By Paul Topping

I never had the chance of meeting Richard Boyle, who died in Colombo in 2023. His wife recently loaned me two books Richard wrote and published - Knox’s Words (2004), a study of Sinhala and Sri Lankan-associated words first introduced to English by the 17th-century sailor Robert Knox, and Sindbad in Serendib (1908), which explores strange tales of Ceylon and the wider world.

As kids, many of us heard about Sinbad, but it was only living in Sri Lanka that I discovered more. He was a legendary fictional sailor and adventurer. He featured in the stories of A Thousand Arabian Nights. Some considered Sinbad's sixth and seventh voyages to be to  Serendip, Sri Lanka. Robert Knox, however, was born in 1641 in England and wrote about his exploits in Sri Lanka. I’m not really qualified to do any sort of detailed review of the books, but I have attempted a summary of two lengthy books within a restricted word count.

Richard, interestingly and in a well-documented manner, focuses on the words originally used on the island of Sri Lanka but were then accepted and used in English literature. In 1999, Boyle was gifted a copy of “An Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon” by Robert Knox. It covers life in the Kandyan kingdom from the middle of the sixteenth century to the early seventeenth century.

In Cromwell's time, Captain Knox and his son and crew set sail in the ship “Anne” from England. They headed to the Middle East and from there they sailed east, ultimately encountering a cyclone that impacted the ship. Captain Knox lands in Koddiyar Bay, near Trincomalee, to trade and repair the ship. At this time, the island was partly occupied by the Dutch. The king of Kandy, however, also controlled parts of the island. The crew that came ashore is captured and sent to different towns under the control of the Kandyan King. Ultimately, Knox buys land and settles down in Elladetta, north of Kandy, with some others of the crew. He finds a partner but not a wife - more of this in my next story. Knox and some of the original crew escape after 19 years in captivity. Whilst obviously under Dutch control, they are assisted in their travel to Batam near Singapore. In 1681, Knox published a book about his time in Ceylon, which is the finest account of the period of Sri  Lanka in the English language. He died at the age of seventy eight off the coast of Africa and was buried at sea.

There are Sri Lankan words that Knox first introduced that are now accepted in the English dictionary and originate from Sri Lanka, Eg, Betel-leaf, Bo-tree, Buddha, Kittul, Land, Murunga, Poojah, Rattan, Titan, Land-leach, Vedda, Wanderoo.

Richard Boyle was born and educated in England and has lived in Sri Lanka since 1984. He was a former film producer who is better known as a  historical and travel writer.  A researcher known for chronicling Sri Lankan colonial history, language, and cinema. He researched and wrote extensively on 19th-century colonial life and the British era. He was a prolific writer for the Sunday Times in Colombo and served as a Sri Lankan English consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary.

Richard’s books are fascinating for all those who love Sri Lanka, its people, and their language. It’s also a great read for newcomers to this paradise island