When Messages Travelled on Drumbeats

Centuries before telegram poles and fibre-optic cables carved their way through Sri Lanka’s coconut groves, royal messages took a far more musical route. Drums have always been more than mere musical instruments in Sri Lanka. In the era of the Sinhala kings the court proclamations were announced by drummers who carried a dawula slung over their shoulder.

On market days the drummer would beat a distinctive rhythm before proclaiming news or an official decree. Different rhythms conveyed different meanings; ana bera signalled a royal announcement, vada bera warned villagers that a criminal was being led to beheading, mala bera accompanied funeral processions and rana bera motivated warriors marching to battle. Long before modern sirens, these drum codes provided a sophisticated audio network spanning villages and paddy fields.

Sri Lankans also looked to the skies for communication. During the early days of British rule, the Colombo Observer newspaper operated a carrier-pigeon service between Colombo and the mail port of Galle. The “most successful of its kind ever known in connection with a newspaper enterprise” allowed urgent news to beat the slower overland mail. Earlier still, poets like Totagamuwa Sri Rahula composed sandesha poems in which swans, parrots and pigeons carry messages across the island. Even smoke signals from hilltops were used to alert villages of an approaching enemy.

A Road Network Radiating from Ancient Capitals

Sri Lanka’s ancient capitals were not isolated citadels; they were bustling hubs connected to ports and distant temples. Archaeological research shows that by the Anuradhapura period (4th century BC–13th century AD) six principal roads radiated from the capital, covering roughly 1,100 km.

The roads ran north to the port of Jambukolapattana (also called Dambakola Patuna), south to Magama, eastward to Gokannatittha and Pallavavanka, and west towards the ports of Mahatittha, Magana and Uruvala. Travellers on these highways crossed rivers on wooden and stone bridges – some still survive – and gauged distances using gavukanu, stone markers placed every four miles, much like British mileposts.

Wooden carts drawn by oxen or buffalo were the everyday vehicles carrying rice, coconuts, spices and pottery along these routes. However, heavy work often required more muscle. The island’s kings captured wild elephants, trained them and used them not only in warfare and royal pageantry but also to clear jungles, haul logs, plough fields and move gigantic stones during the construction of cities like Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. These elephants even dragged machinery to the hill-country plantations when the British introduced tea and coffee.

Ports That Connected an Island to the World

Sri Lanka’s strategic position in the Indian Ocean allowed its harbours to become gateways for global trade. The port of Jambukola in the north was already active when Sanghamitta Theri brought the sacred Bo sapling from India in 249 BC. Over time, trade shifted westward to Mahatittha (Mannar) at the mouth of the Malvatu Oya, which became a hub for shipping routes linking India, Southeast Asia and the Roman world.

Sri Lankan spices captivated traders for millennia. UNESCO notes that cinnamon from Sri Lanka was exported along the maritime Silk Roads as early as 2000 BC. Arab, Persian and Indian ships carried the fragrant bark westwards while returning with textiles, metals and horses.

The island was equally famous for its pearls. A historical chronicle records that King Vijaya (5th century BC) sent a shell pearl worth twice a hundred thousand pieces of money to his Indian father-in-law, highlighting how coveted Sri Lanka’s pearls were. The Mahawamsa also mentions that King Devanampiyatissa (265–238 BC) presented eight kinds of pearls to Emperor Ashoka of India. Greek ambassador Megasthenes marvelled that the island was “more productive of gold and large pearls than the Indias”.

These treasures attracted Phoenician, Roman and Arab merchants whose ships anchored off the Gulf of Mannar in search of pearls and gems. The Gulf’s pearl fishery thrived for centuries. By the 13th century Arab divers dominated the industry, shipping vast quantities of pearls to the lucrative Baghdad market.

Chinese travellers like Chau Ju-Kua described fleets of 30–40 boats working the pearl banks, while European visitors including Marco Polo and Friar Jordanus recorded hundreds of boats in operation. Such trade not only enriched local kings but also brought cultural exchange and new technologies.

Colonial Roads and the Emergence of Railways

When the British consolidated control over Ceylon in the early 19th century they sought faster transport between the port of Colombo and the hill country. In 1820 Governor Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton commissioned the island’s first modern highway – the A1 road linking Colombo to Kandy – under the direction of Captain William Francis Dawson and Major Thomas Skinner.

The road wound through mountains, crossing the steep Kadugannawa Pass; a memorial tower still honours Captain Dawson’s efforts.

The British also introduced railways. The first train ran from Colombo to Ambepussa (54 km) on 27 December 1864, and the line formally opened on 2 October 1865. By 1867 it reached Kandy and later extended to Nanu Oya (1885), Bandarawela (1894) and Badulla (1924).

Branch lines to Matale, the south coast, the northern peninsula and the east coast followed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, eventually creating a 1,508 km network. Trains could haul much heavier loads than ox carts, transforming the transport of tea, rubber and coconut to the port.

Telegraphs, Telephones and the Digital Revolution

The colonial era also ushered in instantaneous communication. In January 1858 a telegraph line using coconut-tree posts connected Colombo to Galle (74 miles). Another line soon linked Colombo and Kandy, and by October the same year a 250-mile cable across the Palk Strait plugged Ceylon into India.

Telegraph lines quickly fanned out to Trincomalee, Jaffna and Badulla; by the 1880s the island had 1,653 miles of posts and 3,366 miles of wire. In 1880 Colombo merchants Alston Scott & Co. installed the first commercial telephone to connect their head office with their coffee store.

Radio broadcasting began in 1924 and black-and-white television followed in 1979. Today Sri Lanka is firmly plugged into the global digital network.

According to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, by December 2018 there were more than 32 million active mobile SIMs – about 150 subscriptions per 100 people – and over 7 million internet subscriptions.

A 2021 census counted 3.8 million fixed telephone lines and over 30 million mobile connections, giving a mobile teledensity of 135 per 100 people. Fixed broadband subscriptions exceeded 1.8 million and mobile broadband topped 11.6 million in mid-2020. What once took a drumbeat to cross a village now crosses oceans in milliseconds.

Modern Roads and Highways

Sri Lanka’s road network has evolved into a hierarchically classified system. A Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) report explains that Class A roads connect major cities and ports, Class B roads link urban centres, Class C roads serve as feeder routes to markets, Class D roads form minor feeders and Class E roads provide rural access.

The British-built A-grade highways remain the backbone; since 2011 they have been supplemented by expressways such as the Southern Expressway (E01) and Central Expressway (E04). These multi-lane highways have slashed travel times between Colombo, Galle, Matara and Kurunegala, mirroring the way ancient roads once shortened journeys between Anuradhapura and its ports.

The Human Thread in Sri Lanka’s Transport Story

From the rhythmic cadence of a dawula echoing across paddy fields to the silent hum of fibre optics, Sri Lanka’s communication and transport networks reveal a continuum of innovation shaped by geography, commerce and culture.

Ancient roads and seaports integrated communities and fostered trade in spices, pearls and elephants. Colonial engineers carved highways through mountains and laid iron rails that carried tea to the world. Telegraph operators tapped Morse code across coconut palms while farmers listened for drumbeats telling of royal decrees.

Today smartphones outnumber people and expressways knit the island together faster than ever before. Amidst these transformations, one constant endures: Sri Lankans’ ingenuity in bridging distances, whether by drumbeat, carrier pigeon, elephant caravan or digital signal.

The story of communication, trade and roads is ultimately a human story – of people finding ways to connect, exchange and move forward together.

The article narrates Sri Lanka’s communications, trade and road networks from ancient drums and carrier pigeons to today’s expressways and fibre-optic cables. It highlights how drum rhythms conveyed royal announcements and messages, the use of a carrier-pigeon mail service between Colombo and Galle, and the six main roads radiating from ancient Anuradhapura to key ports.

The piece explores early ports like Jambukola and Mahatittha, noting the export of cinnamon along the Silk Roads as early as 2000 BC and the island’s renowned pearl fishery. It then traces colonial infrastructure such as the A1 highway and railway network, the establishment of telegraphs and telephones, and the rapid growth of modern telecommunications.

Finally, it reflects on how ancient practices and modern innovations illustrate Sri Lanka’s enduring ingenuity in connecting people and trade.