Wonderful rebirth stories for discerning readers

Sasara Sahakaruwo
(Soul Mates in Samsara)
Author: Thomson A. Vandebona

Reviewed by Padma Edirisinghe

Thompson A. Vandebona has already made a name by writing a finely crafted book on his home town of Benthota.

The Portuguese bestowed their names with much gusto on the natives but not the Dutch. They were a more proud race who wished to isolate themselves from the common man. But there was nothing to prevent one or two of the Dutch race to survive the famous Capitulation to the British in the late 18th Century and domicile themselves here.

Writers in India and Sri Lanka and other Asian countries where belief in rebirth abounds are certainly a lucky lot. They have so much enthralling matter in their hand.

Those who compiled the 550 Jathaka tales of the Buddha can be reckoned as the pioneers of this genre in Lanka. Of course the Jataka stories had as their motive, “The serene joy of the pious”. One of the purposes these 550 tales served was to cultivate respect for animals since they had been elevated to Bodhisatva status.

As time passed, writers in the East saw in the rebirth theme much fertile ground to weave their imagination. There was much entrancing charm in a person coming back from a previous birth who opts to tell the tale. What a feat he has performed! Balamma of Galagedera, one of the characters in Prof. Stevenson’s collection of reborn people not only performs this feat of crossing the border between life and death but even remembers where she had hidden her money in the previous birth.

Banks were unknown to her and so she digs up the garden and hides her treasure there in a corner. But time has taken its toll and a manioc cultivation runs above it much to the disappointment of the six-year-old girl, now reborn. Insignificant incident but certainly piquant.

Vandebona rises far above Balamma. He is even above the average Sri Lankan.

It is obvious that he has travelled over a good part of the globe, especially the western hemisphere. He is at ease in countries such as England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Germany. His characters flit through the pages more along the boulevards of Paris. They soak the misery of tenements in urban post war Germany, the back alleys and hovels of many a European country and occasionally an exotic venue as the story demands.

Modern phenomena make the whole process more entrancing. Hypnosis is one of the most common devices to make the patient talk and reveal his or her pre—birth states.

The main roles in the story are played by Ganesh and Isabella who begin their Samsaric trek from the time of Vatta Gamini Abhaya in which reign a fierce famine hungers the island. They are Ghoshaka and Swarna, two siblings in that birth who are reduced to partake of food prepared from trees and herbs.

One day they are moved by the sight of hungry mendicants and gift this food to them. The meritorious deed perhaps ensures them a habitat in the more progressive western countries later. Named Edward and Jennie this time they are lovers.

Yet they get subject to the Potato famine that plagues most parts of Europe. Next they are born again as two lovers, Pierre and Fransua.

What the author wishes to indicate is that among the throng of the countless populace in the world are those who get reborn again and again and seek the former partner despite the diverse cultures they are born into.

What message does the author strive to give? The message should be delivered via literary works is not a compulsory expectation. But what a world he opens before us is left for the reader to gawk and wonder. And a side thought, does the author give a new dimension to the rebirth process and globalisation by making his characters wander in their Samsaric journey through the mesh of international travel, in airy form? Clever writers matured with years and years at the writing desk certainly can perform such miracles.