Under its Moriyan kings, Sri Lanka soared to unequalled heights of artistic excellence. New ideas and philosophies had flourished. So why was it that – overall – their rule had been, in the last analysis, disastrous?

Few other countries are currently producing as much world-class literature as Sri Lanka. So which novels should you read?

What really makes Sri Lanka tick? Perhaps these 5 very local cameos might provide a clue.

When King Kashyapa took up residence in Sigiriya, he triggered a party that, like the ancient world itself, raced to its corporeal end with all the aplomb of the last serving of the lost martini on board the Titanic. But what made it so extraordinary?

Kandy guards its remarkable story so well that it is all too easy to miss. Yet squirrelled away behind its traffic jams and shop hoardings, history is not dead; not even sleeping or dazed. It is instead ever on the lookout.

Unlike the classical world, Sri Lanka's ancient wonders are not merely buildings, including as they do a painting, a monastery, a book, technology, a shrine, and a tree. But why do they also include a lake?

How long is life, and what might you usefully do with the later bits?

Is it possible to reverse-engineer the last 5 decades and make Sundays special again? Perhaps.

Forget elephants and even leopards. What are the five great mammals of Sri Lanka that most people overlook to their eternal cost, and what story do they have to tell?

There's more to Sri Lankan cats than their famous leopard. What happened to its lions, and which beast breaks such wind as to call to mind Jean Patou’s famous perfume, 'Joy'?