Munidasa Cumaratunga - the consummate master of language and style

66th death anniversary:

Sandadas Coperahewa Deputy Leader Hela Havula Movement

At the present time, when there appears to be a lamentable lack of interest and total indifference towards the Sinhalese language, when even the educational authorities have failed to realise the importance of promoting and enriching the mother tongue, it is of paramount importance to find out the ground work, and the ground plan laid so well by the greatest genius of the Sinhalese language in his great ambition and emulation of rendering the yeoman service rendered to his language, (basa) race (rasa), (desa) the country.

Actually it is high time for the educationists, school authorities and the general public to take immediate steps to study the methodology of Cumaratunga diligently and critically to get the facility, clearness and elegancy to express in their mother tongue - and that is the main purpose for which they should be exercised in its thoroughly.

The Buddha in solemn words have emphasised this that there should be thoroughness in all the physical and mental thoroughness in human activities - signifying the significant meaning of the Pali word, Sakachehakari to complete successfully some specified activity quite well.

In other words to be successful in some specified capacity as a teacher, monk, doctor, writer, or as an administrator etc.

Study language

Jesus Christ stressed the same point in the following words: 'Whatever they findeth to do, do with all they might, for there is no wisdom nor a device in the grave, whither thou goest.' In this respect Cumaratunga's illustrious father laid the groundwork, and supplied the ground plan to study language to be a consummate master of it. Cumaratunga's all embracing love, regard and respect towards the Motherland, induced him to find ways and the means to enrich language (basa) to vitalise the race (rasa) and to illuminate the country (desa) rapped up in darkness.

Obstacles of life

The main characteristic feature of his life was the constancy of purpose - a constancy not baffled by his appointment nor warned out by delays, difficulties or obstacles of life. These factors, instead of discouraging him, charged his vibrant character, in an amazing manner.

These aroused in him a complete cognitive consciousness of his latent powers, as expressed by him.

This is an endowment he received from his beloved father. In solemn words he expressed this in Piya Samara (Remembering Father) verse I:

Asa vasu nusudussa sudussa pae

Basa no be pirunen aruthin resen

Vesa ginu sathuran mithuran lesek

Pubuduvada aho yali ma koda?

The eye that concealed the improper

And exposed what is proper

The words that were replete

With suggestion and sentiment complete

The outlook which treated

Friends and the foes peer,

When will you again my mind inspire?

Cumaratunga was in a position to visualise this fact only as a sure-footed poet. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) rightly observed how the suitable learning process paves the way for the maturity of the mind.

No man can learn what he has not preparation for learning, however near to his eyes is the object. A Chemist may tell his most precious secrets to a carpenter, and he can never be the wiser - the secrets he would not utter to a chemist for an estate. God screens us even more from a premature ideas.

Our eyes are holden that we cannot see things that stare us in the face, until the hour arrives when the mind is ripened; then we behold them, and the time when we saw them not is like a dream... not in nature but in man is all the beauty and worth he sees. The world is very empty, and is indebted to the gilding, exalting soul for all its pride. (Selective essays P. 70)

Scholastic genius

During his childhood, Cumaratunga was able to come into contact with the stimulating personality of J. W. Bultjens, St. Thomas' College, Matara Principal, where he was able to study up to the 7th standard. He failed to continue his studies owing to the unexpected changes that took place. He had to devote his time to a larger part of the ideas and activities predominant in his home and the neighbourhood.

It is at this stage that he was able to lay the foundations to the scholastic genius.

With interest he devoted most of his time to read the books forth in his father's library. He had vividly elaborated this in Piya Samara 'Remembering Father' - verses 107-108:

'Every paper, every journal,

Every book that saw the light of day,

You gathered and bound together,

They were in that house

Which we called our home.

Unaware am I now

Where their ashes are?

At the time I was at home

Doing nothing, with deepest interest

Did I read through every volume.

Your efforts did bear fruit,

If deeds are good results will be good.'

With the accumulation of knowledge from the father's library, Cumaratunga was induced to assimilate preliminary knowledge with the guidance of a erudite monk Kahave Ananda Thera who resided at Vavurukannala temple close by. It is in this association that he managed to acquire a knowledge in Sanskrit. Thus he was fortunate to breath a learned atmosphere, as others breath common air.

Sanskrit teacher

This habit of utilisation of well understood principles later paved the way for him to assimilate remarkable wisdom in Pali, Sanskrit, Sinhalese and the other allied languages.

As pointed out by Alfred North Whitehead (1861 - 1947) philosopher, mathematician, an educator - From the age of eleven onwards there is a gradually increasing concentration towards precise knowledge of language, finally the three years from twelve to fifteen should be dominated by a mass attack upon language so planned that a definite result in itself worth having is there by achieved.

In this particular period his contract with the towering personality of the father, his contact with St. Thomas' College, Matara, principal and the contact of his Sanskrit teacher, Kahave Ananda Thera, might have given a dynamic drive towards the assimilation of knowledge. As observed by Magaret Philips.

Stimulating personalities

In the Education of the Emotions', that children need to come into harmonious contact with stimulating personalities who are themselves the possessors of well developed objective interests and who will stimulate the child's belief in his own powers in similar directions.

In addition to these, stimulation towards various forms of bodily and the mental skill for arts, might arise from contacts with the environment as a tendency to stimulate bodily movements, and specially creative activity of aesthetic contemplation.

In the student - teacher - training - course that he actually laid the foundation for the most promising period of his life, as a brilliant student who surpassed others in innate talent, efficiency, and wide knowledge.

Utilisation of knowledge

As he passed all the exams with distinction, in 1909 he was appointed as the Head Master of the Bilingual Training College at Kadugannawa.

Taking into account his diverse talents, scholarship, administrative skill and towering personality, Educational Authorities appointed him as an Inspector of Schools in 1917.

He worked with enthusiasm, fervour and devotion to impart precise knowledge to students and teachers. Cumaratunga was aware of the fact education is the acquisition of art of the utilisation of knowledge.

At the same time, this procedure depended on diverse factors, but the peculiar genius of the teacher occupied a predominant place.

As pointed out by William James (1842-1918) as in so many other fields of teaching success depends on the native genius of the teacher the sympathy, tact, and perception which enables him to seize the right moment to set the right example.

Cumaratunga's exhilatory and exhortative educational methods, made use of at that time, paved way for the students, and teachers to acquire their aspirations and ambitions.

Great memory

Cumaratunga's erudite scholarship in Sinhalese, Pali and Sanskrit languages, and his avidity in the wide reading in English, and his fluency and versatility in rare speech - patterns, and above all his remarkable memory powers attracted their attention.

This is an outcome of his sustained attention driven to go ever important facts in his mind constantly comparing and contrasting a series of them to form a concept - system.

Referring to great memory powers William James has given a graphic pen picture of it.

The great memory for facts which a Darwin or a Spencer reveal in their books is ton incompatible with the possession on their part of a mind with only middling degree of physiological retentiveness.

Let a man early in life set himself the task of verifying a Theory as that of evolution, and facts will soon cluster and cling to him like grapes to their stem. Their relations to the Theory will hold these facts; and the more of these the mind is able to discern, the greater the erudition will become. (Talks to Teachers, by William James page 125, 1920).

After the retirement as an Inspector of Schools, the innovations brought about by Cumaratunga in the exhaustive treatment of Classical Texts (mostly prescribed for exams at that time) appear to be a significant factor in the Revivalist Movement of Language and Literature.

The Interpretative method that he has made use of in the Elegant Classical Texts like Ama Vathura, Daham Sarana and Saddharma Ratnavaliya, helped the students and especially the teachers to acquire a fully fledged language - literary - tradition full of expressiveness, effectiveness, clarity, precision and the richness of vocabulary. In these commentaries he has exhibited his many sided erudition in Sinhalese, Pali, Sanskrit and the other allied languages.

In most of these commentaries he has been quite cautious to avoid colloquialism, slang, cant and jargon that might have crept in owing to the false interpretations of the illiterate copyists, or scribes.

It is quite necessary for the readers to go through these commentaries too in order to assimilate knowledge, vocabulary and diction, rhetoric and grammar.

Creative work

There are 27 commentaries. New publications 17, and seven creative work. Teachers and students should pay special attention to the Kiyawana Nuwana Readers I-7, supplied as a remedial measure for the dearth of Sinhalese readers and for the scarcity of suitable Sinhalese books, Kiyawana Nuwana 6, June 1939 - December 1963, (14 impressions) Kiyawana Nuwana) 7 1941 - July November 1964 (II impression) All these readers amplified and provided the eager aspirations and the objectives of the students and teachers in a remarkable manner.

Sinhala Texts

When one goes through these Sinhala Texts prescribed by the Board of Education during the Colonial rule, - (Shiksha Margaya and Kiyawana Nuwana series) exerted a profound influence towards the all-round development of the child on the one hand, and the real awareness among the teachers on the other hand about the intellectual and moral virtue based on these texts. The very names of these texts bear ample proofs.

To be continued