Rajarata as an 'Ideal' - Is there Harm in this Aesthetic?

I once posted about how Sri Lanka didn't really fall-off from Rajarata, and it was raised to me that it isn't very accurate to talk of Rajarata and modern Sri Lanka as if they are one and the same, despite the similarities. And there is some truth to that.

Rajarata Civilization in general has its many successes and marvels for the time, and those shall never be downplayed. But there truly isn't any objective cri-teria to say that Rajarata is some golden age either, the golden age thing is but a stereotype we go along with. We tend to collectively take the best attributes of the various successes of various Rajarata periods, lump it all in one, and see that 'Rajarata Proper' as our golden age.

We also truly don't know how life truly was to the average peasants of Rajarata periods, and if those of transitional period are objectively better or not. It has already been argued that post-Rajarata could be just as golden as during Rajarata. So is it healthy to idealise Rajarata Proper?

Personally I would say yes - cuz even though the Rajarata Proper may not exist in its ideal form, it is still a very useful idea if used for wholesome, productive purposes. Because, as much as the more nuance the better, some ideas are better kept in their more simpler forms to be more useful - but it is still important to accumulate nuance behind the scenes.

Modern Sri Lanka is circumstantially a lot like Polonnaruwa Kingdom too, in how independence was recieved from a foreign power, in how there is ethnic unity, and in how we have control over the whole island, in how we are bankrupt and yet still keep building a lot of things - the parallels are enormous, and thus so are the inspirations we could draw too. In a certain point of view, we are the Rajarata of the modern period, and it's an idea that should be treated with the nuance deserved.

Not to mention, we could lump together all the good attributes of post-Rajarata into this Rajarata Proper, to synthesize the idea of NeoRajarata - the conjugate of all things wholesome, progressive, innovative, and productive about Sri Lankaness (even in present day). So is there harm in that? Only if we allow for that, and we should not - the reason why nuance is important.

So basically pro Sri Lankaness with Rajarata theme is the idea of NeoRajarata. There's some good aesthetic in that, ig.