Proving the intellectual excellence of her generation, Dr. Maini Dias never retired from active scholarship as she remained zealous in exploring novel developments in the field of archaeology.
by Punsara Amarasinghe
When I met Dr. Malini Dias almost ten years ago at the Royal Asiatic Society in Colombo(RASSL), I was in my last stage of university life as an undergraduate with sanguine expectations to be a part of the intelligentsia. Thus, my frequent visits to the Royal Asiatic Society in the Ananda Coomarswamy Mawatha became an obvious choice as it used to be the epicentre of scholarly discussions, which enriched the standards of academia in a culturally and intellectually stagnant city like Colombo. Among the stalwarts whom I associated at RASSL, Dr. Malini was a genial intellectual who took a maternal interest in young members in society. It was in utmost good faith, that she persuaded me to complete my postgraduate qualifications and ironically by the time I returned to the island after obtaining my PhD, Dr Malini chaired the presidency of the Royal Asiatic Society and I went on to become its joint secretary.
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| Dr. Maini Dias with President Wickremesinghe [File Photo: Provided by the author |
Her recent demise at the age 81 adds a one more brick to the widening intellectual chasm in Sri Lanka, in which the county lacks to the capacity to produce maverick intellectuals in the calibre of Dr. Malini. It may not be an exaggeration to state that she belonged the best generation of post-colonial Ceylon as her peers largely benefited from the quality education inculcated by Jennings at the misty Peradeniya before its total eclipse by Sawabasa trap in 1956. The intellectual tradition represented by Dr Malini knew both Kalidasa and Shakespeare equally well while keeping a touch with the traditional values of the soil. Born to an affluent family in Galle, Sri Lanka, Dr.Malini studied in Southlands, Galle and Visaka Vidyalaya, Colombo before entering University of Peradeniya, where she excelled in oriental languages. Known as O-fac among the kultur undergraduates studying classics at Peradeniya, the oriental language departments dominated the scholarship related to classical languages such as Pali and Sanskrit. It goes without saying her lifelong passion in reading ancient Brahmin inscriptions was rooted in the solid training that Dr. Dias received at Peradeniya as a young orientalist during the halcyon days of Sri Lankan cultural life. It is notable that until the very last She continued to manifest her scholarly erudition, particularly owning to her training in the Oriental languages. In one occasion, I recall that she corrected one of the guest speakers for the monthly lecture at Royal Asiatic Society , when the later mispronounced a Sanskrit term. Despite her astute nature as a trained archaeologist and the second woman president of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, she never tried to be snobbish or condescending to others.
In organizing the monthly lectures at the Royal Asiatic Society, Dr. Malini always opted for a liberal attitude in inviting scholars from every walk of life, which actually vitalized the intellectual life of the Royal Asiatic Society, which was partially shrinking by the time she took over the presidency at RASSL. Her zealous nature mixed with moderation revived the Royal Asiatic Society into a vibrant platform. In March 2023 , Dr. Malini wrote a letter to His Excellency President Ranil Wickremasinghe expressing her concern about the practical problems faced by the Royal Asiatic Society amidst the financial crisis that encompassed the whole country. Instead of typing the letter as how others do, Dr. Malini chose the old-fashioned mode of writing the letter from her beautiful cursive handwriting. President Wickernasinge being an avid reader and student of history could not ignore this plea made by Dr. Malini, which resulted in the President’s visit to the Royal Asiatic Society on the 25th of April in 2023.
Besides her enormous contribution to the overarching development of the Royal Asiatic Society, Dr. Malini Dias stood high among the pantheon of great arachnologists in Sri Lanka. When she joined the Ceylon Archaeology Department in 1968 as a technical assistant in inscriptions, the department was in its heyday as it conducted various archaeological excavations under the careful mentorship of stalwarts like Dr. Charles Godakumbura. Dr. Malini was trained by the best epigraphers that this country ever produced such as Prof. Senerath Paranavithana and by emulating the traditions of her mentors, she never opened an avenue for pseudo-scientific narratives to prosper in her field.
Pursuing her academic brilliance, she obtained her doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, where her doctoral thesis entitled “The Growth of Buddhist Monastic Institutions in Ancient Sri Lanka as Depicted in the Brahmi Inscriptions” was praised due to its original contribution to the field. Her predilection for epigraphy enabled her to produce a rich corpus of literature the scholarship that included Epigraphical Notes published in 1991 and The Archaeological Heritage of Jaffna Peninsula in 2016. A few months before her demise, President Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed Dr. Malini Dias to co-chair the expert committee to interpret the Dimbulagala Inscription, Sri Lanka’s largest known inscription.
Proving the intellectual excellence of her generation, Dr. Maini Dias never retired from active scholarship as she remained zealous in exploring novel developments in the field of archaeology. When I met for the last time at the unveiling ceremony of the Silk Route painting at the Royal Asiatic Society on the 29th of July, she recalled how she attended the lectures at SOAS delivered by famous historian Richard Lowie on the transmission of Buddhism through Silk Routes. Although she wanted to drag the conversation on silk routes and Buddhism, I made it short out of haste due to the mundane commitments that awaited me at home. Now I have compunction on that last chance to learn something, that I did not know from this genial scholar. It is true that in the fullness of time, all that lives shall perish, in which death is the forgone conclusion. If life beyond death is a possibility, I would always look forward to having that missed conversation with Dr. Malini Dias somewhere across the Samsara.
Dr. Punsara Amarasinghe is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University. His co-edited book “Thirty Years Looking Back: The Rule of Law, Human Rights and State Building in the Post-Soviet Space was published in 2022 .
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