Nineteenth Century Ceylon

A hitherto unidentified manuscript conserved at the Archives of the Abbey of Pannonhalma (Hungary) is identified in this article as a fragment of a Sinhalese palm-leaf manuscript from the nineteenth century. It is a fragment of a prayer for the health of a certain Seneviratne mantri, who is tentatively identified in this article as Albert L. De Alwis Seneviratne, the Sinhalese unofficial member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon in the years 1881–1899.

The article is written in Hungarian; it is followed by a detailed abstract in English, and is accompanied by photographs of the manuscript fragment.

The encounter with portrait photography in colonial Ceylon presents a rare amalgam of identity, culture and occupation in the history of the sub-continent. A synthesis of 'community and status' or 'community and habitat' finds a striking pictorial foothold in the island and the photographic repertoire in this essay will attempt to showcase such encounters through the studio photographs of both the elite and the local populace. It will also present the concurrent preoccupation with plantation photography and correlated images of a choreographed display of mass labour. The subdued but arresting shots of natives at work and within the domestic realm, in addition, finds a place in this collection. They offer a glimpse into life on the island in the late 19th century, capturing themes related to bourgeoisie assertion/consciousness, religious revivalism and civilian life. In so doing, this analysis shall offer some insights into the intercourse between as the historian Sujit Sivasundaram calls it 'cosmopolitanism and ingenuity', marking the island's separate identity from the Indian mainland. Though ethnographic portraiture on the island skirted anthropometric vision unlike colonial India, it did categorise islanders and their occupations.