Rich cultural and intellectual legacy of Samskrti Journal

Samskrti Journal, which came into being in 1953, five years after the Independence, is, perhaps, the oldest journal of its kind in Sri Lanka. Samskrti, famous for its rich and thought provoking content from its very inception, was launched by a young enthusiastic group who were the inaugural editors of the journal.

They, inter alia, were interested in commencing an intellectual discourse, particularly, on issues pertaining to the newly emerged nation state which was trying to shape its own destiny. It was a struggle to march ahead from the legacy of over one hundred years of British colonisation which left hordes of unsolved issues. It was a head on collision with modernity and criticality in the nation state's march towards prosperity without compromising the growing sentiments of indigenous values and love for native tongues. From the very inception, Samskrti Journal maintained a fiercely independent editorial policy with principles of reflexivity, criticality and intellectuality of highest order as the corner stones of its vision. Its mission was to stir an intellectual discourse providing critical public sphere where the issues of the day being discussed with passion by leading luminaries of the intelligentsia.

The founding editorial of Samskrti Journal was made up of Amaradasa Virasinhe, S.G. Samarasinghe, Gananath Obeysekera, Jaydeva Gunatilake and Mahinda Palihawadena. The rich tradition of intellectual discourse spearheaded by Samskrti Journal was enriched by some of the finest cultural intellectuals, critics, writers such as E.M.D. Wickremasinghe, M.J. Perera, D.E. Hettiarachchi, Ven. Yakkaduve Pannarama Thera, Ananda Guruge, M.D. Ratnasuriya, Cumaratunga Munidasa, Martin Wickremasinghe, Ediriweera Sarachchandra, Ariya Rajakaruna, Hemapala Wijewardena, Ananda Kulasuriya, Gunasena Galappaththi, M.B.C. de Silva, W.B. Makuloluwa, G. Usvatte Arachchi, Arthur Weerasena, Susil Sirivardena, A.M.U. Tennakoon, S. Wijesuriya, H.M. Ranasinghe and A.J. Gunawardene.

The present editorial of Samskrti is made up of Susil Sirivardena, G. Usvatte Arachchi, Siri Gunasinghe, Arthur Weerasena, Jinadasa Liyanaratne, Jayantha Aravinda, Asoka Premaratne, Senevi Epitawatte and Ameradasa Virasinhe.

Four issues of Samskrti Journal are published annually. Special issues have also been published on specific themes or personalities. Among the special issues, Ananda Coomaraswamy special (1955), Martin Wickremasinghe special (1958), Chekov special (1960), University special (1965), Paranavitane special (1972) and Buddha Jayanthi special (2008) should merit recognition as extremely popular issues. The journal ran continuously till 1972 and then it was revived in 2001 after a lapse of 20 years. Although the focus of the journals is primarily on culture and there are articles on cinema, language, history, drama in addition to literary and drama reviews and articles on economic issues. The large readership for the journal included university students, school students and teachers, journalists and intellectuals and general readership through library subscriptions.

Jeevodaya (Regeneration)

The first phase of the journal from 1953 to 1970 was marked for generating a critical discourse in Sinhala on socio-cultural and economic issues, by and largely thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers. It is evident that the same degree of voluntarism and dedication is hard to emerge from successive generations of educated youth on many counts.

Apart from the financial constraints, absence of vision and lack of foresight particularly on contemporary issues in a globalised context have shunned away the youth from actively engaging in a productive intellectual discourse.

It is one of the reasons that prevented cultural intellectuals from launching a public forum or creating a public space for airing critical issues in an objective perspective like those of The Doha Debates and The Quadriga, a panel discussion on critical issue telecast over Deutche Welle (German Television) in the form of opinionated talk show. One of the significant aspects of both programmes is that they provide much-needed public sphere for productive intellectual discourses.

At a time, the country is badly in need of such an on-going intellectual forum and discourse for analysing and discussing critical issues in objective manner, Jeevodaya or regeneration of Samskrti Journal marks a watershed in the intellectual landscape of contemporary Sri Lanka.

Under its ambitious regeneration programme, Samskrti Journal is, currently, undergoing a major restructuring process. The programme is aimed at achieving three inter-linked objectives, namely the comprehensive overhauling of its current editorial perspectives in order to address fundamental critical issues in contemporary Sri Lanka, broadening up the Journal's content incorporating new territories such an information technology and to offer in-depth analysis particularly aimed at young readers in order to raise their intellectual insights to a higher level.

Another objective of the regeneration or Jeevodaya programme is to build a financial backbone in terms of a standing found in the sum of Rs. 500,000 which would yield sufficient income for the Journal to maintain higher standards of production. Samskrti Journal solicits the assistance from well-wishers and particularly from Sri Lankan expatriate community which now plays a substantial role in the revival of Sri Lankan culture here and abroad against the tidal wave of neo-colonial cultural invasions.

One of the prerequisites for a vibrant intellectual culture in Sri Lanka, irrespective of whether it is in Sinhala, English or Tamil, is a journal of the quality of Samskrti which is objective and provides critical public space for discussion and analysis of decisive issues of the day.

It is obvious that such a productive process of on-going debate would generate much-needed policy perspectives in rediscovering indigenous development paradigms and generating homespun solutions for critical issues of the day. Let us hope that Samskrti which provided critical perspectives on range of subjects and thereby contributed immense for the generation of vibrant intellectual culture in post independent Sri Lanka, be able to a beacon of intellectual light in this globalised milieu and provide much needed dialog for our nation today.

In order to sustain this most needed dialogue through a journal such as Samskrti, the Government perhaps through the Cultural Ministry should consider providing a reasonable grant.