Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa becomes 88 years younger - A tribute

by Ranga CHANDRARATHNE and Indeewara THILAKARATHNE

Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa to whom we dedicate this main feature of Montage, celebrated his 88th birthday on December 3. He is a person of unique talents who may be described as the most senior practising journalist in Sri Lanka today. It is difficult to assign Ariyadasa with a tag such as journalist, teacher, editor, broadcaster, television personality or communicator as he has always demonstrated the qualities of a great humanist who is always there to support and help anyone who seeks his help.

Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa

Edwin Ariyadasa was born on December 03, 1922 in the pastoral southern village of Unawatuna which is still breathtakingly beautiful despite the centuries of changes following the collapse of colonialism and the emergence of a new socio-economic order.

He had his early education at Buddhist Mixed School in Unawatuna and received his secondary education at Mahinda College, Galle. Among his contemporaries at Mahinda College included young Siri Gunasinghe, Vini Vitharana, Sirimal Ranawella and Nandadasa Kodagoda, and all of whom later became his university mates and experts on their chosen careers.

At the University College, Colombo he read for BA with Sinhala as a major and English as an auxiliary subject at the feet of Sir Ivor Jennings, a vestige of Colonialism and an intellectual of international repute. It was the heyday of Colonialism and inter alia, Edwin Ariyadasa came under the influence of heavily Anglicised culture where the clattering of fork and spoon was the order of the day. Since 1949 when he took journalism at the behest of Edmond Wickremasinghe (then the head of Lake House publications) as Deputy Editor in the Editorial Board of `Dinamina’ under the Editorship of Piyasena Nishsanka, Edwin Ariyadasa has been a practising journalist.

Perhaps as the most senior journalist and media person in the country with about 60 years experience in the field, Ariyadasa is reminiscent of the hey-days of journalism in Sri Lanka. In fact, he was appointed a member of the Editorial staff at ANCL on March 3, 1949. Edwin Ariyadasa is a quintessential bilingual who has left his imprint both in Sinhala and English media. He served in most of the Sinhala and English publications as a features writer. The long list includes Daily News, Silumina, Sarasaviya Sunday Observer, Dinamina, Janatha and Nawayugaya.

He cherishes most the days he spent as the Editor-in-Chief of Nawayugaya. Nawayugaya is held in high esteem by people in their thirties and forties. This was primarily due to the writings by Edwin Ariyadasa on diverse issues in Nawayugaya which shaped the intellectual discourse of the day.

The fact that Nawayugaya influenced the readers was vindicated by NASA scientist Dr. Sarath Gunapala at an interview with ITN. He stated that one of the reasons why he was interested in Science was the reading of articles that appeared in Nawayugaya.

Ariyadasa encountered many readers who preserved copies of Nawayugaya. Credit for changing readers’ perception should go to then Editor Nawayugaya, Edwin Ariyadasa.

One of the remarkable opportunities that he came across in his career was that he was invited to formulate a syllabus for Mass Communication for Junior Universities in 1969.

The Junior Universities were subsequently known as Advanced Technical Institutes. At the Dehiwala branch, among the subjects taught were English, Librarianship and Mass Communication. The Mass Communication segment was under Maithtree Kariyawasam who is a friend of Edwin Ariyadasa.

One evening he telephoned Ariyadasa and asked, “Edwin, can you start teaching Mass Communication tomorrow morning?”.

According to Edwin Ariyadasa, it was the first time that Mass Communication was taken up for teaching at a higher education institute in Sri Lanka . However, the little known fact was that Ariyadasa had already been studying Mass Communication when he was invited to teach Mass Communication.

He recollects sporting his unassuming charming smile, that some members of the staff remarked Ariyadasa was 50 years ahead of his time. Maithree Kariyawasam gave a free hand to Ariyadasa enabling him to formulate a syllabus, evaluation system for Mass Communication in the Junior University branch at Dehiwala.

Thus, the singular acclaim of formulating a comprehensive syllabus for Mass Communication, for the first time in the history of Mass Communication, at Higher Education level was bestowed upon Edwin Ariyadasa.

It would have been a Herculean task for any other person but for Edwin Ariyadasa it was a pure intellectual exercise. He single-handedly prepared the syllabus, evaluation systems consisting of a written examination. In addition, students were given practical exercises and each student had to produce a dissertation. Perhaps, this would have been the first time that dissertation-writing was initiated at higher education institutes. Harold Peiris, who subsequently became the Secretary of Information to the President, wrote at the Junior University level a book on “The Use of Photography in Print Media”, a wonderfully illustrated book.

All the leading media personnel and literati of the time addressed the students who took up Mass Communication course at the Junior University. The luminaries who attended the sessions included Martin Wickremasinghe, Piyasena Nissanka, Amaranath Jayatilaka and even film critic Roger Manwel.

However, unfortunately the next Government scrapped the course totally disregarding the merits and de-merits of the course. In 1972, under the Government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prof. Siriwardena, the then President of the Colombo Campus, had been asked by Prime Minister Sirimavo to introduce Job-oriented Courses to the university.

Edwin Ariyadasa was the Chairman of the Committee which formulated the first ever Mass Communication syllabus at University level. The two other members of the Committee were the then President of Jaffna Campus Prof. Kailashapathy and Prof. Sunanda Mahendra.

Committee meetings were held at Pagoda near Lake House and Sunanda Mahendra in light vein mentioned that Ariyadasa made the syllabus while they had tea at Pagoda.

Thus, the syllabus was created and subsequently it was adapted by the Social Studies section of the Kelaniya University which was under Prof. Karunanayake.

Vision

As Edwin Ariyadasa was very keen on establishing the Mass Communication Department, he used to deliver lengthy lectures which sometimes ran into four hours. It should be mentioned here that Kelaniya University presented a special award to Edwin Ariyadasa in recognition of his outstanding contribution.

When Professor Wimal Dissanayake was appointed as the Head of the newly established Mass Communication Department at Kelaniya University in the 1970s, he invited Ariyadasa to be a visiting lecturer. As stated elsewhere in the Montage, Wimal Dissanayake had “first got to know Edwin in the 1950s without getting to know him.”Professor Dissanayake who was a school boy then was an avid reader of the series of essays that Ariyadasa had penned under the name of `Janaka’ , wrote many features to ‘Silumina’ covering subjects on arts and letters.

When television was introduced to Sri Lanka in the early 1980s, it was the media gurus like Edwin Ariyadasa who devised formats not only for Sinhala programs but also for English programs. As an expert on foreign affairs, he conducted several programs covering the political developments around the world. At the time, he was among the few resource personnel in television who defined the early part of the development of that media. One of the salient features of his personality is his ocean of knowledge spread over many areas of human affairs He is also very well know for his photographic memory.

A little known facet of his personality is that Edwin Ariyadasa is also a gifted and perceptive creative writer and f poet. In a way, readers would be baffled by the sheer depth of his poetry albeit he has not yet published his creative work in an anthology. Among other things, he cherishes the memories of his rather eventful childhood which he spent in the village of Unawatuna and the mouth-watering Sri Lankan cookery in general and `roti’ made with `Elangi oil in particular.

Mr Edwin Ariyadasa has been associated with the Diploma in Mass Communication at the University of Colombo. At the initial stage, Prof. Kusuma Karunaratne who was then head of the Department of Sinhala was in charge of the course. She was quite happy that Edwin Ariyadasa was there to help her out.

In retrospect, Edwin Ariyadasa is content with his life on two counts; about his extensive participation in professional journalism and with pioneering the introduction of Mass Communication at University level. He is still very much associated with both Kelaniya and Colombo universities.

He remembers with nostalgia, some of the practical elements he had introduced to students who followed Mass Communication at Junior University and later at Universities. Field trips to Martin Wickremasinghe’s Kirimandala Road house and premiers of films were among the practical elements in those courses.

He is quite happy with the developments in the field of Mass Communication; particularly in the Print and Electronic sectors where graphic quality in print media and technological advancement in Electronic media impressive. However, he is cautious about the quality of language and variety of presentations, especially the creativity on the part of media practitioners.

According to Ariyadasa, the most important segment is receivers. As a result of the desire to achieve instance success, especially in electronic media, all kinds of activities are taking place. Some people find that, these are culturally inappropriate and religiously problematic.

What is needed at the moment is training and capacity building which have not been happening although there are Communication courses, Television Courses either at state level or at private level. However the important capacity building and theorization are absent.

The US has well-developed courses for all aspects of Mass Communication. When a young person enrols, that person acquires not only professionalism, technological advancements but also the critical values. This is an important aspect that the state should consider along with Media Policy.

Well-equipped state-of-art training courses and the journalists should be future-oriented. For instances, some of the newspapers had to be closed down in the US in the face of on-line publications and on-line advertisements. In order to attract audiences, newspapers have to forego some of the cherished values.

Future of media

In a flash-back on his longstanding career in media, Edwin Ariyadasa states that he had spent most of his career days at Lake House. His first piece in English after formally joining Lake House was a review of Martin Wickremasinghe’s novel ‘Yugantaya’ for Daily News somewhere in March 1949 His first Sinhala piece which he wrote to the children’s corner in Silumina ‘Kamala Lama Samajaya’ was as a 14 year-old boy. The article was titled ‘Demaupiyanta Garukala Yuttthe Manda”.

At Lake House he was fortunate to receive guidance from outstanding journalists such as legendary Denzil Peiris, a mentor of Ariyadasa, who considered him as one of his proteges. He also received guidance from Martin Wickremasinghe.

Remembering the personal relationship that he maintained with Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra, Edwin Ariyadasa acknowledged the fact that he had translated Prof. Sarachchandra’s seminal work ‘Malagiya Atto’ into English.

From his early childhood, Ariyadasa had imbibed literature and came across leading personalities of Hela Haula, ( School of Sinhala language puritants) such as Ananda Kudathihi.

By 20 years, he read most of the popular English classics thus laying a firm foundation for a future prolific writer and a media personality.

At Mahinda College , Edwin Ariyadasa crossed path with Siri Gunasinghe, Vini Vitharana and the late Nandadasa Kodagoda. All of them subsequently became professors. He was immersed in reading and virtually read off the library. At the University of Ceylon (Colombo) Edwin Ariyadasa did Sinhalese honours with English as the auxiliary subject.

One of the remarkable encounters at the University was meeting with the late Appapilla Amirthalingam, who did Tamil honours with English as auxiliary.

To his credit, Edwin Ariyadasa translated K. Jayatilaka’s ‘Charita Thunak’ and Karunasena Jayalath’s ‘Golu Hadawatha’ which he serialised for the Sunday Observer.

However, the large number of forewords that he wrote for numerous books and blurbs for back covers cannot be traced. Edwin Ariyadasa appeals to readers to send copies of them to him if they possess them.

Commenting on application of art, Edwin Ariyadasa is of the view that a work of art should only be banned if it is absolutely necessary. Some of the material which may be considered phonographic may be integral to a work of art.

If it is done away with, there will not be any meaning to it. However, in a highly creative work, if there are certain areas which may present certain things graphically and if it is relevant to sincere expression of the view of that particular artist, the work should not be interfered with.

What will matter is the interpretation of the artist. In some totalitarian countries, if some people want to present that stark truth, their works will be banned because they go against the state. Referring to the deteriorating standards of language, Edwin Ariyadasa is of the view that the fact that should be taken into consideration is that the reality of the younger generation is different to that of their elders.

They live in a world which is truly international and the attitudes are cosmopolitan. In fact, what is essential is to teach the younger generation the message by which they will be able to access the vast storage of knowledge readily available.

Although grammar and the conventional rules of language are essential, they must be taught to live in the 21st century irrespective of hair splitting arguments over what grammar is right and what is wrong. What is essential is to make children comfortable in the 21st century.

One of the defining roles Edwin Ariyadasa plays in the Sri Lankan public sphere is the role of a cultural intellectual of the milieu. If Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra shaped the contours of intellectual tradition in universities and Martin Wickremasinghe in the literary field, it is, perhaps, Edwin Ariyadasa who profoundly influenced the Sri Lankan media scene and actively campaigned for a vibrant media culture in Sri Lanka. He is an object lesson for young media personnel who aspire to climb the career ladder. He is among other things, famous for the accurate usage of both Sinhala and English. Particularly, his English is perfect and is termed out as proverbial Queen’s English. He emphasises particularly on the use of standard language both in Sinhala and English and abhors the present trend of bastardising the language by using slang in reported speech.

We wish Edwin Ariyadasa good health and capacity to continue his remarkable life and above all, his ability to roam “beyond the galaxies and the stratosphere and reach out to the stars” for a few more decades.

In the creative ARTS and its development, the critic is just as important as the artist..

In Sri Lanka 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 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