Digital library for indigenous medicine and dance forms

A digital library to preserve the art of indigenous medicine and traditional dance forms is to be established by the Ministry of Indigenous medicine and several other Ministries.

Indigenous Medicine, Salinda Dissanayake Minister said the project was to be undertaken in collaboration with the National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka.

“We participated at the UN Heritage Conference where we pledged to establish this library. They promised to give us the necessary funds and the technical knowledge,” he said.

The Minister pointed out that some countries had copyrights for many of their indigenous plants and medicines; similarly, they had to take measures to preserve them. “People have begun research based on Ayurvedic medicine and we have to ensure that it is preserved and people have access to it,” he said.

The library is to have material on medicine, plants, ‘thovil’ and other local dance forms. “Thovil, Shanthi Karma and information about musical instruments will also be added. We hope to retain the Sri Lankan identity through this,” he said.

Additional Director of the Ministry, Upul Weerawardane said videos with good sound quality, of all the dance forms would be collected. “We will be uploading it in the library so that people can see and experience the dance forms,” he said.

Weerawardane said a register with the list of those practicing indigenous methods would be established and their methods of practice would be collected. “We do have a few problems when collecting them as some of these methods have been passed down through word of mouth and we will have to look for these individuals with knowledge and interview them thoroughly,” he said.

He also said persons willing to learn the subject would be trained and that a teaching hospital would soon be established to provide students with

clinical training.