Literature is like a lotus flower of life. It can be in the form of a poem, a piece of prose, a story, a novel or a drama. It is the platform for an person to express his creative thoughts or ideas through language. The written form of our literature is as old as our civilisation. People have used literature as a communication method to share their feelings and opinions with others.
World literature has meaningful and different ideas. Kumarathunga Munidasa, Mahagama Sekara and Martin Wickramasinghe have expressed their ideas through literature.
Internationally famous writers such as William Shakespeare, Anton Chekov, Charles Dickens and Guy de Maupassant are some of the leading Western writers.
Sinhala Literature gained much due to the Mahindagamanaya. We can be proud of the moment when we think it over. We have a proud literary history.
Our ancient ancestors sang poems in their leisure time or while they were working. Those poems and stories (Jana Kavi and Jana Katha) are known as Janashruthiya. We can identify the poetic skills of our ancestors when we are enjoying their creations.
The Kotte Era which is considered the ‘Golden Era of Sinhala Literature’ represents the power of our local literature. Lokopakaraya, Subhashithaya and Lowada Sangarawa are popular as instructional books (Upadesha Grantha). Salalihini, Gira and Mayura are well known Sandesha Kawyas which are taught in schools even today.
The book, Jathaka Katha is also internationally famous. These Jathaka Kathas teach us positive lessons to develop our spirit.
Literature colours our spiritual minds.
If we consider life as a pond, literature is the lotus in that pond.
K.G. Rasini Vihangika
Grade 10
Sacred Heart Convent
Galle
