Sea travels in ancient Lanka

S. B. Karalliyadde

For the first time in Independent Sri Lanka it was reported in the media that a ship will be commissioned to promote tourism. According to news reports this program is co-sponsored by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board with the blessings of the Tourism Ministry, the Sri Lanka Navy, Colombo Dockyard, the Colombo Ports Authority and other agencies of the Ports and Aviation Ministry.

The ship will be available for weddings and other social gathering seminars and conferences with all modern facilities.

The sea is used for passenger transport in all other island nations in Asia as well as European and Scandinavian countries. Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Malaysia, India are some of the countries in Asia where this mode of passenger transport is popular. Scandinavian countries such as Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden make use of the sea for passenger transport and tourism. European countries such as England, Italy, Germany and France also use this popular mode of passenger travel.

Popular transport mode

Ships powered by motor engines, steam engines and propeller driven. Hoovercrafts are used in these countries. In the ancient times our country too used the sea

and rivers for haulage as well as passenger transport. Vijaya landed here in a boat driven by wind. The main seaports of our country at the time were Mahatitta, Gokanna, Sambalturai, Lankapatuna, Dambakolapatuna and many more.

Kirinda in the South was a trading port. Ships and boat travel were popular then. As there were no light houses like today the Lakegala and Adam’s Peak were guiding the sailors, playing the role of today’s light houses. The name Lanka came into being because of Lakegala or Laggala in Matale district. In the ancient days there were many ships and other vessels sailing in the Indian Ocean. These were built by using timber though there are no ships built in timber today. A guide line in the selection of timber to build sea vessels is given by a Brahamin Pandit Bhoja in a Sloka.

According to the sloka, timber belong to four varieties. The timber that belongs to Brahmana group are flexible and could be joined with other varieties. The Kshastriya varieties are heavy and rough and cannot be joined with other groups.

The Vaishya group of timber is heavy and hard and the last group belongs to Shudra variety. It was believed that vessels built using Kshatriya varieties of timber brings happiness and prosperity in sea voyages and using other timber varieties will bring ill luck and disaster.

Ancient evidence

This shows the knowledge that our people possessed in seafaring and building sea vessels. Our rivers too were used for boat travels. Malwatu-oya, Kelani, Mahaweli, Kaluganga, Ginganga, Walaweganga were some such rivers.

The Portugese, Dutch and English came to Senkadagala from Batticaloa and Trincomalee ports through Mahaweli Ganga. Admiral Joris Van. Spillbergen, Bocheuer (later Meegamurala) and Robert Knox came to Wendaruwa by boat along the Mahaweli Ganga and walked up to Senkadagala to meet Kings Senerath Wimaladharmasuriya and Rajasinghe. Robert Knox’s boat was tied to a tamarind tree in Elahera and the tree is declared a national heritage named Oru Bendi Siyambalawa stands on the bank of the canal carrying water to the Minneriya Tank.

The Hamilton Canal was used by the Dutch for passenger and cargo transport. There were other similar canals within the Colombo city.

Our ancient kings owned ships used for carrying merchandise to various countries. Page 598 of the History of Ceylon - Peradeniya University edition records that Buwanekabahu II’s ship carrying cargo arrived in Cairo, Egypt in 1283. King Senerath of Senkadagala had ‘The Amalgamated East India Shipping Company’ with Denmark flying the King’s flag.

Present scenario

This shows that we made use of the ocean around us for the country development. We had a passenger transport service by ships as recently as the middle of the 19th Century.

The Ceylon Shipping Company whose management agents were Walker and Sons Co. Ltd. operated this service with SS ‘Lady Blake’ weighing 1,097.8 tons. It could accommodate 15 first class, 12 second class and 200 deck passengers. It touched the ports at Galle, Hambantota, Trinco, Batti, KKS, Pt Pedro and Nagapatuna, Karikal and Visakapatuna in India.

During this time we had scarce resources and today we have all modern facilities, knowledge and expertise. We have the University for Marine Sciences and Oceanic Studies awarding degrees and these degree certificates are highly recognised worldwide and listed under ‘white list’ of the ILO.

We have the Colombo Dockyard Co., the Ceynor, the Port Authority and the Ports and Aviation Ministry. We have not been able to mobilise to full capacity our ocean resources found from Mannar to Kalpitiya though we were an Independent nation for 62 years.

We must be able to achieve the target of the President making our island the giant of Asia in economic development. It is not through the supply of housemaids that we should improve our economy but our youth equipped with modern, sciences, technology and knowledge.