Raven-Hart could read and write 13 languages and speak five. The second person I admire is Major Roland Raven-Hart who sailed from South Africa and spent 15 years in Ceylon from 1963.

Knox’s work has been commended by many British writers who considered that Knox’s description of the Isle of Ceylon was written with great truth and integrity. Knox first lived in Lagumdeniya village, near Gampola and later moved to Undunuwara and constructed a house there. Knox “earned his living by various means such as peddling, knitting, farming, and lending rice and corn at 50% interest to the villagers (Sebastian: 2013 p 497). In his monograph he adored the Sinhala culture, certain Sinhala customs, folk lore, and the beauty of Ceylon. Knox enjoyed a considerable degree of freedom over twenty years before he made his escape. Knox, being an English sailor, was captured in 1659 by King Rajasinghe II of the Kandyan kingdom. Of all those Western/European travellers and writers who fell in love with the island of Taprobane or Sielediba or Serendib or Ceyloa or Zeylan or Ceylon or Sinhaladipa and wrote about it, three stand out for me. I had the privilege of reading the book titled ‘Sri Lanka: Paradise Lost Paradise Regained’ by Michael Naseby.

UNICORN Publication: 2020 (Available on - $ 30).‘Sri Lanka: Paradise Lost Paradise Regained’ by Michael Naseby.‘Sri Lanka: Paradise Lost Paradise Regained’ is a must-read for all those who are concerned about the recent past and the promising but unclear future of the island of Sri Lanka

Paradise lost paradise regained