Cumaratunga Munidasa’s 81st Death Anniversary Fell on March 02, 2025

REMEMBERING FATHER PIYASAMARA – පිය සමර

Status of Sinhala Literature of the Pre-Cumaratunga Era

The Kotte period in the chequered history of our literature was perhaps the most colourful. The poetry of the times (the golden age of Sinhala poetry) not only strikes new chords, beats out new tunes, and essays a bold exploration of new paths, but reveals the contentment among poets, the peace and prosperity of the land, and the unstinted generosity of the royal patron, The literary sphere was dominated by such figures like Sri Rahula, Veedagama and Wettewe Theras,

Although these poems, exhibited characteristics of ‘maha kavyas’ with their limitless exaggerations and boundless descriptions, the Sandesa poems brought in the much needed fresh air to be breathed by the literati of the period. The Mayura and Selalihini Sandesas and the Guttilaya stand tall among the rest of the period’s poetic works. The Guttila Kavyaya of Wettewe Thera, was unique in that it displayed characteristics more closer to truism and the taste of the commoners, both in its creativity, descriptive refinement, and language-simplicity. Many other literary works produced during this era were overshadowed by the said poetic works of these literary giants.

The post-Kotte was in its true sense an anticlimax, and the few recognizable literary works during this period lacked novelty, creativity and poeticity, apart from a general decline in standards of the language. Most of the literary works belonged to such categories as didactic poetry, lexicography, love-poems, panegyric and war poems, and also experimental works on prosody and poetics. There were also works on such topics as ‘Conduct of Fools’ (Modamale). Works of acceptable quality were extremely few, and among them were the Perakumbasirita and the Sandakindurudakyava, Lovedasangarawa, Subhashitaya and Lokopakaraya.

The Early Works of Cumaratunga

Cumaratunga’ exhaustive industry could be broadly divides into two segments. His prime attempt during the initial stages was to bring to light the true standards of the Sinhala language, and thereupon to document the framework of the written Sinhala language through his Vykarana Vivaranaya and the Kriya Vivaranaya, the two expositions on general grammar and the Sinhala verb. While such works were being done, he took to editing of literary classics, such as the Nikaya Sangrahaya, Elu Attanagalu Vamsaya, Guttila Kavyaya, and sections of the Amavatura, Pujavaliya. and Mayura Sandesaya, Sasadavatha and the Kavsilumina. The reviewing of classics included Nikaya Sangrahaya, Mayura Sandesaya, Sidat Sangarava, Gira Sandesaya, and Selalihini Sandesaya. Herein only a few of these endeavours have been listed, mainly due to space considerations. In this process he also commenced editing the Lakminipahana paper and launching the Helio (a journal in English) and the Subasa.

The Prose Works of Cumaratunga

He paid equal attention to produce some prose fiction, mainly as readers for children. These included Hath Pana, Mangul Kema, Heen Seraya, and Shiksha Margaya (i, ii, iii, iv, v). His two major expositions that helped standardizing the written Sinhala language, namely the Vyakarana Vivaranaya and the Kriya Vivaranaya come under his contributions in this category.

The Poetic Works of Cumaratunga

He first commenced his poetic experimenting by producing short poems or poemlets, the majority of them being for children. A few of his verses for the youngsters appear in his Kumara Gee and Poems for Children. (Visidunu publication-2003). Sirimath, The Rain Cloud, The Big Bodied Elephant, The Beggar, The Bee’s Tribute to the Flower, The Calf’s Nature, How the Rabbit Behaves, Readying Nestlings for Their Maiden Flight, The Morning, The Drunken Mouse, The Female Trader, The Lullaby, The Lament of the Bird, The Flowers Talk, Manliness and Exultation of the Cane are a few of the exhaustive array of his short poems.

Background to the Composition of the Piyasamara

Having devoted a sizable portion of his time and energy on the said endeavours, Cumaratunga now wished that he would produce a much larger poetic composition. For certain he was now confident of the usage of the language, and in fact, he had by now mastered the poetic and prose techniques adopted in the Sinhala classics of the yesteryear. The readership, in fact, was eagerly awaiting a new and creative poetic mode which hadn’t been experienced up to then. Cumaratunga, an incomparable wordsmith and grammarian, who was equally knowledgeable and familiar with Sinhala, Pali and Sanskrit literature, as well as Western literature, was to experiment a new mode of poetry. It was to be new in all of these aspects: theme, language, content, approach, poetic composition and versification and presentation.

Piyasamara – Its Theme and Content and Mode of Poetic Composition

About the theme it had been resolved at the very outset that the composition would revolve around his father. That’s how it was named Piyasamara, combining the two words Piya + Samara. Cumaratunga had, however, had punned by adopting this name. While the Piyasamara directly meant ‘Remembering Father’, it also indirectly meant ‘Loving Memory (Memories).

The Piyasamara had to be fresh/ new in all its aspects, and the mode of poetic composition in which the presentation was to be couched had to be in a framework suited to express the nuances of thought with ease. In its selection there was a mode that was readily available; the elu-silo metric format, which gave sufficient space to couch a sufficient amount of ideas in each verse. Its added advantage was that the format was a deviation from the requirement to maintain terminal rhymes (eli samaya). It was, in fact, a much freer versification mode that had been adopted in a majority of the poetic works especially of the Matara literary period. The initiator of this poetic mode, which became very popular in the Matara period, is said to be Sali Ele Maniratana thero who authored Prathiharya Shatakaya. This mode of versification was revived by Cumaratunga Munidasa, adopting it for his poetic compositions.

Piyasamara – Its Langauge

Critiquing the poem, a formidable cultural intellectual, Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekara says that the elu silo poetic format being popular among the folk poets of the 18^th century, Cumaratunga’s intention was to produce a new language-medium combining both the traditional poetical dialect adopted by the folk poets. Amarasekara further says that by adopting this new language-medium Cumaratunga was able to introduce to Sinhala poetics a language most suited for future poetic compositions. Cumaratunga had the competence to create this medium as he was a veteran in both these dialects. The first poem of the Piyasamara proves Amarasekara’s view of Cumaratunga’s new language-medium.

ඇස වැසූ නුසුදුස්ස සුදුස්ස පෑ
බස් තොමෝ පිරුණෙන් අරුතින් රෙසෙන්
වෙස ගිණූ මිතුරන් සතුරන් ලෙසෙක්
පුබුදුවාද අහෝ යළි මා කො දා :(1)

Piyasamara – An Elegy of a Different Kind

Those familiar with English literature would consider any piece of poetry, commemorating a departed one as belonging to categories like elegies or dirges. Such poems provide a space for expressing profound loss, heartbreak and melancholy. Through vivid imagery, heartfelt metaphors, and poignant language poets bring forth the mental depressions experienced after the death of someone who had been so close to them. In fact, through such poems poets strive to reminisce the beauty of the deceased ones, the unfillable voids created as well as the impact such losses would have on their dependents. In doing so poets adopt a chronologically based unilinear structure in reminiscing the more important events/ incidents/ and episodes they wish to bring forth of the personality they wish to recollect.

Piyasamara – An Elegy of a Different Kind.

To the extent that the objective of the Piyasamara was to commemorate Cumaratunga’s father, it’s an elegy. But the comparison would end there, as it follows a different structure altogether, totally deviating from elegies composed thus far.

සිතැ මගේ ඇති සේ කො තැනින් පටන්
ගෙනැ කියමි ද බොහෝ දිගු කල් ගියත්
එක වරේ නැ!ගැ එයි අදහස් දහස්
හැම කරත් නිරවුල් පොහොසත් නො වමි : (3)

This poem well nigh expresses the poet’s intention. If he was to follow the conventional structure, he wouldn’t have got into this confusion. It thus shows that he was to follow a different structure, and a different approach.

Cumaratunga Adopts an Indirect Reflective Approach to Reminisce His Father

This approach is what he describes as indirect expression (jla mejeiqu ) in his book on poetics (විrs;a jelsh). Indirect expression is a poetic device used by master craftsmen, to make readers think and grasp, as direct expression will not induce the reader to get involved, both in understanding and tasting the poem. Also, indirect – reflective approach while making the reader to ponder on its meaning, it also causes conveying several meanings in a single expression. The following verse is an instance of Cumaratunga adopting this smart technique to elevate the poem to a higher level.

පොහො දවස් අට සිල් ගෙනැ ගත් වතත්
සිතැතුළත් එක පෑ බව දක්වමින්
ම!ග සදත් ඇසිනුත් පයිනුත් දනෝ
මහණ කම් සිවුරින් මුතු සේ දකිත් :(40 )

What would have been the impact and the reaction in the reader’s mind if the poet said that his father was extremely pious, and that his outward serenity was an expression of his inner purity. These sentiments, the poet leaves us to ponder and conclude.

Poetry is defined as “an enchanting realm of artistic expression that penetrates the depths of human emotions and unveils profound thoughts. It serves as a channel through which individuals can navigate the intricate landscapes of the human experience.” Differently defined poetry is “the mode of conveying profound thoughts, using the most appropriate words, arranged in the best possible manner.” So brevity, precision and syntactic order (specific sequence in which words are placed to form sentences and convey meaning) are hallmarks of a good poem.

Cumaratunga Adopts a Jigsaw Puzzle approach to reconstruct/assemble the father’s picture

A sequential, chronoligical and incident-wise approach would not enable the poet to draw the comprehensive picture of his father. He, therefore, adopted the best available technique of drawing the father’s true picture by fitting in interlocking pieces in order to produce a complete picture. Each interlocking piece represents an important aspect of the father’s character and personality. Although a comprehensive discussion, herein, is not possible due to space constrains, a few of the jigsaw fits cited below will, for certain, elucidate this approach.

තතු අසා අවුදින් දැකැ සාදයත්
වි!දැ ඔබේ වරුවක් දෙඩුමෙන් ගෙවා
යන නොයෙක් පැනවත් උගතුන් නිසා
ඔබ නිවෙස් අගයෙන් වැඩි වී බොහෝ :(4)

The poet didn’t indulge in describing his father as an intellectual accepted in society. This is how the poet indirectly/ reflectively conveyed his father’s knowledge and erudition and that learned men came home to tap his knowledge and clarify abstruse/ knotty things.

පොළොව ආස වලා ස!ද තාරකා
සෙවණ ගස් ලිය ආදිය දක්වමින්
නුවණ දෙන්නට කී එ කතා සෙමින්
හැඩ ගැසීය මගේ දිවි මේ විලස් :(9)

Cumaratunga’s father was a renowned physician. It also appears that he was a veteran in child psychology as well. Children by and large are mesmerized and fascinated by nature. For them the stars, the sky, the clouds, the moon, shade, trees and creepers had tales that had descended through many generations. They, in fact, robbed and glued the minds of children. In short, their yearning for ‘nature study’ is insatiable. It was this tradition that Cumaratunga had fervently followed later in his creative works.

He also became an intimate observer of ‘Mother Nature’. His power of observation had been so intense that most of his nursery rhymes (Kumara Gee) composed on these like the ‘Bee and the Flower, Rain Cloud, Nestlings in Their Maiden Flight, The Morning, Flowers Talk, stand tall as instances of how he mesmerised the children thereafter. Thus he was following the unbroken tradition.

රට පුරා ගිය පොත් සොයමින් නැවිල්
මහ දිසා පතියන් අනුරා පුරේ
පැමිණි දා මතකයි ඔබ පොත් දෙකක්
ගෙනැ ගියා උනෙවු ලිපිළියත් තිබෙයි :(110)

This is how the poet portrayed his father. Without directly saying that father was a man of letters, a prolific reader, as well as the fact that he was in possession of a rare collection of books in his personal library, Cumaratungs brought in the incident involving Hugh Neville, GA, Anuradhapura. Records reveal that during his 32 years in Sri Lanka, Hugh Nevill assembled a collection of 2,227 prose and verse manuscripts, mostly in Sinhala, , , and , now held at the .

Concluding Remarks

The two most proficient erudites who critiqued the Piyasamara recently were Emeritus Professor P.B. Meegaskumbura and Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekara, poet, novelist, critic and short story writer. Their critical assessments of the Piyasamara, are the most comprehensively covered treatises on this poem. These two critiques appear in the edition of the Piyasamara published by the Visidunu Prakashakayo in 1999. Emeritus Prof. Meegaskumbura concludes his assessment by observing that if poem is engulfed in language, poet is the person who brings it to surface. Standing on this premise he says that through the wisdom-eye, the poet (of Piyasamara) sees the poetic-resources found in (our) language, and therefore, on behalf of language, it is incumbent to preserve and secure such resources. Dr. Amarasekara says that Piyasamara needs to be treated as a handbook on creative poetic composition by our modern poets.