Sinhala literary culture

[Part 2]

In my last week’s column, I have pointed out the fact that Sinhala literary culture is as old as Sanskrit and Pali literary cultures and has been greatly influenced by them. I extensively cited Charles Hallisey’s article entitled ‘Works and Persons in Sinhala Literary Culture’ to shed light on the early part of Sinhala literary culture and its position among South Asian literary cultures.

One of the interesting linguistic developments that Charles Hallisey observes is that the Sinhala authors and critics between 10th and 15th centuries though appreciated Sanskrit literature, resolutely resisted ‘the encroachment of Sanskrit language on the forms of Sinhala used for poetry’. One may arrive at the conclusion that the term ‘poetry’ in this particular context does not merely mean poetry in particular but the Sinhala literature in general.

Hallisey observes, “Sinhala is also valuable for gaining a nuanced understanding of superposition, whereby ‘new literature developed in reaction to supposed or dominating forms of pre-existent literatures’. This aspect of the interaction of the local and translocal in the production of literature is especially important with respect to the place of Sanskrit in Sinhala literary culture between tenth and fifteenth centuries. …During this period Sinhala authors and critics chose what counted as literature in Sanskrit without choosing Sanskrit as a literary language. That is, they combined a profound appreciation for the vision of the literary found in Sanskrit literary culture with a resolute resistance to the encroachment of the Sanskrit language on the forms of Sinhala used for poetry-or the use of idiom of Sanskrit literary culture, they refused literary tatsamas but embraced the equivalent of literary tadbhavas. ”

Impact of Sanskrit on Sinhala literature

The overarching influence of Sanskrit literary culture on Sinhala literary culture is an undisputable fact. Even in contemporary Sinhala, one may find scores of loanwords primarily from Sanskrit and Pali and other European languages such as Portuguese, Dutch and English.

Charles Hallisey observes the fact that Sanskrit influence on Sinhala literary culture has not only a profound impact on Sinhala literature but also a discernible impact on the evolution of Sinhala script.

“Sinhala literary culture during these centuries was initially diglossic, employing one ‘alphabet’ for writing Sinhala poetry and one for Sinhala prose. The script was the same for both; the difference between the two was the number of permitted letters (aksarsa), prose having fifty-seven, against-thirty six for poetry. The alphabet for poetic Sinhala (elu) prevented the use of many Sanskrit loanwords (tatsamas) because it lacked letters for the aspirated consonants of Sanskrit, although Sanskrit loanwords became as common in Sinhala prose as they later were in the literatures of local languages elsewhere in South Asia..

These are changes in the languages whose appearance can only be traced to the period in which Sinhala first emerges as a literary language, that is, beginning from the eighth century. Thus we see in elu a dominance of Sanskrit over Sinhala-even in the selection of Kavya as the preeminent ‘literary’ –and simultaneously a resistance to this dominance in the effort to distinguish the language of Sinhala poetry from Sanskrit. This is so not only at the level of phonology; the regulation of permitted sounds in elu sometimes conflicted with the regulation of poetic effects. Some literary ornamentations of sound (sabdalarikara) were deemed outside the scope of possibility in Sinhala; according to Siyabaslakara, these include slesa ( “compactness”i.e , words with double meaning), samata ( “evenness” of sound combinations), and sukumarata (absence of harsh sounds). ”

However, the impact of Sanskrit as pointed out by Charles Hallisey went beyond scriptural changes. “The impact of Sanskrit went far beyond morphological developments, however. Sanskrit discourse had a pervasive effect on prose Sinhala of the period, particularly in Buddhist scholastic works such as the twelfth-century Abhidgarmarthasangrapasanne ( Pedagogical commentary on Abhidharmarthasangraha, a Pali manual on Buddhist philosophy) and thirteenth century Visuddhimaggasanne ( Pedagogical commentary on the Visuddhimagga, Buddhaghosa’s manual on monastic practice), where the language is full of Sanskrit loanwords and derivatives (tatsamas and tadhavas) as well as ‘Sanskrit’ mode of thinking. …certain moral values of Sanskrit literary culture, such as prowess, valour, and prestige, also become as much a part of Sinhala literary culture as did Sanskrit literary values such as selectivity, homogeneity, and conservatism. In general, Sanskrit culture was a uniquely generative part of literary life in Sri Lanka during these six centuries, but its relation to Sinhala literary culture and to Pali in Sri Lanka was hardly simple or monolithic.”

Contemporary Sinhala fiction

Although Sinhala has been functioning as a literary language for centuries, it was in the post-independent era that the foundation for contemporary Sinhala fiction or literature was laid with the emergence of writers such as Piyadasa Sirisena, Martin Wickremasinghe and Gunadasa Amerasekara.

Prof. Wimal Dissanayake recognising their contribution to Sinhala literature has termed their literary career as three illustrative moments in Sinhala literary landscape in the book entitled Sinhala Novel and the Public Sphere. Although Piyadasa Sirisena’s role is more prominent as a nationalist than a literary personality, he is the Sinhala writer who laid the foundation for modern Sinhala fiction. As opposed to medieval Sinhala literature which was highly influenced by Sanskrit and Pali literary cultures in addition to flourishing Buddhism of the time, Piyadasa Sirisena’s works, fiction, poetry and other writings to newspapers reflected the socio-political dynamics of the day. Rising sentiments of nationalism and cultural revivalism provided the meat for his literary productions. At times, his novels sound didactic moral lectures severely attacking the alien system of values and pagan religions.

Piyadasa Sirisena

In the chapter entitled Piyadasa Sirisena and the discourse of cultural nationalism in Sinhala Novel and the Public Sphere Prof. Wimal Dissanayake observes, “Piyadasa Sirisena is generally regarded as the ‘Father of Sinhala Fiction. He distinguished himself as a popular novelist and a poet and an influential newspaper editor. He played a central role in the anti-colonial struggle and the temperance movement. He along with such influential personalities as Anagarika Dharmapala, Ven. Mohottiwatte Gunananda, Ven. Hikkaduve Sumangala and Walisinghe Harischandra, exercised a deep and far-reaching influence on the social tides of the time. Piyadasa Sirisena is the author of 19 novels that have had a profound impact on the Sinhala reading public. ”