scholarly journals “Snake” by D.H. Lawrence in a Buddhist Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
EA Gamini Fonseka
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
The Other ◽  
The World ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
The Buddha

Snake is a reptile, very much respected in many cultures throughout the world, depending on what species it is. Ornate snake sculptures in Sri Lanka, India, England, China, Greece, Rome, Egypt, Africa, America, Australia, etc. (Steel, 2021) are evidence of the respect the reptile earned in most of the ancient civilisations by becoming a seminal influence in the mythologies, folklores, beliefs, values, morals, rituals, and arts that have evolved in them. Coming from a Western Christian elite socio-cultural background, D.H. Lawrence gets fascinated by the asp rattler that he meets in Sicily in 1920, and in a while tries to kill it under the influence of his zoological knowledge and the warnings he has had on the deadliness of its venom. Later he feels relieved that his attack did not hurt the snake and yet regrets his being indecent to the creature. Lawrence’s delayed realisation of the snake’s right to existence tallies the example of unreserved compassion towards life, irrespective of what species it is, the Buddha sets during his two famous encounters with lethal snakes. Unlike Lawrence’s silent snake, one of the two snakes the Buddha encounters protects him from the rain, and the other vertically challenges him, spraying his deadly venom at him. Nevertheless, the Buddha’s only reaction to them both is to unveil his compassion indiscriminately. Unlike Lawrence, he concludes both encounters without regret. Taking the respective behaviours of Lawrence and the Buddha in the presence of snakes, this paper proposes that, in preventing regret, while managing interactions with other forms of life, compassion inspired by spirituality transcends all other emotions engendered by fascination and apprehension that are part and parcel of Lawrence’s religion, “flesh and blood”

Two new species of Lagenandra (Araceae) from the Wet Zone of Sri Lanka

Phytotaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 522 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-199
Author(s):  
INDRAKHEELA MADOLA ◽  
DEEPTHI YAKANDAWALA ◽  
KAPILA YAKANDAWALA ◽  
SENANI KARUNARATNE
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critically Endangered ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Taxonomic Key ◽  
The World ◽  
Two New Species ◽  
Conservation Assessments ◽  
Wet Zone

Taxonomic revisions are the most reliable pathway in unfolding new species to the world. During such a revision of the genus Lagenandra in Sri Lankan, we came across two new species: Lagenandra kalugalensis and Lagenandra srilankensis from the Wet Zone of Sri Lanka. The two new species were studied in detail and compared with the morphology of the other species described in the genus, and based on field collected data conservation assessments were performed. A detailed description for the two new species and an updated taxonomic key to the Sri Lankan Lagenandra is presented here for easy identification. Recognizing two new endemic members enhances the number of Sri Lankan species of Lagenandra to eleven and global to nineteen. According to the IUCN red data category guidelines, L. kalugalensis qualifies for Critically Endangered category under Criterion B1ab (ii,iii,v) + B2ab (ii,iii,v) while L. srilankensis qualifies for Critically Endangered category under B1ab (iii, iv) + C2 (a) (i, ii). Hence, immediate conservation measures are imperative.

scholarly journals Western Immigration in the fourteenth-century Golden Horde: The Case of Venetian Tana

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-107
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Pubblici ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sea Of Azov ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Associative Model ◽  
Western Population ◽  
The Sea Of Azov ◽  
The World

Objective: This paper’s aim is to reconstruct the Western population of Venetian Tana in the fourteenth century, the residents’ perception of their condition as “mig­rants”, and finally this population’s interactions with the other communities who lived there. Research materials: The sources used are primarily the notarial deeds of the Venice State Archive together with the vast and excellent scholarship produced in recent decades. Research results and novelty: For over two centuries the settlement of Tana, situated in the territory of the Golden Horde, represented the easternmost outpost of the Latin emporia in the Levant. Here, the utilitarian concept of the Western urban mercantile class found itself confronted with a new experience. This group was a minority living in close contact with larger, cohesive communities whose cultural background was extremely diverse. Those who emigrated east were mainly the emerging urban bourgeoisie, but also families of ancient noble origin who had nothing in common with the world of the Steppe and its traditional roots. These citizens came to the Levant, bringing with them the urban associative model. The life of the settlement at the mouth of the river Don is an ideal basis for observing the flow of people who left Venice and its surroundings on galleys and, after months of travel, arrived on the shores of the Sea of Azov.

Omar Noman. Economic and Social Progress in Asia: Why Pakistan Did Not Become a Tiger. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1997. 324 pages. Hardbound. Rs 575.00.

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-207
Author(s):  
Faisal Bari
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
South Korea ◽  
South Asia ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
The West ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The World

Most people in Pakistan look towards the West for models of economic development, and some even look to the Islamic past. But in recent decades, the more spectacular cases have been much closer to home, and towards the East. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are already in the ranks of the developed, while China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand are making good progress. Despite the recent setbacks, their progress over the last three decades has been enviable. On the other hand, the countries in South Asia have lagged behind. Four decades ago there was little to choose between most of these countries, but by the seventies, the paths of some had clearly diverged, while others were beginning to diverge. Today, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are amongst the poorest in the world, and on certain measures, they are the poorest! What happened in the last four decades? This is the issue that Omar Noman tackles in this book.

La narrazione della metropoli: Baudelaire, Simmel, Benjamin

2012 ◽  
pp. 76-84
Author(s):  
Valeria Giordano
Keyword(s):  
Personal Identity ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Charles Baudelaire ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Past ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
The World ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
The Moment

The words of modern narrators help bring to surface the contradictions and conflicts typical of the metropolis, transforming it into a sort of cultural instrument that reads the different languages, images and forms of life that it is defined by. The crisis of perception of space and time, the difficulty of using a language that is able to give meaning, the shattering of personal identity, all make it hard to accumulate experiences and transform them into stories to pass on. The only way to start a relationship with the other and with the world is, as Charles Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin state, the moment of choc, the moment lived and that cannot be transmitted. The urgency is to not become a prisoner of the nostalgia for the past, but to make the irreparable oppositions that affect the metropolis productive.

scholarly journals Diary from Sri Lanka's east coast: departure

2006 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 387-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Rose
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
East Coast ◽  
The Other ◽  
Security Guards ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Fatal Attack ◽  
As If

The day I leave Ampara on Sri Lanka's east coast, a wild elephant kills a woman and severely injures two others on the road near my house. This is the second fatal attack in town this year and, as before, the animal is rounded up and bundled back to the jungle in a truck. The incident seems to encapsulate something important about the nature of Sri Lanka: dark forces coiled beneath an appearance of calm. In the past month, for example, three security guards have been gunned down at hospitals in Ampara, Batticaloa and Sammanthurai. Yet the world of crisp nursing bonnets and clinical order remains intact throughout. No one knows who the killers were or how they chose their victims, but in this smoke and mirror conflict, rumours are fuelled of a final push by one side or the other. Then nothing happens, just more of the same, daily isolated encounters, as if it were in no one's interest to go for all-out war. Meanwhile the world's attention moves on to Lebanon.

scholarly journals “Of Belonging or Not”: Counter-Canons of Britishness in the Novels of Hanif Kureishi and Andrea Levy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Nunziata
Keyword(s):  
Second Generation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Island ◽  
The West ◽  
Hanif Kureishi ◽  
The World ◽  
Post War ◽  
First And Second Generation ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Second Generation Migrants

This article analyses two novels, Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) and Andrea Levy’s Small Island (2004), to elaborate on how they form postcolonial literary visions of metropolitan Britain, in resistance to colonialist depictions of the setting which have been disseminated across the world. The two works share related themes and motifs in their representations of the experiences of first- and second-generation migrants from Britain’s (former) colonies. Kureishi’s novel, set in the 1970s, relates the teenage life of Karim, the son of an Indian migrant, Haroon, as he navigates his sense of being a “funny kind of Englishman” (3). Levy’s novel, on the other hand, relates the experiences of a Jamaican couple, Hortense and Gilbert, as they arrive in Britain in 1948 within a fictionalised representation of the Empire Windrush. Comparable images within their works, including allusions to George Lamming’s writing from the 1950s and Stuart Hall’s depiction of the West End as it has existed in colonial imaginings, demonstrate how the two novelists participate in – and, therefore, help construct – a counter-canon of writing about post-war and postcolonial Britishness.

scholarly journals Impact of Destination Attributes on Tourists Destination Selection: With Special Reference to Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-111
Author(s):  
Mohamed A. M. Raazim ◽  
◽  
M. A. T. K. Munasinghe ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Ancillary Services ◽  
The Other ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Travel Agent ◽  
Tourist Destinations ◽  
Selection Decisions ◽  
The World ◽  
Destination Selection

Sri Lanka is one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations in the world. Amongst tourists’ attractions, “Cultural Triangle”, a region of the cultural heritage of the country has become the highest income generating destination. However, when compared with the other tourists’ destinations of the country, the number of tourists visiting the cultural triangle is low. As the literature reveals, the attributes of the destination matter in destination selection by the international tourists. Thus, considering the importance of this region as the top income contributor but not in terms of the number of tourists’ visits, this study problematizes the impacts of destination attributes on tourist`s destination selection. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to identify the destination attributes and their relationship with the tourists’ destination selection decisions. Data was collected through questionnaires from a sample of 222 foreign tourists who visited the cultural triangle during 2019 through a selected travel agent. Results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that attributes of Amenities, Destination Attractions, Accessibility, Ancillary Services, and Destination Environment as having a moderate positive relationship whilst, the service quality weak positive relationship with Tourist’s Destination selection. Destination attraction was identified as the most influential factor of all attributes. The findings of this study can be used by policymakers in developing destinations for tourists’ attractions in the country.

Religious Diversity and Dialogue

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-75
Author(s):  
Asanga Tilakaratne
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Interreligious Dialogue ◽  
The Other ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Buddhist Practice ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Roman Catholics

With the understanding that one’s views on religious diversity shapes one’s attitude to interreligious dialogue, in this article I try to articulate how the Buddha perceived the phenomenon of religious diversity and then to discuss how this perception could inform the Buddhist practice of interreligious dialogue. I begin this discussion with reference to the diversity of views held by the Roman Catholics themselves on interreligious dialogue and the Colonial and more recent history of dialogue in the local context of Sri Lanka. Next I move on to discuss Buddhism’s own self-understanding as a non-theistic system. In order to support the non-theistic claim of Buddhism I produce two arguments, one philosophical and the other experiential, both derived from the discourses of the Buddha. Having supported the non-theist stance of Buddhism, I propose that the Buddhist attitude is to be open to religious diversity while upholding the position that nirvana is the ultimate goal irreducible to any other similar goals. The discussion shows that to accept diversity is not necessarily to accept pluralism in religion, and that this position does not preclude Buddhists from engaging in interreligious dialogue.

scholarly journals Trade Liberalisation as an Instrument for Regional Co-operation

2004 ◽  
Vol 43 (4II) ◽  
pp. 925-931
Author(s):  
Muhammad Asaduzzaman
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
South Asia ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Trade Liberalisation ◽  
The Other ◽  
High Rise ◽  
The People ◽  
The World

South Asia is home to nearly 1.4 billion people, a vast part of humanity. The countries in the region vary widely in the size of the population as well as area and physiography. On one side of the scale is India with a population of more than a billion while on the other side is Maldives with a population no more than half a million. There is Bangladesh which is essentially a flat delta, island countries such as Sri Lanka and Maldives and countries full of high rise mountains such as Nepal and Bhutan. In between are India and Pakistan with some of everything. While there are several such external differences among the countries in the region and their people, these are literally only skin-deep. The people in the region share, by and large, the same basic culture. In many cases the same or a similar language is spoken across the borders. There are, of course, local variations in the general pattern. But that diversity makes it all the more interesting and attractive. It is only natural that the countries of the region will band together to show a united face to the world. This is yet to happen, though.

Prevalence of Suicidal Ideation in Sri Lanka

Crisis ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudath Samaraweera ◽  
Athula Sumathipala ◽  
Sisira Siribaddana ◽  
S. Sivayogan ◽  
Dinesh Bhugra
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
General Population ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
National Average ◽  
The West ◽  
Suicide Methods ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Completed Suicide ◽  
The World

Background: Suicidal ideation can often lead to suicide attempts and completed suicide. Studies have shown that Sri Lanka has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world but so far no studies have looked at prevalence of suicidal ideation in a general population in Sri Lanka. Aims: We wanted to determine the prevalence of suicidal ideation by randomly selecting six Divisional Secretariats (Dss) out of 17 in one district. This district is known to have higher than national average rates of suicide. Methods: 808 participants were interviewed using Sinhala versions of GHQ-30 and Beck’s Scale for Suicidal Ideation. Of these, 387 (48%) were males, and 421 (52%) were female. Results: On Beck’s Scale for Suicidal Ideation, 29 individuals (4%) had active suicidal ideation and 23 (3%) had passive suicidal ideation. The active suicidal ideators were young, physically ill and had higher levels of helplessness and hopelessness. Conclusions: The prevalence of suicidal ideation in Sri Lanka is lower than reported from the West and yet suicide rates are higher. Further work must explore cultural and religious factors.

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