A symbiosis between nature and man

Reviewed by Padma Edirisinghe

The Opera of the Panamura Trumpeters is a musical conceptualisation by Navaratne Gamage (renowned composer). The theatre directors were Ariyawansa Dhammage and Manubandu Vidyapathi.

The fabulous Nelum Pokuna was host to the opera of the Panamura Trumpeters on May 30 and 31. It can be described as a showpiece of dramatic and musical extravaganza par excellence. Was its theme as lavish as the theatrical piece? No. The theme sprang from an elephant’s lone and sad cry as it succumbed to the onslaught of civilisation.

The valiant tusker roamed about in distant Kolonna Korale with its herd in whose defence Panamure Ath Raja, as he is popularly adulated in both prose and verse, paid with his life.

Laced with an attempt at philosophy, the brochure on the opera reads, “This story based on a tale in 1950 is symbolic of the journey man has faced, a journey from being one with nature, to a distancing from nature due to the development and finally at the doors of an ill-fated tomorrow.

This piece aims to chart a moderate path for those caught in the rat race of life”. This actually does not tell all nor does it tell the tale direct. Perhaps that is due to the complexity of the issue.

What basically happens is that the leader of the herd roaming the wilds of Kolonna Korale apparently battles against the cruel habit of holding kraals and disrupting the legacy of the wild elephants ie. their freedom to wander about in the thick green foliage and in this battle tinged with loyalty and courage, unique in an animal species, he pays with his life when the gun of Sam Kadiragamar triggers a cruel shot on the orders of authorities connected to Maduwanwela walauwa.

Harmony

A mere bit, you may argue, for a grand opera. But the innovative mind of the producer overcomes the inadequacy with relevant episodes that garnish the dish. Here are a few of them.

Act 1 that illustrates the harmony between man and nature, Act 3 the arrival of the Gods the interconnections of earth and its elements, the realm of God Indra.

Act 7 takes the audience to the world depicted in Jathaka tales, specifically the Saddantha Jathakaya that highlights the cruelty of the first man on earth to shoot the first arrow at a tusker. Act 7 brings the audience to the modern tragedy of a tusker losing his life in 1950 (August 5).

The cruelty goes on and the earth expires devoid of life in Act 9.

Interspersed somewhere amidst these items is the dream of queen Mahamaya with child the Bodhisatva.

Who entered her at dead of midnight? An elephant cub. So the stature of the tuskers gets ennobled. Much more than in the West, the reverence for this animal species is heightened by this event.

Ingenuity

The cleverness and ingenuity of the producing team tapers the opera to a fitting end when varied races or representatives of them are invited to play their tunes to imbibe a new life to a dying world. Now there is hope for the four-footed to wander about in the wilds and sanity prevails again for man to share the earth’s bounty with the rest of the living species. Man comes down his high chair from where he holds a monopoly of all things that God or the Gods have created.

This truth dazzles at the end while through out the opera the lights dazzle and dim sometime throwing the audience into complete darkness and after a few minute making everything aglow. There is magic in the show, the magic not only produced by modern technology and by the aura set by Nelum Pokuna itself, but by the ultimate truth the play expounds, around the axiom of sharing nature with those who are not lucky enough to achieve human status.

The message itself comes from distant Panamure and getting curious how a renowned composer laid his hands on the theme I came across an intriguing tale about a figure who had been the initiator of the movement to pay due homage to Panamure Athraja. In fact the song, "Panamure Ath raja is a hit tune then as now “ and it is a pity that the song did not get a full rendition.

Elephant kraals

It could have been played in the background even. Back to the initiator Saman Ratnayake according to facts I researched had been responsible for putting up a giant size replica of the Eth Raja but had even put up a library and museum in honour of the deceased.

So Mr.Navaratne Gamage had much ground to work on. The Ath Raja himself did not die in vain but guaranteed the freedom of his herd.

That too needs explanation. The system of holding elephant kraals in which many an animal suffered had been going on for some time but was dwindling. The Panamure kraal was one of the few to survive perhaps due to the power wielded by Maduwanwela Dissawa, a stalwart figure in the area.

Came the 1950 s and power and inheritance rights had devolved on a heir, Sir Francis Molamure, holding the position of Speaker. The Panamure Athgala kraal had gone on, inflicting much suffering to those within... That is what Dr. N.M. Perera, a role convincingly played by Amitta Weerasinghe, has to say,

“Here is an instance when those in charge of the law themselves are flouting them”...

Perhaps the end comes as Hurrah to the Marxist cum Socialist parties when under much pressure via a Parliament act is enacted the prohibition of holding elephant kraals. The passing of this act took only five days. It had been a luxury pastime for hunters of the colonial masters genre and their local stooges. In fact, in the 1880s when Prince Alfred visited Ceylon, he was invited not only to watch such a kraal but even shoot an elephant to the cheers of the onlookers. The latter part of the drama is rather obliterated and could be reckoned as a weakness of the play.

That no love–coo is heard or seen in any part of the Opera is in itself a tribute by those fed up with an overdose of them in any show business.

The opera, carrying the message of freedom for all living beings and nourished by the ancient faiths bred on Indian soil woven around Ahimsa, is too big for cooings.

To put it simply, the opera carries a message for conservationists, be they of any facet of nature, huge pachyderms included. Can the show do world rounds? Definitely.

A world now hungry for such messages would no doubt embrace this aesthetic fantasia.

Perhaps this Sandvani Ranga comes at a fitting time when these majestic creatures are again being traumatised by heartless humans for various commercial purposes.

The writer is grateful to Shirley Samarasinghe who delved into much relevant matter regarding the Panamure site.