Did Shakespeare come from Hambantota?

S. Samarasinghe Principal Assistant Registrar General

This was first published in a newspaper on March 15, 1986.

There is a strong belief among certain sections of the old generation in distant Ruhuna that according to tradition William Shakespeare was, in fact, no other than a "Sinhalease" boy who was taken away to Britain from a hamlet in Kirinda in the Hambantota District.

The story has it that certain English Missionaries, who were sailing in a frail boat, were shipwrecked off the coast of Hambantota. They were compelled to spend a few days on land until the repairs were done. The villagers, who looked with curiosity the white men in distress, helped them to get food in keeping with the custom of hospitality with known among Southerners even today.

Powerful planets

Among those villagers, the Missionaries observed an intelligent fair complexioned boy and decided to take him along. They consulted his parents, who asked his tutor the monk of the temple the Ven. Bhikkhu, who knew that the boy would in future become a famous man, because the powerful planets indicated this in his horoscope, agreed. But the monk vehemently insisted that the name of the child and that of his clan should not be altered in the country where he was going to make his fortune.

The boy was descendant of "scheekkauperuge", people of an ancient clan who were also called Weluman being connected to King Dutugemunu's warrior Welusumana, who was related to the ancestors of the glamorous Gajamannona of exceeding beauty, the nightingale of the South.

Eventually, the visitors set sail with the young man and took him to a small village on the banks of the river Avon in Britain, where he was named William brought up by an obscure foster father, who was later known as John Shakespeare.

After the boy left the Island it is said that there had been some correspondence with the parents for some time. Unfortunately the papers kept in the village temple had been destroyed by floods. Suddenly correspondence ceased and nobody was interested thereafter.

Certain circumstances

A few years ago article appeared in a magazine in India that this identical Shakespeare happened to be a Muslim boy taken from Arabia to England under almost similar condition as mentioned here.

It was reported that the boy was called at home by the name Shelk Abdul Pierrieson of Wahid Sulaiman, thus became William Shakespeare. Whatever it may be, certain circumstances indicate definitely that Shakespeare was not born in England and that his early childhood is shrouded in mystery.

Critical examinations of the life of Shakespeare written by several authors show actual date of birth. Peter Alexander, the famous historian, says that according to tradition William was of one John Shakespeare and that the boy was christened on 26th April, 1565. The place of birth is not known and it is reported that William came to London from Stratford on Avon, an insignificant village where there were practically no facilities for studies.

Peter Alexander also says that in 1582 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, a lady who was eight years his senior. Taking for granted that he was christened a few days after birth, he should have been eighteen years at the time of marriage, which is not possible, because Englishmen at that time did not marry so young.

Wonderful plays

He might have been a lad of ten when he was christened, as he might have been eight or ten when he left Ceylon and therefore, at the time of the marriage he could have been a young man of 28 or 30 years. It is also reported that Shakespeare died on 23rd April 1616 that is 48 years after the date of christened. If he got married at 18, he could not have had time to pursue his studies to writes so many plays in such a wonderful manner.

Ben Jonson had remarked that it is strange that Shakespeare, who knew "some Latin and less Greek", had done miracles in the field of literature. Aubery goes on to say that according to Shakespeare's language and expressions he might have been a teacher in some country and that he adopted a style of his own. These expressions lead us to the conclusion that the early education in Buddhist philosophy that the village temple and his family background being related to Gajaman Nona were to help him later on as a dramatist.

Jataka stories

When we carefully consider the works of Shakespeare we can see clearly that most of the plays are based on Buddhist Jataka Stories and anecdotes of the East with a background that points to typical ancient Sinhalese culture in which we always find utterance relating to astrology, astronomy, oracles, superstitions beliefs in the East and other kindred subjects, which were not known to the writers of the West at that time.

Moreover, it is as established fact that Shakespeare "has no heroes but heroines".

This statement will prove categorically that he had followed the Jataka Stories in Buddhism, diligently studied by him in Ceylon, in which it is always the woman who took the leading role. Most of the names of female characters in his comedies sound more like names taken from Eastern countries than from the West, such as Miranda Amelia, Ursula, Nerissa and Desdemona in Othello taking a Muslim into the scene is rare among English writers.

Valiant masterpiece

We find in Merchant of Venice" how Portia, a lady dressed as a lawyer valiantly deliver an address on "mercy" masterpiece in the English language.

It is based on human sympathy and compassion - "mercy that blessed him that give and him that takes" is an expression benevolent "Maitri" - one of the most prominent features in Buddhist doctrine, where it is said that thought of "Maitri" come from our inner selves and have three beneficial effects on the persons who practice and others as well.

In "Julius Ceasar" a soothsayer coming into the stage is in keeping with eastern custom, particularly in Ceylon of consulting the planets to ascertain one's future.

Then again in "Hamlet" we come across a peculiar character who says: "If you live close to Church then you go further away from heaven". This also refers to a belief among certain Buddhist that it is a sin to build houses in front of temples. Then we find the obnoxious cry of the owl in the night foreboding ill - also a common belief in the East.

Seven periods

In "Twelfth Night" Shakespeare has shown vividly the change (Anichcha) in human life in describing the Seven stages of Man from birth. "The infant in mother's arms to old age" sans teeth sans hearing is exactly. The division of man's life into seven periods the last being "sans everything" this is according to the principles of Buddhism. No writer has ever attempted to describe human life in such vivid fashion.

However, we still find mural paintings of Man, so that the ordinary pilgrim could easily grasp the fast change of man with the help of these pictures.

"The Tempest" is considered Shakespeare's farewell to the stage, where he make Prospero to unite" and release the spirits from bondage - kodivina kapanawa - and bury the magic wand, the last scene where actually astrology and charms in this island are used to end his literary career.

Arden has suggested on one occasion that the interrogative 'No' at the end of a statement in Shakespeare's plays to turn it to a question, could be taken as an acceptable Ceylonism, Several instances cab be found his plays Viz. Hamlet: Do you love me Master, No?

A friend who visited Statford on Avon on a centenary celebration told me that while examining same articles that Shakespeare has used, a tourist from France, inspected the bed asked the guide whether it was, in fact, the bed on which Shakespeare's mother gave him birth to her son. He also told me that there was an inscription on the monument where he was buried with the words: Woe unto him, who pens this". There is therefore, some secret lying within the tomb. Perhaps, as importance documents, depicting antecedents might have been placed inside.

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