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At
the heart of the village Madawala Ratnayake was a writer who expressed himself in more ways than one. He was a poet, lyricist, short story writer, novelist, translator, journalist and critic. He began his literary career as a poet when he was seventeen by publishing his first anthology of poems - ‘Pem Ama’ (The Nectar of Love). His first novel - ‘Akkara Paha’ - (The Five Acres) won the 'Don Predrick Award' for the best work of fiction in 1959. However, he earned his living as a journalist. He began his career as a journalist in the print media and ended as a journalist in the electronic media. He worked both in the Dinamina and the Lankadeepa before he joined the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. In collaboration with Prof. Sarachchandra and Visharad Amaradeva he produced some programmes of high literary merit. He was also the man who brought fame to the village of Madawala in the Dambadeni Udukaha Dakunu Korale of the Kurunegala District, which formed part of the old Kandyan territory that came to be known as the Sath Korale or Seven Korales. Born and bred in Madawala, a typical village in a rural setting, Ratnayake was a villager at heart and all his writings reflect this aspect of his life and thought. The village of Madawala lies between the Kandyan Highlands and the Low Country plains. On one hand, it was part of the mediaeval kingdom that had Dambadeniya as its capital and on the other, it was part of the Kandyan kingdom that had Senkadagala as its capital. It was a village where many people met, adding colour to its pastoral culture.
Blending languages Of his writings, the best work that manifests the folk idiom his village is ‘Akkara Paha’ - now translated idiomatically into English as 'Greener Pastures'. The Sinhala term Akkara Paha means, literally, 'five acres' - a measure in terms of space but in current parlance it also denotes a kind of land that is given by the the government to poor villagers who cannot afford to buy land. In some traditional villages that were lying on the borders of crown land, some famlies were given one acre each and this block of land was called akkare, the acre, and such a collection was called akkara idam, meaning 'land given by the government'. They used this acre for cultivation of crops such as paddy or maize in rotation. To say that one lived in an akkare implied that one came from a poor class. Later larger blocks of land were given to the needy but they were in distant areas, away from the traditional villages. These lands opened up new settlements termed 'colonies'. In such colonization schemes, villagers were given blocks of land measuring five acres. Ratanayaka's ‘Akkara Paha’ is the story of a family that moves from a traditional village to a new colonizing scheme where they are given 'five acres'. As I noted in 'Greener Pastures', "The new colonization scheme that relocated hundreds of villagers in new settlements transformed not only the economic life of the people but also their social and cultural relations." Samantenna, the village from which the family of ‘Akkara Paha’ comes, resembles Madawala. Written
history Linguistic behaviour in the village has been well documented by Ratnayake. Forms of address in the village show a unique pattern. Children, for example, were rarely addressed by their personal names by their parents, the father in particular. To address a son a word like kolla (lad) was used. Daughters were called loku kella (big girl) if they were older and podi kella (little girl) or bala kella (younger girl) if they are younger. The wife was another who was never addressed by her name. The Sinhala terms kellange amma (the mother of the girls) and unge amma (their mother) also implied respect for it was thought that addressing someone directly was an insult. For the sake of goodwill, the Sinhalese use certain phrases of a conventional nature. When a villager meets another in the morning, they don't greet each other with a 'good morning' or a 'fine day' as the Westerners do. The Sinhalese 'greets' the other with a question: 'Where are you going?' or 'Are you going far away?' This is, in fact, no question and as such there is no violation of one's privacy. For the answer is also conventional: "We are going near by" The villagers had other ways of keeping the communication channels open."If they met a person returning from a bath they would make a remark such as 'It looks as if you have gone for a bath'. This was one way of indicating their goodwill. If a person did not do so they would find fault with him." Villagers had their own interpretations of animal behaviour. The cry of the magpie, pol kichcha, at sunset, was interpreted as a bad omen. Customary
observances The Sinhalese village gets into a festive mood at the time of the Sinhalese New Year which dawns in April. Ratnayake describes with nostalgia his experiences during this season. Although some of the rites have now disappeared, the New Year has not lost its traditional garb completely. In fact, with the advent of television, the Sinhalese New Year has metamorphosed into a colourful event where both traditional and contemporary elements blend in different ways. On the whole, Ratnayake used his talents first, as a creative writer to take the reader in to a world of aesthetic experience and second, as an ethnographer to record for posterity the image of the changing Sinhalese village. |
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