Victor Rathnayaka, the veteran singer who was loved by millions of Sri Lankans was subjected to a malicious culture-based hate campaign mainly by the social media for veering his way of life.
by Helasingha Bandara
“Culture” (Sanskruthiya) in an Asian context is a term that lingers on the lips of every academic, religious practitioner, politician, social philosopher and especially every hypocrite. The Singhalese believe that Singhala Sanskruthiya (Singhalese Culture) is supreme and the followers must dedicate an entire life to preserve that culture. No effort has been made to explain what that culture is or whether that culture is supreme in its entirety or partially, whether there are aspects of the culture that are harmful to human existence.
Cambridge Dictionary definition of culture is “the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time”
Despite the simplicity of the dictionary definition of a wider and more complex concept, the phrase “at a particular time “within the definition conveys a very significant message. Times are changing. With that everything else is changing. A so-called sublime culture becomes ridiculous and harmful if it remains static.
Although my wish is for this article not to sound like an academic discourse, it is imperative to go into a bit more detail about culture to enable a comparison between the wider meaning and the narrower understanding of the concept among the majority of the general public. Amongst a plethora of academic definitions of culture, the following is preferred as it is closely related to the core subject of this article.
“Culture is a system of values and norms that are shared among a group of people and that when taken together constitute a design of living” (Zvi Namenwirth & Robert Weber). They considered values to be abstract ideas - what groups believe to be right, good and desirable. Values include individual freedom, truth, justice, honesty, loyalty, social obligations, collective responsibility, gender roles, love, sex, marriage and so on. Despite the complexities involved in the understanding of culture and how it is influenced by other components such as religion, language, history, literature, education, economic and social philosophies etc. of a society, we have narrowed our understanding of culture to love, sex and marriage. Any deviation from the age-old beliefs in those areas would be considered a grave crime and the whole society condemns that individual, disregarding “individual freedom” that is also a strong constituent aspect of the same culture.
Victor Rathnayaka, the veteran singer who was loved by millions of Sri Lankans was subjected to a malicious culture-based hate campaign mainly by the social media for veering his way of life. The campaign brought misery upon a loving family that fell apart to the extent that a reconciliation seemed impossible.
It was Victor’s second marriage. Even within Sri Lanka, a second marriage is quite normal today. A personal example is two of my own brothers married twice each and two of my brothers-in-law married twice each as well. About three generations ago, marrying a second, after the demise or separation of the first was absolutely normal. My maternal grandmother had one sibling and he was by a different father. My paternal grandfather had a sibling and he was by a different father too. Hundreds of thousands of examples can be found in support of this point. After living many years alone since the demise of his wife and waiting for his children to reach maturity, Victor, like any other normal human being married again, causing a scandal of gigantic proportions. His individual freedom, entitlement to human rights, needs as a normal human being were disregarded in the pretext of preserving a sublime Singhala Sanskruthiya.
The culture-bound animosity ripped apart a close-knit family. His children, though matured, fell victim to the pressures of the culture. The unfortunate outcome was the inevitable agony of separation from loved ones. The opportunists and the hypocrites took advantage of the situation and made it almost impossible for a loving couple to lead a peaceful and normal life.
The influence of the outside world under the guise of culture, changed his children beyond recognition. They, being made to be blinded by hate and greed, failed to recognise the reasoning behind their father’s decision to remarry. Culture became the unseen enemy that also blinded thousands of others not to see that marrying a second time is quite normal irrespective of the age difference. They were consenting adults after all.
Victor finally lost his talented son who also was popular among millions of fans. His absence at the funeral of his son reignited a second wave of rage and abuse. Could he go to his son’s funeral? If he participated, the hypocrites would say that he had no right to come to a funeral of a son with whom he had severed contact. When he did not, they said how could he be a father. Which way for him to turn?
It is time for us to rethink and reshape our way of life. Culture is a way of life of a particular group of people at a particular time. That time is now and our beliefs have to change with time.
Victor has sung great songs such as Thotupala Ayine, Thani Tharuwe, Muthuwarusawata etc. Incredibly difficult songs that have very strong melodies that another singer cannot emulate. His service to Sri Lanka’s culture, to the same paradoxical culture, is magical, immeasurable and immortal. The graceful silence he maintained before the devastating adversary raises his greatness beyond any popularity that he has enjoyed so far.
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