History / Sociology

Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University, Gananath Obeyesekere completed a B.A. in English (1955) at the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, followed by an M.A. (1958) and Ph.D (1964) at the University of Washington. Obeyesekere held teaching positions at the University of Ceylon, the University of Washington, the University of California, San Diego and has done much work in his home country of Sri Lanka.

Who are the Väddas? Where do they come from? Where have they gone?

While many continue to accept the storyline represented by colonial era thinkers that of the romantic and benign image of Väddas as children of nature living in tune or harmony with their environment. Anthropologist Gananath Obeyesekere brings back into our contemporary discourse the voices of Väddas silenced by history or misrepresented in Western scholarship, dispelling the prevailing view of primitive hunters and gatherers living in isolated pockets in the wilds of Bintanna.

In this bold and captivating account, drawing on his research conducted during the periods 1999-2001 and 2007-2009, Obeyesekere presents an alternative narrative of these Väddas of Sri Lanka with a fresh look at their crucial role in society. Further, Obeyesekere cautions that they are a disappearing "tribe" that may soon vanish from the world's ethnological museum

Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University, Gananath Obeyesekere completed a B.A. in English (1955) at the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, followed by an M.A. (1958) and Ph.D (1964) at the University of Washington. Obeyesekere held teaching positions at the University of Ceylon, the University of Washington, the University of California, San Diego and has done much work in his home country of Sri Lanka.

Surrounded by magnificent mountains, the city of Kandy, home of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth and the Royal Palace, was the capital of Lanka for about three hundred years. Gananath Obeysekere paints a vivid portrait of the kings of these great green highlands of Kandy, revealing a complex and advanced society every bit as violent as any other civilization. Focusing on kings Vimaladharmasuriya 1, Rajasinha II, Sri Vijaya Rajasinha and Kirti Sri Rajasinha, he brings the Kandyan monarchy to life, depicting them not as mythic figures but as real flesh and blood, larger than life characters who ruled over the last citadel of Lankan aristocracy

Selvy Thiruchandran is one of the founder members of Women's Education and Research Centre in Colombo and continued to serve as its Executive Director. Presently she serves as one of the commissioners of the Right To Information Commission. 

A Study of the Caste System in Northern Sri Lanka

Caste, while being one of the dominant socio-economic institutions in the Indian and Sri Lankan societies is also one of the most complicated because of its multiple ramifications. Numerous scholars and researchers have made in-depth studies of the subject and their conclusions in turn have evoked further interest and queries on the subject.

The present study offers a substantial detour into the operational aspects of the system. The main focus of the study lies in the historical reconstruction from the pre-colonial period. An innovative turn of the study is its efforts to cull evidence and information from the literary productions authored by the very victims who suffered under the system. Anti-caste movements and their socio-political transformations form one section. Speaking to and listening from the victims and the perpetrators is the most revealing part of this study, which is a contemporaneous and existent situation. This process has also revealed the different modes of caste operation in the three different regions in Northern Sri Lanka which were covered in the research. 

Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University, Gananath Obeyesekere completed a B.A. in English (1955) at the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, followed by an M.A. (1958) and Ph.D (1964) at the University of Washington. Obeyesekere held teaching positions at the University of Ceylon, the University of Washington, the University of California, San Diego and has done much work in his home country of Sri Lanka.

A requiem for Sri Vikrama Rajasinha

On 24 Jan 1816, the captured king of Kandy was escorted on board the Cornwallis together with his queens, relatives and servants. Almost a month later, King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha arrives at the Vellore Fort in India, to spend his remaining days in exile. Thus ends the tragic tale of the Doomed King of Lanka.

Using Kadaimpot, vittipot and documents from English servicemen, Gananath Obeysekere reveals a portrait of a king who was much maligned and betrayed by those he trusted. The Doomed King makes for fascinating reading where a master spy, a Machiavellian governor and an opportunistic nobleman together, bring about the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom.

'This book confirms that Obeysekere, probably the most distinguished living anthropologist, remains at the peak of his prodigious scholarly powers.' - Rajeev Bhargava, Professor, CSDS, Delhi

'Essential reading, not only for its accounts of colonial rule in Kandy, but also for providing an example of the long-lasting persistence of historical knowledge that was constructed to justify imperial expansion.' - John Rogers, American Inst of Sri Lankan Studies