Book reviews

Ayale Giya Sitaka Satahan

(Off track thoughts), memoirs of a literatus Compendium of knowledge and experience:

by Ranga Chandrarathne

Ayale Giya Sitaka Satahan (off track thoughts), memoirs of Tissa Abeysekera, a veteran film and literary personality, is a book that should go into the must-read list as it is not a mere collection of off track thoughts of the author but also a compendium of knowledge and experience that stretched over a vast array of subjects, ranging from fine arts and culture, literature, history and even the evolution of popular culture.

Tissa Abeysekera has dedicated the book to his daughters, Aparna Nirmohi, Noriko Maduwanthi, Swtlana Kamalalochani and his only son Amitodana.

The author commences his memoirs with his thoughts and memories associated with the land mass of Kotte, where the author was born and bred and still lives. "My mind as well as my foot went astray in and around Kotte. It is because, I was born and bred and still living in Kotte. Traditionally, Kotte is the landmass bordering Mirihana, Welikada, Battaramulla and Hokandara. I think, Kotte would have been a zone in the outskirt of the capital of the ancient kingdom."

The first section of the book titled Kotte Kalalaya (The tapestry of Kotte) is a collection of articles by the author on Kotte and Colombo. This section not only covers the author's childhood and adolescent and intimate memories which have been intrinsically linked to this landmass but also history, anecdotes and the evolution of this landmass from cluster of villages to townships in the outskirts of greater Colombo and the city of Kotte.

Author should be commended for codifying some of the rare anecdotes and how these townships link to the ancient kingdom of Kotte. For instance, the town of Nugegoda was a tank and there was an intricately linked system of canals from Muturaja Wela to Boralesgamuwa.

In the following section titled Satsara Satahan (notations), author examines the evolution of contemporary Sinhala song. Tissa Abeysekera traces back to the very origin of songs such as Sobana Sandave, Bambara Kokila Nada and the influence of Eastern and the Western classical music on the form and the nature of the contemporary Sri Lankan music.

He also records the immense contribution made by pioneers in the arena of music in Sri Lanka such as Devar Suriyasena with a Western classical music background and dedicated his life towards building a Sri Lankan tradition of music which would stand the test of time.

Commenting on Pradeep Ratnayake's concert Pradeepanjali, the author states, "The Ukusa Vannama fusion music with Alston Joachim on bass guitar and Ravibandu Vidyapathi and Chandralal Samarakoon on percussion instruments was most attracted to me. "I was fascinated by it because of its intrinsic quality though without dancing which traditionally accompanied the music."

The next section of the book titled Sivupada Sanvada (conversations by poetry) is devoted to Sinhala poetry which the author was exposed to, at the age of ten as his mother read out to him. This is a testimony to the author's widespread knowledge of poetry in both Sinhala and English languages.

In the last section titled Sitangi, the author explores myriad of subjects including the controversy over the national anthem. In a thought provoking article titled Ranakamaya, nationalism ha Kalakaruwa Tissa Abeysekera observes "The war has affected the entire community.... Here Artists reaction to this war is different depending on their knowledge and application.

They expressed their views through song, poetry, drama and fiction. However, it is a few film makers who expressed their views in a humane manner. They are Prasanna Vithanage, Ashoka Handagama, Sudath Mahadiulwewa and Vimukthi Jayasundara. "It was the dramatists who were in the forefront of interpreting social crisis in Sri Lanka.

Sugathapala de Silva and Ape Kattiya launched this wave of contemporary dramas, had later been followed and carried on by the second generation of dramatists led by Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, Jayantha Chandrasiri."

The book, apart from providing invaluable insight into the contemporary art and culture, is also a first-rate memoir of this exceptionally talented literatus. Though the language used in the book is simple and direct, he has contributed to the development of contemporary diction by refining the language and perhaps, in some instances, adding and coining wards to enrich the expressions and idioms of the language.

In defining an artist, the author cited an age old Sinhalese idiom "Every genuine artist is an earthen ware bowl similar to that used by Buddha that flows against the tide. He is a spiritual-being who is crucified for the sin of challenging the order.

Every artist is a universal citizen who supersedes all the divides in his quest for truth. He is a lotus that blossomed onto the purest blue sky and to the warm rays of the sun, being emerged from stenching mercy water." (Page 296)

Tissa Abeysekara is a man of many parts and excelled in diverse fields including his forte cinema. He is a rare bi-lingual who has not only won accolades for his writings in Sinhala and but also for English. His novella Bringing Tony Home won the Gratien Prize for the best fiction in English in 1996.

He is a social reformist who followed the footsteps of socialist leaders such as Peter Keunaman, S.A Wickremasinghe and one of the left-befinders of that calibre. Tissa Abeysekara is a devoted Theravada Buddhist who comprehend symbolism correctly especially in visual and performing art at a time the willful ignorance, evasiveness and wickedness dominates the social fabric.

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Sarandib - An Ethnological Study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka

by Asiff Hussein

Reviewed by Latheef Farook

Sarandib - An Ethnological Study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka by Asiff Hussein is a book worth reading by both Muslims and non-Muslims, academics as well as general readers who would like to know all about the country's Muslims.

What is particularly noteworthy about this work is that the author has not only dealt with the ethnicity and culture of the country's major Muslim group, the Moors, but has also given due attention to the other Muslim groups such as the Malays, Memons and other groups of Indian origin such as the Sammankarar, Faqirs and Osta.

As renowned scholar Dr. M. A. M. Shukri observes in a foreword to the work: 'It is by far the most comprehensive multi-disciplinary study of the country's Muslim community undertaken to date, encompassing physical anthropology, linguistics, social organization, cultural traditions and religious and folk beliefs'.

In the first part of this work which is devoted to the Moor community, he traces in great detail the origins of the Moors, contending that the nucleus of the community has its origins in the early Arab settlers and traders who chose to settle in the country, espousing local Sinhalese and Tamil women.

To this end, he has drawn upon anthropological, textual and epigraphic evidence. He has also sought to show that the Moors, descended as they were from Arabs hailing from Iraq, Yemen and other parts of the Arab world were originally an Arabic-speaking people and that it was only after the 13th century with the fall of the Abbasid caliphate to the Mongols that they came to speak Tamil as their home language, largely facilitated by increasing dependence on their Tamil-speaking co-religionists from peninsular India with whom they had established strong commercial links.

Hussein has also dealt with the peculiar dialect spoken by the Moors in the South and Western parts of the country known as Sona Tamil as we as with their now largely forgotten literary heritage based on Arabu-Tamil, Tamil written in Arabic script. He then goes on to deal with the settlements of the Moors, showing how such settlements would have originated and the factors that would have influenced settlement patterns.

Social customs of the community

Hussein also deals at length with the social customs of the community including birth and childhood, marriage and funerary rites as they prevail in different areas, showing how some have a religious basis while how others have been influenced by external factors.

He also deals with dress and ornamentation and culinary habits as it prevails in the community at present and as it prevailed in the past, drawing upon oral traditions and literary sources to reveal some rare insights into these aspects of life.

He has shown how diversely the Moors have been influenced in their attire and ornament and food habits which betray not only Arabian, but also a strong Hindustani and Dravidian influence. The medical remedies of the community have also been covered and includes details of Unani prescriptions as well as handy medicines known as kai-marundu.

The chapter on occupations is also very illuminating and shows how the Moors of old made their living not only as traders and gem merchants, but also as seafarers engaged in maritime commerce, hunters, farmers, fishers, masons, carpenters and medical men.

The author also delves on the religious beliefs of the community, dealing not only with the basic tenets of the faith, but also with religious currents such as Sufism and Salafi revivalism and with beliefs pertaining to the jinn, evil eye, Adam?s Peak and that mysterious personage known as Khidr or 'The Green One'.

The second part deals with the Malays and shows how the community has its origins from the nobles and soldiers brought hither by the Dutch from Indonesia, though some had their origins from the Malayan Peninsula as well.

Their distinct speech, social customs, attire and culinary fare have also been dealt with in great detail. The third part of the work deals with the little known Memon community which has its origins in the Kathiawad Peninsula of Gujarat. The speech of the community as well as their distinct social and cultural practices as well as their commercial life have been recorded in detail.

Finally the author deals with other groups of Indian origin including the Sammankarar or Coast Moors who hailed from various parts of the South Indian coast, the Faqirs who originally hailed from peninsular India with later accretions from other local Muslim communities and the Osta who have traditionally performed such duties as ritual tonsure and circumcision and who constitute a sort of caste group, intermarrying among themselves.

Consuming task

Hussein must be commended for having undertaken the extremely valuable and time consuming task of gathering rare information from diverse sources which involved a number of field visits and interviews, particularly with elderly folk who still preserve memories of their former lifestyle and traditions, some of which no longer exist.

He has also undertaken an extensive survey of old records such as the Dutch tombos preserved at the National archives and other institutions which relate to the social and economic life of local Muslims centuries ago.

Thanks to his efforts, much valuable information about the past social, economic, cultural and traditional life of the country's Muslims which would have otherwise disappeared unrecorded have been saved for posterity.

Thus Hussein's study should help preserve the colourful cultural life and rich heritage of the island's Muslims, particularly in the context of a fast changing social life as a result of the rat race for survival under the current globalised open economic set-up.

The work is illustrated with 32 colour plates including some rare photographs such as old photos of the different Muslim groups, Arabic inscriptions found in graveyards, an old Arabu-Tamil newspaper titled kashfur raan an qalbil jaan, a surattu toppi formerly worn by Moor gentlemen, antique jewellery including a rare savadi necklace and even some kris knives used by the Malays of old.

The book is available at Vijitha Yapa, Lake House Bookshop, Sarasavi Bookshop, Makeens Bookshop, Islamic Book House, CIS and Carnival Ice Cream.

Astro Numerology Latest methods

by Ranga Chandrarathne

An Astro Numerology Latest method by Numaro is a practical guide to Astro Numerology and contains finding of the extensive research the author conducted into the subject.

Unlike any other book on the subject, the book teaches readers how to apply astro numerology in a day-to-day life to unravel the mysteries of the occult science. It will also help to find out various specific auspicious, as well as, in-auspicious dates affect individuals.

The book among other things, discusses the success and failure, planetary effects, political events, life events, destiny patterns, horse racing, reincarnation and name values.

The author Numaro in a chapter titled 'Few word to the materialists and rationalists' states 'Those readers who are adhering to firm Rationalism, being non believers in any thing occult in nature , may reject the contents of this book at the very out-set as mere none-sense.

For such skeptics the science of Astro-Numerology is nothing but another branch of Pseudo Science. However, I must appeal to such readers at least go through the content of this book with an open mind once, rather than looking on the same with prejudicial mind?

The Author, Numaro (T. M. Berty Peiris) has served in the Postal Department for over 38 years and retired as an Administrative Secretary. During 1974-1975 he contributed to weekly forcasts titled Your Stars to the Sunday Observer under the pen-name Numero.