Research topic: Archives of Sri Lanka's Vocal Arts: The Lyrical Genres of the Nevill Collection as Refractions of Sri Lanka, Past and Present

大英图书馆的档案中有数千份僧伽罗语手稿，统称为内维尔收藏。1865年至1897年在斯里兰卡收集的英国法官休内维尔（1847年至1897年），从谁这个集合的名字，内维尔收集包含数百斯里兰卡卡维，sivupada，sindu，vannam，和wandana抒情体裁文本之间的第十三世纪和1897年。我建议把重点放在内维尔收集文本的日期从十六世纪开始。特别是，我将研究与1707年至1815年（从纳伦德拉辛哈统治到1815年宫廷落入英国人手中）的康提宫廷有关的文本，以及与16世纪至1897年（从一位小乘佛教僧侣创作的内维尔抒情诗的最早估计日期到内维尔去世的那一年）的宗教背景有关的文本。这些文本将被视为追求两条主要研究路线的来源：音乐性在这些背景下的作用及其社会生活。在这些时期的宫廷和宗教背景下，音乐性有什么功能？生活在它周围的人是谁？除了这项工作，我还将研究内维尔的收集作为十九世纪斯里兰卡的音乐性和殖民主义之间的关系的一个例子。这将考虑内维尔收集抒情文本的背景和推动他收集的因素。内维尔在锡兰期间一直担任公务员，他的歌词集与南亚其他殖民代理人的歌词有相似之处。因此，我接近他的抒情收集，以期建立其与英国殖民政府在19世纪的斯里兰卡和在这种背景下的殖民者的音乐性的地方的关系。我的项目主要是档案和历史。然而，我也将在这些流派的今天的实践者中进行实地考察。首先，这将是定位现代生活的抒情和替代叙事，细微差别，问题或取代收到的叙事围绕这些流派。这一研究领域的核心将是观察内维尔收集之前和今天之间的连续性和变化的例子。里卡多·罗克（Ricardo Roque）和金·瓦戈纳（Kim Wagoner）认为，通过研究殖民地档案，学者们可以确定"殖民地的叙述、形象和分类是如何产生的，以及是如何由物质环境和身体实践产生的"。通过考虑内维尔收集的文本和体裁的历史编纂以及内维尔的收集实践和现代抒情实践，我的目标是展示殖民代表性和抒情实践之间的关系和影响。内维尔收集之前的宫廷和宗教背景如何塑造殖民地的表现形式，这些表现形式随后又如何影响当代和后代的抒情表演者，他们的实践和叙事？通过回答这个问题，我希望介绍斯里兰卡的殖民主义和音乐性的历史，与今天的做法和更遥远的过去，追查内维尔歌词的血统，并为他们的发展特点提供解释。我的研究课题有三个方面。通过内维尔收集，我将研究斯里兰卡的音乐史学从十六至十九世纪;音乐性，收集和殖民主义在十九世纪斯里兰卡;和内维尔收集和现代实践的抒情体裁之间的连续性和变化。每个子主题都与内维尔收集;方法的影响将在整个审查。然而，将这个档案定位在这个重要的中心，给了我必要的限制，使我的项目可行。

In the archives of the British Library are several thousand Sinhala manuscripts known collectively as the Nevill Collection. Collected in Sri Lanka between 1865 and 1897 by British judge Hugh Nevill (1847-1897), from whom this collection takes its name, the Nevill Collection contains hundreds of Sri Lankan kavi, sivupada, sindu, vannam, and wandana lyrical genre texts dating between the thirteenth century and 1897. I propose to focus on the Nevill Collection texts that date from the sixteenth century onwards. In particular, I will examine texts that relate to the Kandyan court between 1707 and 1815 (from the reign of Narendrasimha to the fall of the court to the British in 1815) and texts that relate to religious contexts between the sixteenth century and 1897 (from the earliest date estimated of a Nevill lyric composed by a Theravada monk to the year that Nevill died). These texts will be taken as sources to pursue two main lines of inquiry: the roles of musicality in these contexts and its social life. What functions did musicality have in courtly and religious contexts in these periods, and who were the people that lived their lives around it?Alongside this work, I will also research Nevill's collecting as an example of relationships between musicality and colonialism in nineteenth-century Sri Lanka. Central to this will be considering the contexts in which Nevill collected lyrical texts and the factors that drove his collecting. Nevill was employed as a Civil Servant throughout his time in Ceylon and his collection of lyrics bears similarities with those of other colonial agents in South Asia. As such, I approach his lyrical collection with a view to establish its relationships with the British colonial administration in nineteenth-century Sri Lanka and the place of musicality for colonialists in this context. My project is primarily archival and historical. However, I will also conduct fieldwork among today's practitioners of these genres. Primarily, this will be to locate both the modern life of the lyric and alternative narratives that nuance, question or supplant received narratives around these genres. Central to this research area will be to observe examples of continuity and change between the time prior to Nevill's collecting and today. Ricardo Roque and Kim Wagoner have suggested that, by examining colonial archives, scholars can ascertain 'how colonial narrations, images, and classifications generated, and were generated by, material situations and bodily practices'. By considering the longer historiography of texts and genres in the Nevill Collection alongside Nevill's collecting practices and modern lyrical practices today, I aim to demonstrate the relationships and influence between colonial representation and lyrical practices. How did the courtly and religious contexts prior to Nevill's collecting shape colonial representations, and how did these representations subsequently affect contemporary and future generations of lyrical performers, their practices and narratives? By answering this question, I hope to present a history of colonialism and musicality in Sri Lanka that interlinks with today's practices and those of the more distant past, tracing the lineage of the Nevill lyrics and offering explanations for their developing characteristics. My research topic is threefold. Through the Nevill Collection, I will examine the musical historiography of Sri Lanka from the sixteenth to nineteenth century; musicality, collecting and colonialism in nineteenth-century Sri Lanka; and continuities and change between the lyrical genres of the Nevill Collection and modern practices. Each subtopic is connected to the Nevill Collection; the methodological implications of which will be reviewed throughout. However, positioning this archive at the centre of this importantly gives me necessary limitations to make my project feasible.