Sri Lanka: Did you mean...?

A sutra (Sanskrit for “thread”) is a written work in the belief systems of Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism which is understood to accurately preserve important teachings of the respective faiths and guide an adherent on the path from...

Lumbini is a village, archaeological site, and place of pilgrimage honored as the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha, l. c. 563-483 BCE) located in modern-day Rupandehi District of Nepal, Province 5, near the Indian border...

Lakshmi (or Laksmi) is the Hindu goddess of wealth, good fortune, youth, and beauty. She is the wife of the great god Vishnu and the pair is often worshipped in tandem as Lakshmi-Narayana. Just as her husband has many avatars when he...

The Supreme Court of Judicature on the Island of Ceylon, Colored aquatint by an unknown artist. Yale Center for British Art.

Joris van Spilbergen meets the rulers of Ceylon at Kandy in 1602, lithograph, 19th century. Museum voor Land- en Volkenkunde, Rotterdam.

The Town of Colombo, copper engraving, from a Dutch book, Reistogt naar en door Oostindien, Amsterdam, c. 1775, after an original engraving by Johannes Kip c. 1680.

Bird's eye view of the fort of Batticaloa, copperplate printing on paper by Johannes Janssonius Waasbergen, c. 1665. Nationaal Archief, The Hague.

Portrait of Admiral Peter Rainier (1741-1808), oil on canvas by Arthur William Devis, 1805.

For well over 1,000 years, sacred stories and heroic epics have made up the mythology of Hinduism. Nothing in these complex yet colourful legends is fixed and firm. Pulsing with creation, destruction, love...

The spices clove, nutmeg, and mace originated on only a handful of tiny islands in the Indonesian archipelago but came to have a dramatic, far-reaching impact on world trade. In antiquity, they became popular...