Sinhala literary culture The two sessions on Sinhala literature at the recently concluded HSBC Galle Literary Festival

prompted me to explore the Sinhala literary culture as a prelude to my discussion on the two sessions on Sinhala literature at GLF in general and contemporary Sinhala literature in particular. Sinhala and Tamil are the first local languages (desabasa) used for literature in South Asia. As early as seventh century and almost at the same time, thoerisation of poetry (Kavya) in Sanskrit began, literature began to emerge in Sinhala. It is obvious that by the time Sinhala literature emerged, Sri Lankan had already come under the pervasive influence of Sanskrit literary culture. For instance, this fact is amply clear from the literary texts such as Janakiharana (The Theft of Janaki) written in 6th century by Kumaradasa who was considered a great poet in Sinhala. The transition of Sinhala from a local language to a literary language seems to be a conscious one. Charles Hallisey in an essay entitled works and persons in Sinhala Literary Culture observes; Sinhala also provides evidence that the transformation of a local language into literary language (its literarisation) was intentional. The nineteenth century poetic handbook, Siyabaslakara (Poetics of ones own language) urges clever poets to be on the lookout for unintentional vulgarity in poor turns of expression on the ground that they might come to be perceived as acceptable. This handbook for aspiring poets among the earliest extant literary texts in Sinhala- is concerned with removing faults (dosa) in individual turns of phrase and sentences. Indeed, to this end, the Siyabaslakara contrasts the historicity of Sinhala, which leaves it open to change, with ahistorical stability of Sanskrit, the speech of the gods, and it urges poets to be on guard against unacceptable Traditional usage (pera piyovak:SKt. Purva Prayoga) because as time goes on, will not our own language (siyavadan;Skt. Svabhasa vacana) change, unlike Sanskrit (diva vadan). Hallisey observes the fact, among other things, that the language of Sinhala was inherently linked with political power and played a role in the formation of identity. Sinhala literati was aware of the literary heritage and always took steps to preserve their literary heritage and to resist changes to the form of Sinhala used for literature. One logical steps in this direction is the pedagogical models for good literature provided in the Sinhala literary culture. Aspiring poets Hallisey observes, canon intended to provide aspiring poets with models of good literature, began to take shape as early as thirteenth century. An early mahakavya in Sinhala, the twelfth century Kavisilumina (Crest jewel of poetry; Skt. Kavyacudamani), is cited as an example in the poets manual like Sidatsangarava (Compilation of methods; Skt Siddhantasamgrapha) and Elusandaslakuna (Character of meter in Sinhala; Skt.Simhachandolaksana), and it quickly received a pedagogical commentary (Sannaya), much the same as works in Pali and Sanskrit; all of these

pedagogical works are from the thirteenth century but they continued to be used in literary education for centuries after, just as Kavisilumina apparently was. Although works were added to this canon from time to time, it still had a remarkable stability, as well as longetivity. Ad hoc anthologies found in manuscripts from as late as nineteenth century, clearly meant for working poets of the time, bring together works on prosody from the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, for example. One of the important factors that Hallisey has identified is the existence of monastic centre of learning such as the one at Totagamuva to foster the Sinhala literary legacy and to transmit from generation to generation. Hallisey observes; In the curriculum, which promoted the continuity of Sinhala literary heritage up to the twentieth century , Sinhala authors and critics simultaneously and consistently created catholic literary cultures, especially by their inclusion of the works of the other languages. For example, thirteenth century pedagogical commentary on another early Sinhala mahakavya, the Sasadavata (Story of the Sasa Jataka), places the Sinhala poem within a Sanskrit literary milieu by identifying Sanskrit sources as the inspiration for various versus; among these sources are Balaramayana, Maghakavya, Sakuntala, Raghuvamsa, Kavyamimansa, Kumarasambhava, and Kavyadarsa. Similarly the cosmopolitan nature of the educational institutions that provided the conditions for the transmission of the Sinhala literary heritage is clear in a long description in the fifteenth-century Girasandesaya ( Parrots message) of a monastic centre of learning at Totagamuva, on the South coast of Sri Lanka. We are told that among the monastic and lay scholars studying Buddhist scriptures, commentaries, and doctrinal works as well as grammar, the Vedas, astrology, medicine, and political science (arthasastra), there were also connoisseurs of poetry. In various places in that beautiful and luxurious monastery there are groups of learned men who have studied prosody [sanda;Skt.chandas], poetics [lakara; Skt. Alankara] and grammar [viyarana;Skt.vyakarana]. They sit as they pleas and recite poems and dramas composed in Sanskrit , Pali, Sinhala, Tamil, maintaining the splendour [ siri] of the best poets of old. It is important also to note that Sinhala literary culture has been greatly influenced by other literary cultures such as Sanskrit and Tamil literary culture. In fact, most of the leading Sinhala authors and scholars knew Tamil well. Hallisey states, Sinhala authors in the fifteenth century, such as Totagamuve Sri Rahula and the monastic authors of the Kokilasandesaya (The cuckoos message), commonly knew Tamil and sometimes referred to Tamil works, while authors who were ethnically Tamil sometimes wrote in Sinhala, as , for example Nallurutunumini, a royal minister in the fifteenth-century court of Parakramabahu VI and author of the Namavaliya (Garlands of nouns). The involvement of Sinhala authors and critics in the creation, functioning, and self-understanding of multiple transsocietal lifeworlds defined by the use of different translocal languages (such as Pali and Sanskrit) and structured by different ideologies (one religious, other an ideology of erudition, refinement and valour) not only illustrate the general pattern that all literary cultures

participate in what ultimately turn out to be network of borrowings, appropriation, reacting, imitating, emulating, rivaling, defeating What is obvious is that the Sinhala literary culture is not only one of the oldest in Asia but also one which has been highly influenced by the other major literary cultures such as Pali and Sanskrit. ------------36. Sinhala literary culture Part 2 In my previous essay, I have pointed out the fact that Sinhala literary culture is as old as Sanskrit and Pali literary cultures and has been greatly influenced by them. I extensively cited Charles Halliseys article entitled Works and Persons in Sinhala Literary Culture to shed light on the early part of Sinhala literary culture and its position among South Asian literary cultures. One of the interesting linguistic developments that Charles Hallisey observes is that the Sinhala authors and critics between 10th and 15th centuries though appreciated Sanskrit literature, resolutely resisted the encroachment of Sanskrit language on the forms of Sinhala used for poetry. One may arrive at the conclusion that the term poetry in this particular context does not merely mean poetry in particular but the Sinhala literature in general. Hallisey observes, Sinhala is also valuable for gaining a nuanced understanding of superposition, whereby new literature developed in reaction to supposed or dominating forms of pre-existent literatures. This aspect of the interaction of the local and translocal in the production of literature is especially important with respect to the place of Sanskrit in Sinhala literary culture between tenth and fifteenth centuries. During this period Sinhala authors and critics chose what counted as literature in Sanskrit without choosing Sanskrit as a literary language. That is, they combined a profound appreciation for the vision of the literary found in Sanskrit literary culture with a resolute resistance to the encroachment of the Sanskrit language on the forms of Sinhala used for poetry-or the use of idiom of Sanskrit literary culture, they refused literary tatsamas but embraced the equivalent of literary tadbhavas. Impact of Sanskrit on Sinhala literature The overarching influence of Sanskrit literary culture on Sinhala literary culture is an undisputable fact. Even in contemporary Sinhala, one may find scores of loanwords primarily from Sanskrit and Pali and other European languages such as Portuguese, Dutch and English. Charles Hallisey observes the fact that Sanskrit influence on Sinhala literary culture has not only a profound impact on Sinhala literature but also a discernible impact on the evolution of Sinhala script.

Sinhala literary culture during these centuries was initially diglossic, employing one alphabet for writing Sinhala poetry and one for Sinhala prose. The script was the same for both; the difference between the two was the number of permitted letters (aksarsa), prose having fifty-seven, against-thirty six for poetry. The alphabet for poetic Sinhala (elu) prevented the use of many Sanskrit loanwords (tatsamas) because it lacked letters for the aspirated consonants of Sanskrit, although Sanskrit loanwords became as common in Sinhala prose as they later were in the literatures of local languages elsewhere in South Asia.. These are changes in the languages whose appearance can only be traced to the period in which Sinhala first emerges as a literary language, that is, beginning from the eighth century. Thus we see in elu a dominance of Sanskrit over Sinhala-even in the selection of Kavya as the preeminent literary and simultaneously a resistance to this dominance in the effort to distinguish the language of Sinhala poetry from Sanskrit. This is so not only at the level of phonology; the regulation of permitted sounds in elu sometimes conflicted with the regulation of poetic effects. Some literary ornamentations of sound (sabdalarikara) were deemed outside the scope of possibility in Sinhala; according to Siyabaslakara, these include slesa ( compactnessi.e , words with double meaning), samata ( evenness of sound combinations), and sukumarata (absence of harsh sounds). However, the impact of Sanskrit as pointed out by Charles Hallisey went beyond scriptural changes. The impact of Sanskrit went far beyond morphological developments, however. Sanskrit discourse had a pervasive effect on prose Sinhala of the period, particularly in Buddhist scholastic works such as the twelfth-century Abhidgarmarthasangrapasanne ( Pedagogical commentary on Abhidharmarthasangraha, a Pali manual on Buddhist philosophy) and thirteenth century Visuddhimaggasanne ( Pedagogical commentary on the Visuddhimagga, Buddhaghosas manual on monastic practice), where the language is full of Sanskrit loanwords and derivatives (tatsamas and tadhavas) as well as Sanskrit mode of thinking. certain moral values of Sanskrit literary culture, such as prowess, valour, and prestige, also become as much a part of Sinhala literary culture as did Sanskrit literary values such as selectivity, homogeneity, and conservatism. In general, Sanskrit culture was a uniquely generative part of literary life in Sri Lanka during these six centuries, but its relation to Sinhala literary culture and to Pali in Sri Lanka was hardly simple or monolithic. Contemporary Sinhala fiction Although Sinhala has been functioning as a literary language for centuries, it was in the post-independent era that the foundation for contemporary Sinhala fiction or literature was laid with the emergence of writers such as Piyadasa Sirisena, Martin Wickremasinghe and Gunadasa Amerasekara.

Prof. Wimal Dissanayake recognising their contribution to Sinhala literature has termed their literary career as three illustrative moments in Sinhala literary landscape in the book entitled Sinhala Novel and the Public Sphere. Although Piyadasa Sirisenas role is more prominent as a nationalist than a literary personality, he is the Sinhala writer who laid the foundation for modern Sinhala fiction. As opposed to medieval Sinhala literature which was highly influenced by Sanskrit and Pali literary cultures in addition to flourishing Buddhism of the time, Piyadasa Sirisenas works, fiction, poetry and other writings to newspapers reflected the socio-political dynamics of the day. Rising sentiments of nationalism and cultural revivalism provided the meat for his literary productions. At times, his novels sound didactic moral lectures severely attacking the alien system of values and pagan religions. Piyadasa Sirisena In the chapter entitled Piyadasa Sirisena and the discourse of cultural nationalism in Sinhala Novel and the Public Sphere Prof. Wimal Dissanayake observes, Piyadasa Sirisena is generally regarded as the Father of Sinhala Fiction. He distinguished himself as a popular novelist and a poet and an influential newspaper editor. He played a central role in the anti-colonial struggle and the temperance movement. He along with such influential personalities as Anagarika Dharmapala, Ven. Mohottiwatte Gunananda, Ven. Hikkaduve Sumangala and Walisinghe Harischandra, exercised a deep and far-reaching influence on the social tides of the time. Piyadasa Sirisena is the author of 19 novels that have had a profound impact on the Sinhala reading public.