Page 58 - Vimarsha Volume 2

An Account of the Island of Ceylon 1803: An Anthropological
Review

H. L. S. De Zoysa

Department of Sociology

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sceinces

University of Ruhuna

lszoysa96@gmail.com
1. Introduction

Historical archives provide detailed description about the earlier socio, economic,
political and cultural surrounding of a specific society in a given time. Therefore these
books play a major role as main historical resources. Moreover, the accounts which

composed by foreigners, provide a picture of a selected society as external observers,
and the readers can comprehend those societies by the foreigner’s point of view.
Therefore the foreign writer’s archives are important sources to understand the

history of a specific society since local writer’s archives may not always provide a
complete picture of society. “An Account of the Island of Ceylon 1803”, written by
Robert Percival can be identified as such specific ancient description which provides

a picture of the colonial period of Sri Lanka.

Robert Percival was a captain in the Royal Irish Regiment in Britain and was

appointed to Ceylon in 1796. He began to write a book regarding his observations
and experiences while he was in Ceylon and later on, he published it under the name
of “An Account of the Island of Ceylon 1803”.Percival’s “Account” of Ceylon was

one of the first books which were published about the country once it was captured
by the British from the Dutch in 1796. This book provides details about the political,
social and cultural background and it is more important to study in an

Anthropological view because this book is about how the society was organized under
the Portuguese, Dutch and British Colonial period.As he argues, the Ceylon Island

has consisted of different ethnic groups, religious groups, minority groups, languages,
geographical locations and cultural settings. Percival expresses that diversity,

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