
Book reviews
Ayale Giya Sitaka Satahan
(Off track thoughts), memoirs of a literatus
Compendium of knowledge and experience:
by Ranga Chandrarathne
Ayale Giya Sitaka Satahan (off track thoughts), memoirs of Tissa
Abeysekera, a veteran film and literary personality, is a book that
should go into the must-read list as it is not a mere collection of off
track thoughts of the author but also a compendium of knowledge and
experience that stretched over a vast array of subjects, ranging from
fine arts and culture, literature, history and even the evolution of
popular culture.
Tissa Abeysekera has dedicated the book to his daughters, Aparna
Nirmohi, Noriko Maduwanthi, Swtlana Kamalalochani and his only son
Amitodana.
The author commences his memoirs with his thoughts and memories
associated with the land mass of Kotte, where the author was born and
bred and still lives. "My mind as well as my foot went astray in and
around Kotte. It is because, I was born and bred and still living in
Kotte. Traditionally, Kotte is the landmass bordering Mirihana, Welikada,
Battaramulla and Hokandara. I think, Kotte would have been a zone in the
outskirt of the capital of the ancient kingdom."
The first section of the book titled Kotte Kalalaya (The tapestry of
Kotte) is a collection of articles by the author on Kotte and Colombo.
This section not only covers the author's childhood and adolescent and
intimate memories which have been intrinsically linked to this landmass
but also history, anecdotes and the evolution of this landmass from
cluster of villages to townships in the outskirts of greater Colombo and
the city of Kotte.
Author should be commended for codifying some of the rare anecdotes
and how these townships link to the ancient kingdom of Kotte. For
instance, the town of Nugegoda was a tank and there was an intricately
linked system of canals from Muturaja Wela to Boralesgamuwa.
In the following section titled Satsara Satahan (notations), author
examines the evolution of contemporary Sinhala song. Tissa Abeysekera
traces back to the very origin of songs such as Sobana Sandave, Bambara
Kokila Nada and the influence of Eastern and the Western classical music
on the form and the nature of the contemporary Sri Lankan music.
He also records the immense contribution made by pioneers in the
arena of music in Sri Lanka such as Devar Suriyasena with a Western
classical music background and dedicated his life towards building a Sri
Lankan tradition of music which would stand the test of time.
Commenting on Pradeep Ratnayake's concert Pradeepanjali, the author
states, "The Ukusa Vannama fusion music with Alston Joachim on bass
guitar and Ravibandu Vidyapathi and Chandralal Samarakoon on percussion
instruments was most attracted to me. "I was fascinated by it because of
its intrinsic quality though without dancing which traditionally
accompanied the music."
The next section of the book titled Sivupada Sanvada (conversations
by poetry) is devoted to Sinhala poetry which the author was exposed to,
at the age of ten as his mother read out to him. This is a testimony to
the author's widespread knowledge of poetry in both Sinhala and English
languages.
In the last section titled Sitangi, the author explores myriad of
subjects including the controversy over the national anthem. In a
thought provoking article titled Ranakamaya, nationalism ha Kalakaruwa
Tissa Abeysekera observes "The war has affected the entire community....
Here Artists reaction to this war is different depending on their
knowledge and application.
They expressed their views through song, poetry, drama and fiction.
However, it is a few film makers who expressed their views in a humane
manner. They are Prasanna Vithanage, Ashoka Handagama, Sudath
Mahadiulwewa and Vimukthi Jayasundara. "It was the dramatists who were
in the forefront of interpreting social crisis in Sri Lanka.
Sugathapala de Silva and Ape Kattiya launched this wave of
contemporary dramas, had later been followed and carried on by the
second generation of dramatists led by Dharmasiri Bandaranayake,
Jayantha Chandrasiri."
The book, apart from providing invaluable insight into the
contemporary art and culture, is also a first-rate memoir of this
exceptionally talented literatus. Though the language used in the book
is simple and direct, he has contributed to the development of
contemporary diction by refining the language and perhaps, in some
instances, adding and coining wards to enrich the expressions and idioms
of the language.
In defining an artist, the author cited an age old Sinhalese idiom
"Every genuine artist is an earthen ware bowl similar to that used by
Buddha that flows against the tide. He is a spiritual-being who is
crucified for the sin of challenging the order.
Every artist is a universal citizen who supersedes all the divides in
his quest for truth. He is a lotus that blossomed onto the purest blue
sky and to the warm rays of the sun, being emerged from stenching mercy
water." (Page 296)
Tissa Abeysekara is a man of many parts and excelled in diverse
fields including his forte cinema. He is a rare bi-lingual who has not
only won accolades for his writings in Sinhala and but also for English.
His novella Bringing Tony Home won the Gratien Prize for the best
fiction in English in 1996.
He is a social reformist who followed the footsteps of socialist
leaders such as Peter Keunaman, S.A Wickremasinghe and one of the left-befinders
of that calibre. Tissa Abeysekara is a devoted Theravada Buddhist who
comprehend symbolism correctly especially in visual and performing art
at a time the willful ignorance, evasiveness and wickedness dominates
the social fabric.
[email protected]
Sarandib - An Ethnological Study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka
by Asiff Hussein
Reviewed by Latheef Farook
Sarandib - An Ethnological Study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka by Asiff
Hussein is a book worth reading by both Muslims and non-Muslims,
academics as well as general readers who would like to know all about
the country's Muslims.
What is particularly noteworthy about this work is that the author
has not only dealt with the ethnicity and culture of the country's major
Muslim group, the Moors, but has also given due attention to the other
Muslim groups such as the Malays, Memons and other groups of Indian
origin such as the Sammankarar, Faqirs and Osta.
As renowned scholar Dr. M. A. M. Shukri observes in a foreword to the
work: 'It is by far the most comprehensive multi-disciplinary study of
the country's Muslim community undertaken to date, encompassing physical
anthropology, linguistics, social organization, cultural traditions and
religious and folk beliefs'.
In the first part of this work which is devoted to the Moor
community, he traces in great detail the origins of the Moors,
contending that the nucleus of the community has its origins in the
early Arab settlers and traders who chose to settle in the country,
espousing local Sinhalese and Tamil women.
To this end, he has drawn upon anthropological, textual and
epigraphic evidence. He has also sought to show that the Moors,
descended as they were from Arabs hailing from Iraq, Yemen and other
parts of the Arab world were originally an Arabic-speaking people and
that it was only after the 13th century with the fall of the Abbasid
caliphate to the Mongols that they came to speak Tamil as their home
language, largely facilitated by increasing dependence on their
Tamil-speaking co-religionists from peninsular India with whom they had
established strong commercial links.
Hussein has also dealt with the peculiar dialect spoken by the Moors
in the South and Western parts of the country known as Sona Tamil as we
as with their now largely forgotten literary heritage based on Arabu-Tamil,
Tamil written in Arabic script. He then goes on to deal with the
settlements of the Moors, showing how such settlements would have
originated and the factors that would have influenced settlement
patterns.
Social customs of the community
Hussein also deals at length with the social customs of the community
including birth and childhood, marriage and funerary rites as they
prevail in different areas, showing how some have a religious basis
while how others have been influenced by external factors.
He also deals with dress and ornamentation and culinary habits as it
prevails in the community at present and as it prevailed in the past,
drawing upon oral traditions and literary sources to reveal some rare
insights into these aspects of life.
He has shown how diversely the Moors have been influenced in their
attire and ornament and food habits which betray not only Arabian, but
also a strong Hindustani and Dravidian influence. The medical remedies
of the community have also been covered and includes details of Unani
prescriptions as well as handy medicines known as kai-marundu.
The chapter on occupations is also very illuminating and shows how
the Moors of old made their living not only as traders and gem
merchants, but also as seafarers engaged in maritime commerce, hunters,
farmers, fishers, masons, carpenters and medical men.
The author also delves on the religious beliefs of the community,
dealing not only with the basic tenets of the faith, but also with
religious currents such as Sufism and Salafi revivalism and with beliefs
pertaining to the jinn, evil eye, Adam?s Peak and that mysterious
personage known as Khidr or 'The Green One'.
The second part deals with the Malays and shows how the community has
its origins from the nobles and soldiers brought hither by the Dutch
from Indonesia, though some had their origins from the Malayan Peninsula
as well.
Their distinct speech, social customs, attire and culinary fare have
also been dealt with in great detail. The third part of the work deals
with the little known Memon community which has its origins in the
Kathiawad Peninsula of Gujarat. The speech of the community as well as
their distinct social and cultural practices as well as their commercial
life have been recorded in detail.
Finally the author deals with other groups of Indian origin including
the Sammankarar or Coast Moors who hailed from various parts of the
South Indian coast, the Faqirs who originally hailed from peninsular
India with later accretions from other local Muslim communities and the
Osta who have traditionally performed such duties as ritual tonsure and
circumcision and who constitute a sort of caste group, intermarrying
among themselves.
Consuming task
Hussein must be commended for having undertaken the extremely
valuable and time consuming task of gathering rare information from
diverse sources which involved a number of field visits and interviews,
particularly with elderly folk who still preserve memories of their
former lifestyle and traditions, some of which no longer exist.
He has also undertaken an extensive survey of old records such as the
Dutch tombos preserved at the National archives and other institutions
which relate to the social and economic life of local Muslims centuries
ago.
Thanks to his efforts, much valuable information about the past
social, economic, cultural and traditional life of the country's Muslims
which would have otherwise disappeared unrecorded have been saved for
posterity.
Thus Hussein's study should help preserve the colourful cultural life
and rich heritage of the island's Muslims, particularly in the context
of a fast changing social life as a result of the rat race for survival
under the current globalised open economic set-up.
The work is illustrated with 32 colour plates including some rare
photographs such as old photos of the different Muslim groups, Arabic
inscriptions found in graveyards, an old Arabu-Tamil newspaper titled
kashfur raan an qalbil jaan, a surattu toppi formerly worn by Moor
gentlemen, antique jewellery including a rare savadi necklace and even
some kris knives used by the Malays of old.
The book is available at Vijitha Yapa, Lake House Bookshop, Sarasavi
Bookshop, Makeens Bookshop, Islamic Book House, CIS and Carnival Ice
Cream.
Astro Numerology Latest methods
by Ranga Chandrarathne
An Astro Numerology Latest method by Numaro is a practical guide to
Astro Numerology and contains finding of the extensive research the
author conducted into the subject.
Unlike any other book on the subject, the book teaches readers how to
apply astro numerology in a day-to-day life to unravel the mysteries of
the occult science. It will also help to find out various specific
auspicious, as well as, in-auspicious dates affect individuals.
The book among other things, discusses the success and failure,
planetary effects, political events, life events, destiny patterns,
horse racing, reincarnation and name values.
The author Numaro in a chapter titled 'Few word to the materialists
and rationalists' states 'Those readers who are adhering to firm
Rationalism, being non believers in any thing occult in nature , may
reject the contents of this book at the very out-set as mere none-sense.
For such skeptics the science of Astro-Numerology is nothing but
another branch of Pseudo Science. However, I must appeal to such readers
at least go through the content of this book with an open mind once,
rather than looking on the same with prejudicial mind?
The Author, Numaro (T. M. Berty Peiris) has served in the Postal
Department for over 38 years and retired as an Administrative Secretary.
During 1974-1975 he contributed to weekly forcasts titled Your Stars to
the Sunday Observer under the pen-name Numero. |