Of men, jungle trails and rituals

Prof. Sunanda Mahendra

Title: Maha Kele Yama

A study of the Nuwara Kalaviya jungle habitats and the related rituals.

Author: Ven. Wettewave Dhammananda

Publisher: Wanni Prakashana, 2006

Page count: 208

Price: Rs. 275.

So much have been written as fact and fiction pertaining to the subject of forests and jungle at home and abroad. The adventurous book called ‘The Jungle Tide’ is one of the few books which contain the dismal powers of the jungle on the human existence, authored by John Steele, who lived in Sri Lanka during the colonial regime.

Then comes the well known novel by Leonard Wolf called ‘A Village in the Jungle’ about which quite a lot is written and said. Following the success of more of these works encompassed by the jungle and the man quite a number of books in English and Sinhala appeared over the years.

Some have been mere fiction and some others were botanical studies as well as human habitat studies encircling the various aspects of living conditions of man, animal and plants. Above all there came a few works which centred round the strength of the man in the conquest of the thick jungle with which they had to live.

This type of work was mostly visualised as anthropological and social studies with a stand on the folklore and its necessity as an instrument to overcome the fear psychosis, latent in the man, as an explorer.

The latest book I had the chance to read with a grip in tight nature is authored by a Buddhist monk, a folklorist and creative writer, in his own right. He had been a participant observer in the compilation of this work he calls as Mahakele Yama which literally conveys the meaning as ‘traversing the thick jungle’.

This is observed as a research work containing aspects such as the meaning of the term ‘thick jungle’ (maha kele) to the villager, the geographical historical economic and cultural background of the thick jungles in Nuwara Kalaviya or the extent of land covering the three big lakes: Nuwara weva, Kala Weva and Padavi Weva. Then the researcher outlines in a synoptic manner the fauna and flora endemic to this particular area. Followed by such factors emerge the various customs, rites and rituals connected with the jungle.

The author sensitively presents some of the rites and rituals as practiced by both the hunters and other explorers in their traverse in the maha kele or the thick jungle as a measure to overcome their own self confidence. Here he obtains rediscovered material and data from those elders who matter in the subject as his main dependable respondents.

The thick jungles exist to discover the hidden treasures such as timber, curative plants and rare animals. But as the researcher monk observes there are plunderers who seldom see this treasure as a beauty and charm gifted by the Mother Nature. But according to him, there are ‘jungle lovers’, who perform rites and rituals to make a living in this treasure devoid of bringing any harm to an animal or a plant or a river. All these details are embedded with sufficient examples exemplifying the value of the person who loves the jungle.

In the fifth and the last chapter of the work, the author monk outlines how a folk literature stemmed out of this love for the jungle via various rites and rituals performed by the man which is still too vague in this region.

This special folklore is called as Maha Kele Jana Sahityaya or the folk literature of the thick jungle. One of the most sensitive observations on the part of the author researcher Ven. Dhammananda is the link between these jungle rituals and the aspects of popular Buddhist beliefs widely spread which underlines the factor of sheer necessity over commercialised plunder.

Tree worshipping he underlines as a ritual adhered to by villagers as a measure to prevent them from any impending disaster from ferocious animals. The chanting of mantras too is observed in the same spirit as a measure for self effacement from disaster.

In this manner this perhaps is a resourceful book that ought to be rediscovered in terms of modern knowledge.

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