A milieu defining personality

by Ranga CHANDRARATHNE

A.T Ariyaratne, Edwin Ariyadasa and Dr. P.R Anthonis

Meeting of two distingished Sri Lankan communicators : Edwin Ariydasa with space Guru Arthur C. Clerke

A name synonymous with the growth and development of Sri Lankan mass media is Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa.

As he celebrated his 87th birthday last Thursday, having worked in almost all the mass media in diverse capacities, Edwin Ariyadasa has become the doyen of Sri Lanka media or the most influential media Guru of our time. His multi-faceted role as a pioneer media personality, educator and communicator has to be evaluated against the socio-economic backdrop of his time. Edwin Ariyadasa was born on December 3, 1922 and he received his primary education first at Buddhist Mixed School in the Southern village of Unawatuna and at Mahinda College and University of Ceylon.

The legendary Sir William Ivor Jennings who drafted the first constitution of Sri Lanka was the Vice Chancellor of the University. It was the heyday of colonialism in Sri Lanka. The medium of instruction was English and Edwin Ariyadasa read Sinhala and English, a rare subject combination, majoring in Sinhala and English as an subsidiary subject for his BA degree. The important fact of education and his subsequent involvement in Sri Lankan media scene is that he belongs to a generation of bilinguals who are well versed not only in Sinhala and English languages but also a thorough grasp of the knowledge base of the East and the West. It was that ability which facilitated Edwin Ariyadasa to transcend language barriers and to reach out to the knowledge starved mono-lingual Sri Lankan masses. The medium of instruction was shifted from English to vernacular (Sinhala and Tamil). The deprivation of acquiring a sound knowledge of English that was taken for granted at the time British left Sri Lanka became a key point not only in accessing a sound knowledge base but also as a means of social mobility.

People with European decent and those who are privileged class and spoke English at home were allowed to continue their education in the English medium. This move, among other things, brought disastrous consequences in terms of furthering the divisions among the diverse ethnic groups and creating a vast knowledge gap between those who received education in the English medium and those who were educated in Sinhala and Tamil.

It was media personnel in the calibre of Edwin Ariyadasa who bridged this gap, to a great extent through his contribution, especially to the Sinhala medium.

Although Edwin Ariyadasa spent almost half of his illustrious career at Lake House, perhaps his brightest days represented his tenure as the Editor-in-Chief of ‘Navayugaya’ in the 70s. It was considered as the golden era of Navayugaya.

One of the significant contributions of Edwin Ariyadasa was his contribution to a substantial growth of Sinhala vocabulary that is capable of expressing scientific phenomena in Sinhala. Sunil Govinnage, Perth based bi-lingual poet, commenting on Kalakeerthi, Edwin Ariyadasa’s contribution to print journalism and mass communication says, “Mr. Ariyadasa is the most successful journalist and a widely acclaimed bi-lingual media personality in Sri Lanka. He has inspired world class academics such as Professor Wimal Dissanayake as a student in the 1950s (who were keen to read Janaka’s Silumina features) to rural monolingual village students in remote Sri Lanka who were eagerly waiting to read Mr. Ariyadasa’s articles in the Nawayugaya in the 1970s.”

A little known poet

Although Edwin Ariyadasa is well-known as a media guru, communicator and pioneer in Media and Communication Studies in Sri Lanka, a little known facet of his personality is that he is an equally talented creative writer, translator and poet. Though he has written a number of short stories and poems, albeit some of them have been published, most of his creative writings have not been published.

Translator par excellence

At a time, Sri Lankan translation industry is infested with crooks in the garb of translators; Edwin Ariyadasa is an ideal model of a translator. Besides his vast knowledge spreading over many areas of expertise, Edwin Ariyadasa possesses the intrinsic qualities of an excellent translator. It is obvious that the first criterion for a perceptive translator is the comprehensive knowledge of languages and subtle nuances of expression.

It is due to these qualities his translation such as “Treasure of Truth” which is a comprehensive translation of “Dhammapada” into English is considered as an authoritative piece of work. It should be mentioned that at the moment Sri Lankan literary scene is dominated by a group of pseudo-translators whose translations can best be described as a disgrace to the original work. Faithful to the original work and conformity of the translated work to norms and standards of the language, in this instance, English, is one of the cardinal features of a good translation. Against this backdrop that Edwin Ariyadasa’s role as a model translator is important.

In retrospect, Ariyadasa’s personality is an epitome of what is essentially being a citizen of the world who deeply rooted in native soil while being in touch with the world at large.

The autumn of a lovable man of letters by Ajith Samaranayake Mr. Ariyadasa does not propound any philosophy or subscribe to any particular theory or school of thought but his humanism and his willingness to share his knowledge with a new generation are beyond doubt.

A bachelor of whom it could be said that he had no time for marriage as he has devoted his life to the cultivation of the mind and now in the evening of his life is attended by a loving extended family at the Manning Town super flats in Narahenpita where men and women come and go talking not of Michael Angelo (as in T.S. Eliot) but of yesterday’s seminar and this evening’s theatre performance. To pay tribute to Mr. Ariyadasa is also to salute a vanishing cultural era in our country. It was a spacious era when men and women could still come from the villages and become imbued with a modern consciousness and sensibility without forsaking their roots. It was an era of English education, modern knowledge and the peak of the humanities.

It was an era where men and women were large enough to transcend some of the petty man-made barriers which separated them from nature, oneself and their fellow human beings. Dare we say that it was a time when men and women led more fulfilled lives. Journalist, editor, broadcaster, television personality, communicator and communication teacher, Mr. Ariyadasa is above all else an old-fashioned man of letters whose mind still roams beyond the galaxies and the stratosphere and reaches out to the stars.

- This is an extract from an article by Ajith Samaranayake who wrote a tribute on his 80th birthday

Greeting from down under

His success and contribution cannot be measured just by counting over 20,000 articles (including several thousands of editorials and features) Kalakeerthi Ariyadasa had penned since he began his career as a journalist on March 3, 1949 at Lake House. Neither can we measure his greatness as the foremost media guru by counting thousands of lectures, talks and keynote addresses he had delivered on communication, media, cinema and other subjects.

Kalakeerthi Ariyadasa is a unique individual and his progression from journalism to his current position as the most influential media guru in Sri Lanka is not only a Sri Lanka’s success story but also a symbol of his ability to adapt in a rapidly changing world. The most appropriate simile to describe Mr. Ariyadasa is to compare him with Sir Don Bradman of journalism in Sri Lanka! Even at the age of 87, he is still batting without showing any indication of exhaustion.

There is no doubt about his forthcoming century as an important landmark of Sri Lanka’s history of journalism and mass communication.

- Sunil Govinnage, Perth, Australia.

As the most influential and senior media guru of our time, Edwin Ariyadasa has witnessed the dismantling of British Colonialism in Sri Lanka and the emergence of a nation state reclaiming its lost sovereignty and freedom. As he celebrated his 87th birthday on December 03, the world has changed from close-knit guided economies to free market economies with free flow of capital across the frontiers. Above all, Sri Lanka has emerged as a country free of terrorism which robbed it of decades of development and progress. Multi-faceted role that Edwin Ariyadasa is playing in the Sri Lankan public sphere is always vital as it was before, especially against the backdrop of emerging socio-political scenarios and the increasing role that media plays in the affairs of the state and as a potent weapon of opinion moulder.

Edwin Ariyadasa is a great media personal who imparts vast ocean of knowledge in English to Sinhala readers. He is the foremost hand in this exercise. Once I compared him to the globe, the Western hemisphere is Edwin and Eastern hemisphere is Ariyadasa together makes up the name 'Edwin Ariyadasa'. What I mean by this is that he gathered both Eastern and Western knowledge- - Thilakarathne Kuruvitabandara

In the creative ARTS and its development, the critic is just as important as the artist.. In Sri Lanka Mr. Edwin Ariyadasa, it will be agreed, has enjoyed over the years a pre-eminent place- for his knowledge, his erudition, his perspicacity, and the fluency with which he expresses himself in both languages -English and Sinhala. This is his greatest strength. It has been said that the challenge of criticism is to discover the relevance of Art to Experience. There are few in the world who can measure up to this formula. In my humble view, in Sri Lanka one of the few critics who qualifies, is Mr. Edwin Ariyadasa. - Lester James Peries

An insightful critic, concerned social commentator and the humane individual makes Edwin Ariyadasa almost supreme in our barren critical and literary landscape Having known him and his writing for almost half a century it defies my understanding as to how he has retained not only the rigor but also the honesty and integrity of his writing. - Sumithra Peries