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| Friday, 19 April 2002 |
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Treasury of Sinhala folk poems Jana Kavi Mihira - a collection of Sinhala folk verse Reviewed by Lynn Ockersz One wouldn't be overstating the case by calling this meticulously compiled collection of Sinhala folk poems, a golden treasury of Sinhala verse. Both comprehensive and wide-ranging, the poems could be said to mirror the inner life of the sons and daughters of Sri Lanka in their complex moods, anxieties and ecstasies. Compiler P. K. Ariyaratne's indefatigable research efforts could be said to have paid off because the reader is enabled, to pleasurably savour a compendious variety of Sinhala 'Jana Kavi', which constitute an important part of the cultural legacy of the Sinhalese, all within one voluminous collection. The compiler's years long research project which yielded this interesting range of folk poems had primarily centred on the virtual Sinhala heartland of Yatinuwara in the hill country of Sri Lanka. The Kavi, therefore, evince the lived experience of the Sinhalese and exemplify the poetic sensibility of the ordinary people in all its important dimensions. When we savour the poems, for instance, we realise why wit and humour are integral to the local poetic genius. The acerbic wit of the contemporary election poster and wall scribblings, for instance, would have derived their mordent wit from folk verse of the following variety: While these lines bespeak the hardships of the graphite mine worker, revealing likenesses are discovered between some higher grade mine employees and the labourer's relatives at home, culminating in the devastating comparison of the labour supervisor to the indigenous cemeteries of old where corpses were abandoned unburied. The tones and moods of the poems, however, are complex and varied. Particularly poignant are those which tell of the everyday toil and torments of the ordinary people. Besides the scores of carefully categorised poems, strongly redolent of the tears of the people, there are initial chapters in 'Jana Kavi Mihira', which yield useful information on the origins, nature and function of folk poetry. Ariyaratne's observations on methodological issues and his insights into the scope of folk poetry provide interesting reading. The compiler needs to be congratulated on making available to us a veritable distillation of the peak achievements of the Sinhala poetic genius. ================================= Comprehensive handbook on Ceylon CEYLON ALONG THE RAIL TRACK Visidunu Prakashakyo has brought out a new edition of Henry W. Cave's last book which was originally published in 1910 as 'Ceylon Government Railway'. Today its new title 'Ceylon Along The Rail Track' seems more appropriate with the contents.
While on the move he describes the rivers that are crossed and mountains & valleys that are traversed. Whenever the rail track is unavailable for an important destination, Cave takes the reader along the road from the nearest station and makes sure that every important destination is covered. He illustrates these descriptions with over 200 photographs selected from his vast collection. This book is undoubtedly one of the best travel guides ever written on Sri Lanka. Infact, it is more than a travel guide - comprehensive handbook on Ceylon. Now, some 90 years since it was first published it holds an added value as an eye-witness account of Ceylon at the beginning of the last century. It also contains reproductions of Cave's photographs which critics have long acclaimed as "photographs taken with the most delicate and artistic touch" and "the finest products of the Camera ever seen within boards". In this new edition the publishers have taken great care to reproduce these photographs to the quality of the original. It is a source book for the student; a companion for the traveller; a book of immense interest for both the artist and historian alike. Until this new edition came out it was a rare book that even many collectors didn't have. ================================= A venture into the complex world of chimpanzees Chimpansiya Apema Kenek (The Chimpanzee - one of our own) Reviewed by Sarath Lewke Bandara PC Jayantha Wijewickrrama, a young writer and journalist, whose fascination with the animal world has enriched modern Sinhala non-fiction literature with several books on wildlife has brought out an enchanting book on man's closest evolutionary relative, the Chimpanzee.
The author has culled into this work the wealth of international research of the brain of the chimpanzee. We learn that the brain of a chimpanzee grows mainly in his mother's womb and by the end of about one year after birth, the growth of his brain for all intents and purposes ceases. On the other hand the human brain which grows in the womb continues to grow after birth and even after the child attains puberty. Thus unlike the human brain, the chimpanzee brain lacks the complexity of the human brain. However, when one looks around the world around us one cannot resist the observation that although man has intellectually, materially, creatively and technologically progressed beyond unimaginable limits, psychologically man's evolution has not advanced significantly beyond the contents of the psyche of the ape. This phenomenon is illumined by the insight of J. Krishnamurti the greatest sage of this century couched on his words "our brain, which is amazingly free in one direction, is psychologically, a cripple". The author inquires into the tribalism, the conflicts that are generated to preserve and secure their territorial bounds, the aggression the violence, male domination over female, the misery and loneliness of old age in the day and day activity of chimpanzees with a great deal of sensitivity and also scientific objectivity. We find in comparison, that the above manifestations of ego-centric activity on the part of the chimpanzee seem to be common ground on which man and his evolutionary ancestor the chimpanzee stand. Probably man has with his creative intellectual instrument of his the more complex brain, has fine-tuned tribalism into nationalism and patriotism, aggression and violence into freedomfighting and various avenues of escape from the travail, boredom insecurity and isolation out of the action of the self, by developing the entertainment industry into which ritual and worship also fall. The author also pays a glowing tribute to the invaluable contribution made to the study and preservation of chimpanzees by Dr. Jane Goodall who for the last 40 years has dedicated her life to chimpanzees in all their habitats and especially in the Gombe National Wild Sanctuary in Tanzania. Apart from Dr. Goodall the writer has been able to skillfully blend without burdening the reader with scientific jargon, the findings of Charles Darwin on primates and their evolution; the results of the research by Dr. Ramburg of the Georgia University in respect of the non verbal communicative skills of chimpanzees and; delicate and complex experiments carried out on a baby chimp growing in a normal human household by Prof. Herbert Terrace; and the outcome of the experiments and research by Prof. Andrew Witen into several bands of chimpanzees in the wilds of the African Continent. Finally like any serious student on environment and wildlife the author without sounding like a prophet of gloom strikes a warring note about the future of this our evolutionary ancestor. Deforestation which has left chimpanzees, bereft of their natural habitats and of the sources of their habitual food; the international trafficking in chimpanzees for entertainment, for their meat, as guinea pigs for scientific experiment, for circuses and for a variety of abuses, have lend to a steady decline in the world population of chimpanzees which today is reckoned at two hundred thousand and have rendered the chimpanzees an engendered species. If this situation is allowed to persist, the writer predicts, that the day will not be far when the chimpanzee will be relegated to the confines of the zoo. Like Jayanatha Wijewickrama's two earlier books on Ants and Dolphins which I read with relish and reviewed with pleasure and which have become great successes, this book with a short introduction by Prof. Sarath Kotagama of the Zoology Department of the University of Colombo, and with its fine print and beautiful cover will be an instant best-seller. ================================= A masterpiece of romance and womanhood Reviewed by Sanjeewani Umayanthika Bandara 'Dari - the third wife' is an excellent creation of the Sri Lankan writer, Sita Kulatunga, the author of "The High Chair," "Cancer Days", "Upan Dine", "Sak Handa" and two translations: "Some Inner Fury" by Kamala Markandaya and "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte. The novel is merely a fine monologue of a damsel with a firm philosophy, who is plunged into a more mature institution as a marriage, in her very young age partly owing to her customs of the homeland and partly due to her poor socio-economic background. Dari becomes the third wife of rich Alhaji Bello who is tired of his two marriages before her encounter. She does a vast change in Bello's fruitless life and the climax of that great bond appears life like when he comes secretly at nights, in search of Dari's warmth, leaving his two wives and neglecting their turn of sleep. The polygamous marriage and its society is vividly pictured in all its pages and it is presented through the African characters of rich Alhaji Bello's two wives, Abdul Kayim and other supporting characters. The novel opens as "They still call me 'amariya' the bride. The novel, in its very inception, has been so excellently presented by the writer that the reader in its first words is drawn into a world of love and romance with the people and a language hostile to their usual tradition. All the wedding ceremonies in the rural background of the North of Nigeria are presented in the novel where the story takes place along with a few terms of their own language still with a great deal of outlandish thoughts. All of a sudden, Bello, love of Dari dies with all the characters drawn to reality and truth. Dari, the girl of rudimentary understanding of life is made to step with reality. Another significant theme of the novel, the writer has obviously created is the demarcation of two cultures. Dari is English educated and belongs to the middle class society while Bello though English educated and belonging to the high class society, loves old traditions and customs. Dari caught in a great dilemma, showing her faith and kindness manages a hard and more complex institution as a polygamous marriage bravely and intelligently. Even if the novel appears to be a more immature scrutiny of a marriage, the climax is such a deep study of it with a superb blend of love, kindness, mirth and understanding. "Dari-the third wife" is, thus, a tale of a damsel who attempts to establish her own identity in this world with her all might. |
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Produced by Lake House |
In this fascinating book Cave - the pioneering photographer of Ceylon
landscapes and historical monuments, takes the reader along every railway line. He stops
at every railway station to give a description of the surrounding area. The people and
their industries, population, climate, local facilities available such as lodging and
transport, details of any historical event that has taken place in the locality and
interesting places around that can be visited are described. 
This is perhaps the first time any writer has ventured into the complex world
of Chimpanzees and presented it in such lucid style in the Sinhala language. The result is
an intriguing book which affords an enjoyable and profitable reading experience for the
young and the old. The book is beautifully and profusely illustrated. 
