Manavasinghe

A giant in Journalism:

Wijitha Nakkawita

The celebrated columnist, lyricist and linguist Sri Chandraratna Manavasinghe’s 97th birth anniversary falls on June 20.

During the early 1950s he served the original Lankadipa editorial and wrote the famous political column Vaga Thuga. The Lankadipa editor D.B. Dhanapala hired Manavasinghe for writing the column for his splendid skill in the language. Vaga Thuga column became the best Sinhala newspaper column of the time and has not since been surpassed by any writer.

He strode the halls of journalism as a giant. With a full head of long unkempt hair that he pushed back now and then and dressed national dress, his presence was felt on any occasion.

His column was spellbinding and a majority of the readers bought the Lankadipa for his column and their eyes would seek the page where it appeared before they even read the news headlines of the day.

Manavasinghe was not only a Sinhala scholar, he was also literate in several oriental languages.

His style of writing was pithy, full of epigram and idiom and was very forceful contributing to shaping the thinking of the Sinhala intelligentsia of the 1950s. He slated those in authority without pulling his punches, especially the traditional socio-political establishment and sought to revive the traditional values in the Sri Lankan society. He was also a fiery public speaker.

An incident comes to mind when there was a meeting organized by some persons in the early 1950s to form a Sinhala writers association at the Buddhist Theosophical Hall, Colombo.

The meeting had begun and a large number of people were present. Some unknown person was presiding over the meeting and according to the agenda office bearers of the association were to be selected. Then a tall person in a national dress walked into the meeting.

He came near the table where the person presiding was addressing and looked round at the front row of seats and in fact his eyes ran over the whole gathering. Suddenly he got on to the presiding table.

Where is Martin Wickramasinghe, where is W.A. Silva, where is G.B. Senanayaka? What kind of Sinhala writers association could there be without those people? Who organized this?

Ladies and gentlemen this meeting is adjourned. We will organize a genuine association of Sinhala writers and inform you.

There was utter confusion among the organizers who looked helpless in the presence of Manavasinghe who had taken the measure to stop the meeting. People who had come left the hall and Manavasinghe walked down the stairs without a word.

When George Bernard Shaw visited Sri Lanka in those early years he was keen to learn something about Sinhala language and literature. He was introduced to Manavasinghe who had explained the history of the language and literature. It is said that Shaw was very impressed by what he learnt at the meeting.

Still the most outstanding contribution he made was to Sinhala lyrics. His evergreen lyrics like Monavada Amme Akuru Jaathiyak, Galana Gangaki Jeevithe and Pundit Amaradeva’s Mahabo Vannama are still the best Sinhala lyrics and their quality of capturing the sylvan splendour of the backwoods of the villages and the beauty of forests written like mosaic were the work of unequalled talent. They were really poetic writings more than mere lyrics.

The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation’s Ruhunu Sevaya channel will broadcast a special commemoration program on June 20.

The program is organized at Puvakdandawa, the village where he grew up deep down south and the Panchathuparamaya temple and the Kadavara Wewa the rural irrigation reservoir in the background that provided him inspiration for his writings and enriched his fertile imagination.

During the past century Manavasinghe was one of the most gifted writers who was not only a writer but a rebel who did not fear to severely criticize forces that be.

The SLBC program is produced by Weerasena Hiniduma and presented by Rohana Deshapriya Dahanayake. It will go on the air from 6.30 to 7.30 p.m. on June 20 on FM wave lengths 105.4 and 92.8 the SLBC Ruhunu Service said.