KAMALIKA PIERIS

If Maname was  Sarachchandra’s  first experimental drama, then his next play Sinhabahu with its rich dramatic text, the powerfully complex tragic characters he created around the popular yet simple folk legend, their singing of his poignant poetry was,  I think the high point in his dramatic career, said Ranjini Obeyesekera.  Sarachchandra remained a dramatist to the end of his life and continued to write poetic drama yet none has remained as popular or as powerful as Sinhabahu.[1]

Most of Sarachchandra’s best work is a kind of private drama played out in the minds of men and women. He favored a kind of individualistic drama which does not touch political or social horizons, observed Ajit Samaranayake.[2]  ‘Maname’ centers on the ambiguity in the Princess’ mind, the conflicting pulls of loyalty between the Prince and the Veddah King.

Sarachchandra had a challenging approach to modern Sinhala culture long before he did Maname. He published Modern Sinhalese Fiction in 1943. But he wrote it in English, not Sinhala.  Sarachchandra told me (Kamalika Pieris) personally that he wrote it in English deliberately as he wanted the English speaking literati to know about contemporary Sinhala literature.

 He had probably seen a latent desire in this group for something indigenous. Otherwise he would not have written this book. Sarachchandra was, I think, trying to give this unfortunate group    a way out of the half baked, received   western culture they were trapped in.

Sarachchandra together with Martin Wickremasinghe tried to introduce the Sinhala reader to literary criticism of the west. I also listened to these lectures by Sarachchandra   as a student at Peradeniya. I was not impressed. I was simultaneously getting a dose of in the English Department as well. These western theories had no connection whatsoever to Sinhala writing.  They were devised for a different literature, different setting, different readership. Sarath Amunugama, in an interview with Nirmal Dewasiri, stated that this venture was criticized on all sides.

Sarachchandra s contribution did not end with Maname and Sinhabahu. After Maname and Sinhabahu, Sarachchandra wrote and directed several naturalistic dialogue plays. In these plays too, he experimented with different styles.  [3]

Sarachchandra is unique, said Amunugama. Other dramatists could not match the stylized drama h e created. [4]  The poetic language he created was not easy to reproduce. The appeal of this poetic language and its intrinsic power came from the incredible wealth of linguistic resources that Sarachchandra was able to draw on.

Sarachchandra’s unassuming personality, his knowledge which spanned the Indian and western philosophy and literary traditions, his wit and playful humour, his critical sensibility and his creative genius draw round him a host of multitalented people, colleagues and students said Ranjini Obeyesekere reviewing Sarath Amunugama’s book “Maname matak vee”.

Sarachchandra has received some international recognition. This has not got the publicity it deserves in Sri Lanka. How many know of this. The first recognition was from Sweden. In 1972, the Swedish Academy appointed him to nominate writers for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1974. He nominated Martin Wickremasinghe.[5]

 In 1983 the State of Kerala  India awarded Sarachchandra the Kumaran Asan World Prize.   In 1988 he received the Ramon Magsaysay award   from the Philippines for creating modern theater from traditional Sinhalese folk dramas and awakening Sri Lankans to their rich cultural and spiritual heritage.”  In 1996 Japan awarded him The order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Star”.

The 100^th birth anniversary was commemorated at UNESCO Headquarters   in Paris on 10^th June 2014. Sarachchandra is the first and only Sri Lankan artist to be recognized in this manner by UNESCO. There was a symposium on Sarachchandra in Paris where Ranjini Obeyesekera gave the oration. J. B. Disanayaka, K. N. O. Dharmadasa  and Tadashi Noguchi, a renowned Japanese national on Sinhala language were also present.

. There was a  Book and Photographic Exhibition  on Sarachchandra. A  documentary on the life and works of Professor Sarachchandra was  screened. The play, Maname, performed by the Sarachchandra Theatre Troupe was staged in the main hall of UNESCO, before a large  audience of diplomats and members of the Sri Lankan community.

Back home, as far as I am aware, the state has not honored Sarachchandra, with a stamp or statue  or plaque or any such thing. Instead they assaulted him. In 1979  Sarachchandra  wrote a book against the JR government,  Dharmishta Samajaya”. It was launched at the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress Hall.  Sarachchandra was given a sound beating by thugs  at this launch.   Then the mood changed. University of  Peradeniya named the Wala after Sarachchandra in the late  1980s . When Sarachchandra died in 1996, University of Colombo permitted the cremation to be held on University grounds. They do not usually allow that.

Sri Lanka National Commission  for UNESCO published  Ediriweera Sarachchandra : festschrift.  IN 1988 University of Colombo launched Ediriweera Sarachchandra Birth Century Volume  in September 2018 . The Department of Cultural affairs  set up the Ediriweera Sarachchandra Drama Research & Training Centre    on  11th March 2015 at Battaramulla and  University of Peradeniya named its   Meewatura students hall of  Residence as  Ediriweera Sarachchandra Hall many years later.

There is no definitive biography of Ediriweera Sarachchandra (1914-1996). I have  inquired from book publishers and book sellers and they have not been able to come up with anything. There are  lots of writings on Sarachchandra which include biographical  information, and of course,  there is Sarachchandra’s  Pin ati Sarasavi, but  they do not amount to a comprehensive critical biography. There is no authoritative list of his writings, his plays, novels either

To end this series on Maname and as a salute to Sarachchandra, whom we all liked so much as a  person  and are so grateful  to, for Maname and Sinhabahu,  I present extracts from Ranjini Obeysekere’s speech at the UNESCO commemoration of the Sarachchandra centenary in 2014 in Paris. It is a lovely speech and should be read in is entirety. I have already quoted from Ranjini’s speech in the earlier essays. Those extracts are not repeated here.

Born at the cusp of the 20^th century, at a moment when the cross influences of colonialism, nationalism, and Buddhist revivalism had a powerful impact on the psyche of Sri Lankan intellectuals, the life and work of Ediriweera Sarachchandra, represents a transformation of these forces into works of path breaking scholarship and brilliant creativity. His erudition was legendary, and his influence on generations of students as well as the public has made him a household word in the country, said Ranjini Obeyesekere.

Born to a Christian mother and a Buddhist father, and named Eustace Reginald de Silva, he transformed himself, his name, and his world, to become Ediriweera Sarachchandra ,perhaps the foremost intellectual, scholar, teacher, and creative artist of 20^th century Sri Lanka. 

As a young intellectual caught in the ferment of anti-colonial nationalism and Buddhist revivalism he fiercely rejected his early Christian cum western identity, studied Pali, Sanskrit and Sinhala, at the University of Ceylon, and with his sharp intellect and amazing memory became very proficient in those languages and their literature.

 After graduation he chose to go to Shantiniketan and spent two years there as a full time student of music. Tagore’s world with its openness to a range of influences, its fusion of native cultural, and artistic modes of expression in creative experiments in art, music, and performance, had a deep impact on the young Sarachchandra and strengthened his innate critical and creative instincts.

Sarachchandra joined the University of London for graduate work.  He combined his Pali and Sanskrit background with his interest in philosophy and psychology and wrote his PhD dissertation on ‘Buddhist Psychology on Perception.

Sarachchandra was not merely a good teacher, scholar and critic he was also a novelist and a writer. But it was in the field of drama, the explosive new direction he gave to the Sinhala theatre with his experimental works such as Maname and Sinhabahu that were the high point of his creative career. In drama  he stands a colossus and has remained so, the sheer poetry of Sarachchandra’s  language and music still enthrall his audiences.

the intellectual range of his erudition, his sensitivity to the cultural and social demands of his time and his innate creativity that enabled him to fuse the many influences and exposures of his life into magnificent literary and dramatic works, continued Ranjini.He had a sensitivity to language, literature and music  which was special  and an uncanny ability to communicate it to others.

Ediriweera Sarachchandra was a renaissance man. His brilliant, wide ranging intellect, could compare, absorb and integrate the multifaceted influences he was exposed to and transform them into powerful works of critical scholarship, fiction, biography, poignant poetry and magnificent dramas.   It was done effortlessly, with ironic wit and often a slight note of self deprecation that endeared him to his friends and subtly destabilized his critics.  His boyish laughter was always directed at all forms of intellectual or ideological pomposity. Over his long life he touched the minds and lives of many, but to the very end he was a man on whom years of fame and popularity sat lightly, concluded Ranjini Obeyesekere in her oration on Sarachchandra. ( CONCLUDED)

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

[2] Ajith samaranayake https://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2003/11/02/fea03.html

[3]  Michael Fernando https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/sarachchandra-of-sri-lanka-among-20th-century-experimental-dramatists/#google_vignette

[4] Sarath Amunugama  Maname matak vee p 177

[5] https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show.php?id=23048