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| Sunday, 27 October 2002 |
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Sel Lipi : LAUGHING GAS Swasthi Shree! Thus says his sacred Majesty, the gracious Great King, glorious Chakravarthi, King of the Kings of Maya, Pihiti and Ruhuna, Mahoora of the Vanniala-aeththo and ruler of all lands from Yapapatuna to Sampanthota: It has come to the notice of the Maha Vasalan that many years have passed since the people of this country depended solely on firewood for the cooking of their meals. Ever since the advent of the magical oil, or bhoomi thel, in many houses of this sublime realm the lowly stick of firewood or shell of coconut (in a rude hearth of three bricks or three stones) has been relegated to the dustbin of history. The magical oil (squeezed from the rocks of the bowels of the lands of the Yonakas) usurped even the function, as a light-provider, of coconut oil. Yet even as the wheel of the bullock-cart follows the ox, magical vaayu (extracted from the very same paashaanas of the lands of the Yonakas) has displaced bhoomi thel, not merely in the multhenges of the situvaras but also in the kitchens of the less wealthy. Parangi merchants bearing sippi katu (cowrie shells) had alone, for many years been filling baraniyas with the magical vaayu, and had extracted many a kahapana for it from the common people. Then the proclamation tom toms announced that, in order for the people to live more happily, the right to fill and sell baraniyas of magical vaayu was given, not only to the sippi katu Parangis, but also to some merry merchants. The latter henceforth sold their baraniyas, full of what they described as the vaayu of laughter, at a price many kahapanas lower than sippi katu vaayu. And the ordinary people certainly laughed more often. It has now come to the notice of the Maha Vasala that the Parangi merchants with sippi katu increased the price of their magical vaayun to 567 kahapanas for the baraniya, saying that the Yonakas are now selling the products of their paashaanas at a higher price than before. But the common people continued laughing, as the vaayu of laughter was sold at 396 kahapanas for the baraniya. For had not the proclamation tom toms announced that, with more merchants selling magical vaayu, the price of each baraniya would remain the same or would decrease? But then, like a thunderbolt that the mighty Sakra hurls suddenly to the ground in a downpour of rain, the proclamation tom toms announced that the merry merchants were asking for 515 kahapanas the baraniya for the vaayu of laughter. Indeed they intimated that the cost might increase in the months of winter, as the Parangis and others of the Northern lands use more vaayu for heating their dwellings and bodies. The people in the villages can abandon their vaayu baraniyas and even their bhoomi thel, go back to using their three-fold brick hearths with sticks of firewood and coconut shells. But the dwellers in the towns, whence may they obtain firewood? And their dwellings are no longer made in such a way that the multhenge can accommodate a triune hearth. So their laughter has turned to wails of anguish. And the magical vaayu is no longer the laughing vaayu, but the vaayu of tears. And the questions that remain in the minds of the common people are whether the merry merchants of laughs are still laughing and whether he who laughs first pays most. Swasthi Shree! This rock edict is made on this last day of Ravi of the month of Wap of the Year of the Saka Era 1929. - Gotabhaya |
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