Profile of King Buddhadasa as a children's story

Prof. Sunanda MAHENDRA

Kings, queens, heroes and heroines are portrayed as the central character in most written for children all over the world. The children's book world in Sri Lanka is no exception. The latest in this tradition comes from the pen of a well known writer Damayanthi Veronica Jayakodi with her book titled Hari Puduma Satkam kala Buddhadasa Rajjuruwo (King Buddhadasa who performed wonderful surgeries).

The book is published by Dayawansa Jayawakody publishers (2009) perhaps to coincide with the forthcoming literary fair and state literary ceremony.

Amaranth Jayakody has culled historical material from the chronicle Mahawamsa and folklore sources. As it is well known, quite a number of books have been written over the years drawn from various character depicted in Mahavamsa.

The intention here is visible as the author intends to draw the attention of the child reader to come to grips with the known history as taught in the classroom and to traverse a step ahead in search of more information in the best creative manner possible.

With the experience the author has obtained from her other works of similar nature. The readers see that there lies a certain touch of devotion to those who need honour and gratitude.

The author believes that the King Buddhadasa as depicted in the chronicle needs more modern day honour and veneration. The protagonist king in the experience is pictured as a great physician who inherited the knowledge from his forefathers, a lineage of noble surgeons. As depicted by the author, the backdrop of all the events appear 879 years after the great passing away of the Buddha.

The king who reigned at the time as found in historical sources is King Buddhadasa.

In this background King Buddhadasa is pictured not only as a great king who restored Buddhism to its pristine glory, but also as a person who guided his subjects to protect animals and humans from treacherous activities like killing and torture.

In a readable technique adopted by the writer, the king is shown as a physician who had carried a bag full of medicine and medical instruments wherever he went.

One fine day he had found a certain poisonous snake ailing with a pain in his stomach and in need of some medicines. King Buddhadasa had approached the snake and talked to him in a soothing tone declaring that he would be in a position to cure him if he allows him to perform an operation.

The snake who understands the kind words of the king allows him to do it, anticipating the cure. The entire episode for child would be in my understanding is symbolic of what most of us declare as a fantasy or a surrealistic exercise. No child would ever say that it is unbelievable. As a matter of fact, is this not the type of experiences a child comes across while scanning the pages of a Harry Potter work?

The make believe world is finer and sensitive than the crude materialistic world around us.

In this direction the entire legend or the series of events in Buddhadasa legend sounds sensible enveloping a sensitive message of goodwill.

Then the king is shown as an interlocutor of a high calibred medical doctor who diagnoses the sickness of a certain monk who had partaken of some polluted food offered by a devotee. The king comes to know that it is a sickness caused through worms in the polluted food.

He makes the monk vomit the partaken food and gets rid of the worm, curing the monk. Then the reader comes a man who out of thirst drinking gulps of water, getting the frog eggs seeped into his body. Surprisingly the man is troubled when some eggs get hatched inside his body causing incredible trouble.

The noble physician in the subject, king Buddhadasa cures him by removing the tadpoles that had caused trouble to the man.

A smile will appear across the face of a reader on these renderings, as recorded with a tiny line of mirth. But who is the reader who will not like to read these accounts? I went down the memory lane of mine, where I read most bana kathas with a tiny layer of mirth, and gradually discovered that it is a sort of an innocent make belief which we all like at a particular time frame in our life.

In the events that follow onwards the reader too comes across the tactful system of good governance on the part of the King Buddhadasa. He is shown as a certain hated character by a certain mentally deranged person, who abuses the king for no apparent reason.

The king who comes to know about this condition tries his best to make himself befriend with the particular man. In the end he gets another person to get him to do the best of hospitality.

The young reader eventually learns a lesson which is nothing but the words of the Buddha, which go as 'hatred is not ceased through hatred. But it is ceased by love alone' reminiscent of the Dhammapada stanza.

The book though runs to 46 pages, is bountifully illustrated in the traditional temple painting style. I sincerely feel that this is a fine gift to a young reader who so likes to know more about his or her own culture, religion and history.

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