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Exhibition of traditional watercraft at Colombo Museum
Ceylan, Pirogue à balancier, 1876
(Collection SK)
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Sri Lanka's first ever exhibition on traditional watercraft is now on at the National Museum of Colombo. The exhibition organised by Lt. Com. Somasiri Devendra traces the origins and development of boat and ship building in Sri Lanka from ancient times to the modern period, from the simple log and bamboo rafts to more advanced vessels.
Lt. Com. Devendra, a specialist in nautical archaeology said that the exhibition has incorporated a theoretical model on the evolution |
of watercrafts from rafts, oruvas and paruvas to the more advanced sea-going crafts such as the yatra donis of the south and the tonis of Jaffna.
The centrepiece of the show is a four-foot long model of a yatra doni, the last type of traditional sailing craft made in Sri Lanka. The model, belonging to the family of Ven. Dodanduva Dharmasena of Kumarakanda Pirivena, Dodanduva had been donated to the museum in 1888.
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Other highlights of the show include :
the earliest rock carving of a boat from Duvegala in Polonnaruva District assigned to the second century B.C., and depicting a sailing ship;
a long boat from Kelanitota ferry carbon-dated to the 6th-2nd centuries B.C.
and a part of a paruva found in Attanagalu Oya carbon-dated to about the 9th century A.D.
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Native fishing canoe, Colombo,1908
(Post card, collection SK) |
Fleet of native fishing boats off the coast of Ceylon, 1929
(Post card, collection SK)
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The evolution of watercraft is however largely traced through rock carvings, drawings, paintings, photographs and models sourced locally and overseas.
Besides the photographs of old boats recovered from Kuruganga and other localities, the collection includes photographs of a variety of models from the British Museum and the scale drawings of traditional fishing craft of Sri Lanka by Gerhard Kapitan. |
The models on display include several locally-devised log and bamboo rafts such as the teppan, pahura and kattumarama and the massive models of Maldivian vessels obtained by Archaeological Commissioner H.C.P.Bell in the early part of the last century.
The exhibition is brought up to date by the models provided by Blue Star Marine, Colombo Dockyard and the Sri Lanka Navy. These last named vessels though built in Sri Lanka have been considerably influenced by foreign models in keeping with developments in nautical architecture.
References :
Sunday Observer, Sunday, 26 August 2001
The Oru and the Yatra - Traditional out-rigger water craft of Sri Lanka, V. Vitharana, Colombo, 1992. |
