Aba: A Distortion of Historical Probabilities

"The creator of art no doubt needs total freedom of imagination but he has to work within a frame of probability particularly when working on critical and sensitive areas such as history. Unless probability is thus established he cannot relate to his audience in a meaningful manner."

by Prof. N. A. de S. Amaratunga

(September 20, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Aba is a brilliant production as could be expected from its exceptionally capable director Jackson Anthony - a man held in high esteem for his many and varied talents. Yet the film carries a few distortions of historical probabilities that needs to be critically evaluated. These relate mainly to Pandukabaya’s ancestry and the character Cittaraja and therefore this note will be confined to those aspects of the film.

Cittaraja, a herdsman and Kalavela, a slave were suspected of being accomplices in the clandestine love affair of Unmadachithra, King Panduvasdev’s daughter and were beheaded by order of the King. In the film, this is not an ordinary execution and totally different from such events that took place during the time of Sri Lankan Kings. The scene is very much reminiscent of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Cittaraja carries a heavy log on his shoulder like the cross carried by Jesus Christ. There is heavy rain, lightening and thunder. The mourners wear hooded white robes. The wailing seems to reverberate on earth and heaven and divine anger is in the air! Cittaraja and Kalavela rise from the dead like Jesus Christ. Cittaraja’s apparition, posturing on top of a rock resembles the attitude adopted by the Christian God.

The question arises whether the above happenings are in keeping with the nascent civilization that was being built in the Island at the time of King Panduvasdev, about five hundred years before Jesus Christ was born. The religion that was in practice was Jainism and according to Mahawamsa there had been Nigantas and mendicant monks practising their religions. Is the film maker justified in introducing these Christian elements into the film "Aba" ?

It is not a minor feature that he has borrowed from Christianity to adorn his film. Here obviously Jackson Anthony attempts to develop a theory with deep meaning that could impact on the existing theories on the origin of the Sinhala nation. Though Christianity had not been founded at the time of Panduvasdev an omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent God could intervene regardless of time and place. God had been present from the beginning of the Universe and mankind. He could make His presence felt whenever and wherever it is needed. Thus when the budding Sri Lankan nation needed Him to protect Aba who was carrying the genetic material of the Yaksha tribe, the original inhabitants of the Island He decides to intervene.

The creator of art no doubt needs total freedom of imagination but he has to work within a frame of probability particularly when working on critical and sensitive areas such as history. Unless probability is thus established he cannot relate to his audience in a meaningful manner. In the film "Aba" Jackson Anthony has allowed his imagination to go beyond the frame of probability. This kind of over- imagination on a minor issue may not matter but in a mega film that examines a critical subject like the origin of a nation and the building of a civilization it could prove to be a major error.

Sri Lankans have come to believe that the spiritual force that built the Sri Lankan civilization was Buddhism and there is overwhelming evidence that this belief is correct. Before Mahinda Thera brought Buddhism to the Island Buddha had visited it three times. In the neighboring India Buddhism was practiced at the time of Panduvasdev. Therefore at least vestiges of Buddhism may have been present in Sri Lanka during that period. Hence Jackson Anthony’s imagination must travel along that path for then he would have been closer to what is probable. But unfortunately it has run in different direction altogether. "Aba" is totally void of Buddhist symbols and features. Nobody even wears anything that resembles a yellow robe!

The presence of Christian elements and the total absence of Buddhist features in a film that claims to delve into the beginning of a nation, which subsequently built a Buddhist civilization, is a major deviation from the probable events. If as Jackson Anthony imagines there had been the influence of a Christian God at the primordial stage, how is that Buddhism became the pervasive spiritual force subsequently? Why did the people so readily accept Buddhism and make it their guiding star and their way of life? If the primordium had been heavily under the influence of a Christian God then that influence should have prevailed. Devanampiyatissa would not have been convinced so easily.

The probabilities that are relevant here should be based on the chronicles, epigraphical evidence, folklore, myth and the subsequent unfolding of history as well. Jackson Anthony’s theory is not supported by any of the above and therefore he is not honest in the process of interpretation and in the imagination that stems from it. According to the chronicles there had been gods called devas to whom the Buddha had preached. Prince Pandukabaya had been protected by the ghosts of Cittaraja and Kalavela . It is perfectly in order to think that they were of the Yaksha tribe but it is a distortion of this probability to imagine that they were resurrected by the intervention of a Christian God.

This distortion, one has to think, has been introduced to support the other major deviation, which impinges on the existing theories of Pandukabaya’s origin and consequently the origin of the Sinhala nation itself. According to the Mahawamsa, Pandukabaya father was Dighagamini who was his mother’s cousin and it is seen that both his parents were of Aryan origin. His maternal grandmother Bhaddakaccana was from the Sakya community to which Buddha too belonged. Only his paternal grandmother could be from a non-Aryan community for she was the daughter of a king from Madras. The film "Aba" proposes that the child Aba carries the genetic material of the Yaksha tribe, the original inhabitants of the Island and therefore has to be protected from foreign invaders represented by his uncles. The question is: What is the origin or the source of this genetic material? The film obviously suggests that it is Cittaraja. But what is the evidence? The film does not provide any evidence whatsoever probably because there isn’t any. But Panduka the hermit categorically states that Aba carries the blood dhatu of the Yaksha tribe who are the original inhabitants. Here too the film has deviated from the evidence that is available and has disregarded the probability. The Yaksha tribe may have been assimilated into the Sinhala nation during King Pandukabaya’s time but there is no justification in distorting his origin and introducing a Christian element into his beginnings.- Sri Lanka Guardian