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Gleanings by K.S.Sivakumaran

First things first. Jean Arasanayagam writes in to say that her father was Harry Solomons and not George Solomons as mistakenly stated in a previous column. The latter was a distant relative of hers. Jean, as we all know, is a leading Lankan writer in English.

She has published several books of poetry and fiction in the recent past. Her husband Arasu's book was recently reviewed by Carl Muller in the Artscope pages of the DN.

Their daughter, Parvathi also writes fine poetry. Talking about her genealogical table, Jean Arasanayagam says Rosemary Rogers' (please refer to an earlier Gleanings column) father was Cyril Jansz, a famous educationist (connect it to St. John's, Panadura).

Cyril descended from the line of Grenier Jansz and the V.O.C. of Galle, Adrian Jansz . So, Jean's mother descends from a Jansz tree. That's an interesting piece of information for future biographers of Lankan writers!

Two other modifications: Yasmine Gooneratne edited the New Ceylon Writing in the 1980s and two special issues of 'Community' on Lankan (Ceylon, then) Writing in the early 1960s. 'Community' was edited by C.R. Hensman His daughter also writes fiction.

Sri Wickrama Rajasingha, the last King of Sri Lanka.

In the wake of talking about Sri Lankan literature, especially the writing done in English, during the past two weeks, let me say something about what is written in the Thamil language - at least a short bibliography.

I know that most readers may not be in a position to read these books in Thamil itself, but those interested in knowing what's happening in the field of writing in a language, which nearly 25% of the population speak, read and write may be kept informed. It's high time we know more about ourselves - I mean the Lankans - than remain in isolation. Further the Thamil language is not only a living language but also an ancient language, more than 25 centuries old and not a 'dead' language as Latin, Old Greek, Sanskrit or Pali.

Isolation

There is something about the business of translation. We all know that a lot of translation is going on among our writers, past and present, not only in the field of the arts, but also in other areas. I cannot possibly mention everything I know of these projects in such a column.

And I am writing purely out of memory and without any resources at my disposal.

Omissions might have been made, unwittingly. Please bear with me. For instance, I should have mentioned all the translations done from Sinhala to Thamil and vice versa. Maybe even translations done from other languages into Thamil, which language I know thoroughly well. But I couldn't do that comprehensively for reason mentioned above.

Take for example, Sovanna Nadarasa's (the late Somasunthara (Pulavar) Nadarasa) translation of 'Selalini Sandesya' and Sanskrit works into Thamil. Incidentally Mr. Nadarasa turned a Buddhist monk and passed away a few years ago. And his daughter, Sarojini Arunasalam is continuing to do translations from Sinhala to Thamil.

Then in drama too, there had been many translations. Henry Jayasena, Sugathapala de Silva were among important dramatists.

In Thamil, Thiru Kandiah and Indrapala were a few of the translators. In fact, in the 1980s, I have written a little note on translated and adapted plays in Thamil, in Lanka in the now defunct 'Lanka Guardian' The late A.N. Kandasamy was a poet, novelist, short story writer, dramatist and essayist.

He had translated Emilie Zola's 'Nana', and Bertrand Russel's' Arabs and Jews' into Thamil and some of the couplets from a great work in Thamil, the 'Thirukural' into English in the now defunct, 'Tribune'. A few Sinhala scholars, including a lady, have translated Thiruvalluvar's (3rd century circa) 'Thirukural' into Sinhala.

Let me begin from this week to introduce the Thamil books covering the contemporary Thamil Literature in Sri Lanka. Two books are introduced for the present and the others in subsequent weeks.

The book that covers the earliest Sri Lankan Thamil Literature (Circa 14th to 18th centuries) was written by the late K.S. Nadarajah He passed away in Canada. KSN was the head of the Thamil Service of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and later a Deputy Director General of that institution. He wrote poetry under the name of Navatkuliyoor Nadarasan. His book is titled 'Eelathu Thamil Ilakkiya Valarchi' (The Growth of Lankan Thamil Literature) .

Readership

At this point, I must explain something to a misinformed readership. The word 'Eelam' is an ancient Thamil word denoting Sri Lanka and does not have any political connotations. But 'Thamil Eelam' does. KSN's book has a foreword by the late A. Sathasivam, who was an academic and a scholar in linguistics.

A living scholar, J.B. Dissanayaka wrote a moving piece in the Daily News some time ago, when Sathasivam died. Let me quote in translation what the foreword summarizes: "The book discusses Lankan Tamil Literature from the 14th to the late 18th centuries from many angles. It begins with the period of Denuvara Perumal's book on astrology titled 'Sakasothi Maalai' and ends with the period of Mylvahana Pulavar (Pulavar in Thamil means a Pandit), who wrote 'Puliyoor Anthathi'.

The book deals with Lankan Thamil Literature, the growth of personal (aham) and public (puram) poems and those which do not come under the purview of the genre, Prabancha (universal). The author provides information for researchers to probe into prevalent and extinct literary works. Those desirable to view from a historical perspective of the Lankan poetic tradition, the works of the poets, their own tradition, social consciousness and imaginative experience should read this collection of essays by K.S. Nadarajah."

The other book is by the late Subramaniam Vithiananthan, a name associated with Lankan Thamil Culture. He was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Yalapanam (Jaffna). He edited and published many indigenous folk plays and wrote three or four outstanding books in Thamil. The late Vithiananthan and the late Sarachchandra (the bilingual scholar and dramatist) shared a room in London, when they were pursuing their post graduate studies, if that would interest you.

Two of SV's books in Thamil were 'Ilakkiya Thentral' (The Breeze of Literature) and 'Thamilar Saalpu' (I don't know what the appropriate English equivalent is to the word 'Saalpu'. I infer it means the 'intrinsic nature of the Thamils'.

Importance

Thamil scholars, please correct me). A third book, 'Thamil Iyat Chinthanai' (Conception of Thamillogy) is another collection of essays importance.

There are seven articles in Thamil and two in English in this book of essays. The English essays inform the Thamil influence on Sinhala culture, Lankan Thamil scholars, materials in English of Thamil, researches conducted and the like. One of his articles in Thamil is 'Islamites and the genre of Prababntha, new in Thamil'.

In fact, he was the first to write about the Islamic contribution to Thamil literature.

S.M. Hanifa, a former journalist and publisher has brought out this particular book. SV in one of his essays discusses Lankan Religions and Education. He says that the religion of the Thamilians is entwined with their culture.

He claims that the 'Thamilians enriched the lifestyles of the Sinhalayas and introduced the Saiva practices of worship, thereby bringing in sanctity to Buddhism' He also states that during the reign of Parakramabahu III, (who ruled from Dambadeniya) the Pandit, Bosarasa launched his work, 'Sarasothi Maalai' in the august assembly of the monarch.

The last king of Lanka, Sri Wickrama Rajasingha who ruled from Kandy, also paid attention to the development of education of the Thamilians. The latter part of the essay talks about the attempts made to improve the education and religion of the Thamilians during the period of the European regimes in Sri Lanka.

As a sequel to the earlier essay, the next one discusses the education of the Thamilians and the Universities. He traces the background of pursuits towards establishing a university for the Thamilians. He states: "The Thamil-speaking people of Sri Lanka have a unique cultural enrichment and the educationist felt for the need of a university to preserve and promote their language and culture'.

The late Vithiananthan was an authority in Thamil Folk Theatre (Naatu Koothu) In one of his essays, he talks about especially of the folk plays in Mattakalappu (Batticaloa) and Mannar and also elucidates on the nature of folk theatre.

He also describes that the plays in the Mannar district are available in Sinhala. He finds similarities between the Kannada and Yakshgana and the Mattakalappu 'Vadamodi' (the northern mode) folk plays. 'Navalar and Thamilnadu' is another essay. He describes how the Thamilnadu State in India is greatly indebted to the scholar and religious revivalist Aarumuga Naavalar of Yalpaanam (Jaffna) .

In the subsequent essay, the writer compares the great contributions of both Aarumuga Naavalar and Swami Vipulananda (He was a monk of the Ramakrishna Mission, a religious order, based in India and established in Sri Lanka. His real name was Mylvaganam). Born in Kaarathivu in the Mattakalappu district, Swami Vipulananda was the first professor in Thamil in the University of Ceylon in 1943. His magnum opus, 'Yarl Nool' is an expository work on ancient musical instrument in the shape of Harp.

And in my view he was the pioneer in literary criticism in Thamil in Sri Lanka. Swami Vipulananda's name should not be confused with the name of another Ramakrishna swami, the intellectual from Bengal in India, Swami Vivekananda. His oratory on Hinduism in Chicago in the U.S. mesmerized the Americans in the early 20th century. There is a road in Chicago bearing his name. Would you believe it!

Vithiananthan also documents the contributions of C.Y. Thamotharam Pillai, Cumarasamy Pulavar (poet), Sithamparapillai, T. Kailayapillai and Swami Gnanapragasar. He also says that 'it was the Lankans that safeguarded the Thamil language from being disfigured or irregularised in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was the Lankans that preserved the grammatical tradition of the Thaml language'.

Arty cinema

The published address in the 'Daily News' by the legendary film maker Lester James Peries and a subsequent editorial in the same paper on the advent of digital cinema is of importance in knowing the exact state of affairs in the field of cinema.

Since Hollywood has taken over the art, the traditional arty cinema is on the wane, although film making in Europe is defiant of the new trend. However, on the cable TV, one could yet see some outstanding films made in different parts of the world. I see a lot of films in the IFC (International Film Channel) and the Sundance Channel that gratifies my hunger to see many films that are in-depth study of the human nature and relationships.

During 1990-1997, courtesy the Indian High Commission in Colombo and the IFFI (International Film Festival of India) , I had an indelible satiation of seeing some outstanding arty films in various mega cities in India. I don't have the opportunity any more as I have been away from Sri Lanka since then. I wish to write about some recent films I had seen in the tube in subsequent columns. For the present, some titbits: * I am not sure who is presently interested in animated filmmaking in Sri Lanka. Titus Thotawatte was one.

There is a book by Brian Michael Stroller (a filmmaker - his film 'Undercover Angel') titled 'Filmmaking for Dummies'. Kevin Smith, another filmmaker (he has made six films) calls this book' a thorough and informative read: a complete A to Z that demystifies not only production, but pre and post production as well.'

Dynamic duo

American Playwright Arthur Miller and film director Elia Kazan were a dynamic duo who made history during the years past. Besides 'Death of a Salesman', Miller's 'The Crucible' is another outstanding play. It is supposed to be a veiled response to criticisms made on him by inquisitors. And Elia Kazan's film 'On the Waterfront' is suspected of his defence to accusations made of him.

One of the German filmmakers I admire is Rainer Werner Fassbinder. I saw his film Veronicka Voss in the Sundance channel recently. This is a film about a sportswriter and a former movie star. This is one of best films of the director who is dead.

Polish director Krzystof Kieslowski is another master filmmaker. His 10 part masterpiece is now available as a DVD treatment, after 20 years. It's called 'The Decalogue' and produced by Henryk Baranowski and Adriana Bledrynska. This is about ordinary people living in an apartment in the capital, Warsaw. The director's later works include 'Three Colours: Blue, White and Red'.

Sundance Film Festival held annually in Utah in the U.S. is the meeting place of the international film buffs. I long to be there if I could make it. So far, my dream has not been realized. The man behind the Festival is American actor Robert Redford (The Sundance Kid, All the President's Men) is now 66 years old and yet young at heart and appearance.

A controversial film made is now a talking point among cineartistes. The film is 'The Passion' made by Mel Gibson (actor in 'Lethal Weapon'). Some of his films are 'The Man Without a Face' (The title reminds me of Colin Wilson's book, 'A Man Without a Shadow'), 'Braveheart', 'Conspiracy Theory' and 'The Patriot' Actor Mel Gibson's film 'The Passion' is an interpretation of the crucification of Jesus Christ. Talking of controversial religious cinema, we had another film, 'Last Temptation of Christ' by famous Martin Scorsese.

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