The cover of the book, Sepali Mayadunne’s picture and history recorded on an ancient stone pillar
‘Aththani Kanu’, meaning ancient stone pillars (obelisk) which recorded important historical details about past events in the lost kingdoms of ancient Sri Lanka is the latest novel by Sinhala novelist Sepali Mayadunne, establishing her position as one of the most prolific writers in the country
Her three-decade career dotted with some of the most celebrated, award-winning works of fiction has established her as a front runner in a unique genre she herself has created to portray history as it is and people’s struggles and challenges trying to protect themselves against changes threatening their existence.
‘Aththani Kanu’ is a biography of Kandy Kingdom’s nobleman and the medieval patriarch of Bulankulama family, Suriya Kumara Vannisinghe Sathpaththu Bandara Mudiyanse Bulankulama Mahavanniya, a descendant of Prince Bodhiguptha accompanying Sangamiththa Buddhist nun who brought the sapling of Sri Maha Bodhi Tree, the most important symbol of Buddhism in the island linked to King Ashoka of India, the father of Sangamiththa.
Written in an ancient dialect popular in Kandy during the last kingdom of Sri Lanka, with a generous mix of island’s aboriginal Veddha language, ‘Aththani Kanu’ portrays Maha Vanniya’s rise and fall and his battles won and lost against the British rulers who destroyed the kingdom with the help of local noblemen defecting to their side culminating in the forced exile of King Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe, the last king of Sri Lanka, who died as a British prisoner in Vellore, South India.
Backed by years of exhaustive historical research, Mayadunne examines what happened during the final few decades of the mountainous kingdom, last of the 2300-year-old undefeated Sinhala monarchy. Politics then were not very different from today. There were native noblemen striking up alliances with the British for personal gains and to settle scores with their own kinsmen contributing to the success of the ruthless campaign of the British to capture the island in 1818.
Maha Vanniaththo was a steadfast supporter of the king actively taking part in the famous battles against the British whose inhuman methods to destroy the natives and their ancient culture are very well documented in the novel.
King Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe had personally led the attack by firing the first gun shot while Maha Vanniaththo led his battalion along with several other provincial chiefs, surprising the British camping midway to Kandy in perhaps one of the earliest guerrilla wars in the world. The famous battle was in June 1803 where the Sinhalese butchered an English battalion comprised of Malay and Bengali regiments and capturing Major Davey who was hung in a tamarind tree on the orders of the king.
Mayadunne’s work contains historical accounts of internecine warfare among the Sinhalese noble clans greedy for power, fuelled by invading British forces. The English cleverly manipulated the divisions in the clans to their own advantage, and to make matters easy they turned the king into an addict to their sherry which was smuggled by Muslim traders of the east who came to Kandy for business.
Maha Vanniaththo and his family were eye witnesses to the subsequent slow deterioration of the Sinhala way of life and the emergence of a new administrative structure designed to ensure the survival of the empire paying scant attention to the needs of the native population, also planting the seeds of future racial discontentment.
Reminiscing what went wrong with the native rulers, Maha Vanniaththo laments “The subjects remain loyal to a leader only if he is a brave and a honest leader”, a statement that rings true of the present predicament of Sri Lanka.
One of King Rajasinghe’s passionate projects was the construction of the Kandy Lake which was widely believed to be a white elephant at the time. In a scathing attack, Buddhist monk Ven. Kankunawe, in the presence of the king, rubbished the project as “flooding the paddy lands belonging to the temple to build a tank on the sole wish of an alien king (the last king was of Malayali origin) and his concubines to wash their dirt and frolic in the lake.”
The monk is said to have thrown a handful of charmed sand into the sky cursing the king predicting his destruction which Maha Vanniaththo interprets as a bad omen for the king. The Kandy Lake project was opposed by many noblemen including Maha Vanniaththo but the king was adamant and went ahead with the construction.
“Aththani Kanu” is an honest and factual interpretation of the ancient events in one of the most chaotic historical periods in the island. The author is not providing a new interpretation of history, like many modern writers who are distorting historical characters and events with the excuse of poetic licence.
Mayadunne’s work of fiction is a rare contribution to Sri Lanka’s indigenous literature seen through the eyes of a nobleman who lived to see with his own eyes the havoc caused by the British to further the goals of the “empire on which the sun never SET”. The adverse effects are still evident in the modern Sri Lankan politics and the society.
Mayadunne’s book is shortlisted for the Swarna Pushtake Award 2018. Last year too one of her books, Suwanda Sanniya, was in the fray for the prestigious award but failed go beyond the shortlist.
A descendant of Maha Vanniaththo served as a minister of a government in the 50s while another great grandson studied law and became a successful lawyer in modern Sri Lanka.
Mayadunne concludes her iconic work by mentioning that the descendants of Maha Vanniaththo later avoided Sri Lankan local politics due to its chaotic and parochial nature. May be, honesty runs in the family! By Somasiri Munasinghe
