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| Sunday, 30 January 2005 |
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Books / Review Sri Lankan woman in Antiquity : Importance of being a woman in ancient Lanka by Dr. Lorna Dewaraja In this era, when every country in the world evinces a great interest to know the social positions of women in different ages and the way society looked at them, this new work by Professor Indrani Munasinghe is not only a timely effort but also a beacon directed at the ancient Sinhala society. Her theme is Sri Lankan woman in antiquity (Parani Lakdiva Kantava) within which she expertly deals with the ancient Sri Lankan woman's thoughts and wishes, her religious life, the services she rendered to social and economic spheres of her society, the role she played as a housewife and other activities she engaged in. In performing this arduous task, Professor Munasinghe has spared no pains in collecting data. She had travelled along many by ways to discover rare sources that she examined with a discerning eye of a tree truth seeker. I am sure that no other author who wrote on the subject of Sinhala women had gone into so many sources so scientifically. The author had critically examined not only such chronicles as the Dipavamsa,the Mahavamsa and the Vamsatthappakasini but also a very large number of other Sinhala works containing information on the people. Books authored by the Bhikkhus sworn to observe lifelong celibacy cannot be expected to divulge much information on women. But Professor Munasinghe's undaunted persistence had yielded a great many treasures of facts on such subjects as habits and customs, cooking, needlework and other aspects of housewifery of women together with the high place they enjoyed in society as mothers, and in their various occupations, their proficiency in fine arts and their social activities. In addition to literary sources, the author has enlisted the assistance of archaeology also in this study. She has subjected everything falling under this category, viz, epigraphs, coins, statues, carvings, and paintings. to the observation of her perspicacious eyes and with their help even corrected the literary sources. This work has given special attention to the Order of Bhikkhunis and the religious life of women. This would be especially opportune in these days when there is a great interest and controversy regarding the re-establishment of the Bhikkhuni Order. Moreover, one would feel it is nothing but fitting to give prominence to this subject as it is women who are in the forefront of the religious life of the Sinhala Buddhist Society. This study contains the most complete and the most scientific account of Sri Lankan Bhikkhuni establishment ever written in Sinhala language. It reveals a great deal of obscure facts about Sri Lankan Bhikkhunis. One of the important information so revealed is the existence of schism among the Bhikkhunis as well. Secondly, Sri Lankan Bhikkunis had gone to distant lands to propagate Dhamma. The book also discusses the great influence Buddhism exercised in moulding the character of women. From a very young age, they were nurtured by the noble tenets of Buddhism, such as doing good to oneself and others, attending to religious duties on the four Poya days, and participating in religious festivals. No evidence whatsoever is found to suggest that Sri Lankan women led an immured life or were treated as subservient to men. The author unhesitatingly asserts that Sri Lankan women, despite the society being a patriarchal one, enjoyed such an unusual freedom due to the influence of Buddhism. Sri Lanka did not appear to have had a women's liberation movement, as do the western countries. This scholarly study discloses the cause of this contentment. Sinhala women did not have any tyranny bonding them in serfdom. From the distant pre-Christian days, they worked in pleasant cooperation with their men folk in every economic activity the society ventured in to. They had a traditional share of work in paddy cultivation In the Chena cultivation, they played a dominant role; they maintained orchards and grew vegetables, they vied with men as sales persons in big and small trading establishments, they fed, and milked family cows and made five kinds of milk products; they shared an equal responsibility with men in such economic ventures as weaving, pottery and sugar industries. They did not have anybody to rise against in revolutionary fervour. Suppression and vassaldom was alien to them. As the professor has aptly pointed out, it was the fair members of our society who, more than one thousand and five hundred years ago, dared the murderous currents of Pacific Ocean to establish the Bhikkhuni Order in China. Erudition and the penetrative knowledge of the higher tenets of Buddha Dhamma of the Sinhala Bhikkhunis were so superb that they went to the philosophy ridden India and the snow-ridden Tibet to propagate the Master's teachings. Indeed this country has absolutely nothing to learn from the alien women's liberation movement of the still awakening west. Despite the great influence the Indian civilization exercised over Sri Lanka, retrogressive tenets of the Manusmrti failed to invade the Sri Lanka-Society. Always the Buddhist teachings counteracted the Brahmanic social code when it was interfering with women's freedom. Therefore, even today, there is not even a trace of adherence to such dogmas as women should always be wards of men and have no right to make offerings to gods in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan wife, of course, lived under the protection of her husband, but she was never a vassal. She conducted her married life in happy cooperation with her spouse who did not make her subject to an autocratic rule. This position of a Sinhala wife had surprised even some European visitors to the Island in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. For instance, Englishman Robert Knox who lived in the Kandyan Kingdom in the seventeenth century noted that the Kandyan ladies freely talked with other men in the presence of their husbands. This shows that the Sinhala women, unlike her sisters in other patriarchal societies, were not subject to strict control by men. In ancient Sri Lanka, motherhood commanded an exalted place. Various remedies by way of medicinal treatments and rituals were accorded to secure mental and physical health of expectant mothers. Maternity homes were built in various places and even royal patronage was given to the midwives. These facts demonstrate the importance given to the maternal health in ancient Sri Lanka. Professor Munasinghe thus unearths many hidden treasures of unknown facts of history and put them into the touchstone of her discovering investigation. She renders an invaluable service through this work to the history as well as to the study on our female ancestors. ***** About the Author Professor Indrani Munasinghe currently holds the Chair of History at the University of Colombo. After receiving her secondary education from Rippon Girls' College, Galle she entered the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya in 1961 for higher education. She graduated with Honours in History in 1965 and was recruited to the academic staff of the University of Colombo in the same year. She obtained a PhD in History from the University of London in 1972. Her doctoral thesis is on History and Development of Transport in Sri Lanka: A Study of Roads and Railways, 1800-1905. In 1985 she was awarded a Commonwealth Fellowship at the University of London. She is a former President of the Sri Lanka Historical Association. Professor Munasinghe is the author of Sri Lankave Marga Pravahanaya, The Colonial Economy on Track Roads and Railways in Sri Lanka and Parani Lakdiva Kantava for which she received the State Literary Award in 1999. This book is the translation of Parani Lakdiva Kantava. Scattered Petals : Cameos of divers lifestyles Sunday Observer journalist Indira Perera Dahanayake has released her second book, Scattered Petals recently. This 131 page book is a collection of human interest stories making up interviews she had written during her 16-year-career as a journalist. Her stories, very appropriately include pictures of the people she writes about and some of the pictures represent the setting of the tale. The accounts included are about The Mudliyar of Richmond Castle with pictures of the classic English architectural Richmond Castle in Kalutara built in 1901 and the people behind it. Then, there is the story of The Balm King of Sri Lanka, Victor Hettigoda, the entrepreneur who started small and has made his product Siddhalepa, and other products, household words in Sri Lanka, and now, well known in other countries too. The fables go on to include The Enid Blyton of Sri Lanka, Sybil Wettasinghe. The next parable, if I may say so is The Hangman Speaks, being the hangman who would have to carry out the executions with executions being reintroduced. But here, the hangman says that he fears for his life, meaning that he could be bumped out by the underworld. Such sentiments have also been highlighted in the print media of late. Reading through the book, it is apparent that the writer, being a woman has accepted what has been told to her by so many people of diverse lifestyles, as pickpockets, entrepreneurs, a traffic warden and more. ...Then, there is The Singing Doctor, first to adopt fertilizer Scientifically - the Swiss who set up A Baur and Company. Say it with Sweets - the fable of the famous Star brand toffees. The story behind Maliban Biscuits - "the nineteen-year-old prodigal son who fled from home to end up as a business tycoon in Sri Lanka." But prodigal means excessive, extravagant and Hinniappuhamy left home with seventy five cents, one sarong and a span cloth as his earthly possessions. Anyway, the story is worth reading. Another fable is The Bakers to the Nation. Then, Perseverance Strikes the Right String - the making of Eastern musical instruments locally, from indigenous material. The story behind Elephant House. "In 1894 Tom Walker, an English business tycoon started Ceylon Cold Stores with a capital investment of Rs 200,010 divided into 2,100 shares of Rs. 100 each, under the name of New Colombo Ice Company and many more stories. At the launch of the book, the Chairman of Lake House, Janadasa Peiris and the Editor of The Sunday Observer, Jayatillake de Silva expressed similar sentiments that they encourage journalists to engage in writing books, in addition to their work as journalists. Gamini Weerakoon, former Editor of The Island and Sunday Island (where Indira worked before) says in the back cover of the book that Indira was a versatile journalist, had ventured into many fields new to her, short stories being the latest endeavour. Priced at Rs. 325 the book is available at Lake House Bookshop and all leading bookshops. If you are not allergic to the printer's devil and colloquialism, this book filled with sentimentality of the people referred to above, will give you hours of reading pleasure. - EL Loka sitiyame ape gama tiyenavada? : More fact than fiction Veteran author Upali Ubayasekara's latest book Loka sitiyame ape gama tiyenavada? (Is our village there in the World map) was released recently. The five-hundred-and-thirty page giant-fiction seems more of an auto-biography than a novel. The Author however, introduces his work as the first part of a novel; "Understanding the triangle and circle at the end of 20th century". The story in the novel is not strange to us as most of the incidents are true happenings in the country in the 1960s and '70s. According to the author, he has tried only to present what he had observed and experienced as a youth, almost four decades ago. The novel begins with his childhood, depicting all the features of a traditional village. It is a good reflection of university education in the '60s and '70s as well as the university students' entry into politics. Ubayasekara's effort makes a valuable contribution to the knowledge of local politics of that era and the younger generation's reactions to the country's administration. Though the reader feels like it is a light novel at the beginning, gradually he understands that it is not so. While some characters like Chandana and Ari represent the roles of direct participants to the first youth insurrection in 1971, Upali and several others play the roles of silent observers to the whole incidents. In some instances, instead of describing the happenings he copies his diary notes directly to the novel. The book also examines how the youth unrest was created by the country's politics and the youth's eagerness to find ways and means to avoid it. You will also meet some real JVP leaders in the novel and at the same time, he also laughs at those who misinterpret the political theories (specially the marxism). The book is one of the best social and political novels filled with happenings of the '71 insurrection. The book is Printed and published by Samayawardena (Pvt) Ltd, Maligakanda Road, Colombo 10. Price Rs.600 |
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