Sunday Times 2
Absorbing journey through Batticaloa
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All of retired diplomat Sarala Fernando’s six books reflect her abiding love for the land and this volume, which is a companion to the earlier book on Mannar, presents the interested reader with a wide sweep of the region that was named Mattakalappu in Tamil and Madakalapuwa in Sinhala, from the Portuguese of ‘muddy swamp or lagoon’. Not surprisingly, the opening chapter is ‘Land of the Lagoons’ (Thangamuthu Jayasingam). Both Mannar and Batticaloa were ancient ports and this book seeks to present aspects of its rich history, topography, heritage and culture that may not be that well known to the average reader.
It is, as Sarala points out in her introduction, a strikingly beautiful, albeit different part of the country where causeways and estuaries, mudflats and mangroves greet the eye. This muted landscape lends itself naturally to the photographer’s lens. The book has its share of captivating scenic shots by some of the country’s best known nature photographers – read Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, Luxshmanan Nadaraja, Devaka Seneviratne and from that respected Studio Times- Anu Weerasuriya and Christopher Silva, and equally detailed pictures that pique the reader’s interest.
Often in coffee table books, the focus can be more on images and less on content. Not so here. The book’s collection of essays is wide ranging. Ancient archaeological sites (the Archaeological Department has identified 600 in the Batticaloa district), like the stone bridge at Kayankerni, which is the longest ancient stone bridge in the country ( now being restored by the Central Cultural Fund) and the drip-ledged caves at Pulukunava are presented in brief while how the port of Batticaloa attracted much interest both from local and foreign powers is dealt with in more depth by Buddhini Wijesuriya while architect Pali Wijeratne describes the colonial Fort built in 1628 and its passage through Portuguese, Dutch and British rule.
You would expect to find sites of archaelogical interest no doubt, perhaps too the mangroves (T. Mathiventhan and T. Jayasingam) and bird life of Batticaloa (Prof. Sarath Kotagama), but Sarala Fernando has gone beyond the obvious. The two contributions by researcher Malathi de Alwis cover different ground. Malathi writes in one chapter of the goddess worship and the beliefs and practices that previl in this region. The Eastern province is the preserve of Goddess Kannaki Amman, it is believed, whose wrath or beneficience, the writer says is signalled through infectious diseases such as chicken-pox and measles and who is also associated with rain and fertility. In her other essay Memorials in Mattakalappu, she writes movingly of the grief that still lingers in most homes in Batticaloa, due to the loss of a loved one to the tsunami or the war
There is space too for Batticaloa’s difficult recent past. Paul Hogan, in a short essay describes the Butterfly Garden – where children could unleash their creativity and imagination in an atmosphere of understanding and trust.
Asiff Hussein’s essay on the Kudis- the matri-clans characterized by exogamy and their origins and Anton Piyarathne’s experience of joining the Pada Yathra in 2011, make interesting reading, depicting a way of life quite unfamiliar to city folk.
Covering the social fabric of Batticaloa, the book also looks to its attractions. In nostalgic accounts by writers of yore, the singing fish were synonymous with the town and included in this book is a short account first published in the Sunday Times by Prince Casinader, written after the tsunami as the writer ventured out to ascertain for himself if the music of the singing fish could still be heard. He was greatly heartened to hear them and know that some things had not changed.
Dharshana Jayawardena’s essay on the Shipwrecks off Batticaloa is a suspenseful recreation of the incidents surrounding the Japanese attack on Trincomalee Harbour on April 9, 1942 which led to the sinking of several British naval vessels, the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire, the tankers SS British Sergeant, SS Athelstane and the corvette HMS Hollyhock. “The horrors of WW11 have bestowed a rich legacy of historical wrecks around Batticaloa,” Jayawardena writes and indeed, his stunning photographs that accompany his account shed light on the mysterious world in the deep.
The coral reefs of Batticaloa merit another chapter in the book, this written by Nishan Perera with an introduction by Arjan Rajasuriya. Here again there is much information to be gleaned– and understanding of the present status of these important eco-systems.The Kayankerni coral reef, declared a marine sanctuary as recently as April 2019, we are told, has a relatively high biodiversity of 51 species of coral and 223 species of reef fish.
On a different front, the chapters on the culture of the Pan Grass Mat in Mattakalappy by A. Thevarupan (translated by Geetha Sugumaran) and ‘Some ceramics from the Heritage Museum in Kattankudy’ by Ayesha Abdur Rahman explore the region’s rich cultural heritage. The grass mats are currently woven by both Tamils and Muslims, a shared culture; though designs, patterns and colours are pointers to their cultural identity.
The ceramics story looks at these items made in Europe and imported during the Dutch an British periods to the island. The focus here is the collection at the heritage museum at Kattankudy numbering some 200 dishes. These dishes were imported by the Muslim merchant elite and became a firm favourite with families not just in the East but on the western coast from Colombo to Weligama on the south coast. The author says the decorations on these savan dishes with polychrome decorations originated from a Dutch farmhouse design identified as Boerenbont, a common tableware used in Dutch rural farming communities.
Taking the reader through many such facets of life in Batticaloa, its past and present, the book is an absorbing journey, even if like all such, a little uneven in segments, given that the chapters are by different writers whose styles are vastly different, some more prosaic, others more descriptive. The book thus fills a quite significant knowledge gap about a less publicised, yet historic and multi-cultural part of this island.
The contributors are Ayesha Abdur-Rahman, Prince Casinader, Malathi de Alwis, Sarala Fernando, Paul Hogan, Asiff Hussein, Thangamuthu Jayasingam, Dharshana Jayawardena, Sarath Kotagama, Nishan Perera, Thavanayagam Mathiventhan, Anton Piyarathne, A. Thevarupan, Buddhini Wijesuriya and Pali Wijeratne.
The book sponsored by Brandix, is available at leading bookshops and at the National Trust Office.
Renuka Sadanandan