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Research Paper No. 2 July 2012
 
 
 

ICES Research Papers
Producing the Present: History as Heritage in Post-War Patriotic Sri Lanka
Nira Wickramasinghe
PINA ONA ODEN RE FOR

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ICES Research Paper 2
Producing t History as Heritage in Pos
Nira Wickra
International Centre July 2

he Present:
st-War Patriotic Sri Lanka
amasinghe
2 for Ethnic Studies
2012

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C) 2012 International Centre for Ethnic Studi 2, Kynsey Terrace, Colombo 8
Sri Lanka
E-mail: admin(a)ices.lk
URL: http://ices.lk/
ISBN: 978-955-580-127-0
Printed By: Karunatatne & Sons (Pvt) Ltd
This research paper was commissioned as p implemented by ICES with support from Dia

ՇՏ
art of the Democracy and Equality Programme konia, Sri Lanka.

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Acronyms and Abbreviations
Archaeological Survey of India
Baratiya Janata Party
Central Cultural Fund
Department of Archaeology
Department of Finance and Planning
Department of National Budget
Dutch Burgher Union
Galle Heritage Foundation
International Commission on Monuments and
International Commission on Museums
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Ministry of Culture and Arts
Ministry of Defence
National Crafts Council
National Film Corporation
National Institute of Education
National Tourism Development Authority
Public Works Department
Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka
United National Party
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cu Organisation
United States of America
Young Men’s Buddhist Association

Sites
ltural
ASI BJP
CCF
DOA
FPD
INBID
DBU
GHF
ICOMOS
ICOM
ITTE
MCA
MoD
NCC
NFC
NIE
SLTDA
PWD
RASSL
UNIP
UNESCO
USA
YIMBA

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ICES Research Papers:
1. Krishnan, Sonny Inbaraj (2012), Transition
Combatants: 1 Case Study from Batticaloa

2 Civilian Life of Teenage Girls and Young Women Ex
ICES Research Paper 1, June. 2012

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Producing the Present: History as Herita
The state - actually a shifting complex of peoples and ro, Herzf
Introduction
Walter Benjamin warned against the 'appreci. 'catastrophe' than indifference or disregard (N considered an essentially present-centred cultura It is as much about the production of the presen
The changing fortunes and popularity of place valuable as heritage. There is therefore no herit argues, is intangible (2006:3). What make sites and activities that are undertaken around the processes that things and places are identified as in the case of post-civil war Sri Lanka, the choic and social values, debates and aspirations (Smith
What then is the hegemonic discourse of herita talk and write about heritage'P (Smith 2006: 11). has evolved in a post-war situation and the ext and performances that inhabit popular, expert at
For the purpose of clarity, and although I recog take into account Overlapping trajectories, I wou routes to the past: history and heritage, whic fundamental way. The purpose is not to ideali and exposition of the past. Records of the bequeathed to us are only a few traces. Few wi history where the voice of the author does not that they cannot be objective at least try to b producers of heritage is in their appreciation O unachieved, is yet more a truth than a faith Orb the historian tries to convey a past open to ins recognised by all members of the guild. But as (
1 I thank Marina Carter, Anup Grewal, Sanayi Marcelline, Nil of the original draft of this essay which enabled me to sharp

Producing the Present
ge in Post-War Patriotic Sri Lanka"
es.
eld (1997: 5)
ation of heritage', describing it as a greater Aathur 2007: 168). Indeed, heritage can be l practice and an instrument of cultural power. tas it is about the reproduction of a past.
's and sites indicate that no site is inherently age per se and all heritage, as Laurajane Smith valuable are the present-day cultural processes 'm. It is through these constitutive cultural possessing meaning and value. As we will see e in valorisation reflects contemporary cultural
2006:3).
ge “which acts to constitute the way we think, This paper will explore the way this discourse ent to which it has validated a set of practices ld state constructions of heritage.
nise that this formulation does not sufficiently ld like to argue that there are at least two main h share many commonalities but differ in a e history as the true, pure method of inquiry ast are indeed filtered by time and what is ould contest the fact that there is no objective haunt the narrative. Most historians who admit e impartial. But where historians differ from f the past as a truth that while imperfect and elief, fixed and devoid of ambiguities. Mostly, pection and proof following certain protocols Dhakrabarty (2000: 29-36) has shown, there are
1 Abeyratne and Sasanka Perera for their thoughtful reading 2n many of the arguments made here.

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ICES Research Papers
many knowledge asymmetries in the academi access the data produced in the North and O. to works by Western authors while the conve
Today more than ever, nostalgia permeates he look at the return to heritage—a process th received more state sanction in the ideologic victorious Over un-national secessionist forc hegemonic heritage discourse, mapping briefl section heritage in practice as a site of contest possible ways of overcoming the weight of he
Return to Heritage In the new post-conflict patriotic state, Presi be minorities in spite of the fact that the id endorsed in the Thirteenth Amendment to th of the President's speech, citizens/patriots w seemed to hold out the promise that all religic idea of a civic nation is commendable but attempt to construct “one people involves ma all examples of civic nations-the USA or liberal principles to a particularistic legacy. Mc norms, history, habits and prejudices of majo. a political identity whose political content ma beliefs. The new patriotism enunciated in common with the post-national or constituti alternative form of loyalty compatible with ul nationalism. It has little in common even with sphere cannot be neutral (Canovan 2000). nation and state and promotes a love of coul and foundation myth of the Sinhala people, w minorities—are present merely as shadows : political culture.
Today's obsession with heritage in post-civi narrative reconstruction of the past that wa literati of the early-twentieth century, who w British rule yet partaking in the country's imn the last few years, a singular but clearly identi would qualify as a 'return to heritage'. This

c world, with scholars from the South unable to ften expected by journals and publishers to refer
se is not demanded,
aritage practices in Sri Lanka. This paper will first at was not born in the post-civil war years but all setting of a triumphant Sinhala-Buddhist state es. It will then focus on the production of a y the parties involved, and exploring in the final ... The paper concludes with some suggestions on ritage.
dent Rajapaksa promised there would no longer ea of a multicultural society was embodied and e Constitution of 1987. In the new 'civic nation’ rould be ethnically undifferentiated, although he ons and ethnic identities would be respected. The utopian. As Partha Chatterjee has argued, any irginalising some (Chatterjee 1995). Furthermore, France are cases in point-have anchored their Dst liberal democratic political cultures reflect the rity groups, but they do usually attempt to foster kes it compatible with a variety of practices and President Rajapaksa's speech also has little in onal patriotism, which has been theorised as an niversal values but distinct from and superior to a civic patriotism that recognises that the public On the contrary, the President's vision merges ntry based on a particular reading of the history There all other groups—those formally known as and not as constitutive elements of a common
1 war Sri Lanka offers many parallels with the is promoted by an influential group of Sinhala rere located in an anti-colonial milieu critical of hersion into a market society. There has been, in fiable phenomenon in the public sphere which I return has, moreover, been accompanied by a

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sharp decline in professional history's popular r evident during the time of G.C. Mendis who wro the research community, and was translated in external enemies in the twenty first century, jus the early-twentieth century, have spawned a pa retreat from the teleological world history of Heritage today plays a function similar to that p apolitical, consensus-based, and formulates a see other moment when heritage came to the fore a legitimise the path of market-oriented develops opening of the economy under the United Natio
The Beginnings: Myth, Heritage and His The first decades of the twentieth century witnes of recounting the past that were sometimes distir times were closely intertwined with one another. historical path and the heritage path. Propor affirmed that they conveyed a truth about the pa to reach their conclusions. The first group c. historians, were explicit about their craft and r exposition of the past open to inspection and p profession. The second group also made truth type of evidence that professional historians w These different trajectories towards unearthing t as the true path. Over the years, the elitist a superseded by the popular democratic surge of border between these two registers is blurred w grey area where history and heritage practitione relevance of professional historiography is
endorsement of heritage as the privileged means
The emergence of a discourse about heritage Ca stirrings in the late-nineteenth century and th Lanka. Notions of authenticity were central t contours and features of the authentic varied Sinhala-Buddhist literati, there was, in the late-n that was grounded in the age-old hydraulic civili the land of kings co-existed with the idea ofan í founded on Kandyan signs and symbols. I superseded by the Mahavamsian dominant discC

Producing the Present
levance and national appreciation, which was te textbooks for schools as well as articles for
to vernacular languages. Globalisation and t like internationalisation and colonial rule in rticular form of cultural response that sees a
the immediate post-independence decades. layed by myth a century ago: it appears to be mingly unproblematic reading of the past. The s a state-endorsed discourse using nostalgia to ment, was in the decades following the 1977 nal Party (UNP).
tory ised in colonial Sri Lanka two principal routes ict, evolving along parallel lines, while at other They can, for convenience sake, be called the lents of both modes of recovering the past st, although they used very different strategies omposed of amateurs and then professional methods and attempted to write an objective roof according to the accepted canons of the claims, but these were not supported by the rould have considered as acceptable sources. he past have competed for public recognition cademic register of history has clearly been heritage as discourse and practice. Often the hen professional historians cross it, creating a ‘rs reach an agreement of a sort. The lack of especially visible in the present regime's of reading the past.
in be traced to the beginnings of anti-colonial e growth of a national consciousness in Sri o the growth of anti-colonial ideas, but the considerably in time and space. Among the neteenth century, the idea of an authentic past sation of the Rajarata. This dominant vision of uthentic for the present or for the immediate hterestingly, the Kandyan heritage was not urse of the nation but remained entrenched in

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the material culture of the peoples. In the colo registers of heritage, assuming different ro differed according to which community, rel Tamils from the Jaffna peninsula, for instar affinity with South India, which was quite dif grounded in the foundational book of the Sir there would have been a sense of history, jus Sinhalas (Daniel 1996: 34). Alongside these instance, Christians and Muslims' sense of history of their own faiths, a history external twentieth century, the idea that there was a g even among the non-literate classes. In 190 kingdoms, when the Public Works Departmer own use, people displayed an anger that rev Anuradhapura (Rogers 1987: 87). In the 189 to the protection of Buddhist sacred space a trees that grew on the site of the Kalutar Mahavamsa was ‘discovered’ and translated fr civil servant in the 1830s, British officials bel authentic documents. In 1838, his text, wh: erased in its translation notions of non-li
authoritative historical text of Sri Lanka. Alo written chronicles of the island, archaeology making the nation, pasts, invariably glorious, h 2002: 191). The discovery of remains of anci investigations. These remains confirmed in th 'authenticity' of the histories related in the chr
While the Mahavamsian vision of the authen Sinhala nationalist thought, this was not ei Authenticity was sometimes sought Out is Mahavamsa. For some Sinhala intellectuals, V. 1930s and 1940s, the Hela identity upheld b (1887-1944), amounted in effect to a denial religious-cultural revival. The Hela theory of t of the lineage of kings recorded in the Mal
2 According to the Vamsa literature, Sri Lanka is the Dha as the land in which his teachings would flourish. The N very day of the Buddha's death, Vijaya-the founder of the Buddha's prediction.
3. Valentine Daniel has argued that communities have diff
their histories.

onial period, as today, there were clearly different les and functions. Perceptions of authenticity igion, region and class one belonged to. Many ice, harboured a sense of heritage founded on ferent from the sense of history and chronology hhalas, the Mahavamsa. But among Tamils too, t as a sense of heritage or Culture existed among a visions of the past, existed many others: for the authentic past was deeply embedded in the to the island in which they lived. By the earlygreat and unbroken Sinhala past was widespread 3, in Anuradhapura, the capital of early Sinhala nt (PWD) took stones from ancient sites for their sealed their clear identification with the past of 0s, the Mahavamsa was cited in petitions related nd rituals, as evident in a petition to protect Bo 'a fort station (Rogers 1987: 100). Until the om Pali to English by George Turnour, a British leved that Lanka had no real history recorded in ich transmuted Oral Conceptions of history and near time and fantastic miracles, became the ngside the research On, and translations of, the was also breaking new ground. In the project of have to be declared lost to be recovered (Mitchell ent civilisations in the jungles prompted the first he mind of colonialists and nationalists alike the
onicles.
tic past has today become the central charter of ntirely the Case in the early-twentieth century. n events that predated those related in the ijaya was not a hero, but the 'archenemy. In the y the Sinhalese scholar Munidasa Cumaratunga of the Arya-Sinhala identity forged during the he island suggests that long before the beginning havamsa, the Hela people had built up a great
rwadhipa (the island of faith) consecrated by the Buddha himself sahavamsa, a sixth century Court chronicle states that on the the Sinhala race-landed in Sri Lanka, as if to bear witness to
erent ways of approaching their past and therefore of writing

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civilisation in Sri Lanka (Dharmadasa 1992: 2 compelling need in the communal consciousnes regard to India. It was, however, the Vijayan m other myths could offer. The Vijyan myth had,
in the official history of the island, and seen imposed itself as the most significant foundation
Roland Barthes suggests that myth, acting as things, that its function is, on the contrary, to si founds them in nature and eternity, gives them but of the statement” (Barthes 1957: 230). Nat material aspects of an authentic culture. With thi and collapsed civilisation of the North Central P and symbols from another 'ancient past, that
performance as markers of an authentic and landscape of the Kandyan kingdom, the last ki. many possibilities for anti-colonial readings. Ir was conceived differently. Regional belonging to from Jaffna, the Vanni, Trincomalee and Battica was indeed, for long, 'the mode of being Tamil much later and as a reaction to Sinhalese exclu Rajanayagam, no history of state is needed, Rajanayagam 1994: 54-59).
Modern Histories In the early-twentieth century, the heyday of h discipline of history, as it is understood today, V late-nineteenth century was dominated by the Ot Emerson Tennent (1859), whose first volume C history of the island from the earliest times to rule. Less known is William Knighton's (1845 Present Time. While Knighton accepted the ev correct, Tennent was more sceptical about some number of anglicised Sri Lankans followed the t produced histories of the island that often chall James de Alwis's (1823-78). Sinhalese History, chapters were serialised in newspapers—but he historian (de Silva 1978: 1-12). In the Sinhala l: 1869 is considered the first textbook in Sinhala Its content is revealing: following the core guidelines to other lessons are included. They

Producing the Present
62–86). The Hela myth was evocative of a s to sharpen the boundaries, particularly with yth that gave the island a centrality which no furthermore, the advantage of being inscribed is to have gradually and un-problematically all myth of the Sinhala. -
“depoliticized speech (parole) does not deny eak about things simply. It purifies them and a clarity, which is not that of the explanation ionalism, however, needed to rekindle certain spurpose, rather than look back at the age-old "rovince, it turned towards still-surviving signs of the Kandyan kingdom, such as dress and
unspoiled identity. Indeed, the historical ngdom to fall to the British in 1815, offered Tamil-speaking areas of the island, the past to led to difference in identity between Tamils loa. Heritage, rather than linear ethno-history, . Claims to part or totality of the land came isivism. For being Tamil, suggests Hellman
but to justify existence it was (Hellman
leritage as a mode of accessing the past, the 7as still in its teething stage. The mid- and the auvre of a former colonial Secretary, Sir James ylon, offered a near exhaustive narrative of the he establishment and consolidation of British ) History of Ceylon from the Earliest Period to the ents described in the Chronicles as factually : of the stories depicted in the Mahavamsa. A radition begun by Tennent and Knighton, and 'nged some of the readings by British authors. was never actually published—a few of his can be considered the first modern Sri Lankan Inguage, Dodanduwa Pyaratne Theros text of published for a non-monastic Buddhist school. essons that concern teaching the alphabet, deal with ethical and spiritual dimensions of

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Buddhism, establish Buddhism against the
criticise non-Buddhists, offer moral advice, protect Buddhism from threats of mithyadru 5/63/150/(7). There is no mention of histor this particular text, where the student is invite kings and heroes from the island. Interesting Kingdom were being written. Casie Chitty Society (RASSL). More so than Hindus, w) territory, Christians felt the need for a sec Sthalapuranas and detached from the Saiva Sic
In the early-twentieth century, historical wri such as Louis Edmund Blaze's 1 History of C historians such as Donald Obeysekere (1911) 1930s, a new generation of professionally-trai Pieris, Fr. S.G. Perera, H.W. Codrington and
the scholar who established history as an aca departed from the mythic histories of Anaga incontrovertible facts the enunciation of the ( put in perspective: “Though it is on the who far too few details from the writing of history 75-76). In 1941-42, with the publication of Occupation 1795-1833, the discipline of histor verifiability shared by historians in the wester Codrington 1939; Mendis 1935; Pieris 1913/1 based histories were relegated to a lesser dom;
In Jaffna in the 1930s, we can also see a shift new epigraphical South Indian sources change based on mythical chronicles, such as the Yal century, the linguistic terms Aryan and Drav speaking languages that stemmed from Indo Tamil writers began to refute the claims superiority based on their purported belongir (Tiravitam), to denote a place-the Southwere mustered to emphasise quite forcefully Sri Lanka from ancient times (Wickramasin points Out, C.Rasanayagam's 4ncient Jaffna Sug people, Aryans and Dravidians, and that T Tamils, he argues, have been living in Jaffna 1994: 71).
4 For a detailed account of the meanderings of the notio

teachings about One single god (creator god), Criticise Other Value systems and urge people to shti (false belief) (Sri Lanka National Archives, ical figures, historical events, or periodisations in 'd to admire and emulate the Buddha rather than ly, in the Jaffna peninsula, histories of the Jaffna wrote a history of Jaffna for the Royal Asiatic ho had other means of identification with the ular history distinct from sacred texts like the ddhanta philosophy.
ting was represented by textbooks for schools, eylon for Schools (1900) and the works of amateur , or Ponnambalam Arunachalam (1906). In the ned historians emerged, among whom were Paul G.C. Mendis. Mendis, in fact, can be considered demic discipline in Sri Lanka. His thesis clearly rika Dharmapala and his epigones, who took as Chronicles. The reliability of the Mahavamsa was ole reliable from the first century BC, it contains 7 to satisfy modern requirements” (Mendis 1966: Dr. Colvin R. de Silva's Ceylon under the British y was firmly grounded in the rules of truth and n tradition of academic knowledge (Rogers 1990; 4). From this time Onwards, heritage and mythain of credibility and acceptance.
in the writing of history. Here the filtering in of 2d the character of histories that had been mainly ppana Vaipava Malai. Since the late- nineteenth ridian had been used in India to qualify people -European or Dravidian families. In Sri Lanka, of some members of the Sinhalese literati of ng to an Aryan race by using the term Dravidian and a language as a race." An array of sources the preponderance of Dravidians and Tamils in ghe 2006: 258-60), As Hellman Rajanayagam gests that Sinhalese are a mixture of indigenous amils are very closely related to the Sinhalese. from times immemorial (Hellman- Rajanayagam
n of Tamil race see Hellman-Rajanayagam, 1995: 132-33.
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From Nostalgia in the Development Dis From the 1930s onwards, when a measure C colony under the Donoughmore constitution, age where the peasantry was proud, prosperous age had destroyed. The colonisation of new lan very much aimed at ushering in a new era in pe increasing the production of paddy. A few ye Commission report upheld the nostalgic image peasant, locked in heritage and firmly located O Report, 1951). The post-colonial state invested the North Central Province areas, constructii Welawe ganga); and finally, the large-scale pre affluent that started in 1968. The purpose Developmental discourse was enmeshed with centrality of the Sinhala peasant, who became a state ideology of the United National Party economic policy based on economic liberalisat through irrigated agriculture achieved a prom indigenous and Buddhist culture of Sri Lan Development in the UNP regime, Gamini Dis soul of the new Mahaweli society will be cheri inspired and nourished by the Tank, the Tem 1988: 297).
The rural bias of politicians was not new: it ha first generation of nationalists, looking for an is be “representatives of the people of the colony the peasantry, who had suffered from disposse romanticised the village and subscribed to the the ancient civilisation of Sri Lanka had been depended on an ingenious and intricate system however, was the use of the state apparatus 2 Construct an image of society where the tensic tactically mediated. The UNP regime was consc to usher in had to be culturally mediated in
population. Newspaper and television advertis local cultural practices of the people, who
Sinhalese majority community (Kemper 2001 agro-technology and insurance sectors were pa
5 Kemper has pointed out that only 5 percent of all advert

Producing the Present
course to Heritage f self-government was granted to the crown here was an underlying nostalgia for a bygone , and embodied all the values that the modern d in the dry zone from the 1930s onwards was asant welfare, together with the avowed aim of ars after independence, a Kandyan Peasantry of the peasant economy centred on the eternal utside history (Kandyan Peasantry Commission heavily in restoring ancient irrigation tanks in ng new dams in the Southeast (Gal oya and ject of organising the Mahaweli river and its of the project was not purely economic. nationalist underpinnings that emphasised the 'sublime object in the popular ideology. In the (UNP) government, which introduced a new ion and an export-led economy, development inent place: as a reincarnation of the ancient, ka's golden age. The Minister of Mahaweli sanayake, declared quite candidly in 1983, “the shed values of the ancient society, which were ple and the Paddy Field” (cited in Tennekoon,
d begun in the early-twentieth century, when a ssue that would give legitimacy to their claim to , found it convenient to champion the Cause of ssion of land in the plantation areas. They also view that the source of strength and vitality of based on the rice economy (which itself had of irrigation works). What was new after 1977, ind the services of the business community to in between the traditional and the modern was ious that the modern development it was going order to be accepted by a fundamentally rural ements made explicit references to the age-old were always represented by members of the
62). Hennayake's work has shown that the :ticularly involved in this process of embedding
sements portrayed minority communities.

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development in the past. She cites the text f from the post-1977 period:
Agriculture is a part of Sri Lankan heritage were inspired agriculturists. Our people he affinity for the earth with a talent for inno Chem are two companies who share a agriculture in this country (Hennayake 200
The UNP government was responsible for Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNES managing the archaeological sites in the reg Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kandy in 1 UNESCO, when appealing internationally for Triangle, reminded his interlocutors that “The sake of the world at large because it forms an 2005: 222). As both examples show the purpo the deepest values of the nation in spite of pu robber barons, as President Jayewardene flip more and more embedded with a sense of the give the government the self-assigned right to points Out:
The static image of an unspoiled and irrec in present actions. It legitimizes deeds o moral authority of eternal truth and by re
realization of a larger universe of system ar
While the patriotic modernists of the early-t heritage in order to create pride in the natior state of the late-1970s used heritage to strengt an agrarian society into a market-oriented exp the twenty first century is using heritage for a citizenry and muting any possible dissent. T process in which a number of different actors a
The Construction of the Present Hegen Education
A number of actors, institutional, individu contribute to the creation of a discursive field merged with what is generally known as history

from the advertisement of a fertiliser company
!, its culture and tradition. Our ancient kings re, from the time immemorial, combined an ovative technology. Anglo-Fert and Anglocorporate commitment to the growth of 6: 123).
requesting the United Nations Educational, SCO) to provide guidance and assistance in gions containing the three ancient Capitals of 978. Two years later, the director general of the funds necessary to safeguard the Cultural : Cultural Triangle... must be preserved for the 1 integral part of man's heritage' (cited in Silva ise of the state was to display its commitment to Irsuing an economic policy that called in all the opantly declaimed. Its dominant discourse was pastoral care of the material past, which would radically alter the present. As Michael Herzfeld
Overable past Often plays an important part f the moment by investing them with the :presenting the vagaries of circumstance as ld balance (1997: 206).
wentieth century defined their ancient past as h in the making, and the liberal developmental hen their claim to moral authority to transform Ort processing zOne, the post-civil war state of Durely political purpose, that of depoliticising its he construction of the present discourse is a ure involved.
nonic Discourse
al, state, non-state, local and international, called heritage that, I will argue, has gradually 7. This new discursive field of heritage is shaped
8

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through a number of discernible mechanisms: a heritage, authentication of heritage through leg away value through the politics of funding, and concrete acts of conservation. Technical and aes
its remnants that are institutionalised in state and merges the grand narrative of nation and class, aesthetic judgment. Rather than focusing only
understand the different processes and synergies this field called heritage.
Education in Heritage As Bourdieu has argued, educational structure capable of receiving the heritage of the group ar group (Bourdieu 1994: 6). Education in Sri La levels. In 2010 there were 3,932,722 students (Data Management Branch, Ministry of Educati about heritage are conveyed to a large public is Daham Pasala (Buddhist Sunday school), and thr fairly accurate reflection of the manner in whic has been superseded by a version of hist unproblematised story of the past (Siriwarde Wickramasinghe & Perera 1999). This process after the war against the secessionist movemer bloodiest phase.
In Sri Lanka, there has been a kind of obse: textbooks have been so controversial. Until the believed in the state's responsibility to produc Institute of Education (NIE) and other commis the syllabus and to the directives of the ministr anyone can produce a textbook. But, in the individuals who create knowledge for millions that the authors are paid by publishers rather books. Issues pertaining to heritage are intr textbooks. History is now a compulsory subjec cursory look at the texts produced by the NIE C associated with royal lineages. History as a subj it, is unrecognisable in these textbooks, which

Producing the Present
cts and practices of knowledge-creation about islation and policing, giving value and taking transforming heritage sites or objects through sthetic experts make claims about the past and l international cultural agencies. This discourse with the truth claims based on expertise and on the different actors, it is also useful to between actors involved in the production of
s aim at producing social agents worthy and ld capable of transmitting it in turn to a larger nka is free at primary, secondary and tertiary following a primary and secondary education on, 2010). A principle manner in which ideas through teaching in the school, university and ough textbooks. Indeed, textbooks provide a h history as critical assessment about the past ory that conveys a flat, uncontested and ena, Bastian, Indrapala & Kottegoda 1980; is not a recent one but has gained momentum ut in the North and East entered its last and
ssion with history that explains why history 1990s, governments of the left and the right e a unitary text. Researchers at the National isioned authors wrote texts that conformed to y. Now, with the privatisation of production,
open textbook market it is still the same of children, the only difference being the fact
than the state and collect royalties on their oduced in history textbooks and Buddhism t up to the Ordinary-Level examination, and a confirm the emphasis on monumental histories ect that interprets the past rather than glorifies offer children a narrative of the glorious days

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before invaders from India and colonial power in modernity".
The curriculum and texts used in schools hav scrutiny, biases and flaws regarding the issue of Reference to an Aryan colonisation of the isla remains in school texts. The introduction of A go back further than the nineteenth century, w] Indo-European language Sinhala with a group language with them. The confusion that pers: ethnicity is not resolved in school textbooks histories through which they were naturalised i knowledge production where critical appraisals t
Alongside grade-school history books, the syll Daham Pasala, should be looked at as one of heritage to a younger and often gulible general for Buddhist Sunday school are printed by the I was the Young Men's Buddhist Association network of Buddhist Sunday schools that p resources (Gombrich 1998: 185) Later, succi responsibility. Even a quick scrutiny of the pres Sri Lankan history are revealing of certain trer great individuals (shresta minissu) are mentionec history of Buddhism appears as one peppered v It is a history full of omissions and ch heritage/mythic mode of recounting the pa exceptional individuals include, in Grade 8, var Olcott, King Asoka, and King Dhatusena; Harischandra and Anula Devi, in Grade 10, La lakdiva/island shine); Mary Museus Hig Parakramabahu'. In Grade 11, one book Ca
6 I was Consultant Ministry of Education on Curriculum re
committee) 2005
7 Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907) was a former American n helped create a renaissance of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. K. who converted to Buddhism and sent his son and daught Dhatusena ruled over the country in the fifth century afte Wariyapola Sri Sumangala was a Buddhist monk of the ea British rebellion in 1818 and was later convicted. Walisin revivalist of Sri Lanka Buddhism. Queen Anula Devi was BC. Mary Museus Higgins (1855-1926) was a theosophist named after her. King Dutugemunu is famous for having
1.

S shattered the equilibrium of society ushering
e been scrutinised by scholars. Through this Origin and indigeneity are sometimes remedied. nd built around the myth of Vijaya, however, ryans into the history of the country does not nen historians and archaeologists conflated the of people purported to having brought the sts in popular Culture between language and , but the battle against stereotypes and the s still not completed. There are many sites of antamount to betrayal of the nation.
abi and texts used for teaching Buddhism in the main sites of transmission of ideas about ion. The textbooks from grade 1 to grade 11 Department for Buddhist Affairs. Until 1961, it
(YMBA), which had established a national rovided printed texts and other educational essive government ministries took over this ent Daham Pasala texts that contain sections on lds. Just as in school histories, important and i for their roles in promoting Buddhism. The vith glorious deeds and exceptional individuals. Osen emphases, one which resembles the st rather than modern historiography. The ious Buddhist priests and Colonel Henry Steel
in Grade 9, Sumangala Himi, Walisinghe 'édia Babalau Kanthavo (women who made the ains and King Dutugemunu and King
כ
lled óasana. Ithihasaya (history of the Buddhist
ivision for schools (Chairperson of History syllabus
lilitary officer, co-founder of the Theosophist Society who ng Asoka was a king of the Maurya dynasty (third century BC) er to Sri Lanka with the message of Buddhism. King r defeating South Indian rulers who held power until then. tly nineteenth century who helped the leaders of an antighe Harischandra (1876-1913) was a social reformer and Sri Lanka's first ordained Buddhist nun in the third century and Principal of a reputed girls' Buddhist school subsequently defeated the Tamil Chola King Elara who reigned from
)

Page 17
order) is used as the main text. It gives a centr of Mahinda, son of Emperor Asoka, to Lanka 1 the kings who created the temple comple) Jethavanaya (Sasana. Ithihasaya 2010).
The term "history of the sasana’ or Buddhist alternative frame of reference to the same peric trope of the nation-state in the making. Ol borrowing a term from the Western lexicon to existed in pre-modern times, has argued that p1 yet ideologically imagined as a unified Buddhist can be encapsulated in the term 'sasana', a Budd different practices of concretisation, among v student of the Daham Pasala is being imparted Sasana rather than that of the nation-state, a pas monuments built to concretise their greatness, , kings' special relationship with the Buddhist sa upon artifacts or other traces and the represe dispensed in Daham Pasala, or Buddhist Sunday far as the representations are presented as evide
A further, recent, example of the way in which educational sector comes from the governme. university students, led by none other than th History and National Heritage'. The topics C Aryans, foreign invasions (who the foreigner Sinhalese kingdoms. National heritage' focuse the majority Sinhala community, such as Sigiri Buddha statue, and privileges monumental rec
colonial periods."
Universities At the University of Colombo, where I taught search of reassurance and certainties about a fic constant flux, frequently opted for the study of course, disappointed to find that the courses w
Anuradhapura. King Parakramabahu of Polonnaruwa wa kingdom.
8 Course of developing the leadership abilities and positive programme jointly organised by the Ministry of Higher E www.scribd.com/doc/57788381/Training-Manual-Englis

Producing the Present
all place to the Mahindagamanaya-the journey o introduce Buddhism to the country–and to
ces of Mahaviharaya, Abhayagiriya and the
order itself merits scrutiny, as it provides an ld in time that is taught in schools through the Deyesekere (2006) who initially refrains from qualify this sense of imagined community that re-modern polities were “structurally disparate,
לל 2
whatever' '. This ‘whatever, he later shows, hist Community created and imagined through which, the pilgrimage was central. Clearly, a with a notion of the past as the history of the t made of feats performed by great individuals, and actions that have served to consolidate the sana. If heritage is about the meanings placed ntations that are created from them, what is school, is a heritagised version of history, in so
nce that cannot be contested or questioned.
a certain discourse of heritage is entering the nt’s compulsory training programme for new he military forces. There is a module entitled f this module are, in order, the arrival of the s are is not clear), and the development of s exclusively on prominent cultural symbols of ya, the Temple of the Tooth, and the Aukana cords of the past, as well as records from pre
for nearly 20 years, student Buddhist monks in :tional, unmoving national culture in a world in history as an Honours course. They were, of fe offered did not deal with history as heritage
is the last king in the twelfth century to reign over a unified
thinking through the theoretical and practical training, A ducation and the Ministry of Defence, 2011 (See sh-Version).

Page 18
ICES Research Papers
but rather turned all the preconceptions the Chronicles upside down. History, as we taught heritage studies. But this is not always the cas archaeology, heritage studies, Pali and Buddhis fashioned. The Rajarata University, a recently ci one that offers a course explicitly in herit, programme in history. The older institutions, Kelaniya, Sri Jayawardenapura and Jaffna, se recovery of the past, namely through history,
university websites). Course content is, howev particular topic is taught. The same history syll. depending on the lecturer's Own approach and 1 the pre-modern era was for long taught at Colo emphasis on the uniqueness of its hydraulic civil
There is, therefore, no uniformity in the co, imparted by these various institutions. Conte which it emanates and the individual lecture valorised. A common feature is, however, that hence accompanied by an aura of legitimacy a group of experts includes, first, educational qua Ph.D. from a recognised university (initially n lack of funding opportunities for training abroa programmes), or at least a Master's degree. " extended list of publications and membersh international or national level, such as, for exam Archaeology, or being a fellow of the Sri Laf discourse that these institutions propound, i. conserved. These practices are defined by t techniques and procedures that all these heritag museum curators and other specialists subscribe
Apart from universities, other institutions stren power to determine what needs to be preserv them to act as consultants. There are a numb directly involved in the definition, production Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs, of Cul Archaeological Department, and those of the N Affairs, Christian Affairs, Hindu Religious and Affairs and Cultural Affairs and Educational Pl and credibility by displaying their activities
1.

y held about the monastical history of the t it, was conceived precisely as the opposite of e in all the university departments of history, it studies where notions of the past are being ceated institution of higher learning, is the only age management, differentiating it from its including University of Colombo, Peradeniya, emingly offer more traditional paths to the archaeology or Pali and Buddhist studies (see er, less important than the manner in which a abus can be presented in many different ways, ocation in the political arena. Hence, history of mbo University in a heritage mode, with much lisation.
intent of knowledge on history and heritage ‘nt depends on the type of programme from r’s own interpretation of what needs to be
this content functions as 'expert knowledge, ind sanctity. The criteria for belonging to this lifications, as generally an expert should hold a on-Sri Lankan degrees were preferred but the d have led to the growth of home grown Ph.D. The expert’ should also be able to show an hip on particular boards or projects at an ple, membership in the Society of South Asian nkan Council of Archaeologists. The heritage influences the way heritage is managed and he management and conservation protocols, e experts, historians, archaeologists, architects,
: to (Smith 2006: 13).
gthen the experts' credibility as bearers of the ed or ignored from the past, by Calling upon er of ministries and government departments and preservation of heritage: the Ministries of ture and the Arts, of National Heritage; the National Archives, National Museum, Buddhist Cultural Affairs, Muslim Religious and Cultural ublications. These institutions earn their power in the print and audiovisual media, and by

Page 19
Otherwise making themselves visible before the is the Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious the Prime Minister of the country. Under h ministry was opened in 2011, the boiling of a p well covered by the state television and made ne
The government expenditure of some of these r in particular fields, although compared to the
Other budgetary allocations seem insignificant.
Table 1: Government expenditure by minist
Ministry 2008
Buddha Sasana and 737,834 Religious Affairs Tourism 37,928 National Heritage 1,158,555 and Cultural Affairs Higher Education 10,272,847 Defense 163,791,599
Source: Department of National Budget (NBD), http://203.94.72.22/index.php?option=com_content&vi
In addition to government ministries, a numbe concerned with particular aspects of heritage, conservation. These include the Central Cultura (GHF), the National Art Council (these mig! Crafts Council (NCC), the National Perform Commission. Many experts sit on a number fulfilling and self-perpetuating message on he rather than questioning them. Power and credit ways as they target different audiences through under the Ministry of Culture and the Arts ( interaction with important international acto instance, a Mutual Heritage Centre was set Netherlands in Sri Lanka, thus cementing the Cultural Heritage Connections website). Final generating interest in heritage issues, among
9 Formerly the Ministry for Cultural Affairs

Producing the Present
public eye. Among them, the most prominent Affairs, whose minister D.M. Jayaratne, is also is leadership, when the new building of this Ot of milk at the correctly auspicious time was
WS.
ninistries is indicative of the importance placed budget of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) all
y/institution
2009 2010
(estimate) in RS ’000
630,350 641,693
44,778 1,200,102 1,230,149
10,641,332 11,993,360 183,122,022 191,287,930
Department of Finance and Planning (FPD). ew=article&id=334&Itemid=286
'r of statutory bodies and non-state actors are either through teaching, research or funding al Fund (CCF), the Galle Heritage Foundation nt cover non-tangible heritage), the National ing Art Centre, and the UNESCO National of these commissions, thus creating a self'ritage that consolidates its own foundations bility are earned by these institutions in various a variety of projects. The CCF, which comes MCA"), gets much of its legitimacy from its 's and the conception of joint projects: for up with the help of the Embassy of the power of experts in heritage management (see ly non-state actors play a considerable role in them the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka

Page 20
ICES Research Papers
(RASSL), National Heritage Trust, Dutch Burg local branch of the International Commission ( the International Commission on Monume institutional bodies involved in propagating a array of actors who are creating a new arena of is glorified and stripped of unpleasant events a history. It gives people a safe place to think abo
Vying for Popular Appeal: Merging of H The realm of popular culture has always been in from the chronicles, myths, and Jataka tales, an history rather than in terms of social forces of gap between academic histories written in Eng but was accentuated with the opening up
cosmopolitan class consuming Western modern under Sirimavo Bandaranaike. The vernacular d group of people soon became adepts of an ente for reassurance at a moment when the natior groups. The trend became more pronounced patriotic war to re-conquer the East and the NC movie Aba was released in 38 cinemas across Sr cinemas screening the movie, leads to the im percent of the total population of the island.
group of companies that Owned a popular T directed by a popular film actor and TV person: life of King Pandukabhaya, some 2,400 year Anuradhapura and according to the Chronicles, other epic movies, among them, Mahindagama, Corporation (NFC) on 18 May 2011, and has b viewers. Mahindagamanaya relates one of the fo of Emperor Asoka was sent as an emissary to S responsible for the conversion of King Devana popularity of the film epitomises the popular a story of the arrival of Buddhism embodied in a must be noted, Indian sources have no traces (N
In 2008 television programmes with a historic Among these, the Maha Sinhale V1 ansa Kathau Anthony as the anchorman, was the most pop of 'experts who discussed an event of Sri Lanl
14

her Union (DBU), Archaeologists Association, on Museums (ICOM), and the local chapter of nts and Sites (ICOMOS). The mainstream version of the past have to compete with an popular understanding of the past, a past that nd which belongs to the domain of heritagised but the present and future.
History and Heritage in Popular Culture habited by accounts of history that have drawn ld portrayed heroes and gods as the motors of : class conflict. In post-colonial Sri Lanka, the lish and histories in the vernacular is not new, of the economy and the emergence of a ity with a vengeance after a decade of austerity omain of Culture had various layers, but a large }rtainment industry that pandered to their need l was threatened by secessionist anti-systemic i in 2008, when the state began a full-scale rth from the Tamil rebels. In August 2008, the i Lanka. Counting the number of viewers in all pressive figure of 2,105,000, that is about 10 Aba was a production of EAP Edirisinghe, a V channel called Swarnavahini. The film was ality named Jackson Anthony, and depicted the s ago. Pandukabhaya was the first king of ruled for 70 years. The success of Aba led to aya, which was released by the National Film een seen, as of November 2011, by 1.6 million unding events/myths of the nation, that a son Sri Lanka to spread Buddhism, and that he was mpiyatissa and his followers to Buddhism. The ttachment among Sinhala people to the mythic in individual persona, Mahinda, about which, it Mendis 1985: 2-3).
:al slant also began to be aired at peak times. a (the great Sinhala chronicle) with Jackson ular. The programme brought together a panel ka's past, generally in a narrative and emphatic

Page 21
style. Among the members of the panel ther his/her interpretation was drowned by the dom the kings and people of the past."
In all theses creative works, the tropes are the gargantuesque. What is portrayed is not the pa past ability, for instance, to build stupas that
largest brick structures known to the pre-model for their aesthetic value than for the fact that thi century statue, 11 meters in height and consic figure' (see Tourism Sri Lanka website, touris) value in the production of heritage by state connection with the present is implicit. Today visible’ (Appadurai, 2008) to construct a nationa archaeology, as such 'signatures of the visibl national identity and the profile of certain politic
Fictionalised versions of the past for adults
discourse that draws on and naturalises certain often linked to ideas of nation and nationhood. Chandrasiri's novel, The Great Dutugemunu (Mal third century BCE. Sinhala hero who slayed the of Anuradhapura, is soon going to be made in Prakashakayo, give authors with a particular ide books for children. Srinath Ganewatte, for inst literary movement that strives to replace Sansk series of market-oriented publications for you! Mihindu Pamineema (Mahinda's arrival).' Visidur alongside scholarly books, such as archaeologi (archaeological researchs), S.O. Kanagaratnam from the Batticaloa district) or Sithiyam Sahitha twentieth century temperance movement lea writings about great kings such as Maha Vijayab
10 In the popular press it is no longer historians who discuss without abiding by the protocols of the profession. Amor contributes to the English language newspapers Island, an Medananda who write for the Sinhala dailies.
11 Interview with Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri on 12 September transcribed by Sanayi Marcelline whom I sincerely thank f of data.
1.

Producing the Present
e was sometimes an academic historian, but
inant narrative of praise for the great feats of
hydraulic civilisation and the aesthetic of the st but Sri Lanka's fame, which is related to its are deemed exceptional mainly for being the in world. Buddha statues too are admired less ey compare in size with the Maligawila seventh lered to be the largest free standing Buddha m-Srilanka.Com). Monumentality is a central ', business, journalists and consultants. The 's patriotic state needs the 'signatures of the l imagination. Creative works, monuments and
e', create heritage products that consolidate
cal figures.
and children are also vehicles of a heritage narratives and, cultural and social experience, Historical novels are in great vogue. Jayantha ba Dutugemunu), which relates the glories of a Tamil King Elara and recaptured the kingdom to a film. Some publishers, such as Visidunu ological leaning room to express their ideas in ance, who is part of the Hela Havula, a Sinhala ritic words with hela or native words, wrote a ng children on topics such as Pandu kabaya or nu reprints or high-selling books are distributed st Senarath Paranavitana's Puravidya Paryeshena s Madakalapuwa Districk kaya |/urthanta (Stories Puratidya (archaeology with maps) by the earlyder, Wallisinghe Harischandra and historical ahu by Gunasena Gamage.
matters relating to the past but amateur historians who write g these are Bandu de Silva, a former diplomat who frequently 1 Daily News, and Nuwera Eliya Hemapala and Ellawala
2011. All interviews for this paper were conducted and or her excellent work that went far beyond a simple collection

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ICES Research Papers
This new domain of commercialised knowle marginalising or a Co-Opting of older and mc example, CCF that was set up to finance the w to collect the income from entrance fees to th large publication programme that seems to be publications by amateurs publishing with comm scientific material produced by a government
the Paintings of Sri Lanéa series, which is compo targeted at an expert readership. Only 200 t series, most of which are now out of stock e. printed for a second time. Each album is col significant mural painting, such as, for example are authored by a trio of scholars of internati Premathillaka and Roland Silva. Apart from ta Sinhala and Tamil are written especially for vis insights from the local scholars who author
knowledge on the sites by being involved
Among the best sellers are Sigiriya City Pa, (published in 1999, and reprinted in 2001, 200. Cultural Triangle of Sri Laméa, Vol. I and II (volu 1993 was reprinted in 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, Sinhala and Tamil, such as 4pe Urumaya I-I readership. Some valuable work, such as the
provide descriptions of some important Buddh by learned village monks and knowledgeable p limited readership and virtually no impact in the
The CCF has also published a children's lite Parakramabahu, and sites generally around hy hearted attempt to compete on the same ideolo Today, it is clear that the public idea of what commercial environment where publishers, aut media as well as visual technologies and the inti reproduce the monumental, most often exclu heritage that the state apparatus is conveying t however, contested on Occasions by dissenting as by members of communities that are exclude
' Annaruwe Vijayasundararamaya -Ven.Palevela Ananda;
Dambadeniye Vijayasundararamaya - Ven. Narangoda Sar Medhananda, Metiyagane Mayurawati Viharaya – Ven.Gal
Ven. Kandangamuve Piyaratana.

dge-production on the past, leads either to a ore established sites of heritage creation. For ork of the Cultural Triangle Project in 1978 and he sites within the Cultural Triangle, also has a : completely overshadowed by the more glossy hercial publishers. The CCF represents the most institution. Some of the publications, such as ised of 30 albums published from the 1990s, are o 300 books were published of each of these xcept for Sigiriya and Dambula, which has been nfined to a single temple or site that preserves e, Kataluwa or Samudragiri Vihara. The albums onal repute, Nandana Chutiwongs, Leelananda rgeting expert readers, however, many works in itors to the Cultural triangle sites, bringing new them-some of whom have gained first-hand in excavation and conservation programmes. lace and Royal Garden-Senaka Bandaranayake 2, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009), and Ime 2 is not available but volume I published in 2004, 2005 and 2006). Research publications in I (Our Heritage), would only have a limited Vihara Vamsa publications written in Sinhala, hist temples in Dambadeniya, and are authored ersons in the areas. But these also have a very e knowledge-production on the past."
rary series focusing on heroes, kings such as 7draulic tanks. This series seems to be a halfgical plane as commercial children's books.
constitutes the past is fashioned in a vibrant hors, film and teledrama makers, using the print ernet and harbouring Sinhalese nationalist ideas, sive, personality-oriented vision of the past as hrough educational institutions. This vision is, views among the hegemonic discourse, as well 2d from this dominant vision.
Bihalpola Veheragala – Ven. Nakkawatte Ratanapala; nghananda; Kaudumunne Indasararama - Ven. Dunumale agama Atthadassi; Murutange Sri Silabimbaramaya -

Page 23
Heritage in Practice: Contests and Disse The past that was written about by professic reviewed journals and presented to fellow performed as heritage for a wide and democra heritage must also be understood as its transf practice into a public performance that takes interpreting and especially managing and const practice through conservation and management past is not without hurdles, especially when transforming the landscape of the country. Th through the construction of spaces. This proces range of identities that sometimes become confl of identity.
Ideologies in Spaces: The Contest overt One initiative of the National Tourism Develo Trail, which takes people to 52 sites related abducted Sita was imprisoned by Ravana. The T aim being to attract tourists from India in search after the civil war ended, 4,000 Indian tourists a The Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (RASSL) were vehemently against what Goonetilleke saw no historical evidence, for purely commercial r society members denounced the trail as “a total integrity of Sri Lanka as there is no historical e The Tourist Board was castigated as having f. gullible tourists (Hindustan Times, 2009). There v of evidence-based historiography that led RAS these were a fear of a growing Indian influence story, if taken as fact, appeared to confirm an and the founding of the Sinhala people.
Professor S. Pathmanathan's position epitomise trail: “I do not doubt the historicity of Ram. I don't think there is any evidence (to connect) (Hindustan Times, 2009). Unlike in India, where
of scholars associated with the Archaeological
forum strongly supported by the Baratiya Janat historians even of a nationalist cue disqualific
13 Formerly the Tourist Board of Sri Lanka

Producing the Present
nt onal historians in academic books and peerhistorians in academic congresses, is today tic public. The transformation of history into formation from a selective and individualistic many shapes through acts such as visiting, erving. Heritage is a discourse that becomes The move towards a consensus view of the this move is concretised into practices of e process of heritagisation of history unfolds S opens up the possibility of negotiation over a ictual, as heritage is involved in the production
he Meaning of Sites pment Authority (SLTDA) o is the Ramayana to the epic, including the garden where the ourist Board started this initiative in 2007, the of an authentic historical experience. In 2009, arrived and numbers have been growing since. , especially its director, Susantha Goonetilleke, 7 as a resurrection of a fictional trail based on easons. In a letter to the minister of tourism, travesty and a future danger for the territorial vidence whatsoever about Rama and Ravana'. abricated inscriptions for the consumption of vere other reasons apart from the championing SSL to denounce the Ramayana trail. Among in the country and anxiety that the Ramayana (ndian presence predating the arrival of Vijaya
d that of the academic community vis-a-vis the But the sites have no connection to the epic. I . One should not mix history and literature” there was often collusion between the interests Survey of India (ASI) and popular histories, a a Party (BJP) and Sangh Parivar, in Sri Lanka, 2d certain claims to knowledge as not being

Page 24
ICES Research Papers
proper scientific knowledge'. In the late 1960s. of ASI interests to Hindu extremism, when excavation in an attempt to authenticate epics li political rather than commercial reasons. In Sri Consolidating an autonomous Sinhala identity
existed, they were secondary. The possible out were difficult to fathom. In India, the BJP : excavations, completed under the watchful ey history of an Aryan India, an assertion that diri in relation to the buildings in Ayodhya (Johns Trail controversy shows that a filtering of protectors of the patriotic nation-state, who debunk the claims of a heritage narrative that do
Contest over Place/Sites Heritage is, to a certain extent, about the promo sanctioned cultural institutions and elites to reg It can also, however, be a resource to challenge groups. As such, it can be a progressive notic challenging the ways people and things are perc being and expressing identities (Smith 2006: 4).
Sites and landscapes provide the terrain for the requires a display, an articulation in objects
nostalgia for a particular past becomes embC concretisation of ideologies, as they are emb landscapes is inherent in the fact that they are
appear neutral as mere traces of history. In S rarely questioned, they become naturalised. Fo sacred city and Anuradhapura's claim to suc conditioned processes that actually produced th
The post-conflict state has taken a determine glorious national heritage through various p reported thus,
The Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi Development
Exhibition, an exposition of sacred Buddha the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi premises in A organizers expect over 1,000,000 viewers Dutugemunu were excavated from Dakk
Department and proven genuine scientifical
1.

70s in India, there was, in fact, a near-wedding sites such as Hastinapura were chosen for ke the Mahabharatha through archaeology, for Lanka, by contrast, while political motives of with roots that went as far as Ravana's reign Comes of such claims, when they were made, nd its Sangh Parivar claimed that scientific es of the ASI, represented the “true unbiased 2ctly contributed to the anti-Muslim sentiment on-Roehr 2008). In Sri Lanka, the Ramayana useful and unthreatening myths is done by do not hesitate to enlist positivist history to es not conform to the dominant vision.
tion of a consensus version of history by statelate cultural and social tensions in the present. the stasis and the received values by subaltern n, a way of reworking meanings of the past, eived. It can be about negotiating new ways of
se conflicting claims to meet. Memory indeed or representation to give it meaning. Where died, it transforms places. One then sees a edded in landscapes. The peculiar power of visual, material forms. Materiality makes them ri Lanka, the origin of historical landscapes is r example, who would contest the notion of a h status? The politically-laden and sociallyelandscapes are obscured.
d stance in the consolidation of a notion of rformances. In June 2010, the Daily Neus
Fund will conduct Hele Bodu Urumaya Relics and ashes of King Dutugemunu at nuradhapura, from June, 24 to 27. The
at the relics exhibition. Ashes of King na Stupa in 1946 by the Archaeological ly (Daily News 2010)
3.

Page 25
Dakkina Stupa had been honoured for cen Dutugemunu but as that of King Elara, the T 1946, ashes were discovered which Archaec testified were those of Dutugemunu. The
Dutugemunu's stupa, while the ashes were co people needed to be reminded of their past glor in the Sinhalese nationalist discourse in the 19 were paraded by Minister Cyril Matthew (Obt Over the ownership of a site and how a heritage state narrative supported by expert knowledg important in a situation where both claims appe
Another recent example is Kandarodai, a place circular structures was discovered in the early-t dating from the early part of the second millen began to visit the place again and its name was the structures also were refashioned as stupas. past of the North, what was being conteste narrative. Today, this could fuel tension betwee meaning of this place. Unlike the case of th concrete evidence of a Buddhist past, further st Kandurugoda. This serves Sinhalese claims tha stupas being dated to the ninth century AD, a Silva, D.G.B August 2002). Tamil scholars hav described as burial monuments of monks, a bul the existence of Tamil Buddhists in ancient tim of urn burial sites in the Jaffna area, offering ve. Pudukottai to the Chittoore area of Andhra Pra of Aryan settlements and shows human settlem Indian culture (Indrapala 2005: 69–71). Sinhal championing the renovation of all Buddhist sit his book describes sites in Anuradhapura, Vavu In the post-conflict period that began in 200 much in renovating traces of Buddhist heritage temples, while the Hindu heritage they subscrib
Buddha statues have been found in plac Tamils have followed Buddhism and that
in a lesser extent, but the Sinhalese show t of the Tamil motherland as Sinhala areas (C
14 For a more detailed account of the controversy about the
1.

Producing the Present
uries by local people, not as the tomb of amil who was slain by Dutugemunu. But in logical Commissioner Senarat Paranavitarna stupa was renamed and became known as lected and regularly displayed at times when ies." The name change occurred, interestingly, 80s, at the same time the Dutugemunu ashes sysekare 1992). This event shows the conflict claim by common people was displaced by the e. It begs the question: is veracity of facts ar equally questionable?
: in the Jaffna Peninsula where a collection of wentieth century, on a megalithic site possibly nium. After the end of the civil war, pilgrims Subsequently Sinhalised as Kandurugoda, while Through this reconnection with the Buddhist d was the entire Tamil nationalist historical 2n communities as they battle over the cultural e Ramayana Trail, the stupas appear to offer rengthened by an inscription naming the place tBuddhism encompassed the entire island, the period similar to Boro budur in Indonesia (de 2 acknowledged the Buddhist remains in Jaffna, ddhicised version of megalithicism', as proof of es (Parameswara, 1999: 123-24). The presence ty similar features to those in Tamil Nadu from desh, is in direct conflict with the Vijayan story lents in the Jaffna area that began with a South ese nationalist Ven. Ellawalla Medhananda is es in areas 'desecrated by decades of civil war: niya and Mullaitivu districts (Medananda 2008). ), Tamils felt the patriotic state was investing in the North and East as well as building new ed to was being neglected:
es like Kandarodai, and this shows that Tamil Buddhism was practiced in Eelam, hese as Buddhist antiques and claim parts Flobal Tamil News, September 2011).
ashes see Obeyesekere (1992).
9

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ICES Research Papers
Tamils are Countering with similarly grandiose using new media to disseminate their ideas (Glo
Another potential geo-political zone of con Southwest of Balangoda, a predominantly Sinh. of the Ratwatte family, one of the leading polit of a devotional Cult of Shaykh Muhiyadeen Ad visited the popular Cave, which now houses a
Adam's Peak and meditated there for 12 years. began to be celebrated by the Muslim merchant is made of three large stone formations, one
prow of a ship, and at the base of which an op 1970s, there emerged claims by Sinhalese nation Brahmi inscriptions, that Jailani was actually at this heritage needed to be preserved. The state MCA“ to Construct a small dagoba, just abov meditated. Inspite of the Jailani trustees' succes of the construction, the Department of Arc Kuragala was the site of a Buddhist monast Kuragala appears now and then in the news as
conflict has arisen in Dambula Over alleged ille premise of the sacred city (Groundviews 2012). with new meanings, a phenomenon that existe new urgency in a post-conflict situation where redefined. Each group is trying to test the limit eye of the patriotic state.
The Contest over the Nature of Restora Protecting built heritage and restoring it accot that was born in Europe in the nineteent antiquarianism and colonial archaeology under principles were enshrined in a number of in Charter of 1964 is the most central instrum indicates the underlying ideas about the past th:
People are becoming more and more con regard ancient monuments as a common safeguard them for future generations is re in the full richness of their authenticity (IC
15 Formerly the Ministry of Cultural Affairs

claims of a 'Great Stone Age' in Kandarodai, bal Tamil News, June 2011).
lict is the Jailani sufi shrine, 22 kilometres alese area also known for being the hometown ical dynasties of Sri Lanka. The area is the site ul Qadir (A.D. 1166), who is believed to have mosque at Kuragala, while on a pilgrimage to The site was rediscovered in 1875 and a festival community in Balangoda from 1890. The site being the Kappal Malai, which resembles the en air mosque was erected in 1922. From the alists, based on the presence of second century n ancient Buddhist archaeological site and that , gave sanction to these claims by allowing the 2 the spot where the Sufi saint is said to have is in obtaining cabinet orders to limit the height haeology (DOA) erected a sign claiming that ery (McGilvray 1998: 433-83; 2004: 273-89). a potential site of dispute. As I write, a similar gal Muslim and Hindu Constructions within the Monuments and sites are thus being reinvested d in the past but that has been infused with a Dower relations between Communities are being s of toleration of the others under the watchful
tion
ding to certain agreed upon criteria is an idea h century and travelled to Sri Lanka with H.C.P. Bell. In the post-colonial period, these ternational treaties, among which, the Venice ent. The preamble of this seminal document
Lt prevailed in the day:
scious of the unity of human values and heritage. The common responsibility to cognized. It is our duty to hand them on DMOS International website).

Page 27
It is on this crucial issue of 'authenticity and th monuments and sites that differences in inter upholding these values and other parties who would occur.
In some cases, there is no clash between restor was in the past, creating a site that proves the gr. a site that can be a lived and used site by th unambiguously states:
. . . Preservation is different to conservation restore a site to its past glory. There are sc should not be changed but left as they are have to be done. Take the Ruwanwelisaya, it the restoration work that now it looks li restoration work people can also use it as a p
The Temple of the Tooth or Dalada Maligawa house the Buddha's Tooth relic. The temple w (1593-1603) and is today under the control oft temples and a lay custodian (diyavadana nilame). in Kandy after a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eela offers a telling example of the local understand were laid, new sandaéadapahana (moonstone) contravention to the Venice Charter (ICOMOS the temple as living heritage where people CC Heritage approach that stultifies places into
bhikkhus, as far as stupas and sites associated wi a living thing that can be modified. Hence the exactly as it looked before, even if it meant u ancient stupas in white, which is a common O similar to all other modern stupas in the country,
In 1986, when Prime Minister Premadasa annou the shrine room of the temple, his suggestion
Director of the Sri Lanka Department of Arc would not only put the building at risk but also and authenticity were legitimised by the belief t the temple since the last king of Kandy. The prevailed, however, and on 31 December 1987,
16 Interview with Jayatissa Herath, 19 October 2011.
21

Producing the Present
he need to respect this feature when restoring pretation between international organisations felt they had a trusteeship on the monument
ing a monument so that it resembles what is andeur of the past civilisations, and producing he people. As Jayatissa Herath of ICOMOS
so we focus on conservation; we try to ome that make the argument that sites but in order to preserve it some things was not like this earlier, it is because of ke it does now. But because of this lace of religious worship. 16
, is believed by the Buddhist community to as constructed by King Wimaladharmasuriya wo chief monks of the Malwatta and Asgiriya The restoration of the Temple of the Tooth m (LTTE) bomb destroyed part of it in 1998, ing of restoration as making anew. New tilles and new carvings were made, totally in 2004). The clash is here between the site of me to practice their rituals, and the World fixed immutable things. The vision of the ith Buddhism are concerned, is that heritage is 2 restoration of the Dalada Maligawa to look sing present day materials or the painting of ccurrence in Sri Lanka and thus made them
unced his plan to build a 'golden canopy. Over was opposed by many experts, including the haeology (DOA) who argued that the canopy damage the very 'antiquity of it. Its antiquity hat there had not been any additions made to : decision by the representative of the state a golden canopy costing 20 million rupees was

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ICES Research Papers
unveiled by Premadasa. The sangha showed antiquity when they praised the construction o a prime minister who, like the kings of the gl for the betterment of the country (Abeysek followed state directives. From the very incep the need for excavation rather than reliance on and restoration of monuments of national at Other groups, such as ICOMOS Sri Lanka, foi advisory capacity and accept the authorised he its premises:
“As for defining heritage, it is what is inherited tangible and intangible, and in tangible heritage
Conclusion In Sri Lanka, as in most states which are signal its multifarious guises, is endorsed simultan United Nations Education, Scientific and Cul industry and national governments” (Askew progressive in that it purports to protect wor and inventories. But world heritage projects which is in no way Contesting the way nation the past. The power structures of the nation-s of the past are not challenged by internationa instruments that perpetuate marginalisation o of ideology and cultural symbolisation (Askev heritage sites for its own agenda of Cultural he between nation-state ideology, morphed in patriotism' (Wickramasinghe 2009: 1945-54) i UNESCO are rarely acknowledged by local ICOMOS. There are few voices left to dissent
At a time when Western thinkers have lost th might be strategic to re-introduce them to Tagore advocates that when a country is sees the loyalty of its citizens. His contemporary, L that one could be a critic while at the sa discredited was an extreme patriotism that en
7 Interview with Jayatissa Herath, 19 October 2011.

little concern with issues of authenticity or the canopy as a memorable and edifying act by orious past, worked in Consort with the monks ra 2002: 148-49). Archaeologists have not all ion of the field, some of them have pointed to “textual materials, decipherment of inscriptions ld religious importance” (Begley 1967: 20–29). instance, work very closely with the state in an ritage discourse without questioning in any way
from the past. There are two types of heritage:
there is built heritage and natural heritage”.'.
ories of international conventions, “heritage, in eously by a global bureaucratic apparatus the tural Organisation (UNESCO), a global tourist 2010: 19). UNESCO's rhetoric appears to be ld cultures by means of protocols, declarations belong to a world system and world economy -states exhibit and promote a certain version of tate and their endorsement of populist versions l institutions. In that sense they protect the key f certain histories and dominance of the sphere v 2010: 22). The state uses the frame of world gemony and majoritarianism. The contradictions to what I have elsewhere qualified as 'new n the post-conflict years, and the lofty goals of representatives of UNESCO or members of
eir legitimacy among the people of Sri Lanka, it the thought of Rabindranath Tagore. Indeed, as morally transgressing, it forfeits its claim to eo Tolstoy, made the same point when he stated me time being a patriot. What both thinkers ailed a belief in the superiority of one's country
22

Page 29
and an exclusive concern for one's country (To virtue in disloyalty to one's Country.
The issue of diversity of heritage is also addres main character becomes aware of the futility of Hindus who are without feelings of compass. village of Ghousepura. Gora learns at the end C also a colonised people. He has “no mother, nC no God even”. Scholars have suggested that the is clearly fighting religion as a basis of politica French notion of laicité, where religion is best se schools and not displayed in public. Other scl Mohan Roy, and Lalan Kakir, a great Baul who opens the novel Gora. Both Roy and Kakir ble Nandy is perhaps closer to Tagore's thought w anticipation of the “low-key, unheroic consensu ethnic society like India to follow” (Nandy 1994.
Tagore's low-key nationalism is certainly at odds the Sri Lankan government during the final pha the LTTE. I have argued elsewhere that if the F expects non-Sinhalese communities to identify their attachment to a group, it will need to expressions of banal nationalism' can easily a Sinhala-Buddhist nationhood, a practice that sta judicious way for the state to win over the hea goal of civic patriotism.
There is, however, an interesting point of conve and Rajapaksa's populist ideology. It is indeed performed as an individual through his Own stal states that all political parties of the Left and of path and best interests of all peoples are being opposition politics and identity politics wither society utopia where alternative visions can only The terrain for the coupling of state and nati gradual weakening of the party system, a sy Government was about more than consensus 2 kind of community all humans deserve to inhal last two years was made possible by the gradual
23

Producing the Present
olstoy 1968). There is clearly in their thought
sed in Tagore's Writings. In Gora (1907), the the strict observance of orthodox customs by ion for others in the predominantly. Muslim f the novel that he is the son of Irish parents, ) father, no country, no nationality, no lineage, 're is a secular Outlook in this novel, as Tagore l life. Tagore's view here seems closer to the :en as part of the private sphere, not taught in holars have pointed to the influence of Ram followed the Sufi tradition, and whose poem inded a reformed Hinduism with Islam. Ashis
hen he describes The Home and the World as an |al nationalism which Gandhi wanted, a multi
19).
with the type of state patriotism promoted by se of the civil war and eventual victory against Rajapaksa regime takes patriotism seriously and with a super-ordinate identity that transcends
be sensitive to the ways in which certain lienate cultural minorities. Continuing to flag rted in the mid-1950s, might not be the most arts of members of other communities to the
rgence between Tagore's critique of the nation | the retreat from the political which Tagore nds. Rajapaksa’s new patriotism, too, implicitly the Right have no role to play, since the true g pursued by the ruling party. Class politics, away and disappear in this symbiotic statederail the state in the fulfilment of its mission. on in this new patriotism was prepared by a 7stem that did not exist in Tagore's India. and representation, it was about nurturing the oit. Fashioning a new patriotism during these weakening of traditional political parties of the

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ICES Research Papers
Left and the Right and the consequent unco middle class to President Rajapaksa's programm
How does Tagore's critique of the Janus face seemingly infinite works on nationalism? understanding? Tagore’s writing is, as Borges general and real experiences. In that sense, h paradigm on the nation. Rather, he writes using worship of one group often means othering condemnation of the nation:
The idea of the nation is one of the m
invented. Under the influence of its fum systematic program of the most virulent
aware of its moral perversion (Tagore 1917
At this particular juncture when there is a react in the West, from human rights to secularism, for ideas that were later endorsed by political can legitimise a critique of heritage practices th irrelevant. Tagore's relevance is precisely his tradition-Tagore can critique caste and patric from Bengal. It is the situatedness of his criti more than the novelty of his utterances.
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Page 40
This paper explores the Consolidation by a patri vented as national heritage. The distinction bet tage was rarely made explicit in the public disco tion disappeared entirely except in Some rare understand it, is present Centered and is Created demands of the present. It is to follow David Lo and enlivens historical study, heritage is not an distinction between heritage and history is one a special pleading. History in post War Sri Lank and flourish in theater, film, Videos and pamphle historians too have either left the public s history/heritage.This study will draw from an arr standing of the ideological underpinnings of the
Nira Konjit Wickramasinghe is a Professor an University in the Netherlands. She was a profess Relations, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka until tics, everyday life under Colonialism and the re South Asia. She has pursued these interests th politics of dress, civil Society, citizens and migrat book is Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History ( versity of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 2006). She can nk. Wickramasinghe Ghum.leidenuniv.nl
 

ptic post-Conflict State of a notion of history reinween history as an analysis of the past and heriurse of Sri Lanka. After the War ended the distincuniversity history departments. Heritage as We shaped and managed by and in response to, the Wenthal, not history at all. While it borrows from enquiry into the past but a celebration of it. The of motive. Heritage is best understood as a claim, a has abandoned specialized journals to inhabit its encouraged by the patriotic state. Professional phere or acquiesced in the production of a ay of Sources and practices to develop an undere new popular history/heritage.
d Chair of Modern South Asian Studies at Leiden
or in the Department of History and International 2009. She has published widely on identity poli
lationship between State and Society in modern
rough investigation into Such diverse themes as
hts, and objects of Consumption. Her most recent
of Contested Identities (C. Hurst, London and Uni
be Contacted at:
Printed by Karunaratne & Sons (Pvt) Ltd.
ISBN 978-955-580-127-O
9
789555"801270">