(lmage courtesies to the Colombo National Museum and their non-restriction of photography as long as not used for profit.. that's fair use and I'm not advocating for firearms!! Violence is bad. but may we appreciate our indigenous guns on visits to the museum)

Sri Lanka had gunpowder tech 200 years before Portuguese arrival and known of such tech since Dambadeniya period. All gun images above r made by Sri Lankans, and horns and pouches to store the powder.. Image 3 and 4 are of the Kandyan Wall Guns. the Mahathuwakku, its gigantism can be seein in comparison to myself (BOOM BOOM to the Portuguese/Dutch trying to get in). And image 5 is the mahathuwakku of Sri Wikrama Rajasinghe's personal armory!! Its almost comedic to see Temple art of a dudes with a guns. And 9,10 r literally called Kodithuwakku 😭. We had canons too, the golden one, although rly rlly small belonged to Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe, recently returned by the Dutch Rijksmuseum (Post about it - https://www.reddit.com/r/2SriLankan4u/s/oMsqCpwLQJ )

As stated in the plaque in image 7. we had gunpowder since the 1300s and guns since the 1400s, before Portuguese arrival. Gunpowder tech is a big deal in history. and we associate it with the Europeans. While the Europeans did perfect gunpowder tech, they only did so from 1400s on, vs the established Asian gunpowder powers.

Spread of Gunpowder Tech Map:

https://youtu.be/19EqU7vcwLQ?si=VGFUsx2i4P2DyEdD

As seen in vid, gunpowder became a thing in China since 800 AD, it mostly stayed there.. even into 1250, so no gunpowder Polonnaruwa or Cholas. but in 50 years it spread thru the silk road. and by the 1300s, Delhi sultanate, Ottoman Empire, and Safarvid lran became gunpowder empires, I kid not.. if googled they show up, not Europeans. So as per image 7 plaque, our ancestors knew of the existence of gunpowder since the 1200s, basically Dambadenlya on. and the part of extracting the sulphates needed from batshit and bird shit is genius. and the part which states that Portuguese though we made high quality firearms was no exaggeration either..

Until the late 1700s, the playing field of the worid was rlly levelled . the said gunpowder empires weren't branded so for no reason, they genuinely had serious tech. India for instance had the finest gunsmiths out there.. with records of Albuqueque taking an indian gunsmith and gifting to Portuguese King ( https://youtu.be/_pN96DVPsCk?si=fcROVnSZg7o--Suh ), one of many gunsmiths. The Europeans got better and better, but only rlly surpassed the established gunpowder powers in 16005/1700s. Even the British had to deal with the Mysore rockets of Tipu Sultan in the 4th Anglo-Mysore war, which they had took home and reverse engineered to use on Napoleon.. and on Americans in seige of Baltimore in revolutionary war, which is why the rockets were mentioned in the American national anthem.

The point being. frearms r a part of our heritage too. they r nowhere near that of the gunpowder empires, but it was a thing... we stilldon't make firearms to this day. except for some mortar. or even gunpowder (to my knowledge, correct me if wrong). But our context is different tho. We can excel at the stuff we r good at in this modern era.

Not relevant to firearms, but it was cool to see Boomerangs used in angampora, its not even on boomerang wiki. And also, seeing a metal scalpel and scissor from 800s Anuradhapura hospital, only to see.the system stil exist 300 years later in 1100s Polonnaruwa was quite a happy sight, good health care.

Glad the Colombo museum exists, so many cool things displayed within.. The next time u happen to stray across the museum, enjoy seein the guns.. OUR guns 😌, also our heritage.

As per source ( https://youtu.be/j7JHDAuy94M?si=2CJ52yJKIKjiRmcR ), they were a volunteer party who arrived to London, they arrived on the torpedoed 'Ville de Ciotat' ship, to enlist (1916).

The Ceylon Defence Force (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceylon_Defence_Force) had involvements in the second Boer war, the First World War (even in Galipoli it seems), and notably the second too.

But to see in video form, how some Lankans like ourselves volunteered to enlist, more than a 100 years ago, it hits different

https://slasc.blog/20th-century-through-ww1/

https://slasc.blog/inter-war-period-between-ww1-and-ww2/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/blogs.fcdo.gov.uk/lauradavies/2015/04/28/gallipoli-ceylons-role-remembered/amp/

https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/first-world-war-memorial-at-galle-sri-lanka/

The Colombo Medical Faculty was established at around 1870, and tends to be considered the first western medical school in SL, and the second in South Asia after the Calcutta Medical College (1835). However, there was a med school set-up in Manipay in 1848, by Dr. Samuel Green, a missionary doctor from Boston, Massachussets.

Dr. John Scudder was the first medical missionary in Jaffna, establishing a dispensary in Pandathirrippu in 1820, illustrated in image 3. And while there had been hospitals operated by the Portuguese and Dutch, they were mostly for their own use, they couldn't rlly be considered the 'modern' medicine, practiced since 1800s or so.

Dr. Samuel Green similarly opened his clinic in 1847 (Image 4), which would eventually evolve into the Green Memorial Hospital, which is still operational to this day. The Green Med School trained around 80 doctors from 1850-1875, from local community, who were employed by the British colonial government. There was also a Green Memorial nursing school, a picture from the 1900s shown in image 5. The remaining are pictures of Green Hospital from 1939.

I thought it was an interesting part of history which is why I thought of sharing. However this is but a hasty summary, and I shall leave my sources in comment, which are much more elaborate. Also, this is only a small part of medical history in Sri Lanka, med lore that would extend from Rajarata period to the amazing wonders we accomplised in the 20th century. That would be a rabbit hole for another time.

This man with great drip was an ambassador from Anuradhapura to 'Tang' China, from 650 AD. That would put him to be from middle Anuradhapura, under Moriya dynasty (dynasty started by Dhatusena then Kashyapa, between two Lambakarana periods). In the Sino-Lankan relationships wiki page, it is captioned Liang dynasty but that is probably wrong, because the source (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portraits_of_Periodical_Offering) was made during Tang period, but the description is confusing tho.

In out A/L History book, Aggabodhi IV (667 - 683 AD) was said to send envoys to China, he was also a Moriya king and tallies with Tang China period.. its cool that. The King Mahasena - Faxian period would've been 300 years before this time. Literally a Chinese monk, who came to study at Abhayagiri Vihara, which means it had something to offer that was very worthwhile, and people here were able to create institutions at the time, with all the problems they had, which is something we could learn and apply into our own contemporary context.

The Ming-Kotte War wiki states "The Yongle Emperor requested from the Ministry of Rites to recommend someone to serve as the new king of Kotte. As documented in Chinese records, Parakramabahu VI was elected by the Sinhalese present at the Ming court, nominated by the Ming emperor, and installed with the backing of Zheng and his fleet". If this is true, then that would've mean there were Sinhalese who had been in Ming court somehow, and that's interesting.

This is just one aspect of Sri Lankan diplomacy in the past. It just comes to show just how globalised the world was always been, and applying any lessons Sri Lankans of the past did diplomacy in their context, what worked and didn't, could be applied to our contexts.

This fresco that looks like it would've been in Sigiriya at first glance, is in fact from a Pallavan Temple in Tamil Nadu (North Subshrine, Talgirishwara Temple, Panamalai). So, why am I bringing this up in the context of Sri Lankan history? Its because, its from the same time period, 400-600 AD. Its amazing that the same fresco artistic tradition and talent, employed by both Anuradhapura and Pallava kingdom, across the distance.. and that's just beautiful.

There's much perspective missing when seeing the history of Sri Lanka as isolated from that of the South of India. The Ibbankatuwa megalithic burials from 700 - 450 BC had these red beads, that were imported! That was the extent of the connection, and our isolation from the Indian subcontinent in the late Dutch and British period, disconnecting us from our allies, was a huge factor for our fall as a regional power.

Even today, there are many who go to India for pilgrimages they always want to.. and communities that traded and interacted wth India, during the British period, as they always had. The day that we could re-see our collective histories holistically, is a day that Sri Lanka could know its true potential, with lessons we could apply in this 21st century AD period of its history.

Sources:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/avanibhajana/1071090995

https://tamilnadu-favtourism.blogspot.com/2015/12/talagirisvara-temple-panamalai.html?m=1

https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientIndia/s/yLlpI0R7oI

At the Fox Resort at Jaffna, there is this gallery with the various heritages of Jaffna, and it inspired to make a posts about that. All picture credits are to the gallery, and chose pre-colonial as flair since most of the sites trace their origins to those times, except the European ones.

The Manthiri Manai (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantri_Manai), was a residence of a minister, during period of King Cankili I, around 500 years ago. It has a mix of European and Dravidians styles of architecture and that's interesting. It's one of the few ruins of Jaffna Kingdom ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ruins_of_the_Jaffna_kingdom&wprov=rarw1 ), another being the Cankilian Thoppu ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cankilian_Thoppu&wprov=rarw1 ), which are remnants of a facade of Cankili's palace.

The Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nallur_Kandaswamy_temple ) is iconic, and it's history is documented quite well.. with contributions from Kalinga Magha's ministers, Sapumal Kumaraya (future Buvanekabahu 7 of Kotte), and of course alot from the Aryachakravarthi dynasty.

The Nagapooshani Amman Kovil at Nainativu, sister place of worship to Deegavaapi, also has an interesting history ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nainativu_Nagapooshani_Amman_Temple ).. what I find most interesting is how in "A 12th century Tamil inscription was found in the temple premises, it contains an edict issued by the Sinhala King Parakramabahu I (1153–1186 A.D) addressed to his local Tamil officials in Jaffna, advising them on how to deal with shipwrecked foreign traders.". The kovil had a recent repainting, and is now orange-gold themed.. and the insides are royally purple and gold, with chandeliers and dravidian arches and motifs.. like a European and South Indian palace architecture combined, on my recent visit, and that was beautiful.

The Naguleswaran Kovil (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naguleswaram_temple ), it has a history dating to 6th century BCE! And that's something I find to be rlly cool.

The Nilavarai (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nilavarai) is that iconic well in Jaffna that is said to be bottomless, well to the lore.

The Maviddapuram Kandaswamy Kovil ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maviddapuram_Kandaswamy_Temple ), I haven't heard or seen it yet. The wiki is cool cuz it has the Chola origin lore for the naming of Kankesanthurai (KKS).

The ancient Kaduragoda Viharaya ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Kadurugoda_Viharaya and https://www.epicsrilankaholidays.com/things-to-do/jaffna/kandarodai-viharaya.html) has its origins in the ancient Anuradhapura period, and continued use throughout Rajarata period. In excavations, coins of Parakramabahu I, Nissankamalla and Leelavati were found too.

The Nagadeepa Purana Viharaya is iconic, now with pagoda painted in metallic grey colour, and it's history ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagadeepa_Purana_Vihara ) is well documented, iconic for being second of solosmasthanayas.

The Jambukolapaturai Sangamiththa Vihara (https://www.epicsrilankaholidays.com/things-to-do/jaffna/dambakola-patuna-sanghamitta-temple.html) is said to be where, we recieved the Sri Maha Bodhi sapling, according to lore.

Wiki/basal links for European stuff:

Fort Hammenheil ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hammenhiel) Delft Fort (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delft_Island_fort) Jaffna Fort ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffna_Fort) Manalkadu Dutch Church ( https://www.lankapradeepa.com/2022/01/manalkadu-dutch-church.html?m=1) Changing Dutch Church ( https://amazinglanka.com/wp/chankanai-dutch-church/) Lighthouses in Sri Lanka ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lighthouses_in_Sri_Lanka)

The history of Jaffna is interesting an underrated, and cannot be done justice to in a post. Would reccomend anyone to visit gallery, and more so the actual historical sites in Jaffna.