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| Sunday, 1 June 2003 |
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A labour of love: The Dhammapada In Braille by Carol Aloysius At an unusual ceremony held at Kalutara on Vesak day this year, five copies of the Dhammapada transcribed possibly for the first time in braille medium in three languages, Pali, Sinhala and English, were handed to five different organisations involved with work for the visually handicapped.
The two persons responsible for having made it possible for the visually handicapped to 'read' the Dhammapada, for the first time have described their efforts as "a labour of love". Chitra de Abrew Mendis, Honorary Secretary of the Kalutara Bodhimaga Padanama which was responsible for financing this special Vesak project, told the Sunday Observer how she had been inspired into spearheading the project. "It was exactly one year ago, on Vesak day, that I was introduced to the first blind woman to enter the university, Violet Yakandawala, by a friend who wanted me to help the visually handicapped. Violet in turn introduced me to a number of other women like herself. As I expressed a genuine interest in their work, and was impressed with their efforts to help themselves and maintain their dignity, they asked me to be patron of the National Forum of Visually Handicapped Women. I agreed. Later I visited the Sri Lanka Federation for the Visually Handicapped office at Church street and asked to see the "Talking Books" library about which I had heard so much. I was disappointed to find that it contained very few books on Buddhism. It was to fill that gap that I felt inspired to pioneer the transcription of the Dhammapada in three languages, the original Pali in which it was written, as well as in Sinhala and English." Impossible task This self-appointed task was by no means easy to accomplish. But, she says, "thanks to the ready co-operation of K. W. Dewadasa, Deputy Secretary, Sri Lanka Federation of the Visually Handicapped (SLFVH) who transcribed the anthology in the braille medium, and R. A. Sirisena, Secretary SLFVH who extended his patronage at all times, even donating a pack of one hundred sheets of high quality braille paper, as well as the funding from the Kalutara Bodhimaga Padanama, our seemingly impossible task was completed in time for Vesak. She herself spent many hours at the SLFVH patiently reading out first in Pali, then in Sinhala and then in English, the verses that went into this first edition. "But it was well worth that sacrifice", she says in retrospect. K. W. Dewadasa told the Sunday Observer that his task in transcribing the verses into three languages though difficult, had been most "rewarding". Explaining how the braille system worked, he said that braille was not a language, but rather a system of media for the education of the blind. "Braille can be used in any language. It consists of only six dots which can be used to write any language". The newly completed volume contains 46 verses in all and runs into around sixty five Braille sheets. "We have now started on the second volume which we hope to complete in June for Poson. We intend transcribing between 40 to 45 verses in this volume", Dewadasa said. The final target of this duo is to complete all 423 verses.Since a braille book is usually made up of a maximum of about 60 or 62 pages (each 1/4" x 11 1/2") and the number of verses in the twenty two Chapters (Vaggas) is 423 the entire transcription could run into around 8 or 9 volumes, they believe. Ultimate goal But that is not all. The SlFVHF's ultimate goal is to make these volumes accessible to visually handicapped persons abroad as well. "If anyone from abroad wants us to send him or her a braille copy we can do so by the special free post for the blind. We also intend making these special editions available for sighted persons over the internet," Dewadasa said. Ms Mendis is particularly grateful to the Kalutara Bodhimaga Padanama of which she is Honorary Secretary, for having funded the project and has expressed her gratitude to late Venerable Narada Thera, whose translation of the Dhammapada into English was liberally used in this volume, and also to the National Integration Programme Unit of the Ministry of Justice, Law Reforms and National Integration for the equally liberal use of its translation of the Dhammapada published in 2002. She is equally grateful to the Venerable Weligama Gnanaratana Thera of the Mallikaramaya, Ratmalana for allowing her to use his translation of the Dhammapada published by the Buddhist Publication Society "and more for the freedom he gave me to adapt his version of this anthology as I would think necessary'. She adds, "I am confident that the adaptations are not far wrong. I take full responsibility for any errors". She also acknowledges the support of the Venerable Bhikkhu Dhammavihari, in his guidance and readiness to read and check the script. |
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