Sri Lanka - What's in a name ?

The Road to Serendip; an ancient Persian fairy tale

The Three Princes of Serendip

In ancient times there existed in the Far East country of Serendip a great and powerful king by the name of Giaffer. He had three sons who were very dear to him. The Three Princes of Serendip were always making happy and unexpected discoveries, by accident and sagacity.

And it is from the 16th century Venetian adaption of the ancient fairy tale that Horace Walpole coined the word - serendipity: the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

What does any of this have to do with our trip to Sri Lanka you ask ? Well Serendip was the ancient Arabic and Persian name for Sri Lanka.

Copy of a 12th century Arabic map, drawn upside down

Under British rule, 1815 to 1948, the island was known as Ceylon, derived from the Tamil word for the ancient tribe, the Cheras, who inhabited the island along with the Tamils and the Sinhalese.

Lanka was the classical name bestowed on the island in an ancient Indian epic poem. The meaning of the word Lanka is disputed, but I favour the theory it derives from the Tamil word "ilanku", to shine or glitter, reflecting the gold and gems found on the surface of the island. During the independence movement the name Lanka was adopted in 1935 the Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party, with the honorific Sri added later to the name of the newly independent country.

The Tamil word Eelam, meaning homeland, also has a significant place on the island. Tamil Eelam was the name adopted for a proposed independent state for Tamils on the island. But that is a whole other story.

So join Tom and I on this blog as we join the road to Serendip and visit Sri Lanka this October.

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What have the Romans done for us ?

You get these Monty Python moments travelling around Sri Lanka: the evidence of the colonial past is evident in many ways. The names Pererra and Pedro are common from the original Portuguese colonialists, as is the strong presence of Christianity; the Dutch left an extensive canal system that helps irrigate fields for food production; and then came the British. So what have the British done for Sri Lanka ? As in India, the British developed an impressive railway system in Sri Lanka and the justice system here is an English legacy. School learning was encouraged by the British and education remains highly valued here: Sri Lanka has an impressive 96% literacy rate, above world average. Being colonialists the British were not content until they recreated a little Britain to remind them of the mother country, no more so than in Nuwara Eliya which has a touch of the Cotswolds about it. The colonialists escaped the heat of Colombo in this high country retreat and built golf courses, introd...

Acclimatising

"28 degrees does not sound too hot does it, but it is not the temperature that is killing, it is the unrelenting humidity. Frankly I would prefer one of those 45 degree Melbourne days, at least you know it will change the next day; here it is the same all day, every day. We arrived last night and are now enjoying breakfast in our beachfront hotel- we are literally on the Indian Ocean which is crashing on the beach and I now understand why Sri Lanka is a popular destination for surfing, it is much like Pt Leo, though perhaps the sand is not as clean. Unfortunately we did not pre-order a Sri Lankan breakfast so had to settle for the American fare, but I recall reading once the Sri Lankans make a good omelette so we settled for that and were not disappointed, though I had expected to find some chilli amongst the eggs. Tea - excellent. I am however intrigued by a party of hotel guests who seem to have bought their own food to breakfast - they are having nothing from the kitchen but in...

Sonia's cooking class

As at home, while travelling I am obsessed by food, and as one meal finishes I am already planning the next. So on this trip we included a cooking class, and some research on good old Trip Advisor led us to Sonia's cooking class in Galle. Sonia collected us from our villa with a couple of tuk tuks to take us to the market to purchase our ingredients. I was slightly confused by the fact that Sonia was actually called Caruna (phonetic Australian spelling - but more on names later), and although it took Tom and Terry sometime to stop calling her Sonia, she was unperturbed and took a shine to both of them. Cathy, Julia and I only were only ever referred to as "sister", whereas Caruna called the boys by name, and quickly adopted the pet name "Tommy" for her favourite. Caruna was loud and bouncy, and quite tactile as Terry and "Tommy" discovered, and a mountain of fun. Our party was joined by French back-packer Ebony who seemed happy enough to jo...

The Road to Serendip

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