ANCIENT RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN SOCIETY OF SRI LANKA FROM 10th TO 15th CENTURY

Recreation is an activity of leisure and the refreshment of mind and body. Recreational activities are essential for healthy physical and social development. It has been observed that recreation activities accumulate under such headings as active-passive, closed-open, or mental-physical recreation activity patterns. Many of the leisure activities that emerge from literary works can be seen in the Kingdom from Polonnaruwa to Kotte. The study aims to examine the recreation activity activities in Sri Lanka, categorize recreation activities, identify the new recreation categories, and recognize the most popular recreation pattern in Sri Lanka from the 10th to 15th century. This research used the relevance sampling method as a sampling method. Followed a literary review system that helps gather information from contemporary books, reports, journal articles, textbooks, and other academic work. The qualitative content analysis method used the collected data, analysis, and presentations, and then that data categorizing on inductive categories make the information and results. The people of Sri Lanka had the opportunity to identify many recreational activities performed during the period from the Polonnaruwa period to the Kotte period and they were classified under fourteen main categories. It also identified three new classifications of recreational activities. Out of all these activities, the most popular were the physically and mentally important recreational activities under the category of nature activities/ outdoor activities.