Pandit Wimal Abhayasundara:

Indelible mark in the local communication history

Prof. Sunanda Mahendra

A person who has served a span of his literary career for over a period of half a century cannot be forgotten easily judging on his merits of contributions in its manifold manner.

Such a person is known to us as the Pandit Wimal Abhayasundara, who is no more. Pandit Wimal Abhayasundara (1921- 2008) who hailed from down South in the remote rural sector and entered into the more urbanised areas in Colombo happened to be familiar with the two societies more closely than any other of his age.

He had the extra gift of being tutored under the great scholarly monks of the time in both traditional seats of learning in temples and Pirivenas from where he learned Pali and Sanskrit.

He transferred his attention to the learning of English from such colleges as Ananda College later on. He also had the courage to go through the mill and earn his living as a journalist working in newspapers such as Sarasavi Sandarasa (1949) Peramuna (1953) Lankadipa (1950) and Dinamina (1953).

His career as a journalist paved the way for him to join the then Radio Ceylon as a script writer where he made use of most of his talents as a lyricist, the culmination of which is shown in his numerous radio operas and radio feature productions and the presentation of poetry programmes.

His starting point in the literary life was as a member of the staff of the then Encyclopaedia office (Vishvakosha Karyalaya) in 1955, where he was an assistant editor under the headship of a great scholar of the time, professor D. E. Hettiarachi. Then he shifted his attention to a better pasture, the broadcasting service as a profession where he was placed as a scripter. This was regarded as one of the most prestigious positions in the literary and academic life of the nation.

What he gathered as a literary harvesting scholar during his younger days, he tried to emit into the radio channels in numerous ways, where he did not have any other competitor in the manner we envisage today in FM channels. He too had the rare chance of being trained as a creative broadcaster and programme planner attached briefly to the BBC (1964).

It is not only this training that he obtained, but he also had the rare opportunity of being a participant in communication seminars held in countries such as Malayasia, Singapore, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, China, India and France.

In these journeys he had the chance of showing some of his poetic works in translations to his fellow participants. This honour was bestowed to him because of his being the recipient of a literary award sponsored by the Silumina (1992) titled as Kavya Shiromani.

From time to time some of his poems appeared in English newspapers and later on a volume came to be published titled as Conquering Hearts (2006). His rare forte in the creative process is the spiritualism as pronounced by the Buddha.

He moulds his poetic vision in the Buddhist way of looking at life in a more penetrative manner. Pandit Wimal’s son Dr Praneeth Abhayasundara, a university don, once told us that when the news of his mother Kalyani’s death was broken to his father, he was seen murmuring some Pali stanzas wiping the welling tears. In this manner he had tried his best to calm down himself and had tried his best to bear up the pains of his heart.

This, according to Dr Praneeth Abhayasundara, was one of the memorable moments in his life as they were taught to bear up the pains of life as they come one by one.

The poet Wimal Abhayasundara was having weak eyesight for some time. But even during this period he tried his best to utilise the timeframe dictating his poetic visions to someone close to him and getting manuscripts ready for print. His explanation was not a pessimistic view, but a phenomenon, which made us understand his inner self.

He was not mystical at all, but he had taken the realistic view of life as it had occurred.

According to him it had been due to some physical or any other latent condition, which the medical doctors ought to diagnose. He recovered his sight partly later on.

Without much ado, once again he started his normal duties contributing as usual to periodicals and newspapers.

His poetic contribution is vast from any accepted standpoint and one fine day a modern day scholar has to assess the value that lay buried in them and gauge it.

He was one of the pioneers in the field of creative pageants performed outside the transmission services and studios of the time.

This trend came to be known as Elimahan Sandarshana, (Outdoor pageants), where a literary script was needed either written in the form of an opera or a musical stage play which could be performed in an open space like a garden or a park where spectators are entertained face to face with artistes who could dance and sing.

Such a series was launched in the late fifties and early sixties; some well-known scripts were done by the poet Wimal Abhayasundara. The literary value came to the limelight via these performances when the songs became more popular among the masses.

Dharmapradipika, Vishva Vimukti, Mandodari, Alakamanda, Heladiv puvata, Vira Kappitipola are a few titles written by him.

The themes in each of these had a local Oriental flavour as found in the classical texts of the past and a classical grace diametrically opposed to the debased film songs of the time based on Hindustani tunes. It is the literary foundation based on the classical works that he sustained as the creative force behind his works.

This factor paved the way for his creations, which were equally appealing to various segments in the society, the commonest lot as well as the erudite.

The sources for his creative works were mostly religious and historical and the vision in this direction was one of the needs to understand the glory of the past heritage as against the visible existing pattern of human chaos and degradation.

The use of radio channel in the serious manner possible for him was homely and his was a mission to uplift the standards of aesthetic sense in his listeners.

He was an indefatigable writer and a contributor to various creative channels, especially the print medium even since leaving the premises of the radio studios. By all means, he was an all rounder who made his indelible mark in the communication history of our country.

(The writer worked with Pandith Wimal Abhayasundara at Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (then Radio Ceylon) and is a close associate of his son Dr. Praneeth Abhayasundara, senior lecturer at the University of Sri Jayawardenapura).