Reading makes
full man, well I’m not really agree on that,
if it is meaning that reading makes perfect man ,it will never make us perfect,
we can be gain knowledge by reading, but we can’t be perfect by reading. After all nobody is perfect. By reading what we can do is we can justify what we are doing we can also find very valid reasons to justify what we do whether it s right or wrong.
It was Egyptians who started keeping document
as an archive, and later this converted into the place which is more than just
an archive. But it was not written in papers those were burnt clay tiles with
writing, but the concert of modern library started in Greece. Greeks adopted the
Chinese invention of printing in papers. Then library was common practice most
of religious institutes, Now of course we have E libraries, we don’t have to
get the hard copy, if we have a tab or smart phone then we can read whatever we
want. But reading a book is different from reading it
from our tab.
(Jaffna Library form Fort)
In Sri Lanka
we had the largest library in South Asia. It was Jaffna library. Of course I
never got any chance to go there. Last time when I was in Jaffna I went there
but it was closed because of a holiday. Even if I get any chance to go in I
don’t think that I will be able to see any of books. Because the entire library
was completely burnt by the Sinhalese.
(http://www.infolanka.com/news/IL/1299.htm)
"History’s footprints
are ash.
There are ash people,
ash places,
ash memories,
and ash eyes.
This library,
the one you see,
is ash too.
There were ashen people here,
wearing ash spectacles,
sitting on ash chairs
and reading ash books.
Those ash books
contained ashen lessons;
the lessons of 1981,
1983,
1987-88-89,
and on wards,
ash years;
and the ash walls here
still recall
the ash words
heard on the ash day.
Where would all this ash go, ( Burnt library )
one day?
maybe there is an ocean,
somewhere,
an ocean of time,
made of ash
and ashes.
The ash ocean,
will kiss
the ashen shore of
Jaffna,
the city of ashes,
and caress
the ash heartbeat of my nation,"
“Sri Lanka maatha…”
( Rasika Jayakody 26-05-2012 )
This has happened before that in India.
Old universities of “Nalanda” and “Wikramasheela” was burnt completely .Also
same thing happened In Germany before the World War II.There was a particular
politician who was responsible for burning Jaffna Library and later he also
assassinated .ironically under the good governments
in Sri Lanka both his sons were elected to the parliament this time. I wish the history won’t
repeat again.
The other
library which I like most is Colombo public library, I t is not big as the
congress library in USA, but still it has reasonable collection, then the other
my unforgettable library it is Ingiriya public library, well it was a very small place.
Now of course we have new building, but so far I never been to the new library
building. But I was a very regular to the old library during my school days. We
had a very helpful librarian as well.
However if
we are going to library the whole idea is reading something. There may be some
of us have occasions that we go to library to meet someone but I don’t think
any of us frequently visiting to library to see the building.
We generally
go to library to read, there is a lesser tendency to go to library to enjoy the
building.
(Padeniya Temple Ancient Library)
But in Sri Lanka there is a one library which I very much like to
visit only to see the building. Well it is not large modern building; it is a
small wattle and daub construction belongs to Padeniay rajamaha Wiharaya in
Kurunagala.
Sri Lanka we
had a traditional education system based on Buddhist temples. Most of Buddhist
temple has large amount of religious books. Those books are hand written on
Palmyra leaves.
These kind of books were known as
“Puskolapotha”.the Place where these books were kept known as “
Pothgula”.It is very much similar to a reference section of a modern library.
You can’t borrow the book but of course you can read at temple premises.
Sadly
this is not allowed for women, due to various reasons. Traditional Sri Lankan
education was not a women right. It’s during the British period of Sri Lanka
that women were allowed for formal education.
Padeniya
Rajamaha Wihara is one of the very old Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka. If you
are taking Anuradhapura road through
Kurunagala this is actually on the main road.
In Sri Lanka
history the ancient kingdom started fromAnuradhpura,But eventually it started moving towards south western part
of Sri Lanka.At one Point Kurunagala became the capital city of Sri Lanka.
The
kings of that time did not think of building high rises or highways. What they
built was Buddhist temples.temples. Padeniya belongs to that time period but there are
some stories which related to King Dutu Gemunu’s period.
The ancient library,
“Pothgula” which is over three hundred years old but its wattle and daub construction.
Most of wattle and daub construction does not existing such a long period. With
time the moisture will cause to damage the strength of the walls and also
termite attacks to the sub structure.
This
particular building rests on large rock subsurface of that the water of
moisture absorbent by the walls is very little. Since this is an archaeological conserved building they won’t let us to see the inside, I have been to this
place several times but so far never got any opportunity of seeing it inside.
But the external plastering has very smooth texture. Actually the Padeniya
temple is something worth watching.
