Breathtaking originality

Sachitra MAHENDRA

Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra’s mission continues to be admirable. He brought in a fresh perspective to two stagnating entities of the local culture scene: Jataka Book and the Stage.

Information and Media Minister Dr Keheliya Rambukwella launches the website www. mahasamayama.org. Information Director General Professor Ariyaratne Athugala and Sri Lanka Foundation Chairman Professor Ranjith Bandara look on.

That specific contribution places Sarachchandra in high echelons of Orientalism. He shed a different interpretation – or rather posed a question – to the traditions.

Birth of the Buddha was a challenge to the Brahmin-dominated society in India. It directly took a toll on their survival, as the patrons gradually turned down them. They had natural reason to entertain wrath against Buddhism. They exercised various attempts.

It was no easy task for the Buddhist community, consisted of laity and monks strict in discipline, to weather these challenges. However the anti-Buddhist elements could raise an ugly head quite productively following the Buddha’s Great Demise.

One underlining Brahmin concept was to look down on the woman. Many Brahmin scriptures show ample evidence for their negative viewpoint on women. It seems to have entered the Jataka Book, a much-revered Buddhist text, with classic examples such as Chulladanuddara, Lomahansa and Kusa Jatakas. Sarachchandra’s instrumental and pioneering role emerges in this backdrop.

He challenges the scripts considered sacred. If the scriptures are sacred or holy, how can it condemn a particular human species? If the Buddha or Bodhisatva is all compassionate, Sarachchandra questions, how can he treat his fellow human being in a discriminative manner? Any human is capable of erring. Frailty was not the woman’s name alone.

Sarachchandra took his cue from King Parakramabahu who did justice to Pabavathi in Kavsilumina.

A vocal presentation from Sarachchandra plays.

As a university don, he could well have written theses by theses on this subject. But he chose the medium accessible for the common man. Even before choosing the stage play, he researched how it could be useful to the common man. He did a disciplined study on local theatre. Even as a globe-trotting academic, Sarachchandra did not forget to study other oriental theatrical modes such as Kabuki and Kno theatre.

The stage play was instrumental because it was the only medium of entertainment in a period sans ultra-modern technology. The ancient society was of less hustle and bustle. The stage play had a large contented gathering.

Sarachchandra’s questioning is neither refusal nor looking down on the tradition. He rather throws a humanistic look at the characters that stand before him. In his creativity Princess Maname and Pabavathi are moulded into more intelligent characters as against the unfaithful and evil characters created by the Jataka author.