Uprisings recorded from various corners
 Local literary critics have pointed out that most Sinhala narratives
woven round themes such as insurrections, social, political uprisings
and post war feelings of trauma have not yielded good reading material.
As a matter of fact the narratives number in quantity and not in
quality. It is for the simple reason that the creators have not
researched properly in the narrative structure. Similarly they have not
kept any genuine records that will better their narrative forms
embracing sensitive humane experiences which enable the reader to gauge
the intensity of the human experiences.
Instead the creators wish to express through events, people and
places. Some commonplace events as recorded in the press and other
electronic media are also included.
Political uprisings
On reading Kularatne Weerasooriya's first novel titled as Viru saha
Meru (Sarasavi 2011) centred round issues pertaining to two political
uprisings. The protagonist is one Kulavansa who is shown as a teacher
who not only takes teaching seriously but also the social changes far
more serious than the mere teaching process. He takes his task as one
connected with the trade union movement where everything triggers off
from a farm which becomes the first breeding place for his ideology.
 The commencing chapter is titled as Govipala (the farm) where he
meets several people and face new experiences. It is from his point of
view that the novel breaks off and joins other chapters, eight in all,
like a shift of focal point of the narrator. From the farm, the point of
view shuttles off to a classroom where once again Kulavansa is teaching
and is shown as pinpointing socio-political views which become the main
pivotal point.
From the teaching position Kulavansa is made into a rebel as he tries
to convince his fellow mates as to what they should do to bring about a
new order in the society. He has a conflict with his principal of the
school where he served. He found it difficult to be a good teacher as he
had to face some of the more mundane issues, of false accusations for
being too good and humble, resulting in his withdrawal from the
profession.
Farm-forming
Then he hides himself in the jungle with one of his good students,
who is visualized as a like minded friend, culminating in the formation
of a farm by himself. His main attention as a political thinker never
overshadows his intimacies and money-making efforts. He is attracted by
the manners of another friend and companion whose name is Gnanasena and
his wife Jayalatha. Gnanasena is more keen on moulding a better society.
The two friends go hand in glove with the aspects of an understanding
the type of insurrection they need. They, in their observation, come
across the tragedies of lives of workers and their families torn to
poverty everyday and driven to disaster and maladjustments in the family
patterns due to the wrong political theories and speculations making the
rich richer and the poor poorer.
This may sound a commonplace experience as found in many narratives
down centuries. But some human events as recorded by Weerasooriya
through his protagonist Kulavamsa are quite powerful and resourceful
human experiences that will last in our minds for a longer period with a
lasting interest written in a language which is heart-provokingly
sensitive.
I am fond of the chapter on gem mining industry in the city of
Ruvanpura, presumably alluding to Ratnapuara. The rich gem merchants
force their gem workers to undergo severest disasters of gem mining and
earn for themselves all the luxuries. The gem mine owners are shown as
inheritors of wealth and power at the expense of the poor miners who are
cut off from the outer world when they are buried in the gem pits.
This is the finest record and recreation ever to be written by a
Sinhala writer.
Butcher's torture
In this particular chapter the attention is drawn to the young son of
such a miner. He comes to know that his son is arrested and visits the
gem merchant. He pleads the merchant to get his son back. To his dismay
he too is taken to a police unit visualized as hell where a police
officer, who is nicknamed as 'butcher', is torturing the young son.
That evokes the utmost tragedy on earth. The father in agony too is
tortured. He is worried and tries everything to get the son out of the
disaster. But he is kicked, wounded and drawn to a corner of the police
station. Now the insurgents arrive with their faces covered with black
masks to attack the police station and release the rebel inmates in the
custody.
The reader faces the visual of the battle between rebels and police.
The scene is sensitively created to show the young rebels who want the
justice be brought back not through torture and punishment on the part
of the physical power, but through human development with a better
vision.
This makes the narrator change his attitude from the early manners of
just being a mere thinker. He is now an activist and a leader of a
higher order of mind. All these events go to the making of a narrative
that grips the human and inhuman perspectives of an insurrection.
With some of these plus signs, I visualize that there are several
drawbacks in the narrative order.
Negative features
The writer inserts long drawn dialogues that ensue between people to
create inner nature of his characters. This is seen mostly in the first
two chapters. But the attempt tends to get deviated from the central
theme and sometimes goes at tangent. The intention is visualized as
portraying the character of Kulavamsa looks more a hero cum saint aloof
from the reality.
The reading there off tends to be tedious. Towards end the
protagonist is shown as somewhat neutral and harks back to realize some
of the follies of their battle. All in all, the writer's intention is to
depict several sides of the same issue of a social revolution. He does
not undermine the attempts of the rebels nor does he salute the
attempts.
All he wants to express is that the society has to be framed in
sanity which is the most wanted human development. This Sinhala novel
possesses a new narrative format, where eight points of view are drawn
to focus on a single theme and the eight areas could be treated as eight
narratives each linked to the other.
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