bunpeiris Literature

Question [Undergraduate level. B.A. in English, Sri Lanka]
“Uprooted”, English translation of Sinhalese Gamperaliya is an authentic portrayal of the sweeping social transformation that took place in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in the mid-20^th century, subsequent to the collapse of the feudal system. Discuss.
Answer
Written by bunPeiris of Moratuwa.

It is true “Uprooted” of realistic fiction genre is an authentic portrayal of the sweeping social transformation that took place in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in the mid-20^th century subsequent to the collapse of the feudal system. But then, that is not all. It also depicts the rise of English educated bourgeois in the western, southwestern, southern coastal belt of the island.

Don Martin Wickramasinghe‘s (1890-1976) “Uprooted”, a novel [2] of profound humanity, originally written in Sinhalese,is authentic, not only by virtue of its originality butalso by its stark realism. Its sociological realism and historical realism are unmistakable.The opening volume of the landmark Sinhalese trilogy rolls out of Koggala, a long stretch of Coconut palm fringed southern coastal village, bounded by Koggala River on north and a reef of Indian Ocean to the south. In spite of the merciless jackboots of the exploitative British colonialists (1815-1948), during their period of sway, traditional feudal system of Ceylon imposed by the Kandyan kings (1687-1815), prior to the capitulation to the British in 1815, was dealt a blow: in 1833 The Colebrooke–Cameron Commission abolished traditional feudalism in British Ceylon. Upward social mobility was allowed, albeit the opportunities were marginal, since traditions imposing heredity occupations based on cast system had been done away.

However, in place of the feudal lords, a distinctive crop of aristocracy appeared in the form of native colonial officers called “Rate Mahattaya” (Sinhala: head of the region) in the central highlands and the Mudliayars [1] and Muhandiram in the western, south-western and southern coastal belt and Jaffna peninsula. The origin of these local administrative posts runs back to era when Portuguese (1505-1656) held sway in the coastal lines. The system took roots during the era of Dutch (1656-1796). The British (1796-1948) who forced out the Dutch by stratagem found the social system to their advantage too. These officers “were not independent chieftains rewarded with feudal style grants of land in the form of fiefs. Rather, they were originally ‘Nobodies,’ ‘Subordinate members of the colonial bureaucracy,’ who had been given small grants of land called accomodessans” (Jayawardena 22,23)

In 1930 administrative powers of these native colonial officers were withdrawn following the closure of Native Department of the British Ceylon. Titles became mere honors sans dividends. In 1956, 8 years after the independence from the British, even the titles of honors were suspended. Nevertheless, by virtue of their inherited wealth, new generation of sons of some of these the former native administrative officers were educated in the British Christian missionary schools in the western, south-western and southern coastal belt and American missionary schools in the northern Jaffna peninsula. The English medium private schools produced an elite English speaking class, some of whom would later study at the universities of England including of Oxford and Cambridge and since 1942 at universities of Ceylon. These members of elite education from the western, south western, southern coastal belts and Jaffna peninsula would join Ceylon Civil Service, Legislative and State councils.

Nevertheless, devoid of the administrative powers and thereby the regular income, some of the aristocrats, were not able to adapt to the evolution of the society, began to decline in stature. Therein is the background to “Uprooted”. Therein is Wickramasinghe’s precise and definitive setting of the novel: “It was a day in April 1904.” Tissa in Gamperaliya, the only son of Muhandiram was not able to complete his education in English at the Christian missionary college in Galle, one of the bastions of coastal belt education in English medium, following the death of his father.

During this period also emerged an English educated bourgeois, from the same coastal belts of Ceylon, who got themselves educated in private English medium missionary schools amidst financial difficulties. While some of them would join government service, others prospered in business by their sheer will in enterprise: from nobodies to somebodies. Gradually, the bourgeois populace gathered momentum to rise in social strata to be on par with aristocracy in wealth and in learning. In “Uprooted” the protagonist, Piyal of “lowly social status” whose grandfather was a pingo [two baskets slung from the ends of a pole borne on shoulder”] carrying vegetable seller becomes an English educated school master. He would not be content. He goes on to make great strides in social and financial stature to become an exceedingly successful private company owner in Colombo: from a nobody to somebody.

There in the novel is potrayed the beginning of social transformation in then Ceylon: the new, enterprising rich rising to be on par with old, formerly feudal rich. The novel ‘Uprooted” is an attempt to portray this social transformation in Ceylon by the microcosm of the mansion house of Don Adirian Kaisaruwatte Muhandiram, “an elder of the land-owning class of village gentry, with a lineage going back to many generations.” (Wickramasinghe). Wickramsinghe seems to suggest that the Don’s lineage runs as far back to Portuguese in Ceylon.

In a novel devoid of antagonists, the main protagonists is Piyal, the handsome English school master shot out of the humble roots at banks of Koggala river and Nanda, lissome daughter of rapidly declining ancestral house of the Muhandiram of the region. Muhandiram’s honorary status brings in social leadership to both himself and his wife, Matara Hamine [Sinhala:Madam Matara]. In a village wherein everyone is known to the other, Piyal’s proposal of marriage to his student Nanda is looked down with vehement contempt by the Mahagedera [Sinhala: ancestral home] of Muhandiram: “Who will give anyone in marriage to the like of such fellows?” (Wickramasinghe) Although Piyal is “such a good man and so learned,” (Wickramasinghe) his “lowly origin” (Wickramasinghe 31) results in the outright rejection of the marriage proposal.

The mere proposal of a person belonging to lower stratum, even though it is from an English educated Sinhalese Buddhist gentleman, is an affront to the family lineage of mansion House of Mahagedera. Instead of showing the readers to make their own deductions, Wickramsinghe tells. Though the novel, written by an English educated prolific writer, is popularly upheld as the very first Sinhalese novel in the genre of realistic fiction, as opposed to the novels of best-selling genres (mystery, detective, romance, historical, adventure and satire) of novelist Wellawattearachchige Abraham Silva [ W. A. Silva] (1890-1957) [3] and the Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist writer Piyadasa Sirisena (1875-1946) who strived to presever Sinhalese Buddhist culture of the island. presented Sinhalese Buddist culture of the ancient island. Nevertherless Gamperaliya falls short in literary techniques adopted by the western English novelists. The writer goes extra miles, takes pains to elaborate on the virtue of Mahagedera:

“It was not to flaunt feelings of superiority that the elders of the Kaisaruwatte family [House of Muhandiram] clung to the traditions of their patrician lineage, but for self-preservation of themselves and their way of life, now declining in the face of social change. It was their inability to adapt to change due to the rigidity of their adherence to tradition that was also the cause of their decline. Extinction is the inevitable lot eventually of all living things where their inheritance has ceased to be of adaptive value in self-preservation.” (Wickramasinghe 30)

In the process, the writer makes the cardinal sin of making theme of the novel explicit: resistance to evolution of social system is bound to become a failure. Wickramasinghe’s theme is universal. Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa in his novel The Leopard chronicles the changes in Sicilian life and society during the Italian unification that began in 1848 makes one of characters say, “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” (Lampedusa 40). Mahagedera devoid of income could have retained its social position only if it had given Nanda in marriage to up and coming English educated school master in the first offer itself. The folly committed by Mahagedara is not in isolation. Such follies were widespread to such an extent then, Sri Lanka’s foremost novelist  and the translator of Maharishi Valmiki’s Ramayana to Sinhalese, W. A. Silva [3] makes a mockery of  this aristocratic class in his “Radala Piliruwa”(Sinhala: The Aristocratic Image), first ever Sinhalese novel in the genre of satire.

Piyal, in his bitterness, leaves his backwater village of Koggala for Colombo, the capital city of Ceylon to become a clerk in a private enterprise. Nanda is given in marriage to Jindasa of her social class, yet of another declining house. A man sans income, Jinadasa settles down at the home of his wife. Jinadasa too had failed to secure English education in spite of belonging to the local gentry. The bankruptcy of mahagedera is symbolized by the effect of monsoon rain upon the ancient mansion that has not been repaired for long decades:
“Matara Hamine … fetched an empty brass spittoon from inside the house and positioned it on the wet floor to catch the water dripping from the roof.” Once again, as if the symbolization of decline of the house would not convince the reader, Wikramasinghe lets his voice go loud: “The leaks in the roof had contributed to the hastening of the inevitable decay of Mahagedera.” (Wickramasinghe 60)

Following the death of Jinadasa who succumbed to Malariya, while striving his hand in rural business in Bibile, a poverty stricken rural area of Ceylon, Matara hamine agrees to give widowed Nanda in marriage to Piyal, who within 6 years of his departure from the village, had become a highly successful and wealthy company owner in Colombo. The mansion house’s resistance to the new rich, could not be sustained in view of their rapid decline in wealth in the absence of a well-educated son, as in the situations of the great majority of other families of village gentry of then Ceylon.

In reality, the feudal system that existed in the form of village collapsed. Yet their sons rose up in a new avatar of English educated elite class. Some of them went on to become highly successful pioneers of new company based enterprise. But then they were not alone. They were accompanied by the bourgeois: English educated sons of those commoners who once earned their living by the sweat of their brow.

It is true ‘Uprooted” vividly portrays the sweeping social transformation of the western, southwestern and southern coastal belt. But the self-same social transformation was not so much as the collapse of feudal system as the emergence of English educated bourgeois that consisted of lawyers, government servants, private company owners, private company employees and school masters from the general populace, the hoi polloi.

Works Cited

Jayawardena, Kumari. “Nobodies to Somebodies, The Rise of the Colonial Bourgeoise in Sri Lanka.” Colombo 5: The Social Scientists’ Association and Sanjiva Books, 2000.

Lampedusa, Giuseppe di. The Leopard. Trans. Archibald Colquhoun. 20. New York: Pantheon, 1991.

Wickramasinghe, Martin. “Uprooted.” Trans. Lakshmi De Silva. 5. Rajagiriya: Sarasa (Pvt.) Ltd., 2017.

Footnotes

[1] “The Mudliayars were no aristocrats in the strict sense of the term, since they were not descendants of nobility that had derived power and patronage of earlier Kings of Sri Lanka. They were, rather, Low-country Sinhalese who first rose to real prominence during colonial rule, with a record of loyal service to the Portuguese, Dutch and subsequently to the British rulers. The land, as well as privileges and titles they thereby acquired had enabled them to assume a ‘feudal’ lifestyle and establish their position in the Low-country as the ‘leading’ Sinhalese families. Thus their status could only be defined in terms of the foreign rulers who created aristocracy for their own purposes. As Peebles has pointed, they were not independent chieftains rewarded with feudal style grants of land in the form of fiefs. Rather, they were originally ‘Nobodies.’ ‘Subordinate members of the colonial bureaucracy,’ who had been given small grants of land called accomodessans. (Jayawardena 22,23)

[2] Gamperaliya was made into movie by Lester James Peiris (5 April 1919 – 29 April 2018). Peiris, the doyan of Sinhala cinema He too was educated in England as was his father Dr. James Francis Peiris, who studied medicine in Scotland was also a cricketer for a Scottish club. His mother, Ann Gertrude Winifred Jayasuria, was the first graduate of St. Bridget’s Convent in Colombo. The Peirises was a staunch Roman Catholic family that had become Anglicised. Growing up, Peiris only spoke English at home and celebrated Christian traditions. His only link to Sinhala culture was his grandmother who never trusted Western medicine and spoke perfect Sinhalese.

[3] W. A. Silva‘s novels covered the full range from mystery (“Lakshmi”) through historical novels, more particularly “Sunethra” and “Vijayaba Kollaye” to romantic novels, “Kele Handha” and “Hingana Kolla”, detective stories (“Julihatha” and “Ridi Havadiya”) and “Radala Piliruwe”, a satirical novel a romantic novel. The language too varied from the complex in “Lakshmi” to the straightforward simple language of the romances.

He was not a modern full-time writer. He had taken up employment as a junior clerk in a private enterprise in Colombo and it was in his spare time that he engaged in his literary studies and in writing. It was thus some twelve years after his first novel that W. A. Silva began his second novel “Lakshmi” which he completed three years later (1922). It was with much unrelenting expending of energy and sense of purpose that W.A. Silva wrote his novel “Lakshmi”. The language in this book is close to the ancient prose form found in the Buthsarana. It contains flowery language that mimics the style found in Sanskrit verse. W.A. Silva was disappointed that it did not sell in view of his attempt to introduce a new genre to the Sinhalese readers in the line of Ryder Haggard’s She or Immortal Queen.

It was when thus disillusioned that he wrote “Hingana Kolla” (The beggar boy). W.A. Silva was quoted as having said, “What the readers want is not gourmet food, but pol kudu, so this time I am giving them pol kodu“[ pulp of grated coconut once all the juice or milk was squeezed out]. Hingana Kolla, was not of superior quality. Nevetherless, it became an overnight best sellers. W.A. Silva won through it the fame that did not come through Lakshmi.

[4] By the end of the 19th century, a new educated social class transcending race and caste arose through British attempts to staff the Ceylon Civil Service and the legal, educational, and medical professions. New leaders represented the various ethnic groups of the population in the Ceylon Legislative Council on a communal basis.