Thupa,Thupagara and Thupa-pasada – By Roland Silva

The subject of Architecture and Town Planning in Sri Lanka, during the Early and Medieval Periods, is indeed vast. It is for this reason that the information is presented  in two sets, and in a series of volumes to each as the Religious Series and the Secular Series. This book is a result of this.It will also be noted that the material so presented is mainly the indigenous Architecture and Town Planning, and it will cover the period from earliest times of the fourth century BC, to about the fifteenth century, being the right backdrop for the international readers.  Some small improvements may be seen in the present version, adding the salient points of new knowledge gathered, especially through the excavation and conservation programmes, handled by the UNESCO-Sri Lanka Project of the Cultural Triangle and by the Department of Archaeology of Sri Lanka since 1986.
The original research on the Religious and Secular volumes on Architecture and town Planning were carried out during the two years period of fellowship in 1967 and 1968, offered by UNESCO. Half of this time was spent with the Faculty of Architecture, University of Rome and the balance at the Institute of Art and Archaeology of South and Southeast Asia, University of Amsterdam. I have expressed my gratitude to the teachers at these organizations already in a previous limited volume, where a small part of this material was published in 1988. The acknowledgement written on this occasion, is also given at the end of this preface, as the material in this specific volume of the “Thūpa, Thūpaghara, Thūpa-Pāsāda”, is mainly from the research published therein, and which volume was out of print in a short time. Meanwhile, some small improvements may be seen in the present version, adding the salient points of new knowledge gathered, especially through the excavation and conservation programmes, handled by the UNESCO-Sri Lanka Project of the Cultural Triangle and by the Department of Archaeology of Sri Lanka since 1986.
The present initiative to re-publish these volumes, together with the rest of the work carried out in Rome and Amsterdam, is due to the academic pressure brought about by my successors, Dr. Siran Deraniyagala and the present Director General of Archaeology, Dr. W.W. Wijayapala, to both of whom, I have the fondest regards for their committed yearning for the advancement of this discipline. I also wish to place on record the personal assistance of Mr.M.B.Herath, Director, General Services and Mr. S. Wijethunga, Assistant Director Publications, of the Department of Archaeology, who personally accompanied me to the Government Printer with the manuscript, and was causiously insistent that the publishing effort be begun instantly. I have every respect and friendship to the long standing Government Printer, Mr. N. Nanayakkara whom I have known well, and with whom I have worked with, for the past thirty years.