Tragic tale of dancing girls

By Alfreda de Silva

Visakesa Chandra - sekeram is a human rights lawyer, whose passionate interest in the arts was realized mainly through self-study, research and a dedicated learning of Bharatha Natyam.

The latter had to be done without the knowledge of his parents as his studies for the Advanced Level examination came first.

He felt Bharatha Natyam was his life and did both. He won many awards for dancing at University art festivals and studied the subject further, up to the diploma level examination of the Bhatkande University. The first play he wrote Thahanam Adaviya, translated into English as Forbidden Area, won him the Gratiaen award in 1999.

Chandrasekeram had several successful performances of Thahanam Adaviya at the Lumbini Theatre.

Now as script -writer, director, dancer and actor he will present his second play Devadasi, at the Lumbini in Sinhala, on November 18 and 19 at 7 p.m. His English version of this colourful production will go on the boards at the Lionel Wendt on November 21 and 26 at 7 p.m. and at the Gallery 706 on November 24 at 7.30 p.m.

Its sponsors are the National Integration Policy Trust and the National Youth Services Council.

On a Government-sponsored visit to India, Visakesa did intensive research on the Devadasi tradition in South India. It took him about two years to complete his play, "to give flesh and blood to the characters''. His play, he hopes as a writer, will motivate thinking and discussion on human relations and other burning issues of this country.

The word "Devadasi" explains Chandrasekeram "means maid of god. Dedicating a young virgin for the carrying out of various rituals of Hindu kovils was a custom prevalent in South India since the 14th century."

These girls were not allowed to get married. Their lives revolved around their duties of music and dancing in the kovils. Devadasi performances were introduced to the king's court in the 16th century.

From then on these women's traditional life-styles changed drastically. There was a lowering of their status to that of professional objects of pleasure. But their remarkable talents as Bharatha Natyam dancers remained unchanged.

In 1947 the Devadasi tradition was proscribed by the Madras Legislature.

Visakesa's play deals with a Devadasi living in Ooty and a young Sri Lankan Tamil who had fled to India. The cast includes Visakesa Chandrase- keram in one of the main roles. Nilmini Buwaneka celebrated TV star, plays the title role.

The supporting cast consists of well-known stage and TV personalities, Rohitha Karuna- rathna, Malkanthi Jayasingha, Pradeep Jayathilaka and Jayanath Bandara.

Wasantha Kumara is the lighting designer and Prem Jayantha Kapuge the make-up artist. Stage-management is in the hands of Mohomad Safeer. Mathew Tyne is acting consultant and Chandrase- karam handles costumes set design and choreography, in addition to the direction of the play.

Music in Sarachchandra's plays

When the voice of Nissanka Diddeniya reverberated across the Mahaweli Centre auditorium singing the popular song from 'Maname', 'Se surindu Baranes pura pasindu', we went back 44 years watching Ben Sirimanne, the prince challenging Edmund Wijesinghe, the Veddah chief with Trilicia Gunawardena, the princess waiting on the side. It was a nostalgic moment and we felt sad that all three key players in the original cast are no more.

Diddeniya was illustrating a well researched talk by the Sri Jayawardenapura University's Professor Walter Marasinghe on 'The music in the plays of Sarachchandra'. He was delivering this year's Sarachchandra Memorial Oration arranged by the Sarachchandra Sahurjana Sansadaya for the second successive year.

In this particular song, Marasinghe saw Sarachchandra's cleverness in presenting the inner thoughts of two totally different personalities using the identical tune and rhythm. While the words sung by Prince Maname indicate the discipline he has acquired through his academic achievements, the veddah's words bring out his coarse character.

Marasinghe revealed some interesting facts. With the assistance of the reputed Nadagam player turned puppeteer Charles de Silva Gurunnanse of Ampe, Sarachchandra employed tunes borrowed from old Nadagamas for 'Maname'. 'Lapa nomavan sanda se' (sung by the princess) was based on the tune from the song 'Pavara pasindu Brumpord raja' in 'Brumpord Nadagama' - a tune borrowed from a Hindi bhajan. 'Nan sirin vorandi Baranes puraye', the song sung by the prince right at the start is a traditional tune found in Eugene and Ehelepola nadagamas. Sarachchandra modernised it. The song sung by the princess, 'Diriyen yudakala oba samaginne' was from the Sandakinduru Nadagama. It was, however, polished up by musician Jayantha Aravinda, who also created the tune for 'Asan ma piya himi'. 

Sarachchandra was aware that one main reason why the nadagam gradually faded away was the use of the same tune over and over again. So he looked for other sources as well and picked up tunes which suited the different situations. 'Premayen mana ranjita ve nandita ve', the most popular song in 'Maname' was based on the Christian hymn, 'Aramben pera manulova'. Its original was a Tamil hymn. 

Marasinghe went on to analyse music in other Sarachchandra plays. 'Rattaran' was based on 'thovil' tradition. Music was by eminent musician Edwin Samaradiwakara. Amaradeva composed the music for 'Elova Gihin Melova Ava' on the 'seheli' and 'silo' singing style. 'The influence of 'sokari' and 'kolam' is seen in 'Vella Vehum'. Viridu style was adapted for 'Ekata Mata Hina Hina'. 

Sarachchandra moved over to North Indian Ragadhari music in 'Hastikanta Mantare' with Henry Jayasena (a smart young man at the time the play went on the boards in 1959) doing the lead role as King Udayana in this original work based on a Sanskrit dramatic tradition. Dayananda Silva created the music. 

Sarachchandra went back to the nadagam tradition in his masterpiece, 'Sinhabahu' with H. H. Bandara doing a great job in directing the music. The tune of the most moving and effective song 'Gallena bindala', however, was a composition by Bandara. (Here too Diddeniya made us picture Mark Antony Fernando rendering this classic composition, Marasinghe had no hesitation in proclaiming that Sinhabahu "still stands out as the best original play written in Sinhala". 

Dramatists missing

It was a pity that young dramatists were not there to listen to Professor Marasinghe and Peradeniya University's Dr. Michael Fernando who highlighted the importance of a lecture delivered by Sarachchandra in Japan just a few months before 'Maname' was performed. The Sansadaya's Secretary, Jayasumana Dissanayake lamented that though invitations had been sent out to a whole host of young dramatists hardly anyone had turned up. "Our objective is to present critical evaluations of different aspects of Sarachchandra's contribution to Sinhala theatre and not merely to hold commemorative meetings. We expect those interested in Sinhala theatre to participate," he said. His comment was relevant in the context of Professor Marasinghe's introductory remarks that though Sarachchandra has been rightly acclaimed as the father of modern Sinhala theatre, there are a few among the younger generation of Sinhala dramatists who "dazzled by the innovative theatre of the avant-garde dramatists of the West, claim that Sarachchandra has done only a disservice to Sinhala theatre". He added: " Such critics may do well to remember that, if not for Sarachchandra, they would not even have an audience to witness their dull and insipid productions."

A Taste of Sinhala (38) 

Feelings that come and go 

By Prof. J.B. Disanayaka

Feelings, such as hunger, thirst, fatigue and boredom, come and go. To talk of such feelings the Sinhalese speaker uses a sentence in which the subject in the Dative Case. A Sinhala noun in the Dative Case ends in 'ta' as in,

ma-ta (for me or to me)
apa-ta (for us or to us)
amma-ta (for mother or to mother)
Jane-ta (for Jane or to Jane)

This noun is combined with a word that refers to a feeling, such as -
badagini (hunger, hungry)
mahansi (fatigue, tired)
tibaha (thirst, thirsty)
kammali (boredom, bored)
To make it a complete sentence, add 'y' after the word that refers to the feeling concerned:

mata badagini-y (I am hungry)
apata mahansi-y (We are tired)
ammmata tibaha-y (mother is thirsty)
Janeta kammali-y (Jane is bored)

To ask a question, you replace 'y' by the question particle 'da':

Janeta mahansi-da? (Is Ja- ne tired?)
oya:ta badagini-da? (Are you hungry)

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