KAMALIKA PIERIS

Sarath Amunugama observed that one of the many items which made Maname special was its melodious music. [1]Sarachchandra was an   accomplished musician. He had gone to Santiniketan in the 1940s to study music.  However, in his Pin ati Sarasavi, he spoke of ‘veenawa ata pata gawa,’ so I thought he was a dilettante musician.

His early childhood in a family of devout Christians had exposed him to the English language and western music. He is said to have played the organ in his village church.  This double exposure stimulated his intellectual interests which always remained unfettered, and also nurtured his sensitivity and love of music which quickly extended to eastern music and its musical instruments.  Much later, after his stay in Japan he was fascinated by the music of Noh performances.  Music is then a central element in his later achievements, said Ranjini Obeyesekere .[2]

The music in Maname was outstanding. Sarachchandra  had no difficulty  in composing lyrics to match the melody. Since he knew  Carnatic music,  he knew to combine word,  melody,  and raga to create emotions in us.  No other artist in Sinhala theatre has this ability. Dayananda Gunawardena  and Gunasena Galappaththy were not as successful as Sarachchandra  because they lacked this ability, said Sarath Amunugama.

Even at the time he came to Peradeniya in 1956, Gunasinghe Gurunnanse may have been past 50 years. However he was a perfect dancer in the Nadagam style and perfect singer with precise pronunciation of Sinhala, Sanskrit and Pail languages,” said Lionel Fernando.[3]

Gunasinghe Gurunnanse brought with him the drum known as the Maddalaya, used in operatic folk drama which proved the perfect ensemble along with other low country drums as Maname gradually took shape as a new stylized form of drama. We heard the Maddala playing well before we came to the school hall, said Sarath Amunugama  when as a schoolboy he had attended the Pushpadana performance. 

Gunadasa Amarasekera   stated in his Sinhala kavya sampradaya that in Maname, Sarachchandra was able to shatter the notion that Sinhala was an archaic language which could not evoke emotion on a stage. He showed that it was a living language that could be used dramatically to evoke emotion.  And that no other language could achieve this so well.

Sarachchandra   was able to forge a poetic diction which is capable of conveying emotion at a very refined level, critics added. Sarath Amunugama observed that language was used very creatively in Maname. Sarachchandra had a unique talent of using words to evoke emotion. He used known words in a new way to do so.  Sarachchandra  however  said  that  in Maname he was simply  trying to speak to his audience in an idiom that they would understand .

 Amunugama extensively analyses the language developed by Sarachchandra in Maname, RETAIN THIS REF.  Here is a quick example.  The   opening exchange between the prince and princess, giya veddo- thava veddo- noma viddo- pasu eddo-ida laddo -biya naddo,   anticipates their conflict later on.

It was Gunadasa Amarasekera who first noted the poetic richness of Maname, observed Amunugama. Gunadasa said that Sarachchandra was an outstanding poet   and had contributed to poetry through Maname.

Sarachchandra  developed a new poetic and dramatic idiom which combined several kavi traditions, said Amunugama.  He used  the classical poetic idiom of 13 and 14 century  ,  as well the idiom of the  Matara ( 1720-1830) and Udarata period.   He added to this  classical scholarship  the   rich usage of folk poetry. He  used idioms drawn from the folk and ritual dramas. Sarachchandra  then fused these diverse styles to create a modern poetic Language of the Heart”,  said Amunugama.

Sarachchandra  had an intimate knowledge of classical Sinhala poetry. Amaradeva, in a talk he gave in 2002, had  recalled how Sarachchandra would quote classical poetry while driving his car or seated in a corner of a wayside restaurant.

Once in order to convey the kind of subtle musical effect he needed for the love scene for his play Pabavati that he was then working on, Amaradeva says Sarachchandra suddenly quoted a verse from the 13^th century poem the Kavsilumina (Kataka bota mihivita)    and passionately expounded on it.

Sarachchandra described that drinking scene and expounded on the minimalist lines with which the poet describes the kiss, and then went into a long discourse on the poet’s descriptive power, his language and usage. This 13^th century classical Sinhala can hardly be understood by most of us today, but Sarachchandra’s fine poetic sensibility could bring out the nuances underlying the verse, Amaradeva observed.

Before I end this essay,  I would like to add my ‘two cents worth’ to this scholarly topic. Sinhala, unlike English, which is our gold standard for language, is  a very musical language. This is never mentioned. Buddhagosha  called Sinhala  ‘Manorama basha. Sinhala is   also  a very flexible language . Sinhala is able to indicate subtle humour or   sarcasm  quickly and easily,  with a flick of phrase, unlike English,  which needs  imagery. ( Continued)

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[1] Sarath amunugama Maname mathak vee.

[2] Ranjini Obeysekera https://thuppahis.com/2014/06/10/ediriweera-sarachchandra-a-renaisance-man/

[3] Chandani kirinde https://www.sundaytimes.lk/161023/plus/remembering-sarachchandras-maname-60-years-after-213018.html