i8
 

Dallas Pratt
 

I had heard about Manjusri through Ripley's article, "In the
Low Country of Ceylon," which had been published by the Yale
Review as long ago as 1949, and a copy of which my kind friend
had sent me when he had heard about my proposed trip to the
 

L. T. P. .Manjusri and his son Kushana at Dehiwela Zoo.

island in February, 1976. Along with a racy description of some
Sinhalese "characters" he had met, and much talk of elephants,
Ripley tells of a humorous encounter with a Buddhist monk who
had at first been reported to be a Japanese parachutist lurking in
a cave, but who turned out to be the very peaceable Mr. Manjusri.
The country people had mistaken the hitter's large black umbrella
for a parachute. iManjusri had heard of some early frescoes in this
cave, near Yala, the wildlife reserve, and had come to take copies
of them. He had started this work of copying the cave and temple
murals of Sri Lanka in 1936. Ripley was impressed by the "real
labor of love" of this man attempting to preserve the knowledge
of a little-known temple art (much of which had been damaged
or lost) and to popularize it abroad.