Voyaging to Wonderland

Sri Lanka and the Cunning Lilly

Unpredictable, and uneven, sailing had long been the best option for reaching ancient Sri Lanka.

But for Sri Lanka's first settlers - who had still to master boats - a short walk from India was all it took.

And walking was what they did: Palaeolithic and later Mesolithic migrants from the Indian mainland who simply strolled across, their effortless trek belying the extreme complexity that hundreds of years later would colour Sri Lanka's relationship with India - from war, intermarriage, Buddhism itself - and the borrowing of kings and armies.

In Voyaging to Wonderland, book three in The Ceylon Press History of Sri Lanka, take a tour of how prehistory Sri Lanka; and see some of the few rare and ghostly finds that, like clues in a whodunnit, point towards the first, often contented, real Sri Lankans.

The Ceylon Press Pocket Professor History of Sri Lanka is made up of 100 very short books, or talks, which explore the great themes of Sri Lankan history, alongside its day-to-day story down the centuries.

It can also be enjoyed as a Podcast at theceylonpress.com.