Articles

By Asiff Hussein Sri Lanka’s Muslims are heirs to a rich culinary tradition which has its ultimate origins in Arabia, India and the Malay world. Their cuisine is in a sense ‘international’. Here’s a brief survey of some of their more prominent foods and drinks and their origins. Buriyani – A …

Race in Sri Lanka: What genetic evidence tells us By Asiff Hussein Race is a touchy issue almost everywhere in the world but nowhere is this more pronounced than in countries where there is a plurality of peoples. People become more race conscious when another group of people differing in …

Headdresses of the Muslims of Old By Asiff Hussein Surattu Toppi The ordinary headgear of the Muslims of Sri Lanka in the olden days was a white skullcap. However the head-dress usually worn by the more affluent Muslims was an altogether different type of head-gear. It was a costly multi-coloured, …

How rice cultivation in Sri Lanka may have been linked to Stone Age man By Asiff Hussein Believe it or not, rice, our staple crop, was not introduced to our island by Aryan migrants from Eastern India around the 5th century BC as had been previously supposed. Rather its cultivation …

by Asiff Hussein  It would seem surprising to many that the origins of the Sinhala language could be traced back to 6,000 years ago. Surprising but true. Linguistic research pioneered by nineteenth century German linguists like Franz Bopp and August Schleicher have made it possible to connect Sinhala words to …

By Asiff Hussein An inquiring Journalist shares his thoughts after a nearly three-week sojourn in the United States, telling us what America is and what it is not, and that looking at it in black or white is certainly not the answer to our problems. Asiff Hussein, though a layman, …

by ASIFF HUSSEIN There is perhaps no other museum in Sri Lanka that so faithfully reflects traditional Kandyan society and culture as the Kandy National Museum. Situated in close proximity to the Dalada Maligawa or Temple of the Tooth in the heart of Kandy town, the museum building goes back …

by ASIFF HUSSEIN Galle has something special about it. It is a blend of both the past and the present, the native and the colonial. It was here that the first Portuguese fleet led by Laurenco De Almeida sailed into the country nearly five centuries ago. It was here that …

by ASIFF HUSSEIN The Sabaragamuwa Province has more to it than meets the eye. Besides its precious stones which have given its fabled capital the name of Ratnapura or ‘City of gems’, its rich gem-bearing alluvia have yielded the discovery of an entirely new extinct fauna for Sri Lanka, among …

by ASIFF HUSSEIN Kotte, the one-time capital of the Sinhalese Kings is slowly waking up from its slumber after centuries of neglect under colonial rule. The city more properly known as Jayawardhanapura Kotte or ‘The Fortress in the Victory-enhancing City’ served as the capital of the Sinhalese Kings from the …