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Sri Lanka Nature Pictorial by Dr. T.S.U.de Zylva. Reviewed by Lankika de Livera.

Sri Lanka Nature Pictorial is the newest coffee table book of nature photographs by veteran wild life photographer Dr. T.S.U. de Zylva. The 113 page large-format book of fine quality, printed by Unigraphics (Pte) Ltd has a pre-publication price of Rs. 2850 up to July 30.

For Dr. Upen, as he is known to many, this is his sixth coffee table book. Combining his experience and expertise, this book is another collector’s item like his previous books. He combines his rare pictures with his wit and prowess at prose and verse. Each image is a photographic study of the subject and the captions are written in narrative style, weaving in the whole picture and making it come alive. It is a book that one finds difficult to lay down, once started. Each narration has a wealth of his knowledge imparted.

His bosom buddy Nihal Fernando of Studio Times, strikes a chord of sadness in the foreword that the pictures captured in the book are a vanishing heritage. Dr. Upen is a keen conservationist and one-time President of the Wild Life & Nature Protection Society of Sri Lanka. Writing in the preface he says that it is his fervent hope that the habitats highlighted in the book will encourage the reader to seek for himself the inexhaustible sources of untamed beauty in our country.

His eye for detail and perfection and his skill in the art of photography are evident as every shot in the book is remarkable. As refreshing and breath-taking are the epigraphs with every photo.

Wild ponies in Mannar jungles, a monstrous python woven around a giant vine, wild asses in an arid area of Mannar, a congregation of different wild animals around a water hole, a macro shot of a Potter Wasp in the process of carrying a ball of clay, nocturnal shots of a Hawk Moth, the collared Scops Owl in flight at night, the Sea Turtle laying eggs on the beach at night, an extremely challenging shot of a bat in flight at night inside a dark cave. (the bat looking like a mini monster antiquated aeroplane, captured with his wings outstretched and face also to be seen), a beautiful, majestic portrait of the rare Purple Faced Leaf Monkey with Santa Claus looking beard intact are just some of the memorable images he has captured.

The customary shots of pachyderms, leopard, deer, sambhur, jackal, hare, wild boar, buffalo, crocodiles, rare birds, trees, waterfalls and breathtaking landscapes make up the kaleidoscopic odyssey through the length and breadth of the jungles of this country. The images are from journeys undertaken over fifty years of travels.

Dr Upen quotes freely from John Still’s book “The Jungle Tide” in his narratives for the pictures.

“In the hollow of the valley I can hear the mountain rill tumble headlong through; the boulders, singing on from stone to stone” (caption to a picture of a waterfall in the Sinharaja) In some of his own writing he says: “Cruising slowly, like a toy yacht embellished with colourful pennants, this uncommon duck ornaments a limpid pool sustained by monsoonal rains” (a description of a photo of the Spotted billed Duck)

Describing a herd of Spotted Deer he says: “Look at this eye-catching tableau! One might even get the impression that it has been meticulously rehearsed. While they quench their thirst, the two hinds are gracefully poised, flanking the buck in velvet. Right behind him, holding centre stage is the leader, a handsome buck sporting stunning antlers”.

His mastery of the English language combined with the visual celebration of each masterpiece is a treat.

Dr. Upen is a household name in wild life circles of this country, having been the mentor of many of the present day wild life photographers. He resides in Kurunegala and does private practice as a medical practitioner. His stewardship to the younger generations has seen many of the current wild life photographers reach the zenith. Thus this book is a collection from a master of this art.

The book is a must for every wild life lover and is available only at the printer - Unigraphics, No 732, Maradana Road, Colombo 10.

"I recollect riding late one night along the high-road from Galle to Colombo. The road skirts the shore. On the left hand the long breakers of the Indian Ocean broke ripples on the rocks in the many little bays. On the right an endless vista of tall coconut palms waves their top-knots over a park like expanse of grass, and the huts of the peasantry were visible here and there beneath the trees. In the distance a crowd had gathered on the sward, either seated on the grass or leaning against the palms. I turned aside – no road was wanted – to see what brought them there that moonlight night.

"The villagers had put an oval platform under the trees. On it were seated yellow-robed monks with palm-leaf books on their laps. One was standing and addressing the people, who were listening to Bana – that is 'The Word' – discourses, dialogues, legends or stories from the Pali Canon. The stories were well-known Birth-stories, that is the ancient fables and fairytales common to the Aryan race which had been consecrated, as it were, by the hero in each, whether man or animal, being identified with the Buddha in a former birth. To these wonderful stories the simple peasantry, men, women and children, clad in their best and brightest, listen the livelong night with unaffected delight, chatting pleasantly now and again with their neighbours; rising quietly and leaving for a time, and returning at their will, and indulging all the while in the mild narcotic of the betel-leaf, their stories of which afford a constant occasion for acts of polite good fellowship…"

The vivid description by renowned writer T.W. Rhys Davids aptly portrays the picture in the last quarter of the 19th century at a time when the reading habit was virtually unknown to the Sinhalese. Ours was a listening public ('sraavaka') and not a reading ('paataka') public. They would sit round and listen to a monk or a layman reading from a manuscript a Jataka story or a discourse of the Buddha.

Dr. Tilak Kularatne, a specialist in library and information science, reproduces Rhys Davids' description in a chapter titled 'The Reading Public' in a comprehensive study of the 'History of Printing & Publishing in Ceylon' covering the period 1736-1912. His is painstaking research on a fascinating subject relating to the development of literacy in this country.

Accepting that the country has had a long tradition of writing and learning, Dr. Kularatne reminds us that nevertheless, printing with movable type was introduced by the Dutch in 1736. The British took over the press when the Dutch moved out and continued it as the Government Press. Soon several printing establishments were set up mostly by different Protestant missions and by the Catholics mainly for the propagation of their religion.

The first extant printed book in Sinhala has been identified as a little prayer book (40 pages) released somewhere between June and December 1737. Dutch Governor Gustaff Willem Baron van Imhoff (1736-40) had set up the first press and also got involved in its activities. Dr Kularatne states that the Colombo Press issued publications in Sinhala, Tamil, Portuguese and Dutch during the period 1736-91)."

The printing of the Bible in Sinhala is considered as the culmination of the achievements of the Dutch in the field of printing. It took 40 years (1739-80) to complete the translation. Records indicate that the Dutch press had put out 63 books between 1737-91.

After the British took over the press, the first item of importance to come out of the Government Printing Office was the 'Government Gazette' (1802) which the writer considers as "the beginning of the newspaper industry and the origin of journalism in Ceylon". Before the advent of the British, there was no tradition of a newspaper although the Dutch used 'plakkaten' to disseminate information about government rules and regulations pertaining to pepper, cinnamon and other produce.

The writer follows a chronological order making it easy for the reader to follow the sequence of events in the history of the printing industry. He devotes a chapter to discuss 'Missionary presses and publishing'. He points out that like the Dutch, the British missions used the school system for evangelization.

The missionary groups set up their own printing presses – the Baptist missionaries in 1841in Kandy, the Wesleyan missionaries in 1815 in Colombo, the American missionaries in 1816 in Manipay, Jaffna, and the Church missionaries in 1823 in Kotte and in Nallur in 1826. The writer then discusses their activities in detail. He points out that the British missionaries from the beginning used the press for much wider ends than the Dutch. "Their main aims, besides spreading Christianity, were 'to instruct the sincere believer in the duties of his profession, to convert the nominal Christian into a faithful disciple of the Gospel, and to reclaim the deluded victim of idolatrus superstition' ".

Moving on to the response by the Buddhists, Dr. Kularatne says that the Buddhists were not in a position to reply to the charges made against them ridiculing and denouncing their religion. "The missionaries carried out their campaign through the publication of tracts and pamphlets and public speaking on platforms at various places. Then it dawned on the Buddhists that they also should use the same methods to counteract the missionary onslaughts."

A Buddhist monk, Bulatgama Sumanatissa Thera of Paramananda Pirivena at Miniwangoda, Galle took the initiative to establish a press and the 'Lankopakaara Press' (bought at a cost of £181 from England) with funds collected and a donation from the King Mongkut of Siam. The press was installed in July 1862 and by September 1865, some 40,000 pamphlets and tracts had been issued in addition to other sheet publications. Mohottivatte Gunanada Thera who was very active in meeting the challenge of the Christian missionaries, set up another press at Dipaduttaramaya in Kotahena in 1867 with the support of the Society for the Propagation of Buddhism he had formed in 1862.

A lay Buddhist scholar, Don Andiris de Silva Batuvantudave Devarakshita (1819-92) was in the forefront of the Buddhist revivalist movement which received an impetus with the initiative taken by Ven Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala and Ven Ratmalane Dharmaloka Theras (students at Parama Dhamma Cetiya Pirivena) in setting up the Vidyodaya Pirivena (1873) and Vidyalankara Pirivena (1875). Batuvantudave whose erudition earned him the title 'Pundit' from the Ceylon Government (the first person to be so honoured) joined with Sri Sumangala Thera to revise and edit many Pali, Sanskrit and Sinhala texts.

The writer goes on to describe the successful efforts of Colonel Olcott and other Buddhist leaders to revive Buddhism and explains the numerous concessions gained from the government. He also touches on parallel developments in the Hindu and Muslim revivalist movements – the first led by Arumuga Navalar and the latter by M. C. Siddi Lebbe.

Dr. Kularatne has devoted chapters to discuss the growth of journalism, emergence of commercial printing trade, and technical developments. The book is ideal for the research student who is provided with a ready reckoner of publications in the 19th century, a list of printing presses in Ceylon up to 1912, and legislation relating to printing and the press.

Sophie’s Story by Premini Amerasinghe. Reviewed by Vijita Fernando. Sooriya Books. Price Rs.300.

Sophie takes the reader back into another time, another age. The trip back to the dawn of the twentieth century and the eventful years that followed is strewn with fascinating details of the life styles of the affluent in those halcyon days. Running through these is a darker thread, of the political events that shaped the lives of the people of this little known island then, and in the decades that followed.

A window opens through the growing up of Sophie – just six years old at the turn of the century when the tale begins – to a polarised society of “ whites” and “natives” the one insulating itself from the other. The author’s discerning eye focuses on this dichotomy- the whites with their penchant for their exclusive tennis and swimming, and the clubs with their closed doors to the natives. At the same time “natives” began to spring up who were “ more British than the British with their three piece suits, hats and gowns, the correct accent and their imported British governesses…..”

We also get that other interesting facet of society of the day – “ suspended between these two charade players”. They are the professionals trying to adopt the colonial mould, but happy, nonetheless with their monthly salaries and the luxury of whisky at two rupees a bottle!

Sophie brings to the reader the story of yet another section of this society – the Burghers to whom she belongs.

An ordinary child, in an ordinary family, she is the vehicle for the author to give us a fascinating glimpse into the Burgher lifestyle which she does with sensitivity and finesse. She presents to the reader an intelligent, humane set of people to whom people and places mattered, as Jaffna of the early years. Nowhere are the references to their foibles and little eccentricities that marked their uneventful day to day lives, done with a sharp or even a cynical eye.

Running alongside these details of Sophie’s childhood, growing up and her life decisions coping with the rigid conventions of her parents, is the background to Sophie’s days, which the writer has cleverly woven into the fabric of her story. The rumblings of political unrest could be heard in the background of their contented lives. A.E Goonesinghe was rallying the youth towards a dream – of independence. The celebration of the Kandyan Convention was bringing in its wake demonstrations and there was the slow building up of a national movement. Brewing in the background was a more insidious happening – the Muslim Sinhala riots and Martial Law in the country. There were arrests and imprisonments, lack of restraint at the highest levels, and a Governor who really did not have his pulse on the needs of the people of this country.

This is history that every student knows, understands and sometimes condemns. What is interesting and intriguing here is the reaction of these several sets of people, the British lawmakers and their perception of the “hoi polloi’ and how all of this reacted in the life of Sophie and her people, told with humour and restraint.

The author apologises for “embroidering” some of the facts. No apologies needed!