Sansaaraaranyaye Dadayakkaraya

(The hunter in the wilderness of Samsara)

An introduction

Simon Navagaththegama

From this week on, Montage will serialise the English translation of Simon Navagaththegama's 'Sansaaraaranyaye Dadayakkaraya' (The hunter in the wilderness of Samsara) by Malinda Seneviratne. Malinda is a bilingual who has been writing on different topics to mainstream English newspapers and popular columnist. He is also a poet, writer and translator. He has translated Martin Wickremasinghe's autobiography Upandasita into English.

By Ranga CHANDRARATHNE

'Sansaaraaranyaye Dadayakkaraya' (The hunter in the wilderness of Samsara) is considered as an important modern Sinhalese literary production which deals primarily with the Buddhist concept of Samsara or Sansara in Sinhalese. Author Simon Navagaththegama's contribution to contemporary literature is monumental. At a rudimentary level, Navagaththegama has introduced new tropes to the Sinhalese contemporary novel taking it out of the realistic mood, the dominant genre of the Sinhalese novel in the 1960s. In that sense, Navagaththegama marks a seminal trajectory in Sinhalese novel. The themes that he deals with are often radical in the sense that they are on the periphery of conventional morality; for instance, his Suddilage Kathawa is quite unconventional and deals primarily with the dynamics of sex life in a traditional village which is in contrast to the idyllic fictional village portrayed by Martin Wickremasinghe in his literary productions.

In this brief introduction to the translation, I wish to deal with the central theme of the novel, the Buddhist concept of Samsara or Sansara in Sinhalese. The entire novel is set against the conceptual frame work of Samsara and the principal characters such as Dadayakkaraya or the hunter has been used to navigate the different layers of the novel.

The Buddhist concept of Samsara or Sansara

The central theme of the novel is the Buddhist concept of Samsara. It is one of the most complex Buddhist concepts. Samsara or transmigration as it is called in some schools of Buddhism is found in most Indian philosophical traditions. Even in orthodox Hindu and heterodox Buddhist and Jain philosophical traditions, an ongoing cycle of birth, death and rebirth is considered as a fact of nature.

It is believed that the law of Samsara, everything is said to be in a cycle of birth, death and rebirth. The Buddhism teaches that there is no individual soul and that the existence of individual self or ego is an illusion. What transfers from one existence to another is only a collection of feelings, impressions and that the individual in the present life will not be the same in the next life but be an individual with similar characteristics.

According to core belief of Buddhism, all living beings are born into one of the six states of existence. Etymologically, the word Samsara in Sanskrit means the cycle of life and death. Tibetan Buddhism calls it a wheel of life in which all beings are trapped. It is believed that all beings trapped within the six realms are subjected to death and rebirth in a recurring cycle of Samsara over incalculable ages until they reach enlightenment.

In the novel, the hunter, first known as Golu Puncha and then as Davantaya, is directly linked to Samsara. From the very birth, he is destined to serve the lonely monk living in a dense jungle. The monk has been waiting for him for over centuries and the hunter with a strong physique is led into the forest by a deity. The entire existence of the hunter seems to have been pre-destined.

At different stages of the narration, it has been suggested that the hunter had played the same role in his previous existences. In one instance, when the monk offered the forest and its treasures to the hunter, the Bahiravaya or the guardian spirit of the treasures accompanied by the guardian cobra, show the hunter his treasures. The treasures are buried in a pit and through the stone fleet of steps, the hunter walks down passing seven layers of civilizations in which he feels intuitively that he has played the same role as a hunter carrying an axe. In fact, faintly he recognises a huge -ape like Skelton in one of the civilizations he passes through as that of him in the past existence.

"The Hamuduruwo waited for him. The Hamuduruwo had all the time in the world to wait for the hunter. For these two who lived in the jungle, time was neither short not long. The Hamuduruwo watched the hunter who had been walking up to him and was now staring at the nest. " - Malinda Seneviratne

The time is one of the recurrent themes of the novel. For both the monk and the hunter, concept of time is something alien. The monk waited for his companion to meet him up for centuries. They meet at the monastery of Samsara. Although the title suggests a monastery, in fact, there is no monastery. At a superficial level, it is the forest and its confines which make up the 'monastery'. At another level, it is the entire cycle of birth, death and reincarnation which is referred to as Sansara Arannayaye or monastery of Samsara.

Post modernist aspects

One of the prominent features of the novel is its post modernist aspect. Like in his many of works such as Shapkshani, Navagaththegama deals with many post modernist themes such as diverse aspects of sexuality. For instance, when a virgin was to be sacrificed to get the treasure, the hunter looked at her curiously as she was naked. Although sex is not a dominant theme of the novel, it has been exploited in many instances.

" The hunter was hypnotized by the beautiful and small hooded head of the Naga Manavikava. He deliberately avoided looking at the Naga King. He didn't look at the splendid and handsome creature almost as though such a glance would evoke in him a jealous hatred. The Naga Manavikava unfolded her hood and began swaying to and fro in the manner of beginning a dance. His peripheral vision caught sight of the Naga King slithering towards her. At the same time the snake that had been still and quite within him began to come to life and uncoil. It too struggled with the desire to proceed towards the Naga Manavikava. And yet the hunter stood his ground like an enormous tree that had sunk deep into the soil its roots. All he did was to spread his legs just enough for the Naga Manavikava to be able to see the slow dance of his snake. The Naga King who protected the treasure was not by her side, hood touching hood, bodies entwined in slow dance. If the hunter so wished, his Naga Raja would in an instant be grappling with the Naga King in deadly battle. "-Malinda Seviratne

Here the hatred that would evoke in the Hunter is a sexual connotation. The above scene can be read in different lights. One may say that it is a manifestation of suppressed sexual desires of the hunter. In terms of narration, the novel is not unified. There are some instances where a disturbed state of mind of the hunter is represented in terms of descriptions. Even the mind is described. At one point the monk could not concentrate his mind and could hardly meditate. He asked the hunter to keep vigil over the night. At night the monk's worldly desires manifested in the form of a beautiful maiden feeling his face. The author skilfully depicted that it was only an illusion when the maiden was reduced into an ant. The hunter killed the ant and showed it to the monk. In the same night, the monk attained enlightenment. Cobra and maiden are potent sex symbols at a different level.

Seminal trajectory

The novel Sansaaraaranyaye Dadayakkaraya' is also an important trajectory in contemporary Sinhalese novel in terms of diction and narration. Although it seems that the author use simple diction with minimal use of metaphors, the narration yields several layers of meanings and set against the complex Buddhist concept of Samsara. It is psychological in outlook given the fact that the author depicts the states of minds of both the monk and the hunter.

The hunter is depicted as a dim-witted person with a huge physique and is pre-destined to serve the monk. The monk is practising meditation to achieve enlightenment. At one level, it seems that the monk's mind is represented by peripheral characters such as the guardian deity living in the Asatu tree, Bahiravaya or the guardian spirits of treasures, cobra and the hunter.

In general, the language is matter of fact. However, there are descriptions in the narration which are more or less reflections of the mid sets of the hunter, lased with meanings.

The vast forest, in which the monk and all the dramatic personae live, metaphorically represents the vast expanse of time over millenniums. In fact, the forest is an important character of the novel.

The novel is complex and yields myriads of meanings. We hope that the authentic translation would also capture the vividly realised narration in the original and that readers would enjoy it.