Sarachchandra and the Asian tradition

P. B. Galahitiyawa

PERSONALITY: From the beginning of history most of the Asian countries have adored and idealized the 'ideal' saints, philosophers and artists who have stamped infinity on the thought and life of the respective countries. Their contribution is considered invaluable for the upliftment of the entire human race.

To a world given over to the pursuit of power and pleasure, wealth and glory, they declare the reality of the unseen world through their intellectual and creative work.

Among the Sri Lankan intellectuals engaged in this noble task Ediriweera Sarachchandra ranks above most of his contemporaries. To form a composite image of this multi faceted personality, we should go back to the socio-cultural background that had prevailed in this country as well as the other South Asian countries at the time of his birth (1914).

The great Asian cultural tradition that has nurtured and given its 'ideal shape' by Asian intellectuals in different fields had to face totally different cultural traditions once they were conquered by Western imperialists beginning from the 15th century, and the friction was inevitable.

The dilemmas faced by the intellectual in these circumstances was a question of selection and synthesis; what aspects of the Western culture were to be admitted into the fold of national culture; what aspects of tradition were to be revived and how was a synthesis to be achieved so that the 'foreign' would no longer appear 'alien'.

The solutions for such questions did not come quickly. Asian intellectuals had to go through several phases and experiments with diverse modes, and it was a cumulative result of these experiments that a final synthesis was achieved.

Prof. Humayun Kabir the first Minister for Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs of the newly independent India, once stated this situation in one of his articles (The Poetry of Rabindranath Tagore: The Indo-Asian culture: July 1960) as follows, 'Tagore was fortunate in both the time and place of his birth.

The advent of the West had disturbed the placid waters of the Indian life and a new awakening had dazzled the Indian mind and made many of the early reformers blind imitators of the West.

The first uncritical admiration was wearing off when Tagore was born, but the ideals brought by the West were still active and strong. At the same time there was growing recognition of the values of India's own heritage. The time was therefore opportune for the emergence of a genius who could unite in himself Eastern and Western values."

Cultural scene

Sarachchandra's advent in our cultural scene occurred at a critical time of its development and it is very much similar to the socio-cultural background which prevailed at the time of Rabindranath Tagore's emergence in India as described by Prof. Humayun Kabir.

This was the period that our society was attempting to free itself from the colonial bondage and trying to find its feet among the other nations in the East. Inspired by the struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore for spiritual and cultural independence from the colonial dominance Sarachchandra proceeded to Shanthiniketan to study Indian philosophy and music.

Sarachchandra has recalled this experience on several occasion. Once he says "I went into this famous institute after seeing Tagore and his dance-drama, Shap Mochan, in Colombo a few years before; having enthralled by the sheer visual beauty of this work of art and enchanted by the music that accompanied its presentation.

This was the time when realisation of our own cultural impoverishment was beginning to dawn on our middle class youth partly as a result of Tagore's visit and there was an exodus to Shanthiniketan and other institutions in India like Adayar and Kerala Kala Mandalam, in search of roots." Sarachchandra was in Shanthiniketan for one year in 1938.

Although Sarachchandra went for his postgraduate studies to the University of London in 1947, and studied Western Philosophy, his interest in the fields of Asian tradition never disappeared. Since his return from England he had been more active in the fields of literature and theatre.

He started his career as a dramatist during the early nineteen forties with translations from the world theatre. Subsequently, he began writing his own plays and producing them.

This soon led to the realization that if there was to be a lively art form commanding a deep commitment from the art loving public, a national theatrical idiom has to be established. With this end in view, Sarachchandra embarked on intensive search for any remains of what would be called an indigenous theatre.

The book "The Sinhalese Folk Play" published in 1952 was the end result of this research project, therein Sarachchandra demonstrated that these forms of folk rituals and entertainment could be found in dramatic interludes and other theatrical features which were parallel to certain forms of folk theatre in the present day India and which could in the final analysis, betrays to the classical Sanskrit theatre as evident in 'Natya Sastra of Bharatha'.

As a sequel to this publication, the Rockefeller Foundation in the USA granted him a scholarship to study World Theatre and this provided him with an opportunity to visit Far Eastern countries like Japan and China.

When he saw the Noh and Kabuki theatres of Japan he felt as if the image he had of the traditional oriental theatre had suddenly appeared on stage in front of his very eyes, as he states in his autobiography.

Maname

This experience he has acknowledged was immensely helpful in creating Maname (1956) which has been universally hailed as the initial step in the creation of a national theatre form in Sinhala, which has had gone into abeyance in South Asia due to the vicissitudes faced during the long periods of foreign rule.

As Prof. KNO Dharmadasa states, "Maname was by far one of the most momentous events in the art world of 20th century in Sri Lanka. It was an outstanding combination of theatrical craft, poetic sophistication and dramatic concentration in which the essential elements in the folk theatrical traditions were adopted in the modern stage".

Maname, followed by several other plays not only gave modern Sri Lankan theatre resurgence but also provided a cue for re-discovering of the roots of Asian theatre.

In addition to the upliftment of the academic and creative life of his countrymen, Sarachchandra's contribution to re-introduce the Asian theatrical tradition to the South Asian countries and to the West also equally important and deserves to be discussed at length.

Prof. Ayyappa Paniker of the University of Kerala in one of his articles titled "Sinhabahu and the Theatre of the Roots," says, "Ediriweera Sarachchandra's Sinahbahu seems to represent what is perhaps the earliest attempt in modern Asian theatre to shake off the influence of the Western theatre and to re-discover the theatre of the roots."

While serving at various universities and through his writings he was able to impart his knowledge to the international community at large.

The series of lectures which he delivered at the American and German universities (1966-1967-1972); the series of articles which he wrote to the reputed Japanese journal 'Asai Shimbu' in 1957; his famous lecture on 'Drama in the Orient' which he delivered at the 'International House of Japan' in 1956; and his other essays such as 'Traditional values and the modernization of a Buddhist Society' - The case of Ceylon (New York 1965), The uses of tradition (an interview, The Tulane, Drama Review - USA), the article "From Vasubandu to Santharaksita: A Critical Examination of Some Buddhist Teaching of the External World"; (Journal of Indian Philosophy - 1971) and Contemporary Indian Theatre (New York. USA) are few such attempts to be mentioned here.

According to Toshio Kawatake, a professor of drama at Waseda University, the first Kabuki performance abroad was held in the USA in 1960 and the inaugural Kabuki Conference was held in Vienna in 1981.

It needs mention that among the Asian intellectuals engaged in introducing the drama of the Orient to the West, Sarachchandra should be considered as one of the pioneers.

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