Tissa Kariyawasam as I see him - Prof. Carlo Fonseka

Tissa Kariyawasam graduated with honours from the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya at age 22 in 1964 and joined the university staff soon after. His biography has been a significant part of the history of our university system in the second half of the 20th century.

He is such a well-known university personality that at this point in time it is almost impossible to say anything new about him that is true, or anything true about him that is new. His interests have been extraordinarily wide: Sinhala, History, Archaeology, Religion, Aesthetics, Drama, Journalism, Exorcism and Culture.

From 1980 to 1988 he was Director of the Institute of Aesthetic Studies (IAS) which has now transformed itself into the University of the Visual and Performing Arts.

As it happened, he has been the longest serving Director of the IAS and he has had a decisive influence on its development. Being an authority on the "Exorcist Rituals in the Low Country" (which was the subject of his Master's thesis presented to the University of Ceylon) he commanded great respect from many members of the teaching staff of the IAS. Having acted as Director of the IAS for a few months in the year 2000, I am aware of the enormous prestige he continued to enjoy among the staff of the IAS.

Professor Kariyawasam has been a prolific writer. To date he has published more than 50 books including a definitive four-volume study on the History of Sinhala Drama from 1867 to 1956. His 10 books on Mass Communication have provided the basic textbooks to students reading journalism in the Sinhala medium.

Professor Kariyawasam has the distinction of having organized the first-ever production of a Sinhala Drama outside our country. That was in 1981 when he produced John ds Silva's famous play Sirisangabo at the 6th Festival of Asian Arts in Hong Kong.

I should like to end this tribute to him by revealing something which is true but is known only to Tissa and me.So to everybody else it will be something that is both true and new. The story is this. In the late 1970s, I came to know that Tissa Kariyawasam's Ph.D. thesis presented to the University of London in 1973 contained a detailed account of the religious activities of Anagarika Dharmapala.

When I asked him to lend it to me for a few days he readily did so. I took it to the Department of Physiology of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo and kept it on the table in my office. At any given time in those days, my table was crowded with all sorts of books, letters, articles and documents each competing for my attention.

I used to dip into Tissa's Ph. D. thesis every now and then whenever I had a few moments to spare. Months passed. One day Prof. Tissa gently requested me to return his thesis. To cut a long story short, I could not find his thesis on my table or in my room or in my home or anywhere else. I looked for it everywhere for three months. In the meantime I avoided Prof. Tissa like the plague.

At last, I could no longer hide the bitter truth from him. I feared the worst at his hands. I deserved it. I was willing to take it. I did not have the courage to tell him the truth to his face. So I wrote him a note and told him that I was still looking for his Ph. D. thesis which I had misplaced and I hope to come to see him with it on a particular day. I went to see him on that day without the Thesis.

When I met him, I told him, "Tissa forgive me, I have lost your thesis. I will pay you whatever it takes to obtain a copy of it from the University of London". He looked straight into my face and said, "It's okay. I don't want any money. Forget it".

I couldn't believe my ears. As a physiologist I know all the changes that occur in a man's face when he becomes really angry. In Tissa's face, there were no signs of anger or even of sorrow. I have read about the four Buddhist meditations called the "Brahmavihaia" or the "inmeasurable states" Metta, Karuna, Mudita, Upekkha. But it was in Tissa Kariyawasam's demeanour on that occasion that I actually saw in real life in high degree, the immeasurable state of Upekkha -the balanced reaction to joy and misery, which protects one from emotional agitation.

This article was taken from the book; Prof. Tissa Kariyawasam Abbinandika which is to be launched on October 04 at 3.30 p.m. at the BMICH.