---
title: "Nalin de Silva"
chunk: 2/2
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalin_de_Silva"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:36:33.818068+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The merit (pina) in this regard should go to the "samyak drshtika devivaru" who first told that Arsenic is present in Rajarata drinking water and later revealed to us that Arsenic which is not found naturally in Sri Lanka has found its way to the wells and the wewas in Rajarata through Agrochemicals. 
It's simply like this. We can see professors. Professors cannot see Arsenic. We cannot see gods. Gods can see Arsenic. I like this because there is certain symmetry in it... I know very well that the so-called objective scientific method is a lie.
Paranagama too has stood by De Silva and defended their methods. She said that they had first been told of the arsenic by the wife of "a university lecturer who had developed her mental faculties to communicate with a higher being", but then used scientific methods to deduce it.
The Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science released a statement in July 2011 questioning the validity of the findings and the process and individuals involved in the study. Their statement laid the blame for the scandal firmly on Prof Nalin De Silva, and they called for other scientists and researchers in the group to distance themselves from De Silva to have their work taken seriously .

There is another serious issue which casts grave doubts on the credibility of the claims made by the Kelaniya group. The press has publicly identified as the leader of this group an individual, who despite holding a responsible position, professes a disdain for 'Western' science. He has publicly claimed supernatural revelations ('samyak drushtika devivaru') as the source of his group's information and even methods. While recognising that many scientists are deeply religious, the SLAAS wishes to state categorically that superstition and the supernatural have no place in science, and that scientific results inspired by such sources are highly suspect because of a probable bias on the part of the investigator.
We also note that other researchers in the group have yet to distance themselves from the eccentric statements of their leader, and they need to do this if they wish to be taken seriously as scientists.

=== Western cultural dominance ===
De Silva was also a vocal opponent of what he calls western cultural dominance which he claimed is in its final phase.

The western Christian modernity (WCM) is in the last phase of its hegemony and is acting like an insane person. It has no respect for the sovereignty of the other countries as has been exemplified from invasions, killings and supporting so called rebel groups in the countries in Asia and Africa. The USA that became the leader of WCM after the so called second world war is trying desperately to hold to the hegemony of WCM. After more than five hundred years of world domination WCM will have to leave the planet without making the people suffer more and more. 
De Silva also referred to linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky as a puppet of the Western Christian Modernity.

The west also maintains people such as Chomsky who is not known to the average American in order to show to the world that there is freedom for the intellectuals to champion their views heard more by the rest of the world than by the Americans themselves.

=== Philosophy of science ===
De Silva, who was influenced by Paul Feyerabend, rejected the existence of scientific method and proposed proliferation of sciences on various chinthanayas.
De Silva proposed theories are stories constructed by abductive reasoning to explain phenomena.
De Silva refused ideas that science is truth or science is advancing towards the truth.

=== Sacking from University of Colombo ===
De Silva was sacked from the University of Colombo for engaging in unlawful political activity within the campus. In subsequent letters he has described the event.

When I was in the University of Colombo, not the best place to fight the cultural pentagon, I was asked by the then Vice Chancellor G. L. Peiris why I was teaching Jathika Chinthanaya to a captive audience. The audience was not that captive and had the backing of the Vice Chancellor and some members of the senior staff, and of course the cultural pentagon. Nothing happened to the captive audience but soon I found that I was out of the University system. 

=== Veemansaka Parshadaya ===
In 2008 the Veemansaka Parshadaya, a student organisation where De Silva is the treasurer and mentor started a campaign to ban western clothing in Kelaniya University.

== Associations ==
Nalin de Silva was a member of the International Astronomical Union.

== Death ==
De Silva died on 1 May 2024 in Fremont, California, at the age of 79.

== Bibliography ==
Mage Lokaya (My World)
Ape Pravada (Our Theories)
Parisaraya Ha Batahira Akalpa (Environment and Western Attitudes)
Ape Pravada – 2 (Our Theories – 2)
Jathiya Sanskruthiya Saha Chinthanaya (Nation, Culture and Chinthanaya), Maharagama, 1991 OCLC 27387252
Bududahama Pavadeema (Buddhism Betrayed), Kelaniya, 1993 OCLC 32274198
Apohakaye Roopikaya (Formalism of Dialectics)
Marxvadaye Daridrathawaya (Poverty of Marxism)
Prabhakaran Ohuge Seeyala Bappala (Prabhakaran and his relatives), Maharagama, 1995 OCLC 35151717
An Introduction to Tamil Racism in Sri Lanka, Maharagama, 1997 OCLC 40331529  (English translation of the previous book)
Nidahase Pahantemba (Beacon of Freedom)
Nidahasa Dinaganeema (Winning Freedom Thyroideedom)
Jathiye Iranama (Fate of the Nation)
Sinhala Avurudda (Sinhala New Year)
Vidya Kathandara (Stories of Science)
Methivaranaya Ha Hamuduruwo (Elections and Bhikkus)

== See also ==
Sri Lankan Non Career Diplomats

== References ==