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Among elephants we have the distinction of having our unique species of swamp elephant of vilaliya, which roams the flood plains of the Mahaweli river in the Tamankaduwa area.
Samuel Baker, the well-known big-game hunter, who was here in 1854, was the first to report the massive size of the swamp elephant.
Harry Storey, another big-game hunter who followed a half-century later, suggested that the animals could be a distinct breed.
It was left to Dr. Deraniyagala, Director of the National Museum, to recognise the animal as a sub-species which he named Elephas maximus vilaliya, characterised by its massive size, wide upper trunk and absence of tusks.
In 1917 E. C. Walker shot a vilaliya which measured 10 feet 8 inches at the shoulder. It is the tallest wild elephant recorded in Sri Lanka.
Vilali are generally confined to small herds seldom exceeding 4 to 5 animals. They keep more or less to themselves unless unnaturally disturbed when they can become very ferocious.
Eric Swan, a well-known local photographer, who accompanied a hunting party to the meenvillu in the 1970s, was unlucky to have got in the way of a startled vilaliya who charged and trampled him to death.
I have observed these animals several times, feeding on the luscious grass and water lilies in the flood plains. But always at a safe distance because what befell Eric Swan was always at the back of my mind.
Elephants of the Somawathie herd were a different proposition. They were regular trespassers of the Department of Agriculture's livestock farms at Polonnaruwa and Kandakaduwa, giving me the chance to observe wild elephants at much closer range in a different role as marauders.
They caused considerable damage to perimeter fencing and fodder plantations. So much so that in 1970-1971 three lone bulls, who were particularly destructive, had to be gunned down by the management.
Crossed Tusker
Tuskers are rare in this country and crossed tuskers even rarer. Yet it was my good fortune to have come across a young tusker walking alone along the Habarana-Trinco road. The tusks were about 2 1/2 feet long and crossed at the tips.
We were later informed that this 'crossed tusker' was frequently seen moving about between the Huruluwewa Forest Reserve and the Minneriya tank.
Several small herds did this, crossing the Trincomalee Road at several points. But this 'crossed tusker' was always seen alone.
Punani Man-eater
On our way to the east coast from Polonnaruwa via Welikande we had to pass Punani. That's where I first learned about the notorious Punani man-eating leopard.
The beast had killed and eaten 12 persons who happened to be walking along the railway line between Punani and Vakaneri. The last victim was a postal runner. That happened in 1924.
Stephen Agar stood guard over the victim's dead body, and shot the leopard when he returned for another helping of the putrefying corpse.
The body of the dead leopard was seen to bear several knife wounds, some new and some old, indicating that its victims had died putting up a fight. In the leopard's stomach was found the teeth and hair of its last victim.
I was told this story by Dr. Henry Fernando, Entomologist in the Department of Agriculture. His father E. C. Fernando was the Taxidermist in the National Museum. It was he who stuffed and mounted the specimen seen in the Natural Museum in Colombo today.
E. C. Fernando was also the taxidermist who tanned the pelt of the largest leopard shot in Sri Lanka. It was a record 8 foot 10 inches.
Although Suddange Tissera claimed this distinction in 1962, he was prosecuted and fined Rs. 75 for having shot the leopard in contravention of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance. The tanned pelt was exhibited in the museums of the Yala and Wilpattu National Parks.
Kotiya
Like the vilaliya elephant sub-species, Sri Lanka also has its own endemic leopard sub-species - Panthera Pandus Kotiya.
At one time the panthera leopard genus had 30 sub-species. These have now been reduced to eight on a DNA basis, thanks to the work done by Stephen O'Brien of the USA, and Dr. Sriyani Mithapala of Sri Lanka who is a universally accepted authority on big cats.
The kotiya sub-species is smaller in size than its Indian and African counterparts, averaging 6 feet 3 inches in length (tip of tail to nose) against their 7 feet and more. Its pelt is also darker with smaller spots.
The kotiya however is said to be far more forthcoming than its Indian and African counterparts who are furtive and secretive in manner.
Dieter Plage, well-known wildlife cameraman, has said that in his 16 years in Africa he had only six leopard sightings. But in the Wilpattu National Park in Sri Lanka he had over 200 sightings in just two years.
Wilpattu is really the best place to view leopards in their natural habitat. They can be seen walking along the roads, lying out in the trees on the edge of the villu or walking down to drink.
Lord of all it surveys the leopard is the prime predator in our forests. But this feline is not always lucky in the game it hunts.
I was in the company of Percy de Alwis, Superintendent of the Wilpattu Park, when we observed a leopard stalking a young buffalo.
We watched it creep up and begin to drag the calf away, when the mother and another buffalo charged the feline and butted it till it let go and turned tail.
That incident reminded me of a deadly encounter that Lyn de Alwis, Warden of the Department of Wildlife, had witnessed at Manikkapola in Wilpattu when a leopard attempted to dine off a wild boar. The wild boar fought back savagely and the battle ended in the death of both the hunter and hunted.
Sloth bear
Sri Lanka is one of only four countries in the world which has the sloth bear (melurus ursinus), the other three being India, Nepal and Bhutan.
Among all bears, only the sloth bear carries its young on its back. I remember an occasion in Wilpattu when driving along the road to Kokmottai, we saw a mother bear with two cubs rummaging on the roadside.
The moment the cubs heard the sound of the jeep approaching, they leapt on their mother's back and clung on side by side, while she bounded along the side of the road for quite awhile before disappearing into the forest.
Another characteristics of the sloth bear which sets it apart from other bears is its preferred diet of ants and termites. I was lucky to have been an observer at such a bear repast in the Wasgamuwa National Park.
With the finesse of the scaly ant-eater (pangolin) the bear tore open the clay of a termite mound which had been softened by a previous shower of rain, inserted its snout and drew out its dinner with a loud 'slurp'. The bear's long coarse hair acted as a defence against the angry biting ants.
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Pradeep Ratnayake's latest concert on March 1
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MUSIC: The ninth concert in the Pradeepanjalee series by virtuoso sitarist Pradeep Ratnayake and his friends will be held at the Lionel Wendt theatre on March 1 at 7 p.m.
A concert in this series is held in Sri Lanka after a gap of one year, for in 2005, the concerts were mainly held abroad, in Switzerland, the USA and Canada, to much international acclaim.
Pradeepanjalee IX will be the concert that brought audiences to their feet at Asia Society, New York and the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Washington D.C. in 2005.
It is not often that a Sri Lankan is invited to perform at centers like these.
Asia Society is one of the most prestigious institutions in the world which had introduced Eastern musicians like Pandit Ravi Shankar to the West.
The Kennedy Center is mostly known to open its doors only to the best musicians in the world - and this concert which was performed on its Millennium Stage was shown live over the internet in its website.
It is to the credit of Sri Lankans like Honorary Consul Jay Liyanage and the Sri Lankan Mission in Washington D.C., that a chance was given for Sri Lankans to show that they could match the best in the world in contemporary music.
With sitarist Ratnayake, those who were awarded standing ovations were violinist Lakshman Joseph de Saram, Bass guitarist Alston Joachim, tablist Wijeratne Ranatunge and Sri Lankan percussionist Karunaratne Bandara, all artistes of the highest calibre.
From Montreal in Canada to the Universal Studios in Los Angeles, Pradeep Ratnayake and the Pradeepanjalee Troupe held audiences captive with their startlingly innovative, deeply musical and brilliantly executed performances.
Pradeepanjalee IX will feature Ratnayake's own compositions which fuse elements of many music traditions of the world, keeping at its core Sri Lankan folk music.
It will also feature innovations on the jazz piece 'Take Five' which was played by the sitar and the bass guitar in Montreal, much to the delight of those in that jazz loving city.
The Sri Lankan concert is a chance for local audiences to experience the music of that celebrated tour.
It is made possible by the generosity of Niloufer Pieris who believes in the need for the sponsorship of the Arts and the Deva Surya Sena Center. Tickets are available at the Lionel Wendt.
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John de Silva and his plays
COMMENT: On reading the piece about John de Silva, a pioneer of a new genre drama by Sumana Saparamadu in your Magazine Page of January 30 brought to my mind nostalgic memories of the joy and pathos felt by those patrons who were regularly drawn to see his plays.
However, what was a significant lapse, perhaps inadvertently is omitting to mention the versatility and genius of Pandit Wiswanath Laujee who by his Ragadari melodies gave life and blood to the inimitable simple language in his dramatic compositions in his plays, a symbiotic union, which evoked those emotions.
It has been said that John de Silva acted his dialogue with such dramatic affect and Laujee matched them with his music and its tempo resulting in those songs so appealing that these songs are still popular.
At the same time it must be mentioned as pertinent to mention, the antecedents of this genre of drama adapted by John de Silva and a contemporary of his Charles Dias which is that there has been no long dramatic tradition in Sri Lanka.
The closest was 'Sokari' and 'Kolam'. A real dramatic tradition began after King Narendrasinghe married a Nayakkar Princess from Madura resulting in the adoption of the South Indian rural musical dramatic form which came to be known as 'Nadagam'.
This tradition continued for about 125 years until during the latter part when with the British occupation and there was easier travel facilities from North India and when there were frequent visits of pilgrims to Kataragama via Galle, the main port at that time.
With them came Hindustani musicians whose Ragadari music was more captivating than the slow tempo Nadagam music.
This of course began to have some influence on Nadagam music too.
However, the breakaway from this tradition began in 1880 with the arrival in Colombo of theatrical troupe from Bambay called the Elphinstone Dramatic Co., which after performing before Queen Victoria, led by a handsome Parsee director and actor, K.M. Baliwalla, staged their lyrical musical plays which were on the Grand Opera style with Hindustani and Gujarati songs to the accompaniment of the violin and Doluk, which appealed to the people much more than Nadagam.
Of course they were based on exotic themes, some adaptations from Shakespeare's plays.
They were staged in the wooden structured Floral Hall in the present Chalmers Grannary premises.
These plays attracted large crowds during their sojourn for six months in the country.
E. Don Bastian, a Sinhala scholar and a few of his friends who were much taken up by their performances went for these shows regularly, studied their style, their music and their techniques.
He began writing plays imitating them and calling them, 'Nurthi' which name came to stay.
These were staged with much success. So were some of the plays written and staged by his friends. It was about this time that Proctor John de Silva, a Sinhala scholar began writing plays on the same Baliwalla style with mainly historical Buddhist and patriotic themes which were in keeping with aspirations of the people at the time.
His first attempt to stage his play 'Janakiharana' and adaptation from Don Bastian's translation of the epic Ramayana at the Floral Hall in May 1886 was a disaster as stated by Sumana Sapumohotti.
It was however, after the Tower Hall was put up by the owner of the premises, Edmund Seneviratne and his son, Stephen who was made director, a playwright himself a kinsman of Charles Dias, the famous playwright himself that John de Silva's plays became the rage.
Just to give a few examples apart from 'Danno Budhunge', the song 'Sirisanghabodhi Maligawedi Mun', now adapted as a pop song; then 'Payana me badde tharapathida me', a beautiful lyrical composition sung by Ravana at his first sight of Sita in Ramayana and fast the tempo 'Amba dhamba naran kesel del' sung by Hanuman in the same play; 'Wessantara raja putha' in 'Wessantara', 'Dannawannum Apa Kannasamy' and the LSSP signature song, 'Sadukinpelenaun' an adaptation of the King's Sri Wickramarajasinghe's army march-song from the same play.
Some of these Nurthigi with various adaptations are likely to be alive for a long time and the Tower Hall, a symbol of these plays.
TISSA AMARASEKERA - Kandy.
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Lucy English to perform at Book Buzz in Kandy and Colombo
POET: The Book Buzz series that has been in existence for the past 8 months offered its audiences the opportunity of experiencing some of the best UK and local literary talent there is to offer.
Flavoured with the powerful vocals of UK Performance Poet Zena Edwards in early January, book buzz promises the next event also to be an experience to be remembered.
Lucy English, the 2nd UK Performance Poet to be featured in the series, was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in UK. Popularly known as the 'slam sex goddess', Lucy English is famed to be one of Bristol's leading performance poets engaging in 'Slam poetry'.
'Slam poetry' is when writers perform their poetry to an audience who rate the poets and 'judge' them by picking their favourite poet.
After leaving the University of East Anglia with a BA in English and American Literature, Lucy English lived in the countryside, growing her own vegetables, keeping a goat and having babies.
While bringing up her three small children she started writing and in 1994-5 took an MA in creative writing.
Lucy is also the author of 3 published books - Selfish People, Children of light and Our Dancing Days which will be on sale at the book buzz event.Lucy will first perform at the Kandy British Council today (27) at 5.30 p.m. followed by a performance in Colombo on Tuesday February 28 at the Galle Face Barista at 5.30 p.m.
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