How did our gardens grow
As the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya prepares to celebrate its bi-centenary tomorrow, Dr. J. Sarath Edirisinghe looks back at the genesis of botanic gardens in the country
Two hundred years is a long time. While congratulating the authorities and the hundreds of others who contributed towards the maintenance of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya – a valuable national asset, let us look back at the history of gardens in this island.
It is clear that we have had a long tradition of laying out gardens since ancient times from the numerous records in our chronicles and inscriptions. According to historian Prof. Senaka Bandaranayake, gardens are of two types – Royal and Monastic. These had some affiliations to the ancient Indian tradition. There were the urban or semi-urban parks and glades for the exclusive use of royalty, aristocrats, merchants, traders and ascetics to take refuge from the heat and grime of the busy cities and their environs, and there were those located away from the cities, in the forests and around cave dwellings where mostly ascetics took refuge.
Some historians have classified the Royal Gardens as Royal Palace Gardens as they were around the royal palaces and probably fenced in with walls so that only the members of the royal households had access. The Royal Pleasure Gardens in addition to flowers, plants, trees and avenues had facilities for sports.
Danesh Wisumperuma mentions a number of Royal Gardens in ancient Lanka. One of the earliest to be established appears to be the one adjoining the palace of King Pandukabhaya. King Mutasiva was instrumental in establishing the Mahamegavana (Mahameuna) in Anuradhapura. During King Devanampiyatissa’s time there was another Royal Garden known as Nandina Uyana.
Ranmasu Uyana, an exquisite creation has been in existence since the 2nd century BCE. Sigiriya built by King Kashyapa is an extensive complex of laid out gardens with ponds, waterways and fountains. In Polonnaruwa there were the Nandana Uyana and the Deepa Uyana established by King Parakramabahu. A latter-day example is the royal gardens round the palace at Hanguranketa where King Rajasimha II resided from time to time. Robert Knox mentions the gardens with ponds full of fish and arenas for horse drills.
Examples of Monastic Gardens were found in Mihintale, Kalu Diya Pokuna, Rajagirilena Kanda, Vessagiriya, and Western Monasteries in Anuradhapura, Ritigala and Arankele.
Gardens open to the public were also established by King Devanampiyatissa in Anuradhapura and in Polonnaruwa by King Parakramabahu.
The sole purpose of establishing such gardens was to provide people with shelter, pleasure and joy. One exception was the gardens exclusively established for medicinal herbs and plants which were maintained for the use of the community.
When does a garden become a botanic garden? With the colonial powers stamping their presence around the 14th century, the gardens established by particularly the Dutch and the English included a concept of a botanic garden as a venue for studies on plants, both ornamental and those of economic importance. The results of these studies were to be used for improving the qualities of the plants and their products, their propagation and conservation,
The first English Governor Fredrick North (later Lord Guildford) maintained a small private garden at Peliyagoda. This was entrusted to Joseph Jonville who was appointed by the government as the ‘Clerk for Natural History and Agriculture’. According to Wisumperuma the garden at Peliyagoda never developed into a botanic garden as Jonville was convinced that the site would be inundated when the river flooded.
Jonville accompanied General Hay Macdowall in the first expedition to Kanda Uda Rata in 1800. The specimens of plants he collected are in the British Museum. Jonville also provided a few plates for Cordiner’s ‘Description of Ceylon’. He also made several exchanges between the gardens under his care with those of the East India Company at Calcutta.
The first step in the setting up a botanic garden in Ceylon was taken by the then President of the Royal Society Sir Joseph Banks in 1810. The site was in Slave Island, probably the Old Dutch garden and was called ‘Kew’. It appears that this garden was still in existence in 1814 when in May of that year Brownrigg wrote to D’Oyly asking him to house Ehelepola Maha Nilame in the Government House in Slave Island where the Botanical Gardens around it could be used for the Adigar’s recreation.
Nihal Karunaratna in his ‘Kandy Past and Present’ says that the ‘Colombo Journal’ of January 30, 1833, carried the news that Lord Liverpool, on the suggestion of Sir Alexander Johnston, established a RBG in Ceylon in 1811. However, the first botanic garden probably started with the appointment of William Kerr who arrived in the island on August 11, 1812. as the Resident Superintendent and Chief Gardener of His Majesty’s garden. Kerr shifted the gardens to Kalutara which resulted in his nickname “Kalutara Kerr”. He died in 1814 and was succeeded by Alexander Moon who arrived in the island in 1817.
Trimen’s records show that the Slave Island garden was main
tained until the Peradeniya garden was opened. According to Nihal Karunaratna the reasons for the transfer of the botanic gardens of Slave Island to Peradeniya has to be conjectured. Moon’s activities, particularly the transport of soil from other areas to Slave Island and the additional expenditure incurred were not to the liking of William Granville, the Deputy Secretary.
Moon received instructions to seek a proper spot for the gardens near Kandy in November 1821. The Board of Commissioners in Kandy was requested to help him. Moon sent in his report on December 11, 1821 recommending Peradeniya, the site of the former Royal Palace Gardens of the Gampola and Kandyan kings, as the most suitable location. Senasammatha Vikramabahu (1469 – 1511) ruled from Peradeniya before moving to Kandy. The ruins of the vihare and the dagaba found in the site were built by King Wimaladharmasuriya I (1591 – 1604).
It was King Kirthi Sri Rajasimha (1747 – 1782) who decreed the gardens a Royal Botanic Garden, the designation remaining to this day. King Rajadhi Rajasimha (1782 – 1798) had a visiting palace on the site.
The last King of Kandy Sri Wikrama Rajasimha (1798 – 1815) maintained the garden which was sacked by the English. The stone pillars and other structures among the ruins were used in building the bungalow for Moon which was of very modest proportions according to the instructions issued by the government. Moon faced immense problems due to the difficulty in getting labourers and preventing marauding wild elephants ravaging the garden. He was relentlessly pressurized by the Governor to expand the coffee nursery.
Moon was followed by a succession of distinguished Superintendents. Dr. Siril Wijesundera states that the RBG, Peradeniya together with the gardens at Hakgala and Henerathgoda were responsible for the introduction of plants for economic and environmental development of the island in the 19th century. Activities during this period resulted in the development of economic and plantation crops, establishment of important state departments such as the Forest Department (1887) and the Department of Agriculture (1912), as well as the contribution to the development of plantation crops such as tea and rubber.
Providing a unique aesthetic experience to the public, the Royal Botanic Gardens continues to grow and flourish.