Tribute to Tissa Abeysekera:
The first and last ‘Tissa’
Tissa Devendra
Having been named ‘Tissa’ by my parents, without recourse to
astrology, I basked in some reflected glory as a schoolboy, in the
1940s, whenever the name of a King Tissa popped up in our Ceylon History
lesson. We are now in the month of Poson when Arahat Mahinda transformed
Lankadvipa into a Dharmadvipa beginning with his famous summons to our
hunter king - “Tissa! Tissa!” As such, my wandering mind has been
inspired into thinking about others, both famous and infamous, who share
my name.
‘Tissa’ has been a name of some of the Buddha’s early disciples such
as Moggaliputta Tissa.
But post Parinibbana it seems to have lost popularity and rarely
appears in our scriptures. (This amateur observation may need correction
by serious scholars).
Tissa Abeysekera |
Born: May 7, 1939
Died: April 18, 2009 (aged 69)
Education: Dharmapala Vidyalaya
Occupation: Film Director/ Writer, Chairman
National Film Corporation, Board member University of the Visual and
Performing Arts, Board member University of Kelaniya, Visiting lecturer
University of Peradeniya/Ruhuna
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However, in Sri Lanka the name Tissa has been so greatly admired that
it had been adopted by no less than 20 kings - far more than any other
names such as Gamini, Abhaya or Mahinda. I leave the unravelling of this
phenomenon to historians, as I have neither the intellectual equipment,
nor the scholarly aptitude, to do so.
The First Tissa
Till recently I was under the impression that Sri Lanka’s first king
to bear this name was Devanampiya Tissa who answered Arahat Mahinda’s
famous summons and changed the course of Sri Lanka’s history. Recently
re-reading the Rajavaliya I discovered it refers to Devanampiya Tissa’s
father as Mota Tissa (not Mota Siva as some other sources do).
Not only that, Mota Tissa’s father, son of Pandukabhaya II, was yet
another Tissa - Gana Tissa. This goes to show that the name Tissa did
not come here at the same time as Arahat Mahinda’s mission. It has had a
pre-Buddhist usage among our kings.
Names of distinction
There were so many (20!)Tissa Kings (or King Tissas) that the
chronicles had to give up the usual description I, II, III etc and
resort to attaching prefixes to Tissa such as ‘Saddha’ (pious), ‘Sura’ (fierce),’Deta/Jetta’
(Senior), ‘Upa’ (junior), ‘Kuda’ (little) describing their personal
qualities or seniority. Other prefixes gave their place of origin e.g.
‘Kelani’ ‘Yatala’. Some had double-barrelled names such as Bhatiya-Tissa.
My favourite prefixes, however, are those delightfully irreverent
nicknames (which even slipped into the Mahavansa) such as ‘Kavan’
(crow-black), ‘Mahadaliya’ (big beard), ‘Vankanasika’ (crooked nose) and
‘Voharaka’ (loud mouthed) - a description which aptly described my
boyhood self according to my historian father.
The last recorded king to bear this time-honoured name was
DalapaTissa, a rather obscure ruler whose sole claim to ‘distinction’
according to the Rajavaliya is that he “renovated already existing
Viharas and reigned for nine years”.
My meagre knowledge of archaic Sinhala and ancient geography gives me
no clue as to what ‘Dalapa’ meant.
‘Tissa’ now disappears from the chronicles as a name of kings. But
this was in common with the other simple names popular in the
Anuradhapura kingdom such as Gamani, Abhaya, Sena and Mugalan. The drift
away from our first capital, which had held sway for over a thousand
years, was marked by our kings using the most grandiloquent names such
as Parakrama Bahu, Vijaya Bahu, Vikrama Bahu, Vimala Dharma Suriya and
Sri Vikrama Rajasinha. The length of the name often paralleled a
diminution of the kingdom.
Buddhist monks, however, continued to occasionally use the name Tissa
till today. But the chronicles of kings had little space and no need to
record the names of “hewers of wood and drawers of water” and their
names remain unknown, unhonoured and unsung.
Only in the Sigiri Graffiti do we hear the voices and learn the names
of ordinary people.
But there is no Tissa here. It is unlikely that the common people
would have committed the lese majeste of assuming names, such as Tissa,
hallowed by Royal and priestly usage. The name Tissa now goes into
hibernation for well-nigh a thousand years.
Rebirth
In the early 20th Century, Anagarika Dharmapala’s relentless
campaign, against the trappings of Colonialism - customs, costumes and
names had a tremendous impact on the Buddhist public. English names were
discarded enthusiastically - David became Dharmapala, George became
Gunapala and so on.
The first Sinhala names assumed were traditional, such as Buddhadasa,
Dharmadasa, Sanghadasa,Wijayapala, Sugathapala, Gunasiri etc - all
redolent of Buddhist virtues integral in village life.Meanwhile Olcott’s
vision was bearing fruit - to lift Buddhist education out of the rut of
ill-equipped village schools and to establish modern Buddhist Colleges
on par with the best Missionary schools - which had been creaming off
the Buddhist elite and weaning them away from their roots.
These new Buddhist schools, Mahinda in Galle, Ananda in Colonbo and
Dharmaraja in Kandy began teaching in English, in the best Public School
traditions, but with a distinctive emphasis on Buddhist and Sinhala
culture.
In the process of studying the new discipline of Ceylon History and
the Buddha Dhamma both teachers and students were enthused by the
famous, inspiring and crisp names of our ancient kings - such as Gamini,
Tissa, Abhaya, Mahinda and Upali. It is now that the names of our
ancient kings got a new lease of life when boys, born from around 1915
or so, were named after them.
This trend went into full swing in the 1920s when most of us named
Tissa, Gamini, Upali, Mahinda etc, after our ancient kings and prelates,
were born.
These overtook the Western names of our seniors named after British
Kings or Governors such as Edward, George, Robert, Wilmot, Stanley,
Neville etc.
The old kings’ names popular in my generation now seem to be fading
away - and replaced by Hindi sounding, or other ‘Sinhala’ (but so far
non-existent) names concocted to conform to astrological demands.
Coming back to the name I share with a dwindling band of old stagers
- I think it is very likely that the first of the ‘new’ (post Mahavansa)
Tissas was my friend the late Tissa Amerasekera in Kandy, active till
his late 90s, and doyen of Dharmaraja’s ‘Old Boys’. adding lustre to the
royal name we have in common - Tissa.
A sad farewell
Little did I imagine when I began this article many months ago and
shared my thoughts with my dear friend and namesake Tissa Abeysekera
that I would write this postscript in remembrance of this most wonderful
man.
I can confidently assert that he has been the most outstanding Tissa
for the last century. His achievements in literature and film have left
an indelible imprint on these genres to be long remembered and studied.
Tissa’s brilliance in Sinhala and English writing is unique and will
never be matched. His writings on literature, art and film form a body
of work of sensitive critical judgement in limpid language.
He fully deserved the academic honours and national recognition
bestowed on him while he was yet around to appreciate them. He was a
brilliant conversationalist and, above all, a wonderful friend. It is
Sri Lanka’s tragedy that Tissa Abeysekera left us at the height of his
creative powers. April, was, truly our cruelest month. I dedicate this
brief tribute to the memory of this greatest Tissa of our age.
From ‘Quest for Shangri-La’ |