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Focus on books
On reading a felicitation volume
Title: Mahacharya Kusuma Karunaratna Abhinandana (A felicitation
volume on Professor Kusuma Karunaratne)
Editors: Ven. Agalakada Sirisumana Sarath Wijesuriya Ananda Tissa
Price Rs. 1000 Page count 584
Professor Sunanda Mahendra
  The term 'felicitation' has several meanings. If translated into
Sinhala, many use the term 'Upahara'. But the most suitable coinage, I
presume, is 'Abhinandana', which carries the meaning of not only an
honour but also the delight or the pleasure of such an act.
The present compilation, which I happen to keep with me for the past
four or five months, carry such an apt meaning, for the person or the
celebrity who happens to be a well known lady professor, Kusuma
Karunaratne, blissfully or rather nostalgically recalls her past
achievements commencing from childhood days to the apex of her
achievement as the first lady professor of Sinhala. It's nothing but a
series of a melody sung in the sweetest smell of success.
The opening pages describes how she was groomed by her parents to the
level of this success and how the spiritual nuances that surrounds her
created the necessary kindling and nurturing for such an achievement.
This I felt is really the interior meaning of a positive attitude
when one struggles for a good cause and reaps the fruits thereby.
As it happens traditionally, a felicitation volume normally carries
two or three essays on the person who is felicitated. But herein the
hallmark is that this bulky felicitation volume carries some of the well
written scholarly essays written by both her well wishers and fellow
researchers as well as outsiders both in Sinhala and English.
The three editors have been successful undoubtedly to obtain essays
in honour of Professor Karunaratne with great difficulty. As I feel it
is an arduous task to obtain scholarly essays these days from the
academia at large. These essays cover areas such as linguistics,
archaeology, history, literature, aesthetics and criticism. These also
cover Professor KK's spectrum of interest.
Though I felt that the essays are obtained with difficulty, I also
felt that there are a few that told momentary or threshold interest. But
I don't want to undermine the efforts of the editors, for I know the
pains that one has to undergo, in the very selection of learned
scholars.
As I am rather critical of several essays, as they lack the lustre of
scholarship. A felicitation volume also paves the way for university
researchers to obtain the opportunity of exhibiting some material that
cannot go into a day to day periodical. In this direction, a
felicitation volume ought to be a carefully and methodically arranged
series of essays in honour of a person on his/her concept.
Generally speaking the essays that cover the areas such as the issues
in translation process, and aspects of sociology of literature, and
media issues ought to have been more resourceful. It is not a mere
matter of laying down copious footnotes.
The essay on the songs in praise of another over the years,
researched by a young lecturer, Latha Gurusinghe, I felt, would have
been more aesthetically bent, if an attempt has been made to rediscover
some original lyrics written fro radio programmes. Similarly Jayantha
Chandrasiri's essay on women and social development does not throw light
to the intended topic.
On the other side, the essay on the creative communication trends
depicted in classical Sinhala literary works written by Ven. Agalakada
Sirisumana, throws much resourceful insights to the intended subject
among the English essays in this volume. I found that the essay titled
'Buddhist Beliefs and Practices in Sri Lanka and Japan; Similarities and
Differences' by Toshini Endo touches briefly but with uncommon insights,
some of the rare factors pertaining to the topic.
The three essays on local rituals and folklore written by Dhammika
Lankatilaka, Tissa Kariyawasam, and Jayasena Kottegoda are rare attempts
to disseminate fresh information relevant to the selected areas. A
number of essays are written on the cross cultural study areas with
special reference to Japan.
This may be so as the person felicitated had been honoured by the
Japanese Emperor. The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with neck
ribbon goes this honourable title bestowed upon her in 2004.
What more can I say about a felicitation volume? Professor Kusuma
Karunaratne, I feel, deserves, this honour, and the feeling in a reader
is imbibed on reading the list of contributions and honours and awards,
ushered on her, a list which runs to eight printed pages of this volume.
Perhaps a passing comment on my part as a reader of this volume may
look absurd. But permit me to speak this. As I observed, she was one of
the most resourceful radio contributors, for my BBC Sandesaya Programme
where I was the compiler presenter. She was active and a committed
subscriber to the process, which she extended on her return to Sri
Lanka.
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