The author of the epic Ramayana has been himself deified at Ramthrith in Amritsar. In Sri Lanka, an author himself is becoming an Isivara (Sage).
Prof. Sunanda Mahendra has done it again. He is challenging our literature gurus, critics and judges of literary awards. Would they consider “Girikula Nihanda Viya”, (the rock cliff became silent), as a novel, as a poem, as prose poetry. To make matters simple and non-controversial, they could simply ignore it, because they are enslaved in categorisation of literary work to various “genre”. It is a problem created by thinking of creative writing as literature, instead of using our own concept Sahitya. Could we also consider this as Akhyana instead of the English term Narrative?
This is the kind of creative work we can always expect from Sunanda Mahendra, with his immense experience in life, his familiarity of literary works from around the world, both from the past and the present, his familiarity with the Jataka stories, Thera, Theri Gatha, his knowledge of Sinhala writing going back two millennia, all added to his fantastic powers of imagination
Prof. Sunanda Mahendra does not need any introduction. He has already published ten books of Sinhala poetry, ‘Ogha Tharanaya’ won the State Literary Award (2006) and ‘Sutha Kavi’ won the Buddhist Literary Award (2009). His first literary creation, “Hevaneli Eda Minissu’ won the State Literary Award 1964 and since then, he had won the State Award for another novel, ‘Niruwath Devivaru’ (2002), best play script ‘Socrates’ (1992), best research work ‘Janakiyaman Potha’ (2001) and Sutta Kavi Buddhist Literary Award.
‘Budu Basa saha Kavi Basa samaga Isiwaru Pahala Veti’ was a book he published ten years ago, where he began to mix his thoughts in prose and verse forms together.
Poetry in the Words of the Buddha
Mahendra finds poetry in the Words of the Buddha and in Buddhist scriptures, and like in his earlier poetry, he mentions the Kavi Sutta from the Anguttara Nikaya, about the four kinds of poems. Atta Kavi (poems of meaning), Suta Kavi (poems heard), Chinta Kavi (poems thought out), Patibhana Kavi (poems with intuition or imagination). Perhaps this book, “Girikula Nihanda Viya” belongs to Patibhana kavi.
Prof. Sunanda Mahendra cannot leave the Buddhist scriptures out of his mind, even when he writes his own poems, as we see in the poem, ‘Isivaru Pahala Veti’. Here he refers to Mount Isigili, mentioned in Isigili Sutta, where the Buddha had explained how the Paccekabuddhas who had lived on this mountain became invisible and people believed that the mountain had swallowed them. Maybe he had the Isigili mountain in mind when he wrote about this rock cliff.
Sunanda Mahendra narrates several stories here, using poetry to tell us about Muthulatha’s unrequited lost love and her unattainable love for her first cousin. Saddhasena narrates his father’s story through poems said to be written by his father, and also his own poems. Saddha’s mother tells us of their early days as teachers. We hear about the intended carving of a statue on a crag hidden in the dense forest. We accept it to be a standing statue of the Buddha on this massive rock cliff. We try to picture the Avukana Buddha image, because of the numerous scraps of poems written by Piyathilake and by what Saddhasena hears from his father’s conversations with the bhikkhus.
Keeping the reader in suspense
The author keeps the reader in suspense throughout the narrative. Till we come to the end of the story, we wonder who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist. We wonder if this is a novel, a prose poem or a poem interspersed with prose comments all because we are brainwashed by the Western concept of literature and the compartmentalised work into novels, poetry and drama what are labelled as “genre” for which I have not come across an equivalent term in any South Asian language, just as we do not have terms for literature, religion, or nation.
Piyathilaka has not written any poems describing the progress he is making of this carving, nor does he report it to the bhikkhus. The crag could not be too far away or inaccessible from the village, because Piyathilaka and his assistant travel to the crag daily from the village. Neither the bhikkhus, nor his son, nor other villagers attempt to make a visit to the carving site. Even when Piyathilaka meets with an accident and Saddha visits the location, he does not make any comment on the work in progress.
Even towards the end, according to the author, Saddha and the bhikkhu go to the site; he stares at the “unfinished Buddha statue”, but does not write about it. He only addresses the rock, wondering if he could ever part with it.
In the end, we are left with questions: Was there really a rock hidden in the jungle; did Piyathilaka start a carving on it, or was it all in the mind of Piyathilaka or Saddha?
All the writings by Prof. Sunanda Mahendra show us how he is becoming an “Isivara” today, and we wish his imagination will come out in more such writings by him.
Reviewed by Daya Dissanayake
