A special lecture titled ‘The Ramayana and the Role of University Humanities in Public Life’ was delivered on the 5th of December 2023 by Dr Justin W. Henry, Bhagwan Padma Prabhu Endowed Assistant Professor of the Department of Religious Studies, University of South Florida, USA. The event was organized by the Department of Linguistics and was held in the K14 boardroom of the Faculty of Humanities.

The academic staff members of the Department of Linguistics and the Faculty of Humanities; internal students reading Linguistics, Translation Studies, and Translation Methods; and postgraduate and diploma students participated in the event. The purpose of the event was to expand academic horizons and strengthen international relations through multidisciplinary studies.

Dr Justin W. Henry has worked with the Department of Linguistics as a visiting research fellow from 2008 to 2009 and has spent several years in Sri Lanka studying Sinhala, Sanskrit, Pali, and Tamil languages, and religious literature.

The lecture was followed by a discussion session with the participation of the academic staff members and the students. Dr Henry donated copies of his book ‘Ravana’s Kingdom - The Ramayana and Sri Lankan History from Below’ to the University Library and the Department Library.

Dr Henry met Senior Professor Nilanthi de Silva, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, and Dr Sudath Senarath, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, after the event and discussed the possibilities of extending the academic partnership.