20th April 1997

A man of many colours

By Jennifer Paldano

Purolis: Pandols are his forte

R.M Purolis Silva is a product of Ambalangoda, a town renowned for its arts and crafts. Here in a place that can lay claim to a long tradition of kolam, thovil, puppetry and mask making, the 84 year old self taught artist found the perfect setting to dedicate his life to his art.

Today Purolis is too feeble to engage in creative work. His once active life is limited to giving advice to his children who are pursuing in his footsteps.

Purolis's love for art was not prompted by financial considerations, but because he possessed talent and wanted to make use of it. He started off at 17, working independently at his home.

He went a step further in 1943 by opening up a toy shop. At that time he had employed eight workmen to help him. Then his repertoire was limited to creating different decorations, swans , horses and other animals, for which Purolis said he had used very vivid colours. But his delightful toys soon gave way to larger creations, such as pandols and poruwas.

His name is almost synonymous with Ambalangoda although little known in Colombo. He was closely associated with the Senanayakes and even designed the Poruwa for the wedding of D. S Senanayake's grand daughter. Almost all peraheras in Ambalangoda were brought to life with Purolis Silva's pandols.

At a time when there is state patronage for the promotion of art, as visible in the construction of theatres and conservation centres, artistes such as Purolis from Ambalangoda are still struggling and as his wife was quick to add, he never had much during his entire career.

His greatest feat was designing a large pandol in Polonnaruwa to welcome Queen Elizabeth during her first visit to Sri Lanka. And his speciality is certainly creating pandols.

Purolis Silva derived inspiration for his pandol painting not from an ancient temple or a picture book, but from his imagination.

Purolis believes that one has to be innovative. Instead of copying ancient temple paintings onto canvas, Purolis painted in a different style. According to his son Nandana, his father had often told him that as artists they should leave behind something new for future generations to appreciate, rather than the same style of paintings.

In fact, Ambalangoda is famous today for pandols because of Purolis. Ambalangoda was always known for certain arts and crafts, but pandols were added to this list only after Purolis ventured into this demanding craft. He claims that once his pandols became well known, there were regular visitors from Colombo to see them.

But times have changed. In the 1950s and 60s the entire cost for making a pandol would not exceed 10,000 rupees.

Purolis recalled that in 1945 he had only spent Rs 4000 to make a Vesak pandol, whereas today it would cost nearly 100,000 rupees.

Purolis proudly claims that his pandols are different to those made in Colombo. That is, a majority of pandols according to Purolis, come alive only at night, with illumination.

But Purolis's pandols are painted in such a way that they look equally impressive during the day as well!

A Vesak Pandol designed in the 50's

Purolis's repertoire includes Vesak and Poson pandols, pandols for processions popularly known as 'sandarshana ratha', pirith mandapa, wedding poruwa, toys, etc. A job given to Purolis is a job well done. He pays so much attention to size and proportion, that he certainly works like a professional architect.

Purolis proudly recalled the day he met the late Gamini Dissanaike. It was at a funeral of a VIP in Ambalangoda. The hearse had been specially decorated by Purolis. Mr. Dissanaike impressed with the creation had personally met Purolis to express his admiration. For a simple man like Purolis words of admiration and appreciation are more rewarding than titles.

Though Purolis is not rich, he is well content with the appreciation he recieves from his entire village. The people of Ambalangoda expressed their appreciation of this talented man at a felicitation ceremony, of which Purolis is extremely proud.

Left - Nandana: Continuing in his father's footsteps, Right - A creation by Nandana

His five sons are all involved in related fields. Dayaweera and Bandula are involved in jewellery designing. Sanath and Pathmasiri are into carving. It is Nandana who is living with his father and continuing his work. Unlike the father, the children are involved in art as major avenues of profit making and with today's flourishing tourist industry, they claim that they earn much more than their father did.

But Purolis admits that he belonged to a generation of artists who thought not of money, but of doing what they loved.

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