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Drama review
Pythagoras: Thought provoking Sinhala play
In a way, this review is partisan. For I care about
Prof. Nalin de Silva, and what he says. And having said that, here we
go.
Those of you who have studied geometry will recall that
most pernicious of all theorems to prove at that level are those of
Pythagoras. Namely, that in any right angled triangle, the square on the
hypotenuse is equal to that of the sum of squares on the two other
sides. Moreover Pythagoras is credited with the discovery of irrational
numbers (that is numbers that can’t be expressed as a fraction of two
integers), and being the leader of a sect in ancient Greece that
believed in transmigration of souls to other bodies (animal or human)
after death, and is also believed to have been a vegetarian or at least
a non-meat-eater. It is upon this Pythagoras, that the play seems to be
based on.
But there’s another main character, albeit an invisible
one who is represented only through hearsay by his friend Pythagoras,
namely, that of Sona from Magam Pura, in Lanka. It is this aspect of the
play, that interested me most. From henceforth, I shall stick to the
play as it was performed, opposite Hall No. 16, at the Kelaniya
University, during the Science Exhibition here.
The play opens with a group of Greeks, Agamemnon and
Apollonious and Heraclitus and Pericles engaged in conversation,
apparently at the homestead of one of them - with there being a stool or
two and a ‘Greek statute’ artistically strewn about in the otherwise
bare stage under an open sky. Pericles brings news about the return of
their leader, adding that there seems to be a vexed question that’s
bothering him.
Interesting personage
Then in strides the great man himself, and once the
ritual hugging and embracing is over, the conversation drifts as to
whether Greek Mathematics is the best of them all. Then Pythagoras tells
of this very interesting personage that he had met in Missouri (Egypt),
namely that of Sona, from Magama or Magam Pura in Lanka.
At the word Lanka, one of the other friends sniffs, and
exclaims with disdain: “What abstract mathematics or thought can you
expect from men in Lanka. They borrow everything from Bharath (India)!”
But Pythagoras insists that Sona is a thinker of the
highest order, who had told him of the Buddha, whose Dharma the men of
Lanka followed.
Apparently followers of the Buddha’s Dharma believed in
a kind of rebirth, yet did not believe in a soul. Then who was reborn?
Apparently not the person who has died, nor some other person either! To
the Greeks, this is all Greek!
Also, Sona has tried to explain to him the way, Sinhala
people think. For instance, the difference between “mama hithanawa” (“I
think”) and “mata hithenawa” (“the thought comes to me”), and “maruwa”
(“killed”) and “marune” (“was killed”), ... and so on. The words
“hithanawa” and “maruwa” imply volition, whereas the other pair in the
context used, don’t. Thus in that famous killing by Oedipus of his
father without knowing it was so, though he is guilty of killing an old
man, he is not guilty of patricide (a much more heinous crime) according
to Sona’s lights. “He killed an old man. But it was his father who was
killed!” Thus the inherent dilemma in the tragedy of Oedipus is that
this was the fulfilment of a curse by the great god Apollo, is sorted
out to some extent.
Then Pythagoras goes onto explain some other odd Sinhala
phrases (that is to the Greeks) such as “bath-bulathin sangraha karanawa”
(“serving with rice and betel - i.e. serving a repast”), “bulathata
adu-vadiya” (“the less-and-the-more needed for a chew of betel”),
“yan-ena gaman goda vedila yannam” (“I will be at your house while
going-and-coming”), etc. Apparently, according to Sona, a tangent meets
and yet not meets a curve.
He has, (according to Pythagoras’ testimony,) used the
phrase, “gawi-nogawi” (‘touching and not touching”).
Incredulity
Pythogroas’ friends greet this account of the Sinhala
language with disbelief mixed with incredulity, particularly Heraclitus.
Is Sona nuts? And Pythagoras so too, in believing him?
Then Pythagoras leaves aside Sona, and goes to the
problem that has vexed him, namely what is the length of the hypotenuse,
of which, the two other sides are each equal to one unit? The others
grasp the point at once. The square root of 2, is not a rational number!
One asks whether Pythagoras has asked Sona about it, which he answers in
the negative, as their own secret society had enjoined on all members to
keep each mathematical problem discovered by them secret, till it is
resolved and ready for public scrutiny.
profound dilemma
At this point, there’s an intruder apprehended. They
debate as to what to do with the ‘hora’. Heraclitus at once says he
should be killed lest he betrays their profound dilemma, but Pythagoras
does not concur. “How can we kill a man?” he asks. “Let’s make him too a
member of our Society.” he says. “Problem solved!” But Heraclitus would
not be dissuaded, and takes some implement - a staff or axe or some such
thing - and does the fell deed. Grief stricken, Pythagoras declares his
intent to at once return to Missouri, hopefully to meet with Sona once
again, or some other such great thinker, and walks away, down the steps
leading from the stage. End of Play. Period.
As you might have guessed, the play is in Sinhala. Yet,
I feel, that ‘Nalin Sir’ ought to try to translate it into English. If
he can’t be bothered, I would be glad to undertake the challenge.
As for the acting, it was generally good, except that
one or two’s voices didn’t project that well. And a beard or two came
unstuck on that first presentation! But then this was by amateurs
belonging to the Kala Kavaya (Arts Circle) group of students at the
Kelaniya University. The costumes were colourful and looked
authentically Greek to me, though perhaps they should have stuck to
shades of brown and Tyrian purple (actually a shade of deep red, I am
told, approximating the colour of dried blood). The stage props were
minimal, and the open-air theatre harks back to the time of Sophocles
and his compatriots in Greece, and very likely in ancient Lanka too, I
believe.
Though at times, rain might have spoilt things for the
young actors. All in all, it was a good production, and I commend Nalin
Sir and his troupe of young actors of the Kala Kavaya, for their effort.
Who says that Mathematics, and Arts don’t mix? As the History of
Mathematics section at our Science Exhibition took pains to explain,
Music was part of the lore of the ancient Greek Mathematics curriculum.
And very likely, mathematicians of the day spent their leisure hours not
just arguing about the state of their state, but might have been engaged
in composing poetry, watching performance of plays, etc. Not only in
Greece, but in our parts of the world too... So you see, a play on a
world famous mathematician can be right up another fellow
mathematician’s street!
- Priyanthi Wickramasuriya
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