Sinhala literary culture

[Part 1]

The two sessions on Sinhala literature at the recently concluded HSBC Galle Literary Festival prompted me to explore the Sinhala literary culture as a prelude to my discussion on the two sessions on Sinhala literature at GLF in general and contemporary Sinhala literature in particular.

Sinhala and Tamil are the first local languages (desabasa) used for literature in South Asia. As early as seventh century and almost at the same time, thoerisation of poetry (Kavya) in Sanskrit began, literature began to emerge in Sinhala. It is obvious that by the time Sinhala literature emerged, Sri Lankan had already come under the pervasive influence of Sanskrit literary culture. For instance, this fact is amply clear from the literary texts such as Janakiharana (The Theft of Janaki) written in 6th century by Kumaradasa who was considered a great poet in Sinhala. The transition of Sinhala from a local language to a literary language seems to be a conscious one.

Charles Hallisey in an essay entitled ‘works and persons in Sinhala Literary Culture’ observes; “Sinhala also provides evidence that the transformation of a local language into literary language (its “literarisation”) was intentional. The nineteenth century poetic handbook, Siyabaslakara (Poetics of one’s own language) urges “clever poets” to be on the lookout for unintentional vulgarity in poor turns of expression on the ground that they might come to be perceived as acceptable.

This handbook for aspiring poets –among the earliest extant literary texts in Sinhala- is concerned with removing faults (dosa) in individual turns of phrase and sentences. Indeed, to this end, the Siyabaslakara contrasts the historicity of Sinhala, which leaves it open to change, with ahistorical stability of Sanskrit, the “ speech of the gods”, and it urges poets to be on guard against unacceptable “Traditional usage” (pera piyovak:SKt. Purva Prayoga) “ because as time goes on, will not our own language (siyavadan;Skt. Svabhasa vacana) change, unlike Sanskrit (diva vadan). ”

Hallisey observes the fact, among other things, that the language of Sinhala was inherently linked with political power and played a role in the formation of identity. Sinhala literati was aware of the literary heritage and always took steps to preserve ‘their literary heritage and to resist changes to the form of Sinhala used for literature’. One logical steps in this direction is the ‘pedagogical models for good literature’ provided in the Sinhala literary culture.

Aspiring poets

Hallisey observes, “‘canon’ intended to provide aspiring poets with models of ‘good literature’, began to take shape as early as thirteenth century. An early mahakavya in Sinhala, the twelfth century Kavisilumina (Crest jewel of poetry; Skt. Kavyacudamani), is cited as an example in the poets’ manual like Sidatsangarava (Compilation of methods; Skt Siddhantasamgrapha) and Elusandaslakuna (Character of meter in Sinhala; Skt.Simhachandolaksana), and it quickly received a pedagogical commentary (Sannaya), much the same as works in Pali and Sanskrit; all of these pedagogical works are from the thirteenth century but they continued to be used in literary education for centuries after, just as Kavisilumina apparently was. Although works were added to this canon from time to time, it still had a remarkable stability, as well as longetivity. Ad hoc anthologies found in manuscripts from as late as nineteenth century, clearly meant for working poets of the time, bring together works on prosody from the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, for example. “

One of the important factors that Hallisey has identified is the existence of monastic centre of learning such as the one at Totagamuva to foster the Sinhala literary legacy and to transmit from generation to generation.

Hallisey observes; “ In the curriculum, which promoted the continuity of Sinhala literary heritage up to the twentieth century , Sinhala authors and critics simultaneously and consistently created catholic literary cultures, especially by their inclusion of the works of the other languages. For example, thirteenth century pedagogical commentary on another early Sinhala mahakavya, the Sasadavata (Story of the Sasa Jataka), places the Sinhala poem within a Sanskrit literary milieu by identifying Sanskrit sources as the inspiration for various versus; among these sources are Balaramayana, Maghakavya, Sakuntala, Raghuvamsa, Kavyamimansa, Kumarasambhava, and Kavyadarsa.

Similarly the cosmopolitan nature of the educational institutions that provided the conditions for the transmission of the Sinhala literary heritage is clear in a long description in the fifteenth-century Girasandesaya ( Parrot’s message) of a monastic centre of learning at Totagamuva, on the South coast of Sri Lanka. We are told that among the monastic and lay scholars studying Buddhist scriptures, commentaries, and doctrinal works as well as grammar, the Vedas, astrology, medicine, and political science (arthasastra), there were also connoisseurs of poetry.

In various places in that beautiful and luxurious monastery there are groups of learned men who have studied prosody [sanda;Skt.chandas], poetics [lakara; Skt. Alankara] and grammar [viyarana;Skt.vyakarana]. They sit as they pleas and recite poems and dramas composed in Sanskrit , Pali, Sinhala, Tamil, maintaining the splendour [siri] of the best poets of old.” It is important also to note that Sinhala literary culture has been greatly influenced by other literary cultures such as Sanskrit and Tamil literary culture. In fact, most of the leading Sinhala authors and scholars knew Tamil well.

Hallisey states, “ Sinhala authors in the fifteenth century, such as Totagamuve Sri Rahula and the monastic authors of the Kokilasandesaya (The cuckoo’s message), commonly knew Tamil and sometimes referred to Tamil works, while authors who were ethnically Tamil sometimes wrote in Sinhala, as , for example Nallurutunumini, a royal minister in the fifteenth-century court of Parakramabahu VI and author of the Namavaliya (Garlands of nouns). The involvement of Sinhala authors and critics in the creation, functioning, and self-understanding of multiple transsocietal lifeworlds defined by the use of different translocal languages (such as Pali and Sanskrit) and structured by different ideologies (one religious, other an ideology of erudition, refinement and valour) not only illustrate the general pattern that ‘all literary cultures participate in what ultimately turn out to be network of borrowings, appropriation, reacting, imitating, emulating, rivaling, defeating’”

What is obvious is that the Sinhala literary culture is not only one of the oldest in Asia but also one which has been highly influenced by the other major literary cultures such as Pali and Sanskrit.