Selling off the history via the ‘Ramayana Trail’

Plans by the Ministry of Tourism to allegedly distort the history of Sri Lanka, under the guise of tourism promotion through the introduction of a ‘Ramayana Trail” came under heavy fire of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (RASSL). They argue that when Sri Lanka has a magnificent history of its own, the Tourism Authority is imposing an artificial one targeting a small segment of Indian travellers, specifically Hindu fundamentalists, for funds. India, where the epic Ramayana originated, refute it as a story with no historical basis and they have no “Ramayana Trail”, whereas Sri Lanka has invented sites related to Ramayana and promote them without bringing our “Buddhist circuits” to the spotlight, The RASSL charges.

Ramayana Trail

Ramayana Trail is a special programme inaugurated in New Delhi in early 2007 by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. The tour is promoted as the “ultimate religious experience” according to the Hindustan Times and the RASSL states that the programme specially targets a group of Hindu fundamentalists. Under the programme, the tourists are introduced a trail of 52 sites associated with the epic Ramayana. According to eminent archeologists both in India and Sri Lanka Ramayana is a story with no historical basis but a literary piece; a great epic poem.

Tourism development Authority is bringing up historical evidence and a series of arguments to prove the validity of the epic and to convince that the particular sites are the exact places one comes across in the great epic.

“With the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ending in May 2009, interest in the trail is rapidly increasing in India. In 2009, more than 4000 Indians exclusively visited Sri Lanka to go on the trail. At least 650 are slated to arrive in the first week of December,” Hindustan Times claim in November 2009.

RASSL denies the Ramayana Trail

“One and a half years ago when I was in India a group of Archeologists, in a mocking tone, inquired from me about the “Ramayana Trail” Sri Lanka is promoting to a segment of Indians. As the Royal Asiatic Society, we started digging into the case. And what we came across was a gross distortion of Sri Lankan history,” says Dr. Susantha Goonatilake, the president of the Royal Asiatic Society Sri Lanka.

“Leading Indian universities and eminent Indian academics refute the Ramayana story as having no historical basis. In India, their “Buddhist Circuits” are a main tourist attraction. But here in Sri Lanka the very myth is promoted for monetary gain. Promoting a myth is a serious threat to the actual recorded history of the country,” Dr. Goonatilake claims.

About six months ago, the RASSL has held a closed discussion with eminent archeologists and experts in Sri Lanka on the “Ramayana Trail” which is being carried out by the Tourism Development Authority. There, it had been acknowledged that the Ramayana Trail has no basis but is a distortion of the recorded history of Sri Lanka, and was claimed to be a threat to the territorial integrity of the country.

Afterwards, Dr. Goonatilake has informed Mr.N.C.K Kiriella– Chairman Ramayana Trail Executive Committee of the Sri Lankan Tourism Ministry, to send details of the expertise of his expert panel for which Mr. Kiriella has asked for two weeks. Dr. Goonatilake says that there’s no reply yet.

A subsequent request by the RAASL for a discussion with the Ramayana Trail Executive Committee had also not been responded to according to the RAASL.

Ramayana and its present controversies

Ramayana, written by the great sage Valmiki is one of the two great epics of the Indian culture and literature (the other is the Mahabharata). It is being hailed as one of the greatest epics written in the history of India.

Anyone who has read Ramayana would know the valour and the wisdom of the protagonist Rama, who is said to be an avatar of god Vishnu in Hinduism, the solemn love, purity and innocence of his beautiful wife Sita and the undaunted loyalty of Luxmana, the brother of Rama. Rawana, whom Valmiki projects as the king of Lanka plays the role of the villain in the love story. In order to take revenge for Luxmana cutting off the nose of his sister Suparnika, Rawana kidnaps Sita to his abode “Heladiva” and later falls for her.

The Ramayana Executive Board of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority is claiming the validity of Ramayana and its relevance to Sri Lanka whereas the RASSL is opposing it. The Board has located several inscriptions related to the great epic but the RASSL continuously points out the invalidity of the data and that Ramayana is still a myth.

In the symposium held last Saturday, the RASSL brought in a set of expert historians with valid academic qualification to present their stance to the story and as a rebuttal to what the Board is saying.

The Ramayana Executive Board reportedly points out that there are many inscriptions of Rawana and his dynasty misconstrued and published in “Inscriptions of Ceylon” and they show a connection between certain historical sites to the story of Ramayana. Their list consists of historical sites including the Cobra Hooded Cave – Sigiriya, Pulasthi Statue – Polonnaruwa, Vessagiriya – Anuradhapura, Isurumuniya Lovers – Anuradhapura, Rumassala, Rawana Ella Cave, Rawana Falls, Ritigala, Nala Sethu (Adams Bridge), Wegiriya and Molagoda.

In relation to this, the Secretary of the RASSL, Dr. Malini Dias, addressing the gathering at the symposium said, “The Brahmi cave inscription of Molagoda Vihara in Kandy District is totally misapplied by the Ramayana Trail Executive committee. By misinterpreting the word Bamana as Bimana in the inscription, they have translated the word Bamana to mean a pilot of an aeroplane.”

“The cave inscription from Alulena (Rahalgala) in Aranayake in Kegalle District has been changed by applying white ink on the letters and the phrase Maha Rakdhaha Rawana puta has been surreptitiously added to the inscription and translated as Emperor Rawana’s son. This part is added at the beginning of the distorted inscription, Dr. Dias added. Also, Dr. Dias said that the historical site at Sigiriya, identified as the palace of king Kashyapa I has been branded by the Committee as the Chithrakoota palace of Lankapura, the abode of king Kuvera, elder brother of king Rawana.

“Mr. Kiriella has misinterpreted the statement made in the chronicle Mahavamsa, that king Kashyapa lived at Sigiriya like the Kuvera of Alakamanda,” said Dr. Dias. “Isurumuniya in Anuradhapura is desecrated by making it a temple for king Rawana’s parents Visrasumuni and Kaikali,” she highlighted.

The promoters claim that, though the exact location of the Rawana’s kingdom is not historically identified it is accepted as Sri Lanka. This pre-historic or rather pre-Mahawamsa kingdom, near the present Arugambay has been completely destroyed by a tsunami or an earthquake.

Arguing on a claim by the promoters that the islands and shoals of shifting sand located between Pamban Island in India and Mannar Island in Sri Lanka is manmade Mr. Dhanesh Wisumaperuma of RASSL, an expert in history and environment claimed that this socalled “Adam’s Bridge” is a natural formation and not a bridge built by humans.

At the same time, Mr. Wisumaperuma refutes the story that Ritigala, Dolukanda and Rumassala are the remnants of the rock that Hanuman brought from the Himalayan region. He stresses that they are natural hills.

Mr. Wisumapperuma also showed the invalidity of the story which the Ramayana Trail committee says about Ussangoda, in relation to geography. Ussangoda, according to Mr. Kiriella’s team was the landing place of Rawana’s plane before it was burned by Hanuman. “Geologically, this is a serpentine rock formation and the surface is covered with Red Earth. This soil contains a high concentration of heavy metal. That is why the diversity of vegetation is low in such sites,” he explained.

Due to these superstitions, the geographical value of such places has been undermined, he further said.

At the symposium, Dr. Hema Goonatilake spoke on marketing Thailand and South East Asia for a mythical Ramayana instead of historical Buddhist sites.

Measures taken to uncover the truth

Sri Lanka seems to be giving priority to ‘Ramayana Trail’ over real historical sites in the Cultural Triangle and elsewhere in the country that needs to be much more popularized among the global community the RASSL firmly believes. “We are a society established under the constitution. We will be taking all the actions in our power to bring this to the notice of the relevant authorities,” said the President of RASSL.

Dr.Goonatilake says, “The head of the state is our patron ever since we were established. We intend to write to the president directly about this and request him to look into bringing this distortion to an end”.

“We will write to the Director General of Archeology with a copy to the Defense Secretary, Secretary to the ministry of Ministry of National Heritage & Cultural Affairs and Secretary to the Ministry of Buddha Sasana urging to take legal action to bring this destruction to a halt,” he added.

Several attempts were made to contact N.C.K Kiriella– Chairman Ramayana Trail Executive Committee of the Sri Lankan Tourism Ministry regarding the Ramayana Trail, could not be contacted at the time this edition went to press.

Ramayana Trail- Executive Committee

“The Ramayana Trail Executive Committee is on the look to prove the historical phase of the Ramayana for which there are historical and archaeological evidence available in Sri Lanka,” publishes the Ramayana Trail Executive committee’s website.

The Ramayana Trail Executive Committee is under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism in Sri Lanka.

The members of the committee are Dr Suriya Gunasekera, an authority on Sri Lankan pre history. Dr Subash Chawla an authority on International Ramayana, Mr B.M.U.D Basnayake Additional Secretary Ministry of Tourism and Mr. S. Kalaiselvam Director General, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority . The website of the Ramayana Trail identifies Mr. N. C. K. Kiriella as the Chairman, Ramayana Trail Executive Committee of The Sri Lankan Tourism Ministry.

Source:http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/index.php/opinion1/16407.html