Man preys on man:

A closer look at “The Village in the Jungle”

by Amal HEWAVISSENTI

The novel, “The Village in the Jungle” by Leonard Woolf is set in a remote village in the southern part of Sri Lanka at the outset of twentieth century. The novel is indeed a full-frontal dissection of suffering and hardships of rural people being harassed by their fellow men and nature. Though the Englishmen in London greeted his work with a certain amount of appreciation, it was widely recognised in Sri Lanka as the first ever realistic display of lifestyle of the downtrodden rural people and tragedies that surround them. Woolf’s position in the Civil Service (1904) gave him golden chances to explore the pathetic dimensions of people and study the values and beliefs that had shaped them. His short spell of stay in the country brought him in contact with the miserable condition of rural people who were being ruthlessly exploited by the local agents of western imperialism. Woolf’s is a purely sardonic attitude to western imperialism and its local representatives who are blindly executing “law” against “offenders.” In short, the novel vividly mirrors the writer’s dissatisfaction with the colonial system and it’s failure to grasp the needs and moods of rural people. Here, Woolf’s tone carries a strong current of malice against the inability of the existing imperial law to do justice for the suffering people.

Apart from that the novelist’s treatment of people of the rural society is both sympathetic and empathetic. He does not have the narrowness in mental outlook in describing the people of Beddegama in contrast to Robert Knox who was markedly prejudicial against Sinhala people.

Bitter truth of jungle

The plot and action of the novel unfold against the background of vast stretch of jungle which is the ground of struggle for survival. The reader is left with the task of puzzling out the layers of meaning in what the novelist says about the jungle ready at any moment, to intrude on the village. “All jungles are evil, but no jungle is more evil than that which lay about the village of Beddegama.” This strikes the keynote of the “rule of jungle which is first fear and then hunger.” At the same time, the novelist has a broadly focused view of the people in the village.

“In their faces you can see plainly the fear and hardship of their lives. They are very near to the animals which live in the jungle around them. They look at you with the melancholy and patient stupidity of the buffalo in their eyes or the cunning of the jackal.” It is blatantly obvious to the writer that rural life is well beset with hardship and suffering despite many fairy tales of their comfortable life in a healthful surroundings.

Silindu’s family

Silindu and his two daughters invariably rise to a heroic stature in their lamentable struggle for survival against corrupt villagers and nature itself. The “tikak pissu” father, Hinnihami and Punchimenika are humanely tied together by unbreakable instinctive bonds. Silindu’s relationship with and understanding of animals give him the idea that animals have the right to live just as humans do. Though this small family is labelled as “social misfits” by villagers, the father and two daughters are clearly personalised by strong affection for each other, familial love and honest feeling for their home. Silindu goes beyond the bounds of convention by feeding his daughters’ minds with a culture of folk tales, Buddhist parables, legends and beliefs that enrich their upbringing. Silindu’s behaviour and attitudes set him apart from the rest of the villagers and his daughters, unlike the girls, were brought up with an intimate knowledge of the jungle. The villagers call him “Tikak Pissu” because of the way he squats on the compound looking at the jungle and his eccentricities like talking to animals while walking in the jungle. However, the morally bankrupt Babehami, Punchirala and Fernando play shrewd diplomatic games on him and black mail him in different ways. His intense love for Punchimenika is made clear when he gets to know Babun’s decision to marry her and bursts out.

“The girl is too young. I cannot give her to you, or evil will come of it.”

Babun’s romance

Babun, a dispassionate young man in Beddegama is a relative of the village headman and is in wild love with Punchimenika after observing her from his compound. To him, the marriage with Punchimenika means nothing more than having children by her and having his meals prepared by her. She is naturally attracted to him through a complex psychological instinct of fear and desire. As a result, Babun is beset by a bombardment of fierce abuse and criticism by Babehami (Headman) and other villagers for choosing a girl from a “rejected” family in the village opinion. Babun says “I like no other woman... she is unlike the other women of this village... in whose mouths are always foul words...” He is by no means a type of man who is ready to bend personal opinion or principles to the interests of the morally bankrupt superpowers in the village.

What runs parallel to this drama is Hinnihami being sacrificed to Punchirala, an evil looking, malevolent dealer in charms. The repellent Vedarala tactfully employs superstitions and beliefs held by villagers, specially Silindu to make the rebellious girl give into his marriage proposal. Woolf says, “She was broken; tired and numb with fear and despair... like a wild animal against a trap, she had fought against the idea of giving herself to Punchirala.” However, disdainful she is of Punchirala at first, she is forced to agree to marry him when his evil course of action brings Silindu on the threshold of death. However, she identifies herself with most evilpower and lets loose a torrent of outbursts, “Are you frightened Punchirala? The binder of yakkhas is frightened of Yakini.” Being an emotional wreck, she desperately breaks away from Punchirala but ultimately falls prey to the sheer inhumanity if man and his superstitious beliefs. She is destroyed not by devils that her father had spoken of, but by evil plots by man himself. This assuredly is the tragedy of the novel. Even her “son”, the fawn on whom she has been so much emotionally dependent, is ruthlessly destroyed by man’s inhuman attitudes.

Failure of Imperial Law

With alluring display of the power of money and promised life of luxury, Fernando, assisted by Babehami make slow but evil plans to seduce Punchimenika. As she is persistent in her loyalty to Babun, they bring Silindu and Babun to the “White Hamadoru” of the court of Hambantota, under false charges. Ratemahathmaya, a typically strong believer in power and authority granted by colonial law, shows little sympathy for the bareforked animal (Silindu)” squatting on the floor of the judge’s bungalow. When the “Judge Hamadoru” releases Silindu and orders Babun to rigorous imprisonment, Silindu, for the first time realises that he has been hunted. Throughout judge’s long drawn speech, Silindu’s mind goes totally blank and finally they find him snoring and fast asleep on the ground.

This is a powerful illustration of imperialism in which a judge gives a verdict on a man with a language he does not understand. Woolf’s penetration of working of the mind of such a desperate man is really marvellous. “They call me a hunter, a Vedda? To be hunted for years and not to know it! It is the headman who is the vedda, a very clever hunter... I am a buffalo wounded... A wise hunter does not follow up the wounded buffalo where the jungle is thick...” There are Silindu’s words. Silindu painfully realises that the depravity of the headman and the lustful Fernando are responsible for the chain of unfortunate events in which his family was gradually destroyed. He kills Babehami and Fernando and goes straight to Ratemahathmaya. However, the judge, though totally powerless against the existing colonial law, has a better understanding of people like Silindu and sees through the sheer injustice done to them by the machinery of law and corrupt officials. Woolf voices his theme of man’s inhumanity to man through judge’s honest, analytical discussion with Ratemahathmaya to whom the case seems to be simple. The judge’s final remark coming from his moral conscience goes far beyond the scope of legal machinery in operation.

“Savages you mean. Well I don’t know. I rather doubt it. I expect he’s a quiet sort of man. All he wanted was to be left alone, poor devil Ratemahathmaya, you don’t know the jungle properly...” They won’t touch you if you leave them alone...”

Finally the village has changed beyond recognition and gradually disappears into the jungle as an unmistakable offshort of corrupt forces at work. No foreigner has shown more insight into the deep recesses of suffering of people in rural areas as Woolf in his immortal prose.