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| Friday, 23 May 2003 |
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History of Jaffna and its present The Spirit of the Palmyrah Review by Shyamala Devi Karunakharan For those who are unaware of the authentic lifestyle and culture of Jaffna, 'The Spirit Of Palmyrah' written by T.V. Wijeratnam is a pleasant treat. It gives a comprehensive spectrum on the account of the history of Jaffna and a detailed insight into their lifestyle and culture. It represents the true sensation of the life cherished by the author and her contemporaries in Jaffna and outlines the distinction between the peaceful land of the mid twentieth century and the war-ravaged Jaffna now. In covering the religious aspect the author has handled more significantly the real mentality of the people and their close association with temples and its influence in their day to day life. The lifestyle of the people is illustrated as a simple, stereo-typed life, shuttling between temple, home, school and contributing to a peaceful socially conscious society. The author's childhood reminiscence and her young days of joy are featured as lively as ever. The book will be of immense use to the younger generation today, most of whom are apparently uninformed of their forefathers in Jaffna. The author has included a list of numerous illustrious sons and daughters of the soil, some being the world figures. She has given a brief introduction of them with due veneration. She says `It is a family established on the solid rock of human faith that finally contributes to the well-being of the society'. Describing her journey to Jaffna after the opening of A9 route she says, 'As we passed Elephant Pass and entered the peninsula, I found that every crownless palm, every roofless house, every cracked wall, every house reduced to a mound of sand and stone, every weary face with sunken eyes and far away look, told a tale of woe'. Perhaps this is the true conviction every man or woman who is born and bred in Jaffna and view their land from a different perspective are bound to possess, unlike many others who are easily engrossed in viewing the unfamiliar sights of the ruined buildings and wreckage of the war. Her voracity to get the peninsula back to the old valuable lifestyle and culture in which she and her contemporaries had the privilege to enjoy unitedly with humanity bonding them without any distinction of caste, class and creed is quite evident. It also refers to the atrocities the war made the people face. The horror of war was such that it was considered fortunate at that time to have a natural death and a respectable funeral. The author Thilaka Vivekanandhan Wijeyaratnam nee Aiyadurai was born in 1934. She had her early studies at Jaffna Hindu Ladies College and continued at Vembadi Girl's High School till her SSC. Thereafter she went to Holy Cross College, Trichy and did her Inter Science. She joined Madras Christian College and graduated from there in 1956. She then started her career in teaching. She got married to Vivekanandhan Wijeyaratnam, an Agricultural Instructor in 1964. She was in Maldives on a teaching assignment from 1985-1989. She is involved in social and religious services in Colombo. This is her first attempt in writing a book. The book is available at 14, Perera Lane, Colombo 6. ************************ Women prior to British rule in Sri Lanka Women in the Kandyan Review by Sirima Kiribamune Kapila Vimaladharma's book on "Women in the Kandyan Kingdom" adds to the corpus of knowledge on the position of women in Asia in pre-colonial times and is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the history of women in Sri Lanka. The women's issue has to be studied in the context of its historical roots. The historian researching on women in the Kandyan Kingdom has a rich legacy of sources to dip into, such as contemporary Sinhalese works and accounts of foreigners who lived in the country as well as those who visited the region at the time. One of the refreshing features of the present work is the author's utilisation of local documents pertaining to deeds, litigation etc., giving a much more in-depth and authentic record of the women in the Kandyan Kingdom. Patriarchy and the subordination of women has become the bedrock of feminist scholarship. Kapila Vimaladharma, while he uses patriarchy as his conceptual guide, is keenly aware of both constraints and opportunities women have had during his chosen period. His concerns revolve round certain rights women enjoyed and those rights which were denied them. Stereotypes of women as uniformly oppressed and unempowered do not provide us with the total picture of the status of women in early times. Highlighting rare instances of women entering male bastions in both public and temple service, the author suggests that women were not completely excluded from such positions. In the present book, the author attempts to define the broad contours in the lives of women in Kandyan society during the period, 17th century A.D. to the early 18th century A.D., confining himself to the Sinhalese Buddhist sector of that society. By focusing attention towards economic production, one is made aware of a fairly egalitarian system of gender relations in Kandyan society. The book captures a certain moment in the history of Sri Lankan women and focuses attention on a regional society which was by and large uncontaminated by Western influences. This region, while it tried to protect its political independence from the onslaught of the Portuguese and the Dutch, was at this point in time a very traditional society and what we are introduced to is a cameo of that society. A useful contribution to knowledge, the publication will hopefully trigger off similar treatises dealing with women in pre-colonial Sri Lanka. The book has opened a window through which interested scholars can look back on the women in Sri Lanka's past. Positive images of women in historical times can strengthen the debate regarding the greater empowerment of women. (The reviewer is former Professor of History, University of Peradeniya and Senior Research Fellow, International Centre of Ethnic Studies, Kandy.) ************************ A comprehensive introduction to Sarvastivada Abhidharma Sarvastivada Abhidharma Review by Mahendra Siriwardene When it comes to Abhidharma studies we in Sri Lanka are usually reminded of the Theravada Abhidhamma, with its seven canonical tests and post-canonical commentaries, sub-commentaries and compendiums. However, in addition to the Theravada Abhidhamma there had been other versions and recensions of the Abhidharma, mostly compiled in Sanskrit and generally known as the Northern Abhidharma. Among them are best known and the most comprehensive is the Abhidharma of the Sarvastivada School of Buddhist Thought. The Sarvastivada school of Buddhism emerged during the Asokan age over a doctrinal controversy with the Theravadins. The controversy centred around the question whether the ultimate constituents of existence, in their substantial form, persist during the three divisions of time, the past, present, and the future. The Sarvastivadins came to be so called because they recognised this new theory, while a large number of Buddhist schools including the Theravada rejected it. In the post-Asokan era the Sarvastivada school became very prominent and widespread and it became the leading school in Kashmir and Gandhara. This School produced its own version of the Abhidharma. It also consisted of seven texts, the authorship of which was attributed to celebrated Buddhist saints. During the time of Emperor Kanishka, a Buddhist Council was held by the Sarvastivadins in the city of Jalandhara in Kashmere, and the main accomplishment of this Council was the compilation of a comprehensive commentary to the canonical Abhidharma texts. It is called Abhidharma Mahavibhasa. The Sarvastivada School produced an array of celebrated scholar monks and a vast literature mainly consisting of commentaries and compendiums. They were all in Sanskrit. Unfortunately, except for two or three works, the others were irretrievably lost. However, by good fortune, long before they were lost they had been translated into Classical Chinese, and to this day they are impeccably preserved in what is known as the Chinese Tripitaka. Few of their works have been preserved in the Tibetan Tripitaka as well. What all this means is that in order to have a comprehensive knowledge of the Sarvastivada Abhidharma one has to fall back on Chinese and Tibetan sources, besides the few works still available in the original Sanskrit. The work under review amply demonstrates that its author, the Venerable Professor Kuala Lumpur Dhammajoti has the necessary linguistic equipment and research experience to successfully undertake the kind of academic work it requires. The Venerable Professor Dhammajoti is the Head of the Department of Buddhist Literary Sources and Buddhist Scriptural Languages at the Post-graduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies of the University of Kelaniya. Besides the present work, he has to his credit a large number of scholarly articles and books. He is the author of the well-known work, the Chinese version of the Dharmapada, which is a comparative study of some six recensions of the Dharmapada, all included within the Chinese Tripitaka. It was his doctoral thesis submitted for the award of Ph.D. This book has been hailed by a number of modern scholars as a major contribution to comparative studies on the many versions of the Dharmapada, preserved in a number of classical languages. Another important work by the Venerable Professor is the translation into English of the Chinese version of the Abhidharmavatara, which is a compendium of the Sarvastivada Abhidharma. If the Venerable Professor Dhammajoti has been able to make a distinct contribution to Buddhist studies, it is mainly because of his mastery of almost all the Buddhist scriptural languages, such as Pali, Prakrit, Sanskrit, Classical Tibetan, Classical and Modern Chinese, Classical and Modern Japanese. He has at various times been invited to deliver lectures at a number of universities in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Hongkong, and Japan. It was only three years ago that he had the rare distinction of being invited to serve as Numata Chair in Buddhist Studies at the prestigious University of Calgary in Canada. Apart from his scholarly pursuits, his compassion for the underprivileged is demonstrated by his commitment to social service. He had built an orphanage for destitute children in Balapitiya where free computer lessons were taught. He is also committed to the spread of the Dhamma. He has ordained several persons from Bangladesh who are at present undergoing training under his benevolent supervision. Venerable Professor Kuala Lumpur Dhamajoti usually shuns any kind of publicity and he conducts his academic and social service in comparative oblivion, far away from the maddening crowd. The main purpose of this review is not to make a critical assessment of the book, but to introduce the book and its author to a wider reading public. The book provides us with a comprehensive account of the Sarvastivada Abhidharma together with a history of the Sarvastivada School of Buddhist Thought. |
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