University, as Sanskrit was taught since the inception of the faculty, which happened when the Vidyodaya Pirivena, established in 1875, was turned into the Vidyodaya University in 1959. Sanskrit was then taught in the Faculty of Languages.
This faculty was taken over by the Faculty of Arts subsequently, and the subject given to the Department of Languages and Cultural Studies, which was established in 1972. In 2014, the name of the department was changed to The Department of Languages, Cultural Studies and Performing Arts in recognition of the thriving music and dance fields that had been introduced under the Cultural Studies programme in 1991. The Department offered subjects in two streams: Languages; and Performing Arts and Cultural Studies. Under Languages, the subjects of Sanskrit, Hindi and French were taught, while under Performing Arts, Music, Drama and Dancing were taught.
Since 1991, within the Department of Languages and Cultural Studies (renamed later in 2014) of the Faculty of Arts (renamed the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in 2011), we have been offering General and Special degrees in Cultural and Aesthetic Studies (Music). After the name change in 2014, we have been offering General and Special Degrees of a BA in Music.
In 2020, under the leadership of Professor Pradeep Ratnayake, who had served two terms as the Head of the Languages, Cultural Studies and Performing Arts Department – and who had been instrumental in getting its name changed to including Performing Arts in 2014 – established a separate Department of Music. He included within it, the technology aspects that he had introduced to the university system as a whole, in 2004. It was named The Department of Music and Creative Technology.
