Sinhala poet and his poetic vision
Professor Sunanda Mahendra
 POETRY: The influence on Sinhala poetry in the modern context
has been inspired by the religious communication. This does not imply
that all poets down the centuries adhered to this phenomenon, since
there are poets who detoured from the traditional paths of poetic
influence.
Despite a poet's attempt to take a detour, the creator inside him
does not allow a completely alien creativity, since the creativity
itself is tradition bound.
The guiding creative factors, over the years, have been laid down in
both original and translated versions of Sanskrit texts. As such, a
close scrutiny of Sinhala poetry bears out a similarity in poetry
written in both Sanskrit and Sinhala.
In a synoptic view of poetry in Sri Lankan Sinhala literature Sinhala
being the language used by the majority of Sri Lanka - two major streams
or traditions have been observed: the classical tradition, and the folk
tradition. However, there are instances of intermix of these two
traditions.
In the classical tradition or the great tradition, the major poetic
influence has been the birth stories of the Buddha, about which quite a
lot has been written and researched. Some of the finest human stories
embedded in the Jataka tradition had gone into the making of the great
tradition of poems or Maha Kavya in Sinhala, and this phenomenon is
commonly observed in Indian Sanskrit context as well.
This is a result of the dissemination of the textual knowledge via
sermons undertaken by Bhanaka priests, who utilized the Buddha's Jathaka
stories as their main subjects. The Jatakas have not only influenced the
making of a poetic tradition, but also influenced the temple paintings,
rituals and various therapeutic treatments in the chanting medium.
The Jatakas are found in both prose and verse as well as in other
forms of expression. The original version of the Jatakas written down in
Pali language was translated into Sinhala later.
The influence was widely spread making way to three major works:
Sasadavata, based on the Sasa Jataka, Muvadevdavata, based on the
Makhadeva Jataka and the Kavsilumina, based on the Kusa Jataka. In the
modern standpoint these poetry are considered deconstructions, and
sometimes versified reinterpretations to the Jataka sources.
Later on, these poetic works gave way to the creation of some of the
lesser degree of classical form of poetic creations where one finds the
most significant work, the Guttilaya Jataka Kavya, based on Guttila
Jatakaya.
To be continued |
