Folktales of Yapahuwa: widely differing walks of life
Folklore had always been a perennial creative foundation to all types
of literary genres, like poetry, drama, fiction and visual arts. From
time to time collectors of folklore material appear enriching the
existing patterns of literature.
Collections of folk poems and folktales have given vent to a
rediscovering process exhibiting the lifestyles of people, rituals and
behaviour patterns of all times. Creative writers of the calibre of
Ravindranath Tagore, Bertold Brecht, and W. B. Yeats have been
influenced by folk material of varying types for their remodeling
process.
Tagore is known to have traveled all parts of Bengali meeting folk
storytellers and folk musicians who gave way to remodeling of Tagore’s
music associated with the Shanti Nikethan University.
Theatrical style
Right at the same juncture Bertold Brecht had been traveling in all
parts of China watching the folk theatre at work. He too had the chance
to develop his own theatrical style of an epic theatre like ‘Caucasian
Chalk Circle’ and ‘Woman of Setruan’ etc.
Our own professor Edirivira Sarachchandra too was influenced not only
by the local folk theatre like Kolam and Nadagam but also by the
Japanese Noh and Kabuki. I have come across quite a number of modern
poets living at home and abroad who have taken up study of folklore
seriously to fulfill the task of recreating them in their contemporary
thought patterns and experiences.
To meet the demand the libraries should be equipped with collections
of folklore classified clearly. Now that the subject of folklore studies
is encompassed in various subject areas of social sciences and
humanities, the need to examine such collections of folk material would
be resourceful.
Tales from Yapahuwa
In this direction, the compilation of folktales from Yapahuwa area
titled as Yapahuwe Janakatha (2010 Dayawansa Jayakody) as collected and
edited by the young Sinhala journalist Gamini Kandepola comes as a
compendium of folk experiences and wisdom. The collector and editor
Kandepola utilized the interview method to gather his material.
But this does not mean that some aspects of the folk narratives are
missing or left out. He classifies his stories into numerous groups
enveloping tales pertaining to people, places, events, rituals customs,
manner, beliefs, births deaths and marriages. The tales contain
characters such as kings, queens, farmers, physicians, demons, monks,
children and women.
In all the tales one of the predominant factors is the belief in the
inherent power of magic symbolized as wisdom which enables wise monks to
tame even brutal mannered demons, who could be visualized criminals or
evildoers.
Historical significance
There are tales of place names which depict that the naming of a
particular place had a certain historical and cultural significance. One
such place is what was earlier named as Kaluaggala, which later became
Kalugalla, an interesting and moving narrative linked with the some of
King Dutugemunu, the prince Saliya, and his alleged low caste sweetheart
Asokamala is cited. This particular tale is different from those of
which a reader may find in the pages of Mahavamsa and Saddharmalankaraya.
Quite a number of stories narrate the ill effects of the wrong use of
charms and medicinal powers on the part of exorcists. All the tales are
briefly written giving an allowance for readability devoid of
repetitions and redundancies. As such the tales printed are brief and
sharp. Some of the rare provincial dialects and usages as heard by the
script Kandepola are explained in the form of an appendix.
This enables the reader to gauge the authenticity of the tales as
narrated by storytellers. All in all the entire compilation looks like a
mini folklore research cum creations. The world of fantasy in most of
these tales in turn becomes realistic due to the lasting humane impact
that is thrust on the reader. In many ways the time is ripe for the
creative writers to take the study of folklore much more seriously than
it is done today.
Without distortions
Once told tales can do wonders if reinterpreted without distortions.
This particular collection of folktales from Yapahuwa is resourceful
from two points of view. Firstly the compiler Kandepola gives us a vivid
array of tales of human interest. Secondly they enable us to take up
further discovery into a world hidden from the close proximity. The
fantastic nuances of man, myth and magic are visualized before us in
order to gauge our own selves, the way we live today.
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