Imperialist land grab – Relevance of Thoradeniya’s latest novel

Review of the novel “Madaran” by Sena Thoradeniya

Reviewed by N.A.de S. Amaratunga

The subject of Sena Thoradeniya’s latest novel titled “Madaran” is the land grab practiced by British colonialists in the 19th Century which created landless peasants, poverty and much suffering. This theme has its relevance today when the US attempts a similar maneuver by means of MCC, SOFA and ACSA. The terms used for the various land taxes imposed on the poor farmers to deprive them of their land ownership were “Madabadda”, “Weebadda” and “Madaran”. Hence Thoradeniya’s title for his latest novel. He deals in detail with the methods employed by the British rulers to force the people to part with their inherited land holdings and the reaction of the people and the uprisings against these taxes and cruelties in 1818, 1840 and 1848.

The story is unfolded through the main protagonist Malinda. His wife Opali and their seven children take little part in the story. The story begins with Malinda returning to his wife after a long absence. He had been away fighting the British in the first uprising. But before the story begins there is a Prologue which takes the form of a little episode that is placed in recent times concerning a mass grave which is very much similar to the happenings in relation to the Mannar mass grave of recent times. The Prologue gives a description of the dirty tricks and treachery that today’s imperialist West adopts to subjugate third world countries and take them in their hegemonic grip. The role played by their local agents is also described showing the danger this country could be facing. A mass grave is found under a rock in a land belonging to a retired army officer and he is indicted in courts for mass murder of Tamil terrorists. How the incident is blown out of proportion by the UN with the connivance of the local agents of imperialists forms the essence of this Prologue which connects the present with the past.

Malinda’s character depicts the national consciousness of the native Sinhalese and their bravery in the face of adversity. Despite hardship he wants to fight the British whom he sees as his oppressor. He is glad to hear that the Sinhalese has found a king who could lead them against the foreign ruler. He leaves his wife and goes in search of the king. He joins the king’s army. After the uprising had been put down by the ruthless British he returns to his wife. Helpless Opali meanwhile had formed an alliance with another man and given birth to a child. As the man is no more Malinda accepts both his wife and her child and they have seven more children. They have a bit of land and they make a huge attempt to eke out a living. But the land grabbing policy of the British would not allow them to be land owners. Vast extents of land that belonged to the upcountry peasants were expropriated and handed over to big time coffee cultivators. Roads and railways were built to facilitate the transport of the products. Upcountry peasantry was made landless. Malinda’s children go in search of employment and are lost to him and his wife. He and his wife end up as homeless coolies and end up living in a cave. Yet he still dreams of the splendour of arts and crafts of the Kandyans and his own gallantry. He has not lost his national consciousness and would like to have another fling at his tormentors.

The author employs a novel method to describe the situation in the country while Malinda’s story is unfolding. Details of the various taxes, ways of the British ruler and how the ruler appears in the view of the people are described in the form of conversation of nameless villagers. Apart from these conversations he briefly looks at the character of few of the British officials who are deployed to implement the harsh tax laws. Some of these British officials themselves feel the pain of the suffering masses. Their personal view of the harsh taxation methods where the motive is to force the people to sell their land clashes with the demand of their official duties.

Malinda’s character is typical of the Sinhala villager who resisted the occupation by colonial forces while some higherups in the feudal society collaborated with the foreign rulers in order to get personal benefits. His bravery under adverse conditions is something inherent in the national consciousness of the Sinhalese. This national consciousness is discernible from early times when the inhabitants of this island fought against foreign invasions with much success. Malinda would leave his young wife in Pathadumbara and go to Uva to join the uprising. When the struggle fails he returns to his wife and accepts her lovingly forgetting that she had borne a child by another man. Thoradeniya has captured the nature of the Sinhala peasant in the character of Malinda quite successfully.

The novel has only one major character as such but the conversations of the nameless people that take place in ambalamas and such other places brings into the novel many characters that as mentioned earlier make a lasting impression in the reader’s mind. Another character though minor but who is nevertheless very important is the GA in Nuwara-Eliya, Le Mussier. Special mention is made of him for he feels for the suffering masses. He introduced several projects to mitigate the burden of the land taxes. He makes a heart rendering speech at one of the occasions when he commissions one such project where he laments the cruelty of the system. He talks about the beauty of the country and says that it is a pity that people have to die while they look at the beauty of Nuwara-Eliya.

The book is a treasure trove to the student of history. It is full of information on the British period of this country. Some of this information must have been unearthed by lot of research as the author says in the introduction. The system of government that the British adopted made use of the existing systems and the human weakness for titles and other benefits. They could pursue their agenda as there was personal vendetta among the Sinhalese high officials and they could be made to betray their own people. The novel brings out the emotion of ordinary people like Malinda when such treachery affect them. They are left helpless to fend for themselves. The situation today is not very much different. The imperialist West is stalking us relentlessly. There are local opportunists and separatists waiting for every opportunity to help the West.

Thoradeniya’s art is not for art’s sake. It has a purpose and social relevance. He wants to analyze and lay bare the reality of today through the eyes of the historian. Yet his latest work is somewhat different from his previous works. As usual it is not a straight forward narration but this novel is different from his usual realistic novel. It has no beginning and an end. The conversations of nameless people intermingle with the main narration, the story of Malinda. These conversations like a haunting melody captures your mind and remains there while you grapple with the pathos of Malinda. Though it is an unusual method of story telling the experiment seems to work. Yet the work is not post-modern which usually has no identifiable aim of depicting an aspect of human life.

Thoradeniya’s work is mainly anti-imperialist and therefore is timely. The Prologue which deals with the mass grave is a powerful anti-imperialist statement. It brings to focus immediately the hidden agenda of the West, the fact that human rights is a tool in their hands and is used to force third world countries to obey their dictate. Some critics may say such a prologue has no place in a novel. A prologue is different from an introduction and may take the form of an addendum that help the reader to understand the message of the novel. Thoradeniya’s message is clearly anti-imperialist and has social relevance in the present context. Mitchell Brechtlet the present High Commissioner for Human Rights got involved in the Mannar mass grave incident and clearly jumped the gun in an attempt to incriminate our armed forces and now she is busy trying to crucify Sri Lanka in Geneva. Thus the Prologue of the novel vividly exposes the cunning and treacherous intentions of the West. It helps the reader to understand this present situation and appreciate the past that the novel expounds through the pathos of the peasantry under the British rule.

With regard the purpose of the novel there are two schools of thought, one believes that the novel has a social function and must depict an aspect of life. Others say novel as an art has no specific social function and believes that art is for art’s sake, its only function seems to be entertainment. The latter view has its origin in postmodernism which in essence is the philosophical basis for neo-liberalism. The post-modernist novel therefore cannot raise a voice against neo-liberalism and the hegemonic agenda of the West. One could be glad that a prolific writer of the calibre of Sena Thoradeniya belongs to the school of thought that believes the novel has a social function.