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Focus on books:
A posthumously published work of a great monk scholar
Prof. Sunanda Mahendra
Venerable Pandit Welivitiye Sri Soratha (1897 - 1963) needs no
introduction to the Sinhala reader, as he had dedicated his entire life
to the great task of writing commentaries to classical Sinhala texts.
 Some of the rarest commentaries he had brought out include
Kavsilumina, Amavatura, Hansa Sandesaya and several other texts. His
great scholarly work, the two Volume Sinhala - Sinhala dictionary shows
the extent to which his wide spectrum of knowledge running to such
subject areas as religion, folklore, history and linguistics.
For the common reader, he brought out a series of narratives from
world over, titled as Katha Tarangani (Ocean of stories). He was by all
means a scholar who paved the way for himself to achieve the position of
the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Sri Jayawardanapura (then
Vidyodaya).
Some of these background details may not be directly linked with what
I want to jot down in this column today. The scholar monk Sri Soratha
had been engaged in the task of writing an annotated detailed commentary
in Sinhala to a world reputed Sanskrit poetic work known to scholars as
Saundarananda Maha Kavya.
The term maha kavya, may mean as an epic poem to a Western scholar,
but there are several similarities and dissimilarities. The work
Saundarananda written is Sanskrit attributed to a Buddhist monk known as
Ashwagosha.
The Sinhala manuscript, which contains an introduction and literal
Sinhala translation had been lying unpublished and unnoticed from the
eyes of other scholars from the year 1945. The Sinhala introduction by
the scholar monk shows the number of Sanskirt and English translation he
had selected as sources for his stupendous task.
This introduction points out that in 1910 an Indian Sanskrit scholar
named Harprasad Shastri had rewritten this text with notes indicating
the possible changes he had observed in the fragmenting copy of the
original work of Ashwagosha.
Since this notification and the light of knowledge thrown on the
Sanskrit poem, the attention from the point of view of scholars from
such countries as Russia, Germany, France and England had been an
erudite discourse that had resulted in the discovering of Saunderananda,
from several standpoints.
Basically the work though written in Sanskrit, bears the character of
the protagonist or the hero of the work, the prince Nanda, who later got
ordained in the order of Buddha. The poet Ashwagosha attempts to create
the sensitive episodes in the sensitive intimacies of the prince Nanda
with his future partner who is one other than a charming prince.
But the central theme as the work depicts is the expression of the
gradual spiritual ventures on the part of the young prince. The prince
realises gradually the dawn of an inner change which paves the way for
him to achieve a supreme state of Bliss in the Buddhist concept.
The work runs to 18 sargas or cantos, where the reader feels the two
sides of the life, and the emotions of the male (Nanda) and the emotions
of the female (Kalyani). The Sanskrit poem, as shown by the scholar and
Sorata, should be reckoned as a greater work that could be kept in par
with some well known Sanskrit poetic works of the calibre of Meghaduta
and Raghuwamsa.
The original Sanskrit work, according to the scholar monk happens to
have been created as inspired by a Buddhist king named Kanishka (27-65
AD) who had reigned India when he had discovered the great skills of the
poet
Ashwagosha from his youth. This great Sanskrit work also should be
regarded as a Bhakthi Kavya, which may mean a spiritual poetic creation.
The credit for the discovery of this manuscript should go to the Sinhala
writer and biographer Ranjith Amarakeerthi Palihapitiya who had obtained
it from a sort of an archive of the late scholar monk.
The work is written in long hand as he notes on two volumes of CR
book had remained for a long time fortunately without dispute, certain
patches of moth eaten pages. All in all it's indeed an achievement even
from the point of view of Sinhala publications on the part of the Godage
publishers.
This Sinhala text of the scholar monk Sorata will also enable the
present day poets to gauge their poetic skills as well. The preface to
the text had been written in the year 1945 while residing at Vidyodaya
Pirivena in Colombo. In conclusion, I must emphasise that this type of
publications should be encouraged from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs
taking into consideration the invaluable erudition exhibited in the
commentarial process, which has its validity as a modern classic.
The printed text covers all aspects of the original work, with word
to word meaning, explanations on classical allusions, insights into
mythologies and their significance and various Buddhist theories
expounding as to who religious doctrine could be fused into an epic
narrative.
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