Best Theceylonpress.com Podcasts (2025)

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A Murder of Kings: The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka 12 10:47

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1+ y ago10:47

10:47

Two periods of state-sponsored homicidal self-indulgence were now to grip the kingdom. The first killings broke out in 195 CE; and the second in 248 CE. Both were leavened by brief moments of stability that managed, with seconds to spare, to prevent the country from collapsing altogether; and give it a modest but life affirming breathing space. Suc…

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The Guardians: The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka 11 5:31

1+ y ago5:31

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In 1929, as Wall Street crashed and the roaring twenties came to an abrupt end, archaeologists digging in faraway Trincomalee uncovered the remains of a once-lofty temple, built a stone’s throw from the Indian Ocean, sometime after 307 CE. Beneath earth, trees, and jungle, stretching out to the shores of a great lake, the Velgam Vehera’s many scatt…

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The Kingdom That Walked On Water: The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka 10 8:06

1+ y ago8:06

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Far into the north of Sri Lanka, forty kilometres from Anuradhapura to the south, and fifty more to the western seaboard, lie the ruins of a shrivelled reservoir - Kuda Vilach Chiya. The tank is close to some of the country’s most iconic and mythical sites, including the landing place of Prince Vijay, paterfamilias of the nation, the palace of his …

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Bloodbath: The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka 9 6:15

1+ y ago6:15

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It took a hundred and twenty-eight years for the last Vijayan kings to travel the final road to oblivion, years that made the mafia tales of the Prohibition era or a Shakespearean tragedy appear tame. But travel them they did – and with unforgettable horror – all eighteen monarchs, of whom at least two thirds were murdered by their successors, plun…

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Merry-Go-Round: The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka 8 6:28

1+ y ago6:28

6:28

If ever there was a king who was entitled to get very cross indeed, it was Dutugemunu, one of the island’s standout sovereigns. Known, not unjustifiably as “The Great,” Dutugemunu was to rescue his car crash of a dynasty, only to watch it (albeit from the life thereafter) speed off the proverbial royal road yet again, and with such casual ingratitu…

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Conquered: The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka 7 6:19

1+ y ago6:19

6:19

Good advice is often nearer to hand than even the most foolish leader can imagine. Or be minded to seek. One hundred and fifty years earlier, and six thousand six hundred and one kilometres away, Thucydides, whose work, The Peloponnesian War, set such standards for history as to anticipate every conceivable future military and political ploy, had t…

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Heaven on Earth: The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka 6 9:34

1+ y ago9:34

9:34

In the previous 100 years Sri Lanka’s little Vijayan kingdom twice risked absolute oblivion, courtesy of its carefree kings. But twice too, in the following 170 years, the self-same state would step up, and prosper beyond all expectations, thanks to two other kings, both innate masters of nation building. For Pandu Kabhaya, and his grandson, Devana…

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Dancing on Knives: The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka 5 8:36

2y ago8:36

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“If I want a crown,” remarked Peachey, hero of Kipling’s Man Who Would Be King, and unexpected alter ego of Prince Vijiya, Sri Lanka’s first monarch, “I must go and hunt it for myself.” If Peachey’s motivation was glory and riches, plain and simple, Vijaya’s was about raw survival, dodging assassinations and evading parental disapprobation. If, tha…

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The Island That Cultivated Philosophy: The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka 4 5:52

2y ago5:52

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Sri Lanka’s first recorded monarch was to found a dynasty that would last over 600 years. Expelled from either Bengal or Gujarat (scholars argue, as scholars do) by his father, Prince Vijaya, the founding father of an eponymous royal family, arrived on the island in 543 BCE, his landing kicking off the start of recorded Singhala history despite its…

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Voyaging to Wonderland: The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka 3 8:56

2y ago8:56

8:56

Adam’s Bridge was a bridge crying out for repair, even before the great storm of 1480 shattered it forever. Unpredictable, and uneven, sailing had long been the better option. But for Sri Lanka’s first settlers – who had still to master boats – a short walk from India was all it took. And walking was what they did: Palaeolithic and later Mesolithic…

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The Island That Floated Away: The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka 2 9:31

2y ago9:31

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Rusty, derelict, and irresistibly optically-challenged, the old Talaimannar Lighthouse is a gratifyingly improbable key to help unlock the start of Sri Lanka’s recorded history. It presents an even more unlikely clue to explain the profound differences the island presents with the rest of the world. Heraclitus, the weeping philosopher, with his fon…

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The Great Conundrum: The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka 1 4:52

2y ago4:52

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It took a refugee from Nazi Germany, with an interests in economics and Buddhism to note the singular connection between two of the most obvious characteristics that distinguish Sri Lanka. “Small,” remarked E. F. Schumacher in his eponymous book in 1973, “is beautiful.” It was economics, rather than Sri Lanka that Schumacher had in mind, but, as wi…