Living memories of Piyadasa Sirisena

As you enter the Sri Lanka Press Council premises (opposite Castle Hospital, Rajagiriya) you cannot afford to miss the gallery of distinguished Sri Lanan journalists. One of them is the veteran Sinhala journalist Piyadadsa Sirisena (1873 - 1946) who ushered in an era of indigenous journalism both creative and classical.

With all his erudition in such languages as Sinhala, Pali, Sanskrit and English he was social reformer who carried the beacon of light to be followed by those who succeeded him in the field. The personality of Piyadasa Sirisena rests on such areas as poetry, religion, language, narrative and journalism.

Communication

He utilised his medium of communication basically to disseminate the message of the need for the search of an indigenous knowledge and vision via novels, basically with a detective technique and perhaps fused in love and romance and filial ethics based on good living anticipating in a better spiritual foundation.

His editorship of 'Sinhala Jatiya' brought about an unprecedented readership, which continued to perform a yeoman duty towards the national renaissance pinpointing the need to liberate from the yokes of colonial rule and control.

In the first instance Piyadasa Sirisena serialised some of his novels in his newspaper in the form of dialogues which enriched the reading habits of the local recipient. One good example is his Sinhala novel titled as 'Maha Viyavula' (The Great Revolt) where depicted the agonies of being imitative personalities who have uprooted themselves from the soils of nationality.

Piyadasa Sirisena

Some characters are depicted as mere followers of the west without much understanding of their own culture and end up in disaster. In the Sinhala novel 'Rosalin Saha Jayatissa', he makes use of the tragedy that had befallen on the locals who have tried to ape the west devoid of an iota of understanding of the cultural susceptibilities that lay bare with the roots of one's birthplace.

According to researchers on the subject of Sirisena's use of creativity the Sinhala novel which had sold 25000 copies is the most successful work which had touched the hearts of the masses.

One of his novels utilising once again the subject of the power of purity and inner powers is titled as 'Dingiri Menika' and instantly became a famous reader among the female readership of the country. In 1950, a Sinhala film was made with the same title.

Popularity

The film too was a hit in the country. Though he was a national reformer, he tried his best to obtain as far as possible the merits of writing skills from the west. But I feel that the detective technique that Sirisena followed is the influence of the Sinhala classical work 'Ummagga Jataka', where the character 'Mahausada' is featured as the noble detective who is more of a religious character than a materialist investigator.

He was quite successful as a detective novelist via his books with the protagonist Wickramapala.

The glorious attempts on the part of Wickramapala indicated as Wickrama meaning 'heroic acts'. He was a prolific creator with such novels as 'Mudal Pettiya' (Cashbox), 'Walavvaka Palahilavva' (A Controversy in a Mansion), 'Pasan Nivasa' (Pleasant Home) 'Atbuta Agantukaya' (Weird Stranger), and a host of other works. He included Sinhala poems in his narratives as an aide memoir for the readers to remember the strength of his message on being conscience of religion, nation and language.

He was an active member of the temperance movement in the country and pioneered the way to understand the demerits of alcoholism. This paved a long way for the advent of a strong discourse brought down the years sometimes in the guise of politics. According to the late Prime Minister S W R D Bandaranaike, he was one of the greatest national heroes of the country who had paved the way to establish the role of a citizen who had recalled the need for the rediscovery of the indigenous culture and history. Bandaranaika pointed out that Sirisena could be kept in an equal place as other liberators of the country, such as Anagarika Dharmapala, Ven S Mahinda, Ven Gunananda and a few others of high calibre.

Jagath C Savanadasa, a grandson of Piyadasa Sirisena, who is also the President of the Commemorative Committee, informs us that the 137th birth anniversary of this memorable personality falls on August 21.

This reminds us the world of the Buddha which goes as 'gratitude is a great sign of a great merit'. The citizens of Sri Lanka cannot afford to forget the name of Piyadasa Sirisena. Though a number of post graduate research works have been done by university scholars on Piyasdasa Sirisena, it seems that none of them have come out as printed publications. Time is ripe for such a publication.

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