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Words, cultures, identities: South Asian dialogues:
Sinhala poet and poetic vision from the past
Prof. Sunanda Mahendra
POETRY: I select this topic for discussion from the broad area
of ‘The Future of the Past’, with reference to the Sinhala poetry in the
Sri Lankan context. As far as one can see, 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.
The observation is that despite the poet’s attempt to take a detour,
the creator inside poet 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.
Classical tradition
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 was written down in the 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 poetries 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 Guttila Jataka Kavya, based on Guttila
Jatakaya.
The age-old rivalry and conflict between the good and the evil emerge
as the driving force in this legend. Guttila is created as a great
musician par excellence, whereas Musila is considered inferior, as far
as the legend is concerned.
The concept of evil is just not presented generally, but made to
feel. As such allowing anything to take place the great teacher makes
himself free from all bonds. Guttila’s inner conflicts are made to be
expressed in the best possible manner dramatically and sensitively.
The Guttila Kavya influenced poets of varying nature from the past to
the present both in the context of the source material as well as the
treatment of the character, ethical concept, inner conflicts and
insights.
This poetic work is modern in many ways to the extent that a poet
with no familiarity with Guttilaya is incapable of writing poetry.
Human values
One could also cite the example of the Sandakinduru Jataka Kavya,
based on the Sandakinduru Jatakaya. This poetic work has several
variations, and the best, to my knowledge, is Ven. Vilgammula’s work.
There are many more layers of the meaning added to the storyline of
the Sandakinduru Jatakaya . Firstly it is full of human values, where
the reader is made to feel the sense of filial devotion.
The tale, in its original form, rests on a fantasy layer. It is, more
or less, a versified fairy tale suiting the modern conditions of love
and passion. The lament of the fairy on her husband’s tragic death,
which includes her curse to the King, is made to be moving to the extent
that it is seemingly one of the most sensitive expressions of spiritual
intimacy.
It is interesting to analyse the segments as found in each of these
poetic works from a modern point of view.
In the first instance, the reader comes across the intention of the
poet for the selection of a particular original source (the Jatakas in
this case, but there are historical sources and folklore sources as
well), and then a series of events take place where the main story is
made to be narrated with descriptions of the qualities of Kings, their
Ministers and Courtiers, their attitudes towards common people, along
with the decorative presentation of the beauty of cities.
Sometimes it so happens that the poetic creations overshadow with
various ornate descriptions gaining influence from the great tradition
as passed down the centuries.
The main character, the Bodhisattva, is selected as the main
expression of human experience where worldly conflicts are brought to
the forefront and they are gradually defeated either via superhuman
forces or via spiritual means.
Whatever created, the ultimate intention is to disseminate the spirit
of Buddha’s doctrine to the listener or the reader to make a serene
mind. Isn’t this the phenomenon expected from the modern poet as well?
Symbolism
Apart from the mere expression of the storyline or the narrative, the
poet too makes use of the symbolism as far as he is aware where the
nature is made to be a fused element in the main narrative. For
instance, the serenity of the forest abodes, behavior of birds and
beasts, the splendour of flowers, clouds, rains, seasonal changes,
flowing of rivers and streams are made to be fused into the main
narrative.
In this manner, the poets who utilized the ancient source material
were careful in the interpretation of the layers of meaning added to it.
This influence is also seen in the minor tradition or the folk poetic
tradition where the main difference lies in the disuse of the ornate
language of the Great Poetry tradition. This may be regarded as an
alternative creative measure to the classical form.
The display of colloquial patterns of language is observed in order
to evoke a sense of devotion in the mind of the listener or the reader.
One good example comes from the Vessantara Jataka Kavya , which has an
anonymous authorship, based on the Vessantara Jataka.
When Vessantara’s family suffers the life in the forest, the poet
creates a series of situations in which the natural forest abode and the
human life appear as a single fused entity. When Vessantara ‘s wife
inquires about the already given children without her knowledge, the
situation is not poetically over-simplified to make people weep, but to
realise the nature of Vessantara ‘s action.
What is significant about these poetry is that they could be read
aloud evoking sentiments; the retirement into the forest does not mean
to express any anger or ill-will, but a new search for superior life
devoid of suffering.
The average reader becomes satisfied to see the intervention of the
good-hearted god Sakra in the tragedy of the Vessantara family. I am
certain that the legend is a painful expression of certain degree of
pathos for the laymen, but the ultimate supreme aim of the poet is not
to make a sentimental ballad.
Ballads
The Sinhala ballads were mostly written by anonymous poets in the
Kandyan period of Sinhala literature (17th century). One of the finest
ballads that could be regarded as an insight giver to the modern poet is
titled Yasodhara Vata.
In a narrow level of interpretation, the ballad could be seen as a
lamentation of the princess Yasodhara at the Great Renunciation of the
prince Siddhartha. But in the deeper point of view, it transcends the
narrow barriers, and hints that she had been with him in a series of
births from the distant past, while he is destined to be the Buddha in
the present birth.
Yasodhara Vata poet has a modern message, as Yasodhara is shown as a
great and sensitive lady, who could bear up the sorrows by tracing the
greatness of the vision of Siddhartha undermining the mere worldly
happiness.
A number of folk poems like Yasodhara Vata have been created by minor
poets based on certain traditional parables drawn from history as well
as from other sources including folklore. One fine example is Pattini
Hella, a sub story as found in several Tamil (Silappadikaram) and Hindu
classical works.
As the story has it, Pattini having ascended to the state of a
goddess (vernacularly called Pattini Deyyo), was revered in the past and
exists even today as a godmother curing infectious sicknesses of
children. Even today when a child is sick, the mothers offer alms to
seven mothers on the belief that Pattini was helped from seven
directions, in the early hours of the morning.
This ritual is called Ammavarunge Danaya , the alms given to mothers.
The poetry Pattini Hella and Ammavarunge Kavi (The Poetry of the
Mothers) are memorable lessons from the past, which adorn the eternal
value of motherhood and affection.
To conclude this, I want to clarify just another point. This is the
protest, anti-social and anti-ethical element emerged in the past as a
poetic creation. This element was never discerned as a propagandistic
poetic process, but as a social development process.
Even though centuries have passed by, the Sinhala poet still wanders
around the mass conscience. Some are of the opinion that some modern day
Sinhala poetry is inspired by the West based free verse forms, but this
is totally a misnomer.
There is allowance made in the Sinhala texts to create poetry in the
freest possible manner. Elusandas Lakuna (the book on rhetoric) has a
categorical mention on hundreds and thousands of metrical forms, and if
a poet makes use of these metres, the metrical pattern is what is
non-metrical (kelasuvahas virit/ virit lakunu heluve/ ebandutahot
kivaran/ novirit namai kivirit).
It is in this context we cannot accept the opinion that the modern
free verse is modelled on the vers libre in France and America. We have
a type of our own, and it needs to be discovered from the past.
However there is no implication that the modern poet should refrain
from exerting influence of the foreign poetry sources. Both traditions,
West and East, should mingle well clearing path to a poetical
rediscovery.
Birth stories
The Birth Stories of the Buddha are included in the vernacularly
known Pansiya Panas Jathaka Potha (The Book of Five-Hundred Birth
Stories of the Buddha).
The concept of Bhanaka existed during the oral medium period, before
the arrival of the written medium. ‘ Bhanaka’ is an honorary title
conferred on the priests who could recite the doctrine stanza by stanza
they learned off by heart at the respective religious institutions.
As its title implies, the Jataka tale is about a hare, who sacrifices
its life to feed a starving old man.
Makhadeva is a King famous for his renunciation of worldly things
having seen a single hair turning grey.
Resembling the features of the famous Beauty and the Beast tale, this
poetic work is woven around a relationship between an ugly King and a
pretty Queen named Kusa and Pabavathi respectively.
This Jataka tale is about a teacher and a student - Guttila and
Musila. Guttila, in the first instance, does not accept Musila to his
pupilage, foreseeing something disastrous. Musila, however makes himself
influential by attending to Guttila’s aged parents, who have an
authority over their son. Guttila makes Musila a master of music paving
the way to the Royal Palace.
Strange were the proceedings, when Musila claimed for an equal
position with his teacher. Frustrated by the nasty traits of his pupil,
Guttila leaves for the forest seeking isolation, but he is once again
disturbed by the information about a competition that was going to take
place in the Royal premises in order to identify the most talented
personality of the duo.
The greatest of the gods Sakra emerges at this juncture to assist
Guttila in defeating the ill-will by goodwill, and finally, Musila is
made to undergo disgrace before the masses. The versified form of this
Jataka tale has the authorship of Ven. Vettheve, a Buddhist priest in
the Kotte period, 16th century.
Protagonist
A cruel lecherous King Brahmadatta wants to win a fairy, and he kills
the fairy’s husband while they were in a happy mood on the mount
Sandagiri. A sorrow-struck fairy makes an act of truth (satyakriya) and
brings back the husband once again with the assistance of the greatest
of the gods Sakra.
The Bodhisatva is the would-be-Buddha, presented in the Jataka tales
mostly as the protagonist. The Bodhisatva here is the King Vessantara
who retires the worldly life, along with his wife and the two children,
to the circuitous path in the thick Jungle known as Vangagiriya symbolic
of the birth cycle.
Afterwards, an aged Brahmin called Jujaka visits Vessantara seeking
his children, and Vessantara gives the children off willingly
considering it as a way to achieve a higher form of life. Although
Vessantara’s wife too has to undergo the same tragedy, the good-hearted
Sakra duly averts it.
Yasodhara Vatha is ‘The Account of Yasodhara’ in English.
Yasodhara was the wife of Prince Siddhartha, who later became the
Buddha.
Pattini Hella can be loosely translated as ‘The Long Tale of Pattini’.
The protagonist is once more a good-natured attractive woman named
Pattini. In order to possess her, a cruel King planned to kill her
innocent husband named Palanga. This is done by hiding the Queen’s
anklet in the cart driven by Palanga.
When the courtiers catch hold of Palanga, he is brought before the
King. The innocent man is sentenced to death. But the King’s wish to
possess Pattini was unfulfilled, as she was so faithful to her husband
that she vowed his innocence with no signs of obedience to the cruel
king.
So the good-hearted gods brought disaster to the surrounding bringing
several types of sicknesses caused drought and famine. The soothsayers
declared that it is the King’s cruel deed that mattered and that he
should give up any lecherous links he has towards Pattini. |
