Vageeshodaya: Good reading for the Sinhala reader
Name of the book: Vageeshodaya
Publisher: Kande Viharaya, Aluthgama.
Pages: 72
Year of Publication: 2007
Reviewer: Professor A.D.P. Kalansuriya, D. Litt.
 It is with much pleasure I read through their latest edition of
Vageeshodaya, a literary journal whose base is Aluthgama Kande
Viharastha Akshethrama Pirivena at Alpitiya.
Its origin is traced to 1904, at a time Sri Lanka was under the
British rule. The present appearance is a Felicitation Volume comprising
ten well written papers on multifarious themes touching Buddhist
Culture, Methodology and Literary Criticism, Aesthetic Appreciation,
Maname Drama and its Jataka Story, Women in Buddhism, Buddhist Kings and
Irrigation, etc.
At Page 52 is a paper on "The Nature of Pali Language and its
History." The writer, Rev. Dapane Mahinda attempts to highlight the Pali
language associated with Buddhist Nikaya literature.
A controversy according to him centres around as to whether Pali was
a spoken language at the Buddha's time. Partly, this is trodden ground.
However, the issues ought to have been (i) Is Pali, a built-up language?
and (ii) affirmatively, why was it built-up?
If this academic aspect is elaborated, the writer might have known
that words in Pali language appear very clear on the one hand and are
free of contextual problems on the other.
But when such words are translated into the Sinhala language and made
use within a new tradition of imparting Buddhism to average Sinhala
man/woman, many serious issues would have arisen then. If the worthy
writer referred to this point also, the paper would have been
academically superior.
The paper by Rev. Paregama Chandaloka on "Whither Maname Drama?" is
well-written which estimates rightly the creative and routine skill of
Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra.
Accordingly the "Maname Drama" and not the Maname story in the Jataka
Book that takes an unprecedented stride in story-adoption as well as
introduction of a novel trend in Sri Lankan drama scene. It meets with
universal applause in this case.
The worthy writer is of the opinion that we not only are in debt to
Professor Sarachchandra but is also that the point be appreciated by us.
To my understanding, being in debt and also the appreciative mood
referred to here do not help dramatists to follow a creative path. What
ought to be significant is but creation and brings about dramas
characterizing universal nature. An additional note is important.
That is that the context in which Professor Sarachchandra brought
about the creative revolution in Drama, does not exist today, where
borrowed concepts, globalization and black money playing expressive
roles. Accordingly, creative people of different talents and disciplines
have to go deep insight to bring into play a creative revolution in Sri
Lankan literature inclusive of Drama.
Now I come to an interesting and informative paper on "Critique,
critic and Methodology". It is a paper contributed by Dr. Ranjith L.
Abeywickrama.
He makes some explicit important norms in literary field which I
believe even the Sri Lankan literary people themselves are not aware of.
From that angle, Dr. Abeywickrama's paper not only is progressive but is
also academic.
The paper highlights the urgent need to have true critique (meaning;
genuine critique) in Sri Lankan literary field which to him includes
novels, short stories, drama, poetry, treatises on history, politics,
economic, etc.
This draws our attention to two aspects, negative and positive.
Firstly, an absence of genuine critique because of dearth of genuine
critics in the country.
This is the negative aspect. The positive aspect is the
recommendation of norms towards adopting a new methodology for genuine
criticism.
Throughout the paper these norms are apparent. This is a welcome
approach. Any enlightened person can follow them up and become a genuine
critic who can go about the task for a true critique. Some of them are
as follows: study of classical literature, Eastern and Western,
discipline, order, train to obedience and order, analysis, comparison,
clarification and evaluation.
It must also be said that classical critical methodology as well as
later methodologies of later critics in the West were noted in his
paper. This is esteemed highly. As regards classical critical
methodology, Plato's Republic (04th century B.C.) was noted very
correctly by the worthy writer.
In later European Literature, according to Dr. Abeywickrama, Dante's
literary enterprise was made a reality owing to the availability of
classical literary methodology.
The early twentieth century saw a changed methodology in European
literary criticism with T.S. Elliot's revolutionary idea which logically
accommodated both the creative-writer and the critic into one model.
This is a paradigmatic concept.
That is to say, as Dr. Abeywickrama notes, T.S. Elliot not only is an
extra ordinary creative writer of novels, poetry, short stories but is
also an erudite critic. In his work entitled "Selected Essays": (1932),
Elliot added two more methods of literary criticism, namely, analysis
and comparison.
These two methods are difficult because the critic is expected to
analyse and also compare the book which is to be subjected to criticism
by him. For instance, if "Viragaya" of Martin Wickramasinghe is the
book, it is necessarily be compared with D.H. Lawrence's "The White
Peacock" or "The Lost Girl" (P. 45).
The activity of a given genuine critic is still made difficult
because of new trends in literary criticism as Realism, Naturalism,
Feminism, Marxism, Existentialism and Structuralism.
According to Dr. Abeywickrama, Martin Wickramasinghe made use some of
these theories as well as methods in his criticism of literary works (P.
49). To my understanding this paper of Dr. Abeywickrama is the best
thought-provoking one, in this felicitation volume.
There are some more interesting papers in this volume for the reader.
Some of them are on Irrigation, Origin of pandol, strongest President,
Sinhala Grammar Manuel, Women in Buddhism, the society of the Bikkhus
and Discipline.
On the whole, this Felicitation volume supplies very good reading
material for the reader. I must congratulate the editor for this
comprehensive volume.
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