A Tribute to Sir Ivor Jennings

by Prof. K.N.O. Dharmadasa

Today, 19^th of December 2020, marks the 55^th anniversary of the passing away of Sir Ivor Jennings, the founder Vice Chancellor of the University of Ceylon and thereby the University system in Sri Lanka and this article is written to commemorate his memory.

“The man who put Peradeniya on the map of the academic world” is how the distinguished Sri Lankan Bibliographer, H.A.I. (Ian) Goonetilleke described Sir Ivor Jennings in the concluding lines of the Introduction he wrote to Sir Ivor’s autobiography The Road to Peradeniya, when it was published posthumously in 2005.Formerly Peradeniya was known to students of history as the home of one Konappu Bandara who, as the 18^th cen. Chronicle Rajavaliya records, by his superb military skills and adroit political maneouvers, overcame the formidable hostilities of both Sitawaka Rajasinghe and the Portuguese and ascended the throne of Senkadagaka Pura as Wimala Dhararmasuriya, to found the dynasty which was to rule till 1815. Our story which gives Peradeniya its present recognition as the site of the largest and most prestigious university in the island, may not be as dramatic as that of the founding of the last Sinhala dynasty. But the energy, steadfastness of resolve and the vision of one single individual stands out in this narration of the founding of the first national university in the island.

University College

Patriots in colonial Sri Lanka had been agitating for some time for the establishment of a university. Starting with Calcutta and Madras (as they were known then) in 1857, India obtained, by the year 1900, several universities in various parts of the British Raj. In Sri Lanka the agitation was finally mobilized in 1906 into The Ceylon University Association which held public meetings and published a journal. Their representations were met in positive terms by some British authorities such as the Governor Sir Robert Chalmers (1913-16).There was a general consensus that the island should first get a “university college” affiliated to a British university. After the delays caused by the First World War, the Ceylon University College was opened on 1st January 1921 as an affiliate of the University of London. There were “Arts” and “Science” subjects taught there in this College with their curricula being obtained from London. Most of the teachers were expatriates (except those in the “Oriental” subjects). The subjects taught were English, Latin and Greek, European History with Economics, Western Philosophy, Mathematics, Sanskrit, Pali, Sinhalese, Tamil, Chemistry, Botany and Physics. The students sat for the London examinations which culminated in obtaining a London B.A. or B.Sc.. As could be expected the medium of teaching was English, even Sanskrit, Pali, Sinhala and Tamil being taught in that medium. Furthermore, Sanskrit, Pali and Sinhala were grouped in one department of study, which was eventually called Indo-Aryan. That department and Tamil did not get Professorships and were placed under ‘lecturers in charge’. It is noteworthy that the aspirations of those who agitated for a Ceylon University were far from being fulfilled by this arrangement. Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam had expressed the hope that in the university they expected to establish “our youth will learn to use their mother tongue with accuracy and ease ( and also learn ) to appreciate the beauties of their classical languages and literatures and to realize that they are inheritors of a great past stretching back to 24 centuries (“A Plea for a Ceylon University”, Journal of the Ceylon University Association, vol. I No.1, 1906).As placed on record by one of the students of the College in the 1930’s,it had “a colonialist culture and imperialistic atmosphere” (Ediriweera Sarchcnandra , Pin Ethi Sarasavi Waramak Denne, 1985,p. 52).Perhaps one reason for that kind of atmosphere to prevail was the attitude of the Principal, Robert Marrs, “rabid imperialist” (ugra adhirajyavadiyek) according to Sarachcnadra ( op. cit. p. 73), who held that post for twenty years of its twenty one year existence. William Ivor Jennings, was appointed the second Principal of the University College in 1941 and his assignment was to establish “The University of Ceylon”. Originally when his appointment came, Jennings was not aware that in fact he had two jobs to do. One was the creation of a university in Colombo and the second was moving it to a new campus which was still to be built in Peradeniya ( Peradeniya : The Founding of a University ed. (A.T.Alwis vol.I, p.237).

William Ivor Jennings (1903-65), former lecturer in the prestigious London School of Economics, Reader in the University of London, who had taught at the University of Leeds and University of Cambridge, in the University of British Columbia (Canada) and in several universities in the US,who had earned the B.A.; Ll.B. ; M.A. and the Ll.D. He held the high academic reputation of being the author of The Law and the Constitution(1933), Cabinet Government (1936) and The Parliament (1939) which according to Goonetilleke had become “classics in the field.”When he arrived in Colombo in March 1941 he was just 38, an age in which it was possible to engage in hard work. He says about his job:

” It had not been a ‘nine to four job’. Quite often it had been not only nine to four p.m. but also four to nine p.m. and even four to nine a.m.” ( The Road to Peradeniya p. 191)

Such was the work load of the founder Vice Chancellor.

The “founding of a University” proved to be a massive job. As Ian Goonetilleke observes in his Introduction to Sir Ivor’s other posthumous publication The Kandy Road , it was a matter of “building from scratch by the banks of… the river (Mahaveli) an academic grove in the true sense of the term” This unenviable task began in Thurstan Road, where he assumed duties on March 24th, 1941.When he stepped into the “CUC, he found that it did not have “a university atmosphere.” The College was a “government department controlled by a Principal, who was responsible to the Executive Committee of Education…a body of seven politicians”(The Road to Peradeniya, p.111).. In creating the university, Jennings had two tasks to accomplish. One, which he believed in fervently was university autonomy and academic freedom. The other, which also he believed in with equal intensity was establishing good university standards, specifically in the award of Degrees.

University Autono

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The University Commission of 1927, chaired by Sir Walter Buchanan-Riddell (the Chairman of the UGC of Great Britain) had proposed that the university to be established should be “unitary, autonomous and residential”. This as the normal British practice. But before coming to Sri Lanka, Jennings had been warned that no politician would like being deprived of the powers of control they had been enjoying. “The Ceylonese politicians were unusually difficult,” he was told (op. cit. p112) There is one such incident on record. A member of the Executive Committee had proposed that there should be “more control over the university by the government,” to which Jennings responded with “The proposal to place the university under political control is abhorrent to anyone who has taught in a university” (Quoted in Amal Jayawardene.”Jennings on University Education,” in R. A. L. H.Gunawardena, ed. More Open than Usual). Jennings seems to have been fully aware of the possibilities when the Ceylon University Ordinance no. 20 of 1942 was placed before the State Council In March 1942.The danger of tampering with it was in the Committee stage after the Second Reading. Jennings records in his autobiography how he sat in the seat assigned to officers watching the proceedings. “I had fought serious limitations,” he wrote “with the knowledge – which I did not share …- that if any serious limitations on autonomy were inserted, I should send in my resignation” ( RP, p118).

What Jennings meant by “University autonomy” needs explanation. It was not a simple arrangement where the powers so far wielded by “seven politicians” being vested in one University officer, i.e. the Vice Chancellor. Specifically those powers were divided into two areas, administrative and academic. Academic activities would be under the control of the Senate which would basically consist of senior academics and administrative activities will be under the purview of the Council, which will consist of the Deans of Faculties and members drawn from the public. The Vice Chancellor will preside at meetings of the Senate and Council and therefore will have considerable power and influence on all activities of the University but he is constrained from using absolute powers. Thus the principles governing University activities are liberal and democratic. During his office as Vice Chancellor Jennings had to face occasions when autonomy and academic freedom were put on test. For example, in the aftermath of the Hartal of 1953 Prime Minister Sir John Kotelawala writing to Jennings, expressed his concern about the growth of “Communism” and asked for advice on how to control its spread in the University. Kotelawala was suggesting a kind of political control over student and staff activities in the university. Jennings wrote back: “political control of a university is most undesirable…There are inherent dangers in a political control….The first step of any dictatorship is to ‘purge the universities’ because they are the bastions of freedom. Ought not a Democratic Government uphold and strengthen those bastions?”( Q. in Amal Jayawardene, op. cit.).Furthermore, with his wide experience in the study of politics he warned the Prime Minister that “If political control was introduced by this Government it would in due course be exercised by this Government’s successors.”(op cit.)

National Culture

A lot of people refer to Sir Ivor as “the man who called this country a cultural desert.”There is controversy as to whether he said so at all. He has denied it.( RP, p. 190) Jennings as we all know was no coward and he had no need to please anybody.

He has stated that “The story that I described Ceylon as a ‘cultural desert’ is historically as accurate as the story of Alfred and the burnt cakes or a good many of the stories in the Mahavamsa.” (Q. by Ian Goonetilleke in the Introduction to The Kandy Road).In my view what should concerns us at present is not what Jennings is supposed to have said but what he has done in the University concerning the national cultural heritage. Firstly, I refer to a letter Jennings wrote on 12 August 1941 addressed to the Minister of Education and the Executive Committee on Education who at the time could decide on the structure of the new university that was to be established.. The topic was “Chair of Sanskrit”. Proposing that ” a Professor of Sanskrit at this stage would necessarily be a non-Ceylonese…a scholar of great repute and ripe experience who could not only develop Sanskrit studies in the island but also train a Ceylonese to succeed him” ( Peradeniya: The Founding of a University,vol.5,pp. 303 -4)These sentiments indicate his genuine concern for the development of Sanskrit studies in the new university. In the same letter he speaks of how such a scholar would “add a great impetus to the study of Oriental subjects … and bring kudos …not only in Ceylon but outside”. This letter indicates Jennings’ policy in recruitments to Professorships in the university he was building. We should have the best possible because , as we know from experience, the academic reputation of a Professor would affect the Department’s standing and , future recruitments will depend on his/her good judgment. As an aside, I am tempted to mention an anecdote concerning Lord Milner, the Viceroy of India who is alleged to have made a statement about some “shoddy universities ” in that country, becoming so, due in a large measure, to “wrong recruitments.” This was a finding of The Curzon Committee which examined the low standards of those universities and Jennings would not have been unaware of it.

Oriental Studies

A more important and far reaching proposal of Jennings in the letter of 12 August was about “the need for a Faculty of Oriental Studies.”This was a magnificent move as far as the “Oriental subjects” Sinhala, Pali, Sanskrit and Tamil, were concerned. Thereby these subjects got a developmental boost that we should not fail to appreciate. This is particularly true with regard to the two national languages Sinhala and Tamil as will be described below. They had been rather neglected or relegated to “second class status” in the University College. With his wide experience in university affairs Jennings pointed to “the lack of sufficient powers for the effective teaching of Oriental subjects” and hence proposed the creation of a separate Faculty where they would have independence to develop on their own. No doubt he saw that with the privileged position enjoyed by English and Social Science subjects such as History and Economics the “Oriental” subjects would again receive “step-motherly” treatment in a common Faculty of Arts. When the faculty of Oriental Studies was established in 1942, it was accorded primacy of status in the faculty hierarchy.

A little known fact about the creation of separate Departments of Sinhala, Pali Sanskrit and Tamil needs mention here. The seniormost academic in the field of Oriental Studies, Dr. G.P.Malalasekera while expressing his happiness that “Orientalia” would be receiving its due place in the proposed university added that “if someone with courage and vision had done this when the University College was inaugurated, the position of ‘Oriental’ Studies in the country would be very much different from what it now is”. As for the composition of the new Faculty Dr. Malalasekera proposed that it should “start with two Departments , viz. the Department of Indo-Aryan Studies and the Department of Dravidian Studies.” Next , in this letter dated 24 September 1941, he deals at length with three main topics: suggesting Dr. Kanapathipillai’s name as the most suitable to head the Department of Dravidian Studies, the possibility of getting a Sanskritist of high reputation from one of the good Indian universities and, suggesting that he (Malalasekera) be sent to India on a study tour to get a close look at how the Indian universities are coping with problems of development so that such examples could be adopted in our university ( PFU, vol 5, pp309 -311) It needs mention that none of these proposals were adopted.

Sinhalese, Tamil, Pali and Sanskrit were instituted as separate Departments of Study within the Faculty of Oriental Studies in the new University. To this was added a Department of Arabic. For the Chair of Sanskrit Dr. Betty Heimann (Ph.D. Halle) who had been teaching at the School of Oriental and African Studies was selected. She had a great international reputation not only as a Sanskritist but also as an authority on Indian Philosophy. Being advanced in age she worked as Professor of Sanskrit only for five years, but when she retired in 1949, by her energy, skill and diligence she had increased the number of students in the Sanskrit Special Degree class from 5 to 27 (Ratna Handurukande, “Orientalia in the University,” Sri Lanka Journal of Humanities,, 1994).For the Chair of Tamil, Swami Vipulananda (B.Sc. Lond; Pundit of Madurai Tamil Sangam) who had been the Professor of Tamil at Annamalai University in South India and as a scholar highly recognized for his creative and critical writings and for his translations, was selected. For the Chair of Sinhala, again a scholar, teaching at SOAS, London at the time, M.D.Ratnasuriya (B.A.; Ph.D. Lond) was invited. The Chair of Pali of course was assigned to G.P.Malalasekera (B.A.; M.A.; Ph.D.; D.Litt. Lond). Furthermore, according to a decision taken by Jennings the Sinhalese Etymological Dictionary Project was also placed under the Dept. of Sinhalese, the Dictionary staff becoming part of the Faculty.

We referred to the steps taken by Sir Ivor to appoint the best possible academics to head the Departments of Study in the Faculty of Oriental Studies. Similar care was taken with regard to professorial appointments in other Faculties as well. Thus we find the American Bryce Ryan in Sociology, the Indian D.B.Das Gupta in Economics and so on. All these steps were part and parcel of the grand design to establish a good university which could stand on par with the best universities in the world. “You may rest assured,” Jennings said in his farewell address to the country broadcast over Radio Ceylon on 20 Jan . 1955, “that as far as examination standards are concerned a graduate of the University of Ceylon is as good as a graduate of any western university” (PFU,pvol. I,p.236)How was this achieved? Writes Emeritus Professor G.H. Pieris, ” In the Arts disciplines…while not adopting a rigorous schedule of formal classroom work, laid stress on student initiative , especially in he use of the library. It was stringent in the award of ‘class’ degrees. It also followed several other quality safeguards such as the continuing employment of expatriate teaching staff, caution in the recruitment of new staff and obtaining the services of reputed foreign academicians – generally British – for moderation of examination question papers and the second marking of answer scripts. English remained the only medium of instruction” (G.H. Pieris, “The Faculties of Arts and Oriental Studies at Peradeniya,” in K.M de Silva and G.H.Pieris ed. The University System of Sri Lanka, pp.110-29)

Efflorescence

Going back to the “cultural desert” remark, Goonetilleke records that Jennings thought of “Thurstan Road as an oasis” He was eagerly awaiting the transfer to Peradeniya where ” the desert would blossom like the rose” ( KR, Intro. Xxiii).As we all know it did indeed. (Let us leave aside the “cultural desert” part.) . Being empowered to “develop” in a separate Faculty, Sinhalese, Tamil, Pali and Sanskrit studies expanded their academic vistas. I think the most momentous development was in the Department of Sinhalese. In Peradeniya, it had come under a new Professor and Head of Department, D.E.Hettiarachchi (B.A.;Ph.D. Lond; M.A.; Ph.D. Calcutta) The study of modern Sinhala literature was added to the curriculum of the Department enlisting the services of Ediriweera Sarachcnadra, a scholar who had been making pioneering studies on modern Sinhala literature, getting him transferred from the Department of Pali. This proved to be the most appropriate choice. For, Sarachcandra by his critical writings, not only guided the course of new developments in the art of the novel, short story and poetry, but also became “the father of modern Sinhala drama” in the years to come, producing the monumental ‘Maname’ in 1956. His research interests were wide and varied. In 1952 he brought out the book The Sinhalese Folk Play , described by the Times of London , Literary Supplement as ” the most interesting, indeed unique, account of the many phases of drama in Ceylon… is so wide in scope that it must surely interest all who wish to trace the development of dramatic forms” (Q. in J.B.Disanayaka, “Sarachchandra the trail-blazer”, The Birth Centenary of Sarachcandra, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, 2014)Apart from literature the Department expanded its academic concerns to various branches of Socio-cultural Studies as for example in the research done by M.B.Ariyapala and P.E.Fernando. In the ‘fifties young scholars were trained in various foreign universities in new areas of research : M.W. Sugathapala De Silva (structural linguistics) Hemapala Wijayawardhana (Sanskrit aesthetics) Ariya Rajakaruna (Theatre and Cinema).

Similar expansion of vistas was noted in the Department of Tamil as well. The first Professor of Tamil Swami Vipulananda had a very progressive outlook which set the tone for Tamil scholarship in Sri Lanka taking an independent course of development which was in marked contrast to the traditionalism which characterized Tamil studies in Tamilnadu. Vipulananda is on record as being the “first Tamil Professor to recognize the spoken Tamil dialects”( M.A.Nuhuman, “The University of Peradeniya and the Development of Tamil Literary Criticism” in R.A.L.H.Gunawardene ed,pp.185-98)Among the other academics, it is noted that venturing into newer fields of research had been inaugurated by K.Kanapathipillai who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Tamil Inscriptions of Sri Lanka. In the late ‘forties and the fifties’ several others took his lead in pursuing linguistic studies. For example, A Velupillai who worked on Tamil Inscriptions, S.Thanajayarajasinham who studied the Tamil documents during the Dutch period and A.Shanmugadas who made a linguistic study of the Jaffna Tamil dialect. The more striking departure from the South Indian tradition was noted in the field of literary criticism. In South India, traditionalism was so strong in the academia that in the early days “modern literature and literary criticism were excluded from the curriculum in …the universities and Colleges.” (Nuhuman) In Sri Lanka, on the other hand, the study of modern literature was undertaken because of the progressive attitudes of the first Professor and his juniors, notably Dr. K.Kanapathipilla, who took the revolutionary step of writing plays in the colloquial dialect. The progressive Tamil academics in Sri Lanka forged ahead and it was later recognized that as far as in the field of literary criticism, Sri Lanka was ahead of Tamilnadu (Nuhuman, op. cit.).The outstanding scholar in the field of literary history and literary criticism in Tamil was V.Chelvanayagam who approached literature in a social, political and historical perspective. His pioneering studies had not been superseded. (Nuhuman, op.cit.)

In illustrating the great impetus received by the academic departments in the Oriental Studies during the early years of the Peradeniya period I have described only the case of the two modern languages, Sinhala and Tamil. Similar expansion in academic vistas could be seen in the case of the two classical language departments Pali and Sanskrit. The point that has to be made is that these two national languages were able to expand their academic vistas because of the recognition they received in the University of Ceylon. The pre-eminent position enjoyed by the Humanities studies in the University of the 1950’ and “60’s is best summed up by the Geographer Prof. G.H.Pieris, “in the Faculties of Arts and Oriental Studies…academic disciplines concerned with historical,linguistic and aesthetic occupied centre stage while the so-called social sciences Economics, Sociology geography etc……maintaining a relatively low profile”( Pieris, op.cit.)

Historical Heritage

Talking of the country’s cultural heritage, Jennings in 1950, pays a tribute to the work done by Bell, Codrington John Still and Paranavitana ( RP , p168). He mentions that the University had taken the necessary steps to make that knowledge available to the undergraduates and graduates. But he saw that a lot more had to be done. With his vision for a University Museum where our history could be studied more intimately, he was hoping that the facility would eventually be provided in Peradeniya. He was engaged in a “battle” to get that established and the Archives (then in Nuwara Eliya) shifted there so that the whole complex would be a “convenient centre for research scholars” Ibid).We know that these things did not happen. But his vision for the study of our national heritage should be appreciated. Much more significant, as far as vision becoming reality is concerned, was Jenning’s proposal in the Senate that the University should undertake the job of writing “a comprehensive History of Ceylon”. (The Preface to pt. 1, vol.I by Sir Nicholas Attygalle, Chairman Editorial Board). People who have watched the progress of this massive project are aware of the trials and tribulations through which it went until it was completed in 1995. But what needs mention is that it was again Sir Ivor Jennings who took the initiative in launching the project.

We mentioned earlier about the Museum. It was in fact a museum cum art gallery he had in mind. Sir Ivor established The Arts Council of the university to sponsor artistic activities which he thought was an essential part of education, “the training of the emotions” as he saw it. One of the first acts of the Arts Council was an Exhibition of paintings by George Keyt, a denizen of Kandy who had achieved international fame. From the proceeds of the exhibition Sir Ivor bought the painting titled “The Offering” by Keyt which was to be the first item in a collection which would form the exhibits of the envisaged Art Gallery. Jennings is said to have established the “Peradeniya Fund” vested in the Vice Chancellor “intended to enhance the beauty of the University Park and its environs”.( H.A.I.G. , Intro. KR p.xiv) and he had hoped that contributions “would flow in like the Great Sandy River”. In 1953 its balance was Rs. 50 .”perhaps the author’s own initial contribution”. And in 1956 it stood at Rs. 146.49 and the university authorities decided to close down the Fund and remit the balance to the General Fund (Ibid.)In the last pages of his autobiography Jennings wrote about the various Endowments the University had received during the first eight years . He added in the end “the endowment nearest my heart , however, is the Peradeniya Fund which caused this book to be written”. The proceeds from the sale of the book, The Road to Peradeniya was to go to that fund. It was his hope that the proceeds of the Fund would enable the University not only to enhance the physical beauty of the University Park but also to purchase works of art to be exhibited in the Museum cum art gallery that was to come up. The following are the last words in the autobiography: “By writing this book I have made a small contribution. History will say that it was small indeed. But at least my name will appear among the thousands of benefactors listed in the Calendar of the year 2950” (RP, pp201 -2). There is no need to comment on the above facts.

Integrity

The education of the two daughters of the Jennings family, Claire and Shirley was disrupted due to the war and their father’s departure to Ceylon in 1941. When the family got together finally in Ceylon, Shirley was educated in South India and later in Melbourne in Australia where she married a lecturer in the university. Claire’s education was haphazard . She worked as a journalist in Colombo and in 1952, asked her father whether she could join the university of Ceylon. His immediate retort was” you are not intelligent enough.” When they went back to England, years later, Claire passed the necessary exams and entered the university of Cambridge, graduating six before her father passed away. This story communicated to Ian Goonatilleke by Claire appears in his introduction to RP (p.xiii).

In coming to the end of this tribute, I would like to quote Ian Goonatilleke again.

” The very title of his autobiography, the cast of its content and the fact that he made no attempt to extend its coverage into his later illustrious years may well be regarded as further pointers to his single-minded resolve to place Peradeniya on the academic map of the world- the shining peak he had set himself to scale” ( intro too KR, p.xxii)

To conclude,I would like to place on record the salutary steps taken by the present Vice Chancellor, Prof. Upul B. Dissanayake to erect a bronze statue of Sir Ivor Jennings in a prominent place on the campus. Future generations of university students who have never heard of this great academic will at least get a fleeting impression of him and hopefully be inspired to discover more about the founder Vice Chancellor of the university.