Sri Lanka: Did you mean...?

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 descends...

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.

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.

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.

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, and war, it shifts and changes...

In the 13th century, astonishing quantities of spices and silk passed from the Far East to Europe. Exact amounts are not known, but spice popularity in both cuisine and medicine reached its historical peak during the Middle Ages in Europe...

Eunuchs were powerful political players in ancient Chinese government. Originating as trusted slaves in the royal household they were ambitious to use their favoured position to gain political power. Advising the emperor from within the palace...

Cyrus the Great (558-530 BCE) built the first universal empire, stretching from Greece to the Indus River. This was the famous Achaemenid Empire of Persia. An inscription at Naqsh-i-Rustam, the tomb of his able successor Darius I (521-486...