Use of bilingual/ multilingual education in ancient Sri Lanka

G.H. Asoka

Plurilingualism had been a way of demonstrating erudition and knowledge in ancient Sri Lanka. With introduction of Buddhism to the country in the third Century BC during the reign of the King Devanampiyatissa, the knowledge and practices related to Buddhism based religious education were developed in a bilingual or/ and multilingual context.

Buddhism which was introduced in literary Pali and popularized in the country through Maha Vihara and later through local authorities, was grasped by the contemporary Sinhala-speaking community with the challenge of linguistic diversity.

This situation became more diverse in religious and educational settings later, after the influence of Sanskrit through Mahayana tradition of the Abhayagiriya and Jetawanarama, the other two major seats of learning in the Anuradhapura period.

Thus Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism available respectively in Pali and Sanskrit created the need for education in combination of several languages (minimum two) as media of instruction in Sinhala speaking contexts and using them as subjects as well in the curriculum: this situation produced the outcome, individual bilingualism (bilinguality) only at the beginning. Education Centenary Volume-1 mentions that ‘proficiency in Pali and Sanskrit continued the chief mark of scholarship in ancient Ceylon even in Pre-Christian times.’ Later with the development of Sinhala language in its uses for reading and writing, both individual bilingualism and biliteracy became evident.

The use of Sanskrit allowed the ancient elite to be plurilingual, and consequently there were erudites like Totagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera who was competent in six languages such as Sanskrit, Prakriti, Magadhi, Paisaci, Sauraseni and Aphabbramsa in addition to his proficiency in Sinhala, Tamil and Pali. ‘Indeed it was the mark of an educated man in Sri Lanka to be well versed in all three languages of the time- Sinhala, Tamil and Pali.’

Totagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera could have been called ‘Sadbhasa Parameswara’ instead of ‘Navabhasa Parameswara’ indicating his talents in nine languages. It can be assumed by the time of Totagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera, (Kotte Era) Sinhala, Pali and Tamil had been more or less very common, local languages among the educated and the other six languages that Rahula Thera had known might have been accepted as important foreign languages.

Borrowing from Sanskrit

In the past, the knowledge and use of Sanskrit was also an indicator of scholarship in Sri Lanka. Pali scholar usually had knowledge of Sanskrit: Totagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera had been proficient in eight departments of Sanskrit grammar: Indra, Chandra, Kosha Kritsana, Apistala, Shakatayana, Panini and Jainendra. With the introduction of Buddhism in Pali in the third Century BC (250- 210 BC) and then with the influence of Sanskrit since the first Century BC, Sri Lanka had been in language contact with Pali and Sanskrit as contemporary world lingua francas.

At the local level, Sinhala was nurtured and commentarial literature was developed linking mother tongue to study the content available in a foreign language. ‘Especially since Sanskrit was a highly developed language with a wide vocabulary, it came to pass that Sinhala began to borrow words from Sanskrit or to Sankritize words in its own vocabulary.’ The consequence was Sinhala language was gifted with great flexibility and beauty through use of Sanskrit and Pali.

Pali and its literature were mainly used for doctrinal purposes of religious education while Sanskrit was used for secular purposes such as medicine, astrology, mathematics, law, politics, architecture, arts and crafts and verse and drama in addition to its use for religious purposes. According to Mahayana tradition, the curriculum consisted of five subjects which a Bodhisatva (every follower of Mahayana school) should learn: science of grammar of Sanskrit language the science of logic ‘to be able to refute exponents of other religious doctrines in public debates, medical science and crafts ‘to be able to help others’, philosophy ‘for his own benefit’ and Tantras and Dharanis of which the content was magical. Sanskrit had influenced even Ven Buddhagosha Thera when he composed the commentary called Papannasudani to the Sammaditti Sutta: it is evident in his reference to the major epics in Sanskrit, Mahabarata and Ramayana for information on the Bharata War and the abduction of Sita.

It was significant that Pali scholars had to seek the help of the Sanskrit language and literature to improve Pali diction and style.’ Influence of Sanskrit is further visible in the Sararthasangrahaya written by King Buddhadasa in about fourth Century AD, inscriptions found at Kukkaweli, Tiriyayi and Jetawanaramaya and Mahayana doctrinal found at Mihintale. Siyabaslakara in Sinhala is a translation of Dandin’s Kavyadarsa written in Sanskrit.

Yet its first stanza has been written in Pali and this indicates the respect for Theravada and close relationship between Pali and Sanskrit, too. This information shows the use of translations when learning various types of texts in Thripitakaya and other related disciplines.

Sanskrit had been so prominent by that time as a lingua franca not only because of its linguistic developments, but also of political importance and wide use in religions. Sanskrit had influenced the Sri Lankan history in three ways: politically, religiously and linguistically. It is said that Sanskrit was the language of religion and administration motivating its use among the public especially in South Asian countries.

Plurilingual capacities

This way of language contact fulfilled several needs at local and international level. Priests’ plurilingual capacities were employed for propagating Buddhism in neighbouring countries after achieving required literary standards in bilingual or multilingual education because of the missionary work initiated by Mahavihara in neighbouring lands such as South India, Male and the Indonesian islands.

This need was geared through intercountry level visits of Buddhists to Sri Lanka. Fa Hien Thera from China is a great example for this. His visit to the country in the fifth Century AD, and two year stay at Abhayagiriya ‘in search of complete copies of authentic Theravada Buddhist scriptures for his research and studies’.

Thus it is clear how the possibilities available in bilingual education had developed diplomatic relationships at international level. There has been strong evidence for maintaining current relationships between China and Sri Lanka in a strong manner. Thus the use of several languages (minimum two) as mediam of instruction was common in Buddhism related and Buddhism based education in Sri Lanka in its ancient history.

The writer is Language Coordination Unit’s Head of the Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Education