The Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology (PGIAR), University of Kelaniya is calling for applications for following postgraduate courses for the next academic year.

SUDHARSHAN SENEVIRATNE Professor of Archaeology University of Peradeniya Sri Lank *VESAK COMMEMORATION LECTURE. KATMANDU 28TH MAY 2007 EMBASSY OF SRI LANKA “The foothill of Himalaya, Inhabited by Kosalans Whose race is named after the Sun Whose lineage is Shakyan” “At a Shakyan city in the land of Lumbini A being to be enlightened, a priceless jewel, Is born in this world of men for welfare and weal; Because of that we are extravagantly gay. The Unique Being, the Personality Sublime, The Lord of all men and Foremost among mankind, Will turn the Wheel in the Grove of the Ancient Seers With the roar of the Lion, the monarch of all beasts” (Samuytta Nikaya III. i, III. ii) Thus I pay homage to an exalted son of Nepal – Shakyaputta Gautama Buddha, the compassionate one endowed with perfect wisdom, who gifted to humanity the doctrine of dialectics and analysis – to

SUDHARSHAN SENEVIRATNE Ph.D., FSLCA Professor of Archaeology. University of Peradeniya. Sri Lanka Director Archaeology. UNESCO-Sri Lanka Central Cultural Fund Project at Jetavana, Anuradhapura. Co Director. Anuradhapura Citadel Archaeology Project. *This paper was originally presented in 2005 at the CONFERENCE OF THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH ASIAN  ARCHAEOLOGISTS.  JULY 4TH TO 8TH at the British Museum, London. Anuradhapura, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) in 1981 and holds the distinction of being a prime pilgrim as well as a visitor destination in South Asia. The essay questions certain values assigned to historical sites and the extent to which such sites tend to overplay the bona fide status legitimizing identities of particular cultures/groups thereby intentionally or unintentionally marginalizing the histories/antiquity of the ‘other’. As much as World Heritage sites are recognized, declared and inscribed by UNESCO, conversely the underlying ideology or at least certain narrow functional needs of member