Sri Lanka

Introduction to Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has seduced travellers for centuries. Marco Polo described it as the finest island of its size in the world, while successive waves of Indian, Arab and European traders and adventurers flocked to its palm-fringed shores, attracted by reports of rare spices, precious stones and magnificent elephants. Poised just above the equator amidst the balmy waters of the Indian Ocean, the island's legendary reputation for natural beauty and plenty has inspired an almost magical regard even in those who have never visited the place. Romantically inclined geographers, poring over maps of the island, have compared its outline to a teardrop falling from the tip of India or to the shape of a pearl (the less impressionable Dutch likened it to a leg of ham), whilst even the name given to the island by early Arab traders - Serendib - became, through the English word "serendipity," a synonym for the making of happy accidents by chance.

Marco Polo's bold claim still rings true. Sri Lanka packs an extraordinary variety of attractions within its modest physical dimensions, and few islands of comparable size can boast a natural environment of such beauty and diversity. Lapped by the Indian Ocean, the coast is fringed with idyllic - and often refreshingly undeveloped - beaches, while the interior boasts a compelling variety of landscapes ranging from wildlife-rich lowland jungles, home to extensive populations of elephants, leopards and rare endemic bird species, to the misty heights of the hill country, swathed in immaculately manicured tea plantations. Nor does the island lack in man-made attractions. Sri Lanka boasts over two thousand years of recorded history, and the remarkable achievements of the early Sinhalese civilization can still be seen in the sequence of ruined cities and great religious monuments which litter the northern plains.

The glories of this early Buddhist civilization continue to provide a benchmark of national identity for the island's Sinhalese population, while Sri Lanka's historic role as the world's oldest stronghold of Theravada Buddhism lends it a unique cultural unity and character which permeate life at every level. There's more to Sri Lanka than just Buddhists, however. The island's geographical position at one of the most important staging posts of Indian Ocean trade laid it open to a uniquely wide range of influences, as generations of Arab, Malay, Portuguese, Dutch and British settlers subtly transformed its culture, architecture and cuisine, while the long-established Tamil population in the north have established a vibrant Hindu culture which owes more to India than to the Sinhalese south.

It is, however, this very diversity which has continually threatened to tear the country apart. For much of the past three decades the island has been the scene of one of Asia's most pernicious civil wars, as Sri Lankan government forces and the LTTE, or Tamil Tigers, have battled it out in the island's north and east. As of early 2009, government forces had succeeded in wresting back control of northern Sri Lanka from the LTTE for the first time in a generation, though whether this spectacular military success signals a new era of long-overdue peace, or simply a change in the nature of the conflict, remains to be seen. Away from these areas, though, life goes on as normal. The tourist industry continues to develop apace, and with much of the damage caused by the 2004 tsunami now repaired, and hostilities in the north apparently coming to an end, most Sri Lankans are once again looking to the future with guarded optimism following the reverses of recent years.

Colombo

There's plenty to enjoy beneath the unpromising exterior, especially if you're interested in getting behind the tourist cliches and finding out what makes contemporary Sri Lanka tick - it's definitely a place that grows on you the longer you stay, and is worth a day out of even the shortest itinerary. The city musters few specific sights, but offers plenty of atmosphere and quirky character: a heady admixture of Asian anarchy, colonial charm and modern chic. Shiny modern office blocks rub shoulders with tumbledown local cafes and shops, while serene Buddhist shrines and colonial churches stand next to the garishly multi-coloured towers of Hindu temples - all evidence of the rich stew of races and religions which have gone into the making of this surprisingly cosmopolitan city. Most of all, it's Colombo's energy which is likely to make the strongest impression, especially if you've spent time in the island's quieter backwaters. For sheer adrenaline, a walk through the crowded bazaars of the Pettah or a high-speed rickshaw ride amidst the kamikaze traffic of the Galle Road have no rival anywhere else in the country.

The Pettah

Shops in the Pettah are still arranged in the traditional bazaar layout, with each street devoted to a different trade: Front Street, for example, is full of bags, suitcases and shoes; 1st Cross Street is devoted to hardware and electrical goods; 3rd Cross Street and Keyzer Street are stuffed with colourful fabrics, and so on. The wares on display are fairly mundane - unless you're a big fan of Taiwanese household appliances or fake Barbie dolls - although traces of older and more colourful trades survive in places.

Unlike the rest of Colombo, the district retains a strongly Tamil (the name Pettah derives from the Tamil word pettai, meaning village) and Muslim flavour, as evidenced by its many pure veg and Muslim restaurants, quaint mosques, Hindu temples and colonial churches (many Sri Lankan Tamils are Christian rather than Hindu). Even the people look different here, with Tamil women in gorgeous saris, Muslim children dressed entirely in white and older men in brocaded skull caps - a refreshing change from the boring skirts and shirts which pass muster in the rest of the city.

Fort Railway Station to the Jami ul-Aftar

On the south side of the Pettah stands Colombo's principal train terminus, Fort Railway Station, a rambling Victorian barn of a building. In front of the station stands a statue of Henry Steel Olcott (1842-1907), the American Buddhist and co-founder (with Madame Blavatsky, the celebrated Russian clairvoyant and spiritualist), of the Theosophical Society, a quasi-religious movement which set about promoting Asian philosophy in the West and reviving Oriental spiritual traditions in the East, to protect them from the attacks of European missionary Christianity.

The society's utopian (if rather vague) objectives comprised a mixture of the scientific, the social, the spiritual and the downright bizarre: the mystical Madame Blavatsky, fount of the society's more arcane tenets, believed that she had the ability to levitate, render herself invisible and communicate with the souls of the dead, as well as asserting that the Theosophical Society was run according to orders received from a group of "masters" - disembodied tutelary spirits who were believed to reside in Tibet.

In 1880, Blavatsky and Olcott arrived in Ceylon, formerly embracing Buddhism and establishing the Buddhist Theosophical Society, which became one of the principal driving forces behind the remarkable worldwide spread of Buddhism during the twentieth century. Olcott spent many of his later years touring the island, organizing Buddhist schools and petitioning the British colonial authorities to respect Sri Lanka's religious traditions, though his most visible legacy is the multicoloured Buddhist flag (composed of the five colours of the Buddha's halo) which he helped design, and which now decorates temples across the island.

A couple of blocks north of the station on Prince Street, amongst some of the most densely packed of the Pettah's bazaars, the Dutch Period Museum occupies the old Dutch town hall, a fine colonnaded building of 1780. The mildly interesting displays on the Dutch colonial era feature the usual old coins, Kandyan and Dutch artefacts, military junk and dusty European furniture, plus a couple of miserable-looking waxworks of colonists dressed in full velvet and lace despite the sweltering heat. The main attraction, however, is the wonderfully atmospheric mansion itself, whose groaning wooden floors and staircases, great pitched roof and idyllic garden offer a beguiling glimpse into the lifestyle enjoyed by the eighteenth century's more upwardly mobile colonists.

Return to 2nd Cross Street and fight your way north for two blocks to Main Street, the district's principal thoroughfare, usually a solidly heaving bedlam of vehicles and pedestrians, with porters weaving through the throng pushing carts piled high with every conceivable type of merchandise. On the far side of the road is Colombo's most eye-catching mosque, the Jami ul-Aftar, a gloriously kitsch red-and-white construction of 1909 which rises gaudily above the cluttered shops of Main Street like a heavily iced cake.