choice: compensate slave owners for lost property — their slaves (that is, themselves) — or face its imperial wrath. The fledgling nation was forced to finance this payout with usurious loans from French banks. As late as 1940, 80% of the government budget was still going to service this debt.

Corps of doctors tended to slave ports up and down the Atlantic seaboard. ..... Priceless epidemiological information on a range of diseases — malaria, smallpox, yellow fever, dysentery, typhoid, cholera, and so on — was gleaned from the bodies of the dying and the dead.

Enslaved Africans and African Americans slaughtered cattle and sheared wool on the pampas of Argentina, spun cotton and wove clothing in textile workshops in Mexico City, and planted coffee in the mountains outside Bogotá. They fermented grapes for wine at the foot of the Andes and boiled Peruvian sugar to make candy. In Guayaquil, Ecuador, enslaved shipwrights built cargo vessels that were used for carrying more slaves from Africa to Montevideo. Throughout the thriving cities of mainland Spanish America, slaves worked, often for wages, as laborers, bakers, brick makers, liverymen, cobblers, carpenters, tanners, smiths, rag pickers, cooks, and servants.

Slavery, as the historian Lorenzo Green argued half a century ago, “formed the very basis of the economic life of New England: about it revolved, and on it depended, most of her other industries.” Fathers grew wealthy building slave ships or selling fish, clothing, and shoes to slave islands in the Caribbean; when they died, they left their money to sons who “built factories, chartered banks, incorporated canal and railroad enterprises, invested in government securities, and speculated in new financial instruments.”  In due course, they donated to build libraries, lecture halls, botanical gardens, and universities, as Craig Steven Wilder has revealed in his new book, Ebony and Ivy.

Even the tony clothier, Brooks Brothers (founded in New York in 1818), got its start selling coarse slave clothing to southern plantations.  It now describes itself as an “institution that has shaped the American style of dress.”

More at
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/02/modern-world-owes-slavery-back-wages.html

Mandela: South Africal Low Life Expectancy and Parakrama Bahu I

Mandela has died and he was a great leader.  However, even great leaders cant solve all problems in a country. Case in point was the devastation on life expectancy in South Africa caused by the AIDS epidemic.  Mandelas response and had very little effect on Life Expectancy. In effect Life expectancy was no different from neighboring Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe who most would agree was not a great leader.

When you look at GDP//capita another story appears. During Mandelas Presidency, 1994-1999   GDP/capita stagnated between USD 3,546 and USD 3,102.  However since 2002 GDP has risen from USD 2,439 to USD 7,942 in 2011.  I am no economist to say whether this GDP/capita 200% rise over 9 years was due to inflation or because of economic policies put into place during Mandela Presidency.

If we take Sri Lankas history Parakramabahu the Great was a great leader who united the country oversaw the expansion and beautification of his capital, constructed extensive irrigation systems, reorganized the country's army, reformed Buddhist practices, encouraged the arts and undertook military campaigns in southern India and in Myanmar. The adage "not even a little water that comes from the rain must flow into the ocean without being made useful to man" is one of his most famous utterances.

However such success came at a price. Relentless warfare took its toll on the country and Parākramabāhu's reliance on Tamil mercenaries proved to be a destabilizing force after his death. Taxation was high under his reign and high-value coinage all but disappeared towards the end of his rule, a sign of increasing poverty. One of his successor Nissanka Malla's (a non Sri Lankan from Kalinga) most popular actions was reducing taxation.

The chronic instability of the years after his reign undid many of his accomplishments and developed into a crisis that the country never recovered from.

His ultimate weakness was the lack of restraint in his spending, taking Sri Lanka to greater heights that it had reached in a long time, but exhausting the island's resources in the process.

To me the take home message is that however great a countries leadership can be, the leadership can only solve some of the problems facing a country.

Read this for a negative view of Mandelas legacy
http://takimag.com/article/mandela_what_the_obits_omit_jim_goad#axzz2myfFOaIf

Buddhas Birthplace: 600 BC Temple Excavated

Archaeologists have found in Lumbini, Nepal a 600 BC temple with tree roots in the middle.  This tree may
possibly validate the claim that Queen Maya Devi gave birth to Buddha under a tree.

Excerpts from NY Times

In traditional narratives, Queen Maya Devi, the mother of Buddha, gave birth to him while holding on to a branch of a tree in a garden at Lumbini, in what is now Nepal. Accounts vary as to when this occurred, leaving uncertain the founding century of one of the world’s major religions.

Until now, archaeological evidence favored a date no earlier than the third century B.C., when the Emperor Asoka promoted the spread of Buddhism through South Asia, leaving a scattering of shrines and inscriptions to the man who became “the enlightened one.” A white temple on a gently sloping plateau at Lumbini, 20 miles from the border with India, draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year to read a sandstone pillar documenting Asoka’s homage at the Buddha’s birthplace.

But new excavations by archaeologists at Lumbini have uncovered evidence of a much earlier timber shrine and brick structures above it — all of which lay beneath the temple that is a Unesco World Heritage site long identified as the birthplace. Dating fragments of charcoal and grains of sand, researchers determined that the lower structures were erected as early as the sixth century B.C.

The international team of archaeologists said the lower structures were laid out on the same design as the more recent temple. The timber shrine even had an open space in the center that suggested a link to the Buddha’s nativity tradition. Deep tree roots in the center space may even have been from the tree his mother presumably held on to.

Although much is known of the Buddha’s teachings and half a billion people are Buddhists, there is little to document his life, Dr. Coningham said, except through textual sources and oral tradition. He said, “We thought, why not go back to archaeology to try to answer some of the questions about his birth?

http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/087/ant0871104.htm http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25088960 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/26/science/new-clues-may-change-buddhas-date-of-birth.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

District Quota System for Higher Education: 13th Century China

One of the oldest cases I know of large scale official discrimination to even out differences in performance Ming China. In 1370, the first Emperor of the Dynasty, Chu Yüan-chang, who expelled the Mongols in 1368, reinstituted the great Civil Service Examinations, which had been suspended by the Mongols. In 1371, 75% of the degrees from the national examination had gone to candidates from the South of China. This displeased the Emperor, who believed, with many traditionalists, that Northerners were morally more worthy -- from the area where Chinese civilization had begun. The examinations were thus suspended until 1385, but then the geographical division of those who passed did not change. At a special Palace examination in 1397, all of the 52 candidates who passed were Southerners. Borrowing from the Josef Stalin school of bureaucracy, the Emperor had two of the examiners executed. In a subsequent retesting, all the successful candidates were Northerners.
between populations that otherwise do not seem very different comes from

By 1425 it was decided that places in the national examinations would be reserved by region, with 35% for the North, 55% for the South, and 10% for some places in the middle. This extraordinary provision was imposed on a nation that to us may seem to be uniform in race, language, and religion. But clearly there were cultural differences, and these were not merely of an economic character. The Chinese Civil Service Examinations did not test economic susccess or even mathematics or engineering. It was all based on the literary culture of the Classics of Confucianism. In our own time when "Asians" are generally expected to do better on IQ tests, and in mathematics and science, it is extraordinary to see that Southern Chinese of the Ming Dynasty apparently enjoyed a marked advantage in literary culture over the Northerners, to the point where "affirmative action" or "reverse discrimination" was imposed by the Government in favor of the Northerners. Of course, there was nothing "reverse" about this. Chu Yüan-chang was probably as perplexed as anyone why such a difference had emerged between North and South [cf. Timothy Brook, The Troubled Empire, Harvard, 2010, pp.36-37].

See the paragraph preceding the above to at  http://www.friesian.com/discrim.htm

The Colombo Museum and the Post Office were built by Arasi Marikar Wapchie Marikar Wapchi Marikar Bass.

Colombo Museum

The construction of the Museum was carried out by Arasi Marikar Wapchie Marikar, born:1829, died 1925,(aka Wapchi Marikar Bass, who was descended from the Sheiq Fareed family who arrived in Ceylon in 1060 AD.), paternal grandfather of Sir Razik Fareed, Kt., JPUM, OBE, MP (born:29-Dec-1893, died:23-Aug-1984). So long as brick and mortar endure, the name of Aapchi Marikar Bass will be long remembered as the builder of the General Post Office in Colombo, Colombo Customs, Old Town Hall in Pettah, Galle Face Hotel, Victoria Arcade, Finlay Moir building, the Clock Tower, Batternburg Battery and many other buildings that are still standing today (2011). The Old Town Hall in Pettah, which is now a busy market, was built on a contract for the sum of 689 Sterling Pounds.

General Post Office at Fort

In January 1877, the completed building of the Colombo Museum was declared open by His Excellency, Governer Gregory, in the presence of a large crowd, amongst which there were many Muslims present. At the end of the ceremony His Excellency asked Arasi Marikar Wapchi Marikar what honour he wished to have for his dedication. The same question was asked by His Excellency from the carpenter who assisted Wapchi Marikar with the wood work of the Museum who desired a local Rank and was honoured accordingly. Wapchi Marikar, noticing the large number of Muslims present, feared that they would spend their time at the Museum on Friday during the Islamic congregation prayer, and requested that the Museum be closed on Fridays. This request has been adhered to by all authorities in charge of the Museum to this day.

When the throne of the last Kandyan King was to be exhibited at the Museum, the then Prime Minister, Mr. D.S.Senanayake, obtained the consent of Sir Razik Fareed, Wapchi Marikar’s grandson, to keep the Museum open on the intervening Fridays only.

from: http://ourceylon.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/colombo-museum-1872/

Obama wears a sarong (possibly throw over from Indonesian childhood)

First thanks to Tilak Ranaweera who commented about Obama wearing a sarong and a little googling turned up a treasure trove.  The excerpts below.

When Barack Obama met Genevieve Cook in 1983 at a Christmas party in New York’s East Village, it was the start of his most serious romance yet. But as the 22-year-old Columbia grad began to shape his future, he was also struggling with his identity: American or international? Black or white? 

Genevieve Cook came from not one but several distinguished families. Her father, Michael J. Cook, was a prominent Australian diplomat. Genevieve’s mother, born Helen Ibbitson, came from a banking family in Melbourne and was an art historian. Michael and Helen divorced when Genevieve was 10. Helen soon remarried into a well-known American family, the Jessups. With homes in Georgetown and on Park Avenue at various times, Philip C. Jessup Jr. served as general counsel for the National Gallery of Art, in Washington. The Jessups were establishment Democrats. Philip’s father had been a major figure in American postwar diplomacy.

If Barack and Genevieve were in social occasions as a couple, it was almost always with the Pakistanis. Hasan Chandoo had moved back from London and taken a place in a converted warehouse on the waterfront below Brooklyn Heights. Wahid Hamid, starting a rise up the corporate ladder that would take him to the top of PepsiCo, lived on Long Island with his wife.  

Barack for the most part declined alcohol and drugs. “He was quite abstemious,” Genevieve said. She enjoyed the warmth of the gatherings, but was usually ready to go home before him. He was pushing away from the Pakistanis, too, politely, for a different reason, she thought. He wanted something more. 

There was a riff in that book (Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man) that Mahmood thought struck close to the bone with Obama. The narrator, an intelligent black man whose skills were invisible to white society, wrote: “America is woven of many strands; I would recognize them and let it so remain. It’s ‘winner take nothing’ that is the great truth of our country or of any country. Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in the face of certain defeat.” His friend Barack, Mahmood thought, “was the most deliberate person I ever met in terms of constructing his own identity, and his achievement was really an achievement of identity in the modern world. [That] was an important period for him, first the shift from not international but American, number one, and then not white, but black.” 

In Dreams from My Father, Obama chose to emphasize a racial chasm that unavoidably separated him from the woman he described as his New York girlfriend.

One night I took her to see a new play by a black playwright. It was a very angry play, but very funny. Typical black American humor. The audience was mostly black, and everybody was laughing and clapping and hollering like they were in church. After the play was over, my friend started talking about why black people were so angry all the time. I said it was a matter of remembering—nobody asks why Jews remember the Holocaust,  I think I said—and she said that’s different, and I said it wasn’t, and she said that anger was just a dead end. We had a big fight, right in front of the theater. When we got back to the car she started crying. She couldn’t be black, she said. She would if she could, but she couldn’t. She could only be herself, and wasn’t that enough.

Sri Lankan in a Sarong

In a series of diary entries from one of his lovers here in the Big Apple, a never-before-seen side of the now-guarded president is revealed — with descriptions of his “sexual warmth” and his penchant for lounging at home in a sarong. 

Obama even briefly moved into Cook’s Prospect Park, Brooklyn, apartment and they celebrated Christmas together in 1983, before the two parted ways.  

In his memoir “Dreams from My Father,” Obama provides sketchy details of his time in New York. He mentioned “there was a woman in New York that I loved” but never mentioned her name.

She talked about how Obama walked around his bedroom bare-chested, dressed in a blue and white sarong while working on a New York Times crossword puzzle.

“I open the door that Barack keeps closed to his room and enter in a warm, private space pervaded by a mixture of smells that so strongly speak of his presence, his liveliness, his habits — running sweat, Brut spray deodorant, smoking, eating raisins, sleeping, breathing,” Cook wrote.

Obama and Cook would date for a year. He was 22 and she was 25 when they met.
Cook said when she told Obama she loved him, he responded: “Thank you.”

Read the Vanity Fair article, its a lengthy description
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/06/young-barack-obama-in-love-david-maraniss

George W. Bush’s G-G-G-G-Grandfather Was a Slave Trader

First a few excerpts on George Bush's grandfather and then on the slave trade and a comparison to agency fees of Sri Lankan maids sent to the Mid-East.

Slavery was a very lucrative business. And from England, it was called the Triangle Trade, Ships would leave Liverpool to Africa with various manufactured goods, like cloth, copper ring and other produce like Cowrie shells from the Maldives.  In Africa the goods were traded for slaves. From there the ship set off for t he Carribean and what is now is the USA.  There the slaves were sold and the ship was loaded with cotton and sugar.  On arrival in England, the cotton and sugar was sold.

As with everything there is good and bad. Some of the innovative finance aspects  like shares (as in stock exchanges) and insurance started getting greater use with the slave trade.


Thomas Walker George W. Bush’s G-G-G-G-Grandfather

Thomas Walker was a notorious slave trader active in the late 18^th century along the coast of West Africa. Walker, George H.W. Bush's great-great-great grandfather, was the captain of, master of, or investor in at least 11 slaving voyages to West Africa between 1784 and 1792.

Scores of European merchants and American plantation owners grew rich on the trade that transported more than 10 million Africans to North America, the Caribbean, and Brazil between 1550 and 1850. Bush's family, like many others, has previously been identified as slave owners in the United States. In the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, at least five Walker family households, George W. Bush’s ancestors by his father’s mother, owned slaves in Maryland’s Cecil County.

Macaulay’s journal entry for Oct. 24, 1797, is as follows: “You have heard of the noted Beau Walker, an English slave trader of these parts. He arrived at the Isles Du Los [off present-day Guinea] lately in an American Brig being bound to Cape Mount [in present-day northwest Liberia] for slaves. He had scarce arrived at the last place, when exercising his usual barbarities on his officers and crew, they were provoked to conspire against him.

The Slave Trade

Initially slaving was strictly controlled and a monopoly company, the Royal African Company, was created by Charles II, with his brother, the Duke of York and future King James II, heavily involved. But the company's monopoly was unpopular, particularly with merchants in Bristol who successfully lobbied for its removal in 1698.

The Good:

Insurance
The worst incident we know of was aboard the Zong, when Captain Luke Collingwood had many sick Africans and thought they would die. He told the crew they were running out of water and over a three day period he ordered 132 slaves to be thrown overboard. His logic was that if they died from starvation his owners could not claim insurance but they could if the enslaved died from 'perils of the sea'. The insurers disputed the claim and it led to a court case - but the insurers lost

Shares (also think Venture Capitalists)
This arrangement of sharing the investment in a voyage was one long practiced by merchants trading abroad in any trade. The risk of losing a ship was a severe blow but if shared could usually be coped with. It was better to invest in say six voyages with five other people than each invest everything in a single voyage. Although the profit was shared, so also was the risk. Each voyage was made up of 64 shares and investors would often have between 6 and 8 shares but it could be smaller. Often the captain of the voyage was a small shareholder - giving him a personal interest in the outcome! Peter Potter, Captain of the Essex, for instance was the third largest shareholder in the ship in 1783

The Bad:

'When the women and girls are taken on board a ship, naked, trembling, terrified... They are often exposed to the wanton rudeness of white savages... Resistance or refusal would be utterly in vain.'

They were fed twice a day, usually on a stew made of beans and or yams and they were also allowed bread and water.  Luke Mann was instructed by his owners: 'You must not give your slaves too much provisions; they are accustomed to low diet in their own country.

The Economics
Thomas Leyland and Thomas Molyneux were equally successful with the voyage of the Enterprize in 1794.
                        1794 Cost     Current Value (USD)
               Costs*:   £12,000             1,016,400
 Sale of 356 Africans:   £22,000             1,863,400
              Profits:   £10,000               847,000
                                    ROI of  £12,000 (USD 1,000,000) :   83% Thats about USD

Thats USD 5,000 per slave in todays value.  Isnt that what is paid to agents to send a Sri Lankan maid to the  Middle East.  Looks like the prices have not changed much.

*Costs =agents' commission £3000, the cost of the cargo £4500, outfitting and other costs £2500, wages £1300, costs on the voyage £950

Links to the original articles
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history_lesson/2013/06/george_w_bush_and_slavery_the_president_and_his_father_are_descendants_of.html 

http://www.gresham.ac.uk/print/2001

Water Wars: Dam Blue Nile in Ethiopia

The Blue Nile which comes from the Ethiopian highlands supplies 50% of the water to the Nile in Egypt.  Construction of the Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia started in 2011, filling of the dam is expected to start in 2015 and completed by 2017.

Now Younis Makhyoun the head of Islamist Al-Nour party in Egypt, suggests the dam should be sabotaged.

“Egypt can coordinate with rebels in Ethiopia and use them as a bargaining chip with the Ethiopian government” Makhyoun said. “If this fails, then there is no choice but to use intelligence to destroy the dam.”

In 2011 the Economist commented

How will Ethiopia pay? Chinese banks are apparently underwriting the cost of turbines and other electrical equipment.

Neither the World Bank nor private investors are willing to put up the cash, since Ethiopia has failed to create partnerships with power companies in neighbouring countries to which it could sell electricity. The Nile's geology may be favourable for dam building, but the flow of money is not.

Background on Ethiopia

Ethiopian History starts around 700 BC and became Christian around 300 A.D.  It has been the only country (Abyssinia at that time) in  Africa that was not colonized by Europeans.  In 1936 Mussolini occupied part of Ethiopia.  The Italians formed the colony of Eritrea and approx 40K Italian colonists were settled in the colony.  Italys occupation ended after World War II.  The Eritrean war of Independence lasted 30 years (1961 – 1991). One of the British proposals was that Eritrea be divided along religious lines with the Christians to Ethiopia and the Muslims to Sudan. 

The Ethiopian Highlands called the Roof of Africa forms the largest continuous area where  little of its surface falls below 1500 m (4,921 ft), while the summits reach heights of up to 4550 m (14,928 ft). Because of the height these mountains catch the precipitation of the monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean, resulting in a rainy season that lasts from June until mid-September. These heavy rains cause the Nile to flood in the summer, a phenomenon that puzzled the ancient Greeks, as the summer is the driest season in the Mediterranean climate that they knew.

Vijaya Kuveni: Paradigm for M mtDNA in South Asia

PCA (left) and Admixture Bar (right)  plot

All Sri Lankans know the story of Vijaya and Kuveni from the Mahavamsa and Rajavali.  The basic crux of the story is that invaders, predominantly male married local women.  The gist of what DNA research is saying is that in India (and for Sri Lanka*) our mothers ancestry (mtDNA) is the same, but our paternal lines (Y-DNA) can be different.  One paper found that 70%  of India including 26 tribal populations carried the M mtDNA haplogroup.   In the Harappa DNA project 50% of the few Sri Lankan participants (8) had M mtDNA.  Two of the four self identified Tamils and two of the four self identified Sinhalese.
(* my extrapolation)

Before I get to excerpts of the research articles a few words on the PCA (Principal Component Analysis) plot on this page.  Its one of the few plots that I have seen where PCA captures the geographic distribution without a geo position data in the PCA analysis.  What I am trying to say is the V shape of India's genetic Cline is evident in the in the PCA Plot.

 From Chandrasekar et al

Macrohaplogroup M is ubiquitous in India and covers more than 70 per cent of the Indian mtDNA lineages The lineages M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M18 and M25 are exclusive to South Asia, with M2 reported to be the oldest lineage on the Indian sub-continent.

The deep rooted lineages of macrohaplogroup ‘M’ suggest in-situ origin of these haplogroups in India. Most of these deep rooting lineages are represented by multiple ethnic/linguist groups including tribals of India

From Discover Magazine

An interesting point though is that the mtDNA, the female lineage, does not seem to diverge from other South Asians much at all. I find it intriguing that this is the same pattern we see along the major NW-SE axis of variation. It seems that mtDNA lineages unite South Asians, while the Y lineages separate them (by caste and region). The generality has many exceptions, but it points to a peculiar sex mediated admixture process from both the northwest and northeast. Men on the move have reshaped the genetics and culture of South Asia, but the mtDNA lineages still point to an ancient Eurasian group with distant but stronger affinities to the east than the west. The mtDNA are likely the purest distillation of ASI (Ancestral South Indian). 

From  Witas et al in PLOSone

Ancient DNA methodology was applied to analyse freshly unearthed remains (teeth) of 4 individuals. Dated to the period between 2.5 Kyrs BC and 0.5 Kyrs AD the studied individuals carried mtDNA haplotypes corresponding to the M4b1, M49 and/or M61 haplogroups, which are believed to have arisen in the area of the Indian subcontinent during the Upper Paleolithic and are absent in people living today in Syria . 

Studied remains were excavated at two archaeological sites in the middle Euphrates valley and dated between the Early Bronze Age and the Late Roman period. The obtained data enrich the as yet modest database of Mesopotamian ancient DNA and suggest a possible genetic link of the region with the Indian subcontinent in the past leaving no traces in the modern population.

Update
This means the genes of prehistoric people are still prevalent among modern Sri Lankans

We report here the first complete mitochondrial sequences for Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from two cave sites. The mitochondrial haplogroups of pre-historic individuals were M18a and M35a. Pre-historic mitochondrial lineage M18a was found at a low prevalence among Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils, and Sri Lankan Indian Tamil in the Sri Lankan population, whereas M35a lineage was observed across all Sri Lankan populations with a comparatively higher frequency among the Sinhalese.

First AASI mtDNA genomes from Sri Lanka (2500 and 5500 BC)
Please Read comments as well, knowledgeable
https://www.brownpundits.com/2022/11/30/first-aasi-mtdna-genomes-from-sri-lanka-2500-and-5500-bc/

Also see:

Sinhalese and Tamil DNA Admixture Analyis
My DNA 01: Heroin Addiction, Smoking etc
Sri Lankan Population DNA Genetics 01
Basic Primer on Population DNA Genetics
List of reference and excerpts

Was the first person to Travel round the world Malay

Enrique of Malacca was Ferdinand Magellan's slave and friend from Malacca. Enrique traveled to
Portugal with Magellan from Malacca in 1512.  He then accompanied Magellan on the 1519 expedition to find the "Indies" by sailing toward the West from Spain.  After passing through the southern most tip of South America Magellan arrived in Cebu (now part of Phillpines) .  Magellan was killed in Cebu/Mactan in 1521.  It appears Enrique escaped and also spoke the language.
If Enrique managed to get to Malacca before the surviving ship Victoria from Magellan's expedition  arrived in Spain in 1522, Enrique would be the first person to circumnavigate the world.

From the wiki

Enrique accompanied Magellan on all his voyages, including the voyage that circumnavigated the world in 1519-1521. He was left in Cebu on May 1 and there is nothing more said of Enrique in any document. Historians and trivia buffs have often speculated that Enrique was the first to circumnavigate the world. The official and generally accepted view is that Elcano and his sailors were first, but there is still much debate on the matter. De Malaca is only documented to have traveled with Magellan from Malacca to Cebu, 2500 km and 20 degrees of longitude short of completing the circumnavigation. It is not known if he ever had a chance to complete it.

In Harun Aminurrashid's novel Panglima Awang, it is said that Enrique's real name was Awang, and that he was one of the Sultan warriors (Panglima). The story states that Magellan told him to change his religion, or at least to change his name, in order to avoid bad treatment from the ship's crew for being a Muslim. Magellan himself gave him the name Enrique. The book also describes how Magellan treated Enrique not as a slave but as a friend, and defended him from the prejudice of other sailors. Enrique repaid this kindness with loyalty, and followed Magellan until his death. After Magellan's death, Enrique decided to stop sailing with the Spaniards, but continued to sail with other ships such as traders, and eventually landed in the northern part of Borneo (now Sabah). He was confident that he could sail around the world and reunite with friends that had become refugees of the Portugal-Malacca War. He then completed his circumnavigation of the world, and landed at Malay Peninsula.

SandaKada Pahana "taken" from Sri Lanka

Moonstone Polonaruwa period.

Moonstone (SandaKada Pahana) "taken" from Sri Lanka by a British Planter in the 1950's is sold  for GBP 500,000.  The Moonstone had been given to Bronwen Hickmotts parents by a Tea Planter from Sri Lanka.  Mrs Hickmott used the 1300 year old moonstone as doorstep at her home in Exeter, Devon - affectionately calling it 'the pebble'. This particular moonstone has been dated to belong to the Anuradhapura period.  

Anuradhapura period moonstones can be identified by having four animals in the third band: elephants, lions, horses, and bulls. These four animals follow each other in a procession symbolizing the four stages in life: growth, energy, power and forbearance.  The Polonnaruwa period

Nissanka Mallas Lion Throne

Moonstones do not have the bull, possibly because of Hindu/Chola influence. Some of the Polonaruwa moonstones dont have the lion as well. 

My theory is that these moonstones without a lion (and bull) are from the latter part of the Polonaruwa period.  That is when the Kalinga influence on Polonnaruwa increased and ended up with Nissanka Malla, a non Sri Lankan from Sinhapura in Kalinga (Orissa).  Its likely that Nissanka Malla and the other Kalinga affiliated Kings who also claimed the Lion as their symbol, removed the lions from the Moonstones used as door steps.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2313725/1-300-year-old-Buddhist-temple-stone-used-family-doorstep-sells-500-000-auction-BBCs-Antiques-Roadshow-Sotherbys-turned-away.html

Peter Sellers: The Party: Oh To be in Yingland sung by Ceylonese Bill Forbes.

All these years watched Peter Sellers "The Party" and never knew it was a Ceylonese (He left long before it was Sri Lanka) Bill Forbes who sang "Oh to be in England".

On the seaside bordering Adamaly place, along Galle Road, is a gas station that dispenses, petrol, diesel, cooking gas, vehicle servicing and washing, very popular with local residents. It was here where the famous Sri Lankan crooner Bill Forbes once worked as an attendant. The pump still stands and serves its citizens valiantly until today.

Bill Forbes was born on 17th December 1938 in Sri Lanka. He came to Britain in 1955 at the age of 17 doing menial clerical work by day and renting a flat in Victoria, Central London. During 1958 Bill lived out his dreams of being a famous singer by appearing regularly at the "Bread Basket" coffee bar in Tottenham Court Road. It was while he was performing one night in September 1958 that two talent scouts representing Jack Good approached him and asked if he wanted to audition for the "Oh Boy!" show. The series had just blasted onto the nation's television screens a few weeks earlier and Bill was already a big fan of the show. The show was a groundbreaking British pop music event from 1958-1959, in London with Cliff Richard, Marty Wilde, Bill Fury and others. He released 12 hits for EMI Columbia among them 'Too Young/It's Not the End of the World,' Sri Lankans still sing his baila hit: 'Aacha England,' recorded under the name of Kal Khan. 'Oh to be in England!' is still a favorite of many vintage Sri Lankans.

via  http://colombofort.com/bambalapitiya.htm

Cut & Paste, GUI, Links in 1968

Douglas Engelbart demonstrates the NLS (“oN Line System”) in 1968.  As Lambert Strether says it took 16 years (1984 – 1968) to  to be adapted successfully for commercialization (e.g. Apple Lisa) . For 45 years ( 2013 – 1968)  Engelbart’s vision or, at least a version of it remains unchanged.

The demo is one hour and forty minutes long,

You will see the first demonstrations of:

• The mouse
• The cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor (what we all used before flat screens, if you can imagine such a thing)
• The graphical user interface (GUI) with windows (as opposed to the previous state of the art, the teletype)
• The word processor (with cut, copy, and paste)
• The outliner 
• Computer generated slides
• Hypertext with clickable links
• Video-conferencing
• More abstractly, “the file,” with file name, creation date, and creator, with navigation through a hierarchy of files
• And Herman Miller office furniture!

Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/03/the-mother-of-all-demos-presented-by-douglas-engelbart-1968.html#1S1PLXtj8TQyygrw.99

Roman Dutch Law and Womens Property Rights: Caroline Corner 1908

This another chapter of  Caroline Corner's The Paradise of Adam The Record of Seven Years Residence in the Island published in 1908.

I've posted the chapter because of its insights into Roman Dutch Law and how it applied to the property rights of women.  (Other Chapters on Orabi Pasha founder of Zahira)

CHAPTER XXI

Justice in Ceylon — The "mills " that grind both
"slowly" and "exceeding small"—"Where every
prospect pleases," &c.—Peter Robinson's parasol
and its achievements—Worthy of opera-bouffe. 

CYNTHIA'S first experience of a Court of Justice in Ceylon—indeed anywhere— caused her to think—fatal condition in woman! Moreover, it caused her to ask questions. Reckless of consequences as her Grandmother Eve, Cynthia's thirst for knowledge goaded her on. Men maintain that once this train is fired in the feminine mind, they are in hapless security of an express ticket to the bottomless pit. Cynthia had not, however, enlisted in the corps of "Shrieking Sisters," nor was she ever likely to. Cynthia was possessed of a mind that demanded food, as did her more material part. Likewise was she endowed with a heart that ofttimes ached at the injustice of man—not "mere man," mankind in the full, broad sense—and sometimes rose in rebellion and hatred of the cruelties perpetrated on the weak around her. On the verandah where, amid the profusion of tropical loveliness, the little black-eyed squirrels peeped out of the purple passion flowers, and tiny tortoises took their walks abroad, and Punch and Sprite lay stretched on guard against cobras and ticpolongas—here, sheltered from the scorching sun, Cynthia loved to sit and muse and dream. Europeans thought she must be lonely. Europeans were mistaken. Cynthia was never lonely. The gamut of her musings was wide—unlimited. The more she thought, the more there was to think, and the wider the gamut grew. From the heights empyrean to—well, perhaps the bottomless pit— everything has interest if one did but take the trouble to look for it—search it out. And even in what might seem to outsiders their monotonous life something was always occurring worth this M thinking out." When she sent a lengthy narration of her Law Court experience to that honoured old friend of her youth, London's late esteemed Judge, the reply she received was: "May not the Rose of Sharon blossom in the wilderness? But briars abound. Take heed lest they choke the sweetness of the Rose." But Cynthia had no desire to emulate certain habitudes of the Courts of Law—her retired life was proof of this. Only from early childhood she had hankered after the "why and wherefore," besides inclining rather to the active than to the passive: never'' Do it for me," but "I'll do it" being her refrain. Thus it was fated to come about, perhaps, that her life should be no easy one. It was interesting, nevertheless. This propensity for problems was only indulged when other material duties were done. No one could accuse Cynthia of neglect of household duties, nor of lack of taste and that finish that only a woman's hand can impart, and which, when wanting, no amount of expensive luxuries can atone for. This is essentially woman's role in the drama of life, and she who does not act up to it is no woman at all—in the true sense. Problems come after.

A new problem had been born from Cynthia's late experience. This was it. Why did not her countrymen on taking possession of the Island of Ceylon take their own law with them? The old Roman Dutch law still prevails in this British First Crown Colony. According to this antique specimen of the balance of justice, a wife can at the caprice or insanity of her husband be not only left totally unprovided for on his decease, but furthermore, deprived of her own, a wife being regarded as a mere chattel of her lord and master, which, tiring of, may be exchanged, nolens volens, when that lord and master chooses to transfer his affections elsewhere. Marriage under such conditions sanctioned by the law of Ceylon is either a farce or a tragedy in which the virtuous heroine —the wife—may be the victim. Withal the Union Jack of Old England waves "o'er Ceylon's spicy Isle "! A case in point came within Cynthia's own experience. A gentlewoman by birth, education, and social environment (in England), wife of a Civil Servant in the Government of Ceylon, was not only deprived of all portion of her husband's property at his decease but was defrauded of her own exclusively—a fact exemplifying a state of things no other civilised country would countenance. The sequel to this sad story was this. The widow of that Government servant in Ceylon, finding herself destitute, had providentially found friends—friends of foreigners in a foreign land, friends likewise of the royal rulers of her own Old England.

"A Constitutional Government," said the latter, compassionating and regretfully. "We can do nothing. It is the law, moreover; no one can interfere." After many months of waiting, during which the widowed gentlewoman might have starved, would indeed have starved, were it not for those friends in need, friends of a true '' high nobility," after weary waiting and months of anxiety a pension was granted. Tennyson might have said:

The mills of" Government" grind slowly,

"And" they grind exceeding "small."  

"It was written," though, as the Moslem would say, that that widowed gentlewoman was not to starve. Cynthia devoted many a leisure hour to thinking this problem out. Moreover, she wrote the whole narration of this cruel case of /wjustice to her friend—the honoured London Judge. His lordship's reply, a voluminous one going into details of the case, she never received. A "custom of the country "—akin to native legerdemain. "It was written" also that Cynthia should have another experience in a Court of Justice in Ceylon —a Police Court only this time, but deserving of narration, if only for the element of humour therein. This is how it happened.

A horse from a batch of "Walers" had recently been purchased. Now this "Waler" had to be trained to both saddle and harness, as well as to become accustomed to those native outdoor "customs of the country" which are as perplexing (when not appalling) to the equine new-comer as were the European social customs to Cynthia. For this purpose Clio, as the animal was christened, had to be escorted by the Mutiu every morning at daybreak from the home at Dehiwella to Colombo, a distance of about six miles. It was usual for horse and man to be back by noon. One day, however, noon came and with it neither. At i o'clock, when Cynthia sat down to tiffin, she inquired again, with the same answer, "Not come, Lady." At 2 o'clock, becoming uneasy, she said, "Appoo, you'd better go yourself—get a hackery—something may have happened."

The Appoo maintained that steady, stubborn gaze of the Sinhalese which, read arightly, means non-compliance. Cynthia had been long enough "out" to know it well.

"Go at once, and you shall have a couple of rupees. Here's seventy-five cents for the hackery."

The steady gaze relaxed, there was the wraith of a smile about the mouth, moreover.

The Appoo went. Afternoon tea-time brought him back—alone.

"Well ?" said his mistress questioningly.

"That horse, Lady, tied to tree. Sinhalese man saying not untie until Lady pay ten rupee."

"What!"

    "That horse, Lady's horse, tied to tree," &c., &c., going over the same to simplify to European density.

"And the Muttu?"

"Muttu there, too, Lady; Muttu not tied to tree; Muttu staying with horse; Muttu not coming back."

"What does it mean ?" ejaculated Cynthia. "Sinhalese man wanting ten rupee, Lady." "Oh yes, I understand that well enough." "But why? How dare he keep the horse?" "Sinhalese man got, Lady: Sinhalese man keep—'less Lady give ten rupee."

Sinhalese logic is simplicity itself, but—onesided. A happy thought struck Cynthia.

"Why didn't you release the horse?"

"Sinhalese man not letting, Lady. Sinhalese man wanting ten rupee first—Lady give?"

"No, I'll be—shot if I do! I'll go myself."

"Very hot, Lady, out-door. No other horse got take carriage, no gharry 'bout this part. Lady —European Lady not going go?"

"I am; and you must go too."

Now the highway from Colombo to Mount Lavinia is one long, hot, dusty road. Picturesque decidedly, with the handsome white bungalows in large gardens on the one side and the native boutiques (shops) on the other, with every sort of human being, descript and nondescript, between. The Sinhalese—indeed, the Oriental has no notion of privacy—he and she, take their baths, dress, do their hair or have it done by the barber in full view of everybody. One sees the queerest sights in Ceylon.

But Cynthia that scorching afternoon was on other business bent. Men—sellers of chatties, fish and what not—might pause to inquire of the Appoo the reason for a European lady being about at that hour and on foot; women might come to the doorways of their cadjan huts and chatter; boys and girls might pester her for cents, "no fadder, no mudder got, Lady!" beggars might increase the tone of their perpetual drone; Cynthia wended her way—the Appoo following. Her loose yet becoming tea-gown held up from the dust, on she went, her parasol the only protection from the tropical sun.

Presently carriages, the carriages of Europeans, varying from victorias to buggies and dog-carts, commenced to scatter the motley yet picturesque throng of natives that always fills the road. Banks, offices had closed. Europeans were either going home or were out for their evening drive. How they looked at Cynthia! Some— and these the best bred, those really high in the social scale—raised their hats; others stared, and if they had their wives and daughters with them, the latter made some sneering remark which, however, the husband, to his credit be it said, did not encourage, but flicking the horse hastened on. Such incidents forced Cynthia to wonder if, when Bishop Heber wrote those lines—

Where every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile, 

they were intended to imply to the "heathen" native alone. May be 'twas the pretty tea-gown that excited envy or derision—which? But what more suitable when the thermometer stands at 110° than a loose muslin robe? Cynthia had at any rate the courage of her opinions and  acted accordingly, let Mrs. Grundy of the Colony deride as she might—or envy!.
 

Wellawatte was passed; Bambalapitiya nearly, when the Appoo, approaching, pointed to a group assembled under the shade of a mango tree.

There was the horse, there the Muttu, and squatting around the animal were some three or four of the lowest caste, most ruffianly looking natives it had ever been Cynthia's misfortune to behold.

"Muttu," said Cynthia, drawing nearer, "release the horse and bring it home."

The Muttu came a step forward—reluctantly.

"Come—quick," continued Cynthia firmly.

But the group of rapscallions were up at this, their hands on the animal's halter, their voices in chorus addressing Cynthia, " Sinhalese men saying wanting ten rupee, Lady," interpreted the Appoo^ standing at a distance, as became his high caste. Cynthia was sharp enough to detect glances being exchanged all round. Freemasonry always exists among the natives in spite of caste—until their individual interests clash.

"Muttu, take the horse—I insist."

But the Muttu made no advance. He either would not or he dared not. Useless to transfer the order to the Appoo. Cynthia came forward herself. Soon as her fingers touched the knot the halter fell from the tree. She was surprised at the success herself. The ruffians, infuriated, surrounded her, talking vociferously, and making endeavours to bar her way. With her sunshade, however, she kept them at bay. Afterwards she said her "good demon must have been at hand and helped," for whilst one hand was occupied with Mr. Peter Robinson's parasol, the other, securing the halter, led the horse away. A sorry situation for an English lady, but Cynthia was blessed with that priceless bump of humour— born with it. It helped her over many a stile. It helped her now. Spite of heat, fatigue, fear (if fear she had) of these low caste native ruffians, Cynthia held on—literally as well as figuratively held her own, leading the animal until, once out in the open road, she insisted again on the Muttu taking her place. This he did now— willingly, his mistress having proven herself, if not the stronger, at any rate the superior power. "Nothing succeeds like success " is true as it is trite with human nature, black as well as white. Thus the procession proceeded homeward. After dinner the Muttu was summoned to the verandah to tell his story of what Cynthia designated this "novel system of equine brigandage." It was this. While leading the animal quietly along the public highroad, some three or four men, suddenly emerging from a side garden, seized the halter out of the Muttu's hand and led the horse away to a mango tree, where they secured it. Upon the Muttu remonstrating, the men—strangers to the Muttu (of course) demanded ten rupees ere the animal should be released or restored. Useless to argue, to reason, or to resist. Ten rupees or the horse remained captive.

Funny, downright funny was this.

"Worthy of French opera bouffe" as Cynthia said. "But—the flag of sober, serious, just old England waves o'er this fair isle." Herein lay the anomaly.

"But," bringing herself back to the gravity of the question, "was there no constable about?" she inquired.

"No," said the Muttu, "no constable 'bout."

"H'm. You may go, Muttu." 

That evening passed merrily, as indeed their evenings always did. Cynthia made sketches of natives being kept at bay with Mr. Peter Robinson's parasol by way of illustration to her graphic encounter with "ye native brigand." The sequel to the adventure occurred a morning or two later, when they were eating their appas again on the verandah. A yellow Malay in blue approaching, handed an envelope, likewise blue. The contents, also blue—a summons to appear at the Colombo Police Court: "Whereas the said So-and-So did permit of his property—a horse and a man—a Muttu in the said So-and-So's service, to trespass on and thereby do injury to the property of Soand-So at Bambalapitiya."

"What audacity! What audacity! Really life is, must be, comic opera in Ceylon."

Ah, Cynthia, not always. Tragedy it may be sometimes. But that's another story.

Orabi Pasha (founder of Zahira) and Caroline Corner: Part II

This is a two part post of two chapters of  Caroline Corner's The Paradise of Adam The Record of Seven Years Residence in the Island published in 1908.

The main reason I am posting the chapters because it references meeting Orabi Pasha.  Orabi Pasha (Ahmed Orabi) was a Egyptian army general, and nationalist of fellahin ancestry (peasant class) who led a revolt in 1879 against Tewfik Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan, and the increasing European domination of the country.  He was defeated by the British and exiled to Ceylon in 1882. His home in Halloluwa Road, Kandy is now the Orabi Pasha Museum and Cultural Centre. During his time in Ceylon, Orabi served to improve the quality of education amongst the Muslims in the country. Zahira College, Sri Lanka's first school for Muslims, was established under his patronage. Orabi Pasha Street in Colombo is named after him.

CHAPTER XXVI  (Previous chapter XXIV here)

Perideniya Botanical Gardens and a clairvoyante
dream — A greeting from Ardbi Pacha — Both
Arabi and Cynthia are charmed—Cynthia learns to
make " mocha " from the venerable Pacha—Funny
little Nubians ! — Arabi Pacha's piteous longing,
"only to return home!"

IT was while here at the mountain capital that they availed themselves of making the acquaintance of Ardbi Pacha, the Egyptian rebel, as he has been erroneously called by those not conversant with his purpose and his aim. As head of the War Department of his native land, Ardbi, possessed of a personality born to attract and to lead, had been chosen as the defender of justice and the rights of his people—a man of "singularly uncommon honesty," as Lord Charles Beresford, his adversary in the campaign of 1882, honourably designated him. But this is no political treatise. All 'tis necessary to say is that Ardbi Pacha, having capitulated, was then an exile, a British captive in Ceylon. It had been arranged that Cynthia and her husband should drive in the early morning to Perideniya, to visit the Botanical Gardens there, prior to making a call on Ardbi Pacha, who, with some of his family, was at that time residing in a comfortable bungalow situated at top of a hill midway between Kandy and Perideniya. Soon after daybreak, accordingly, they started in a victoria. The mountain air was fresh and invigorating, although once the sun is up the mountain capital soon becomes hot almost as Colombo, until the tropical sun goes down. Tickets to enter the gardens had been taken; all they had to do was to enjoy that delightful drive in the freshness of the morn.

Few people were about; those few, however— natives going to or returning from their bath— contributed to the picturesque scenery. It is marvellous the grace with which a native's dra%pery falls in folds. Careless, unpremeditated; no sculpture could manifest more perfect artistic effect. The gorgeous colours, moreover, blend, always harmoniously, no matter how vivid, while the gait of the Oriental is dignity with ease combined.

Cynthia, accustomed as she was to driving through one of the loveliest portions of Europe— Southern Austria—experienced a new sensation now: the spell, the fascination of the East, incomparable to any other as it is indescribable. Silently they drove along, the giant trees casting a pleasant shade, until on turning a corner Cynthia started.

"Ah!" rising to her feet in the carriage.

"What place is this? I know it well; I have surely been here before!" she exclaimed, excitedly.

"The entrance to the Botanical Gardens. We get out here," was her husband's reply.

"The— entrance — to—the—Botanical—Gardens," repeated Cynthia alighting, yet keeping her regards fixed on those iron gates, with the tickettaker's shed just within, at an angle of the road. "No, I have not been here before. And yet it is all so familiar. It was a dream I had, repeated again and again in my early girlhood. Now that dream that haunted my youth is realised. Every detail I have beheld before. All is familiar to me. I will show you where the paths lead. Come."

They entered, giving up their tickets at the shed, and Cynthia trod those magnificent gardens, leading the way as though it were familiar to her —as indeed it was—in dream.

Let psychical research explain this. Cynthia relates the fact only, at the same time recalling those lines of Rossetti:

/ have been here before,
But when or how I cannot tell:
I know the grass beyond the door,
The sweet, keen smell,
The sighing sound, the lights around
the shore.

* * * * #

Arabi Bey, or, to give him his full name, MuhamedIbn Ahmed, Arabi Pachas eldest son, was to meet them at his father's house. As up they mounted to the bungalow by the zigzag footpath hedged with roses—glorious roses from seeds of trees grown on the Bosphorus, roses large as a saucer, and laden with perfume that scented the air within a radius of, say, half a mile —as up they mounted Arabi Bey descended to meet them.

"My father is charmed to make your acquaintance," said he, shaking hands with the visitors.

Upon entering the bungalow a commanding figure dressed a VEuropeen, except for a fez, rose and bowed low. Then a hand was uplifted in military salute.

"How do you do? We are so pleased to come to see you. I hope you are well?" said Cynthia, coming forward and offering her hand.

The grave, sad countenance relaxed in a smile. "May I sit here—beside you?"

The smile expanded. Cynthia—that strange "writing woman," friend of Princes, Peasants, Prisoners of War—everybody, but—snobs, shams, and sycophants—took her seat on a cane chair beside Arabi Pacha on his prayer-carpet on a divan.

What impressed Cynthia most in this her first interview with Arabi the Exile was his Faith in Providence, the Almighty.

"What the Almighty decrees comes to pass," said he, quoting the Koran. "What He desires not happens not. All power is with Him."

It was impressive, to say the least of it, to hear with what clemency, what resignation, and with what unshaken faith this defeated warrior spoke of his defeat. The Koran, ever by his side, had been his guide, was still his guide, would always be his guide.

"Remain constant in Faith, and you will merit commendation and gain eternal repose," was now as it ever had been his text. And unlike some others, not of Moslem Faith, he acted on and up to it.

"I felt in my heart our fate—the fate of all Egyptians—was in the hands of England," he said. "It was for England to continue and to complete the work the Almighty had decreed I should begin—and England will" he added.

But the fragrant aroma of coffee caused the conversation to take a different turn—real Mocha.

"What delicious coffee!" exclaimed Cynthia, to give the conversation a turn. Arabi Pacha smiled.

"Now," went on the old man, quite cheerfully, "I will teach you to make coffee as we do. Then tell me how you like it." Forthwith he commenced handling the brass utensils on the tray brought in by an ebony-black Nubian, grinning from ear to ear. Excellent coffee it was. Cynthia had three cups, to Arabis apparent delight. Then, in the midst of lively social chat, in which Arabi Bey (the eldest son) and his brother—a remarkably fine, handsome young man—joined, the curtains were drawn, and in scampered three or four chocolate-coloured youngsters with closecropped hair on shining pates. What little hair there was was " laid out in paths," so to speak, tiny, close-cut ringlets in rows across the head—a most peculiar effect. Their faces, although far from prepossessing, were full of animation, and just now expressive of great joy. Rushing up to the commanding figure on the divan, they threw their naked brown arms around his neck, pressed their flat noses against his cheek, and literally smothered him with caresses, chattering volubly all the while. Arabi, the leader, the commander of men, accepted these ebullitions of affection in the spirit of the intention. He bore those caresses with the spirit of happy resignation. Indeed, this big, brave warrior allowed those little half-castes to do what they liked with him. Then, giving them sugar and sweetmeats, they turned their attention elsewhere, scampering round the visitors "like cannibals around a fat missionary."

"What funny little creatures! Who are they?" asked Cynthia, throwing them lumps of sugar.

"My brothers and sisters," was Arabi Beys reply.

# # # # #

Ahmed Arabi, the Egyptian*

One of the many gracious and kindly actions of His Majesty King Edward on accession to the throne was to cancel the captivity of Arabi Pacha and his brother exiles, and permit them to return home.

* Arabic autograph in Cynthia's birthday-book.

(Previous chapter XXIV here)