Mother’s love
****
Title: Devdath Mavata Manevi
Author: Sunanda Mahendra.
Publisher: Dayawansa Jayakody.
Price: Rs. 350.00
*****
Prof. Sunanda Mahendra has taken a theme of universal truth.
Everything we have learned, we have read about Devdath is about his evil
mind and evil deeds. From our childhood we were made to look down on him
and a symbol of evil.
It reminds us of Judas Escariot and how the Christians see him. But
over the years there have been people who tried to look at Judas as a
human being. There had been several novels about Judas too. Even Jeffery
Archer had written a novel, ‘Gospel’, according to Judas, which had been
written as if it is told by Benjamin, son of Judas. No one had dared to
look at Devdat in a better light, to do justice to his life and his
story, except perhaps Osamu Tezuko.
Prof. Sunanda Mahendra has taken a very bold step, and done it very
successfully in his latest novel, Devdath Mavata Manevi. He opens our
mind to the human being behind the much maligned character of Devdath as
the arch rival of the Buddha. Mahendra has made the antagonist as the
protagonist in this story and made it into a novel which makes
interesting reading. The book is the combination of his knowledge of the
Jataka stories, Buddhist history and philosophy and world literature.
The story is narrated by a young husband and wife team. The husband
searches through all available literature and texts to learn about
Devdath, to find out what made him oppose the Buddha every step of the
way and what kept this hatred afire. As he works on his research, he
discusses his thoughts with his wife, who makes her own contributions
from her own traditional knowledge and her studies.
Devadatta was the son of king Suppabuddha and Pamita. Yasodhara was
Devadatta’s sister, thus he was a cousin and brother-in-law of
Siddhartha Gauthama. Later he became a Buddhist monk. Yet he was the
greatest enemy of the Buddha.
Though we think of Judas when we think of Devdath, there are very few
similarities. The only accusation against Judas is the betrayal of
Jesus. In the case of Devdath it is a long standing and very open feud,
which could be associated with the fight between Good and Evil, between
Osiris and Seth, or Ahura Mazda and Angra-Mainyu, or closer home,
between Devas and Asuras. But they were all mythical figures, while the
Buddha and Devdath had really lived on earth and all their activities
were witnessed by people who lived at the time.
There is also a theory that the rivalry between the Buddha and
Devdath was an enactment of the age old feud between cousins, and we are
reminded of this possibility all along as we read Sunanda Mahendra’s
novel. We see how close they were right through their life, and the
early childhood rivalry could have been what we see even today among
cousins.
Though the title of the novel says that to his mother Devdath was a
good person, we are also told about good deeds performed by Devadatta,
how he attained the power to move by air, which could have been possible
only due to his good deeds. He also had many followers. There must have
been many others who considered him as a good person.
Devdath Mavata Manevi is a novel which has deviated from the standard
style accepted among the Sinhala writers, and had picked a style most
suitable to handle a complicated subject like the life of Devdath. It is
a good read, which also helps us understand Devdath, a character who had
been always painted as pure evil.
Daya Dissanayake
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