‘Pelaviya’ - A rare gem in Singhalese literature

By Helasingha Bandara

(July 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The purpose of this article is to express the sincere feelings of an ordinary reader of a Singhalese novel entitled ‘Pelaviya’. This is not in anyway meant as a literary critique.

Pelaviya (denotes darkness), a novel written by Sumana Aloka Bandara came to my hand as a surprise, consequential of an accidental meeting with its author at a funeral of the mother of a mutual friend. I had not read a Singhalese novel for at least 30 years. The number of them that I had read before that time as a school boy was very limited too. Except for the classics like Wijayaba Kollaya, Avichara Samaya, and a few more of that calibre I had read a few melodramatic novels of that era. Those melodramas did not motivate me to read more. Besides, I was a constant learner of different subjects. Academic activities left very little time for the reading of creative writing. A gap of about thirty years obviously is a hindrance to start reading something written in Singhalese. Although I had decided to read ‘Pelaviya’ out of respect for the author I had plenty of excuses to postpone reading. Explaining what ‘mentoring’ is Liz Jackson had said “We learn from our mistakes but it is sometimes better to let someone else makes them first and learn from theirs”. So I gave the book to my wife to read first.

She finished the book in quick time and said it was excellent. She is a person of few words and her ‘Excellent’ was not enough to get me going. Days passed by and my guilt of not attempting to read the book grew heavier. Sumana’s generosity and kindness in presenting this book to me began haunting me. The occasional harsh reminders of my wife added fuel to fire. As a result on the night of Monday 13 July 2009 I finally sat down to read the book. Did I ever think that I would keep on reading until the following morning! To my own disbelief and my wife’s I finished the 262 page book by the morning of the 14th. I had to go to work after a sleepless night, yet I did not feel tired. I felt that some sort of a melancholic ecstasy had shrouded my soul and I am still carrying this feeling even at this very moment while I am writing this article. It is an incredible feeling.

This book has reminded me of my language, culture, religion, our people and their lives and thought processes. The supreme imagination of the writer made me realise how far I have removed myself from my own things. He taught me that poverty stricken lives of the people he portrays make them what they are with jealousy, greed and the likes. Underneath of that superficial outlook they are kind, loving and caring, virtues rarely found in urban societies in modern Sri Lanka.

When I read Gustav Flaubert’s Madam Bovary, a theme completely different from that of ‘Pelaviya’, I concluded that I had not left out a single word of the book as every word made an important contribution to the entirety of the book. I believe that reading of ‘Pelaviya’ is the only other occasion in my life that I did not leave out a single word. Every word has been chosen with care, every sentence has been constructed with a purpose in mind and every phrase has been used with incredible knowledge of the area, the culture and the religion of the inhabitants of the area. I could not afford to leave out anything at all.

From a simple theme of feeling of love between two teenagers that did not last more than a second and got nowhere, the author has created an enormous story that conveys true messages about the cotemporary society in Sri Lanka. His knowledge about the lives, the language, the religion and the culture of the subjects of his novel is incomparable. His creative power to anticipate the thought process of his characters is poignantly penetrative. In addition, it is an addictively readable happy story about someone becoming a good human being, with a touch of sadness about the inevitabilities of poor people’s lives. Yet it made me read with a lump in my throat all throughout although by no means it is a tear-jerker.

In my opinion all Sri Lankans should read this book. Every one from the Sath Korale should keep a copy in their houses for the future generations. This is not a simple novel but a metaphorical museum that records an ancient vernacular a beautiful idiom, a remote but fascinating culture and enchanting religious observations that are fast disappearing even from rural Sri Lanka.

-Sri Lanka Guardian