Rapiel
Tennekoon was poet, prose writer, scholar, historian and a founder member of
the kumaranatunga school of Sinhalese Scholarship, HELA HAVULA. In each of
these many roles he held a prominent place. As a historian, his views regarding
the beginning of the Sinhalese civilization take us far back to the time of
Ravana the Rakshasa King of Lanka.
He was born
at Walallavitigalla, Ganepola close to Negombo on 19th December
1890. He studied at Pannananda Buddhist missed school at Raddolugama. He learnt
Pali and Sanskrit under Rev. Pannananda Thero and English from Jayawardana, a
notary public.
After passing
his school Leaving Certificate Examination (8th standard) he was
enrolled as a pupil teacher at the same school.
He joined the
Teacher Training Collage, Nittambuwa in 1927. It was at that time, Munidasa
Kumaranatunga came as the Principal of the Training Collage. The meeting with
that eminent scholar was a historic event in the life of Repiel Tennakoon. He
was an ardent follower of Kumaranatunga who recognized his abilities. HELA
HAVULA was founded and Tennekoon became the key man in the organization. In recognition
of his talents, Kumaranatunga honored him by conferring upon him the honorific
title of Kivisuru.
After passing
out as a trained teacher, he taught at the Buddhist School of potupitiya
Maduluwawa, Dagonna and Kuligoda in the capacity of Principle. The last school
he served was Gangodawila. He was also the principal of Siddhartha Training
Collage, Balapitiya.
Rapiel
Tennekoon was essentially a poet. Vavuluwa was his first poems. A special
feature of this poem is that the verse in many places take the form of
dialogue. His other poems are Havilla, Da Vinaya, Pandu Ambula, Sak Pubuduwa,
Rpppe Andaraya, Mulutana Andaraya, Batimata, Gamayanaya and Sinhala Wamsaya.
Humour and satire are the main ingredients in books Havilla is a fine piece of
satire on the superstitious beliefs of the rural folk and their follies. Ape
Kavi andAsun Kavi are books on literary criticism. He has also written
commentaries on Guttilaya, Hansa Sandesaya, Gira Sandesaya, Salalihini
Sandeshaya and Sidat Sangarawa.
Yata Giya
Dawasa is a glimpse into Sri Lanka’s past. In this book, he questions the
validity of certain accepted views Anuradapura Pirihima and Ape Yatagiyawa are
the other two books on Sri Lanka’s history.
He died on
March 08.1965.
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