The diplomatic community in New Delhi was given a special opportunity this week to experience one of Sri Lanka’s most iconic living traditions, as diplomats from Embassies and High Commissions based in the Indian capital travelled to Kandy to witness the Kandy Esala Perahera from August 26 to 28. 

According to the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka, the visit brought together representatives who also serve as envoys to Sri Lanka, underscoring New Delhi’s role as a hub of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic engagement with the wider international community.

There are currently ninety‑nine Ambassadors and High Commissioners based in New Delhi who, in addition to representing their countries in India, also represent them in Sri Lanka. Six newly designated Heads of Mission presented their Letters of Credence to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Colombo on August 25. 

They included Dharamkumar Seeraj of Guyana, Professor Kwasi Obiri‑Danso of Ghana, Dr. Mohammed Abdalla Ali Eltom of Sudan, Francisco Manuel Compress Hernandez of the Dominican Republic, Robert Zischg of Austria, and Siti Arnyfariza Binti Mohd Jaini of Brunei Darussalam.

On August 26, a delegation of nineteen diplomats and family members from Embassies and High Commissions in New Delhi arrived in Kandy for a specially arranged three‑day programme centred on the Esala Perahera and Sri Lanka’s cultural and religious heritage. 

The delegation included Ambassadors, High Commissioners and senior representatives from Guyana, Ghana, Iceland, Papua New Guinea, Ireland, Tanzania, Zambia, the Dominican Republic, Austria and Latvia.

The programme was designed to allow visiting diplomats to experience Sri Lanka beyond formal engagements, through its living heritage, religious traditions, cultural performances, cuisine and hospitality. 

Highlights included visits to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, the Thewawa ceremony, the International Buddhist Museum and other sites of historical and cultural significance. 

A major highlight was witnessing the Randoli Perahera on the evening of August 27, offering diplomats a first‑hand view of one of Sri Lanka’s most spectacular cultural and religious expressions.

The programme also featured a traditional Kandyan dinner hosted by the Chief Custodian of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic and a lunch at Ehelepola Walawwa, giving guests a taste of Sri Lanka’s distinctive culinary traditions. 

The visit concluded with tours of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Peradeniya, a gem and jewellery establishment, and the Hanthana Tea Museum, providing insights into Sri Lanka’s natural, cultural and economic heritage.

The High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi, which coordinated the visit, described it as an important opportunity to strengthen the cultural and people‑to‑people dimension of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic relations while deepening the understanding of Sri Lanka among members of the New Delhi‑based diplomatic community. (Newswire)

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A painting that brings together Mahatma Gandhi, pioneering Sri Lankan architect Minnette de Silva, and a little‑known episode from Gandhi’s 1927 visit to Ceylon has been gifted to the High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi.

The work, titled Gandhi and Minnette de Silva (2023), was presented on August 7 by Sri Lankan artist Raja Segar and Namita Swamy, Founder‑Director of Tapobhumi – Oko Centre for the Arts, Bengaluru.

According to accounts by historian and feminist scholar Kumari Jayawardena, a nine‑year‑old Minnette de Silva was tasked with finding goat’s milk for Gandhi during his visit. 

Segar reinterpreted this moment through his distinctive “Refractive” style, weaving Gandhi, the young Minnette, and the goat into a vibrant landscape of geometric forms and vivid colors. 

The goat, incidental in the original story, assumes symbolic presence in the painting, linking Gandhi’s philosophy of simplicity with Sri Lanka’s rural landscape.

The artist noted a personal connection to the subject, having lived in a house designed by Minnette de Silva, which deepened the resonance of the work.

High Commissioner officials expressed appreciation to Segar and Swamy for their generous gift, noting that the painting will become part of the Mission’s collection and contribute to celebrating the cultural, historical, and people‑to‑people ties between Sri Lanka and India. (Newswire)

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