Walk with Sri Lankan

02/02/2025

17/01/2025

Cinnamon originated in Sri Lanka and was so rare and valuable in ancient times that it was traded like gold, presented to kings and gods. It symbolized wealth and played a central role in both rituals and trade routes, making it a prized commodity throughout history.

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16/01/2025

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16/01/2025

16/01/2025

Major Thomas William Rogers was a colonial administrator who came to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in the early 1800s. While he was responsible for other ‘productive’ efforts, Sir James Tennant wrote that Thomas killed around 1400 elephants in Sri Lanka during his lifetime. This is the highest ‘record’ of elephants killed by a single hunter in Sri Lanka.

Thomas’s reign of slaughter was cut short in 1845 - when he died after being struck by lightning! Strangely, according to some sources, Thomas’s death was predicted by a Buddhist monk, 8 months before his death. The monk had supposedly claimed that “thou [referring to Thomas] shalt be consumed by the lightning of heaven before thou canst raise thine accursed weapon for another act of sacrilege.” It’s said that Thomas himself was disturbed by this prediction, and refrained from killing elephants for several months and took refuge in the highlands.

Nonetheless, his penchant for hunting stirred again. After 8 months of ‘abstinence,’ Thomas launched another hunting expedition to track down a ‘rogue elephant.’ During the expedition, he stayed at a resthouse when heavy rains began. Supposedly, Thomas went out to check the weather… and never returned. On 7th June 1845 – just as the monk predicted – Thomas was struck by lightning. According to one source, “A flash of lightning had struck him with terrific force, before he got to the center of the high road in front of the bungalow, and had almost carbonized every particle of flesh, down to his bones. His hour had come at last.” But the story doesn’t end there...

After his death, Thomas was buried at Nuwara Eliya (just behind the golf course). Interestingly, some say even his grave was struck by lightning “at least 100 times within the next 30 years.” Those who have seen the grave say there is a visible ‘crack’ on it – whether it was caused by divine intervention or other reason is up for debate.

If you want to learn more about this eerie incident, watch the documentary linked below (an article is also linked).

Documentary - https://youtu.be/p6JTQI0sap8?si=m1WWvX0XH77GzrKh

Article - http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/the-death-curse-of-the-great-hunter-8873/

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