Cambridge by the Mahaweli

II Wednesday 29th April 2009 Jennings was formerly a lecturer at the university. Radical undergraduates London School of Economics and from Peradeniya were among the lead- Political Science and Visiting Professor ing insurgents in two failed insurrec- Just a few years after at the University of British Columbia. tions, firstly in 1971 and again in the His vision was to recreate a Cambridge late 1980s. Many of the intervening Jennings left, sweep- in the East – a single residential uni- years have been characterised by insta- ing changes were versity on British lines educating a bility, unrest and frequent disruptions highly select group of young men and in the academic programme, while made to the island’s women in the English tongue who political interference frequently educational system. would take their place as legislators, encroached on the running of univer- administrators and professionals in the sity affairs. Following popular service of a little bit of England in Despite the upheavals, the universi- demand, the govern- Asia. ty has shown a remarkable degree of Under his tenure, the new campus at resilience. Peradeniya continues to ment imposed changes Peradeniya enrolled its first students produce graduates that have gone on to in the university in 1952 and was officially opened by the become prominent figures in politics, Duke of Edinburgh in the presence of business, the arts and academia, and admissions policies Queen Elizabeth in 1954. Jennings’s many have excelled on the internation- contributions extended well beyond the al stage. Today, the university has resulting in enrol- sphere of education. While in Ceylon, seven faculties (arts, science, veteri- ments that soon he also had appointments as Deputy nary medicine, agriculture, dental sci- Civil Defence Commissioner, ences, medicine and engineering), two exceeded the levels Chairman of the Ceylon Social postgraduate institutes and over 11,000 envisaged. Economic Services Commission and was an advi- students, making it the second largest sor to the constitutional arrangements of Sri Lanka’s 13 universities. difficulties precluded prior to independence. University education in Sri Lanka is a commensurate His primary task accomplished, still free, although this means that increase in funding. In the 1960s, the University took the momentous decision Cambridge by to offer classes in the vernaculars (Sinhala and Tamil) in addition to English. For the first time, non-English the Mahaweli speaking rural youth could pursue higher competition for places is fierce. Among studies alongside chil- aspirants of higher education across dren from the middle Peradeniya University Sri Lanka’s schools, Peradeniya continues to be the most sought after of all classes and elite. by Sanji Gunasekara fortunes have mirrored the island’s Jennings left Peradeniya in 1955 and the country’s universities. political, economic and social trajecto- returned to England as Master of As an infant, I frequently accompa- “But who can deny that Peradeniya of ries. Trinity Hall at Cambridge, later becom- nied my parents to Peradeniya when vihara, Christian ecumenical church, the fifties, in the first decade of our While major centres of learning ing Vice Chancellor of the University they visited the late HAI Goonetileke - Muslim mosque and Hindu kovil. existence as a modern independent have existed in Sri Lanka for over two of Cambridge. For a brief few years then librarian and distinguished bibli- The mere mention of Peradeniya is nation, with its galaxy of world class millennia, these were closely linked to after he left the island, Jennings’s ographer – and also my mother’s certain to evoke nostalgia among its intellectuals on the teaching staff and the Sangha (the monastic community vision seemed to have become a reality. cousin. Returning to the campus earli- alumni. The late Lakshman the opportunity of sampling t he of Buddhist monks and nuns) and A rich intellectual tradition flourished er this year, I visited the six-storey Kadirgamar, former Sri Lankan crumbs of a rich intellectual feast, was restricted to matters pertaining to the and the university soon acquired a rep- main library complex where his por- Foreign Minister and one-time not a heady attraction for so many dharma (teachings of the Buddha). The utation as one of the most promising in trait gazes down from the wall of one President of the Oxford Union, spent young men and women shedding their advent of a modern secular university the Commonwealth. However, of the reading rooms, and to peruse the his undergraduate years at starched white school uniforms if only tradition is a relatively recent phenom- Jennings’s tenure had coincided with a impressive collection in the Ceylon Peradeniya. During the unveiling of for the freedom to grow a beard, smoke enon, introduced towards the end of period of momentous social and politi- Room – a concept he is credited with his portrait at Oxford in 2005, he a cigarette, wear the open sandals British colonial rule, although the cal change in the island. After nearly establishing in all Sri Lanka’s univer- remarked that while “Oxford was the patented by the revered Ceylon Medical College was inaugurat- 500 years of colonial rule, independ- sities. In another reading room, a icing on the cake, the cake itself was Sarachchandra and spout a confused ed in 1870. Following prolonged lobby- ence from Britain came in 1948. The young Buddhist monk in saffron robes, baked at home”. For many Sri mixture of existentialism, national- ing by a group of public-spirited citi- decade that followed saw a continued a Muslim girl in hijab and a group of Lankans, now ensconced in far less ism, and Marxism?” - Jayantha zens under the leadership of Sir rise in the forces of nationalism that, female Tamil students adorned in salubrious climes in all corners of the Dhanapala in his review of Ponnambalam Arunachalam, the together with a linguistic and cultural brightly coloured salwar kameez were globe, Peradeniya is a reminder of the Peradeniya: Memories of a University Ceylon University College was estab- resurgence, posed a direct challenge to all engrossed in their books, testament heady days of youth – a time of new (1997), edited by KM de Silva and lished in Colombo in 1921. Affiliated the elitist institution operating on the to the diversity of the student body. freedoms, a shared sense of optimism Tissa Jayatillaka with the University of London, this banks of the Mahaweli Ganga, Sri Peradeniya has people going lyrical and the allure of a rich intellectual or a small, developing country in landmark act was envisaged to be a pre- Lanka’s largest river. about it and it’s easy to understand grounding. Though many of the build- South Asia, Sri Lanka has pro- liminary step in the ultimate creation Just a few years after Jennings left, why. The grounds themselves cover ings are now somewhat faded, a drive Fduced a disproportionately high of a fully-fledged university. sweeping changes were made to the some 700 hectares, of which just 150 through the campus, perhaps after a number of academics, scholars and In what became known as the ‘battle island’s educational system. Following are developed. To the west are the pine- visit to the nearby Peradeniya professionals that have gone on to of the sites,’ competing proposals were popular demand, the government covered hills of the Hantana range Botanical Gardens, is definitely recom- prominence on the world stage. There put forward for the location of the uni- imposed changes in the university while flowing right through campus is mended, and provides a glimpse of is hardly a major research institution, versity. While Colombo was initially admissions policies resulting in enrol- the Mahaweli Ganga. Well-manicured what must be one of the most pictur- think-tank or university anywhere in favoured, a decision was eventually ments that soon exceeded the levels lawns are complemented by tropical esque settings for a university campus the West that does not have at least one taken to settle for Peradeniya, a tea envisaged. Economic difficulties pre- foliage. No doubt many young students in the world. Sri Lankan on its senior staff. plantation 8km from Kandy and a site cluded a commensurate increase in fell in love for the first time while For more information about the uni- Proficient in English, familiar with of great scenic beauty. Until the new funding. In the 1960s, the University strolling along the pathways that versity visit www.pdn.ac.lk Western culture (though often its campus was built, however, the new took the momentous decision to offer meander through the grounds, perhaps For the full review of Peradeniya: harshest critics) and capable of mim- university functioned in Colombo. classes in the vernaculars (Sinhala and pausing to steal a moment of intimacy Memories of a University (1997) by icking the decorum that is supposed to Taking its first students in 1942, it was Tamil) in addition to English. For the under the shade of an arboreal canopy. Jayantha Dhanapala, former UN epitomise a true ‘gentleman’ (or ‘lady’), a further decade before the transition first time, non-English speaking rural The sprawling nature of the campus is Undersecretary General, visit these Sri Lankans are frequently to Peradeniya. An acute shortage of youth could pursue higher studies reminiscent of the traditional open- www.ices.lk/publications/esr/articles_j assumed to be products of Oxford or building materials following the spread alongside children from the middle ness found at Anuradhapura, and the ul98/PeraMem.PDF Cambridge. In fact, many are graduates to the East of the Second World War classes and elite. architecture is distinctly oriental, with For a commentary on Jennings’s con- of Sri Lanka’s own elite educational was a major factor in this delay.

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