SAGARA PALANSURIYA
The parents
gave him the name Mohottalage Dingiri Mahatmaya; In robes he was Kalal Elle
Ananda Sagara.
His penname
was KEAS which denotes Kalal Elle Ananda Sagara and finally the name Sagara
Palansuriya stuck to him.
Born on
11.03.1908 at Kalal Elle Wellandura in the Rathnapura District, He had his
preliminary education at the Boys’ school, Atakalan Korale. At the age of 11 he
entered the order of Bhikkhus as a Samanera (novice) for his further education
he went to Santi Nikethan in India.
He taught for
some time at Vidyodaya Pirivena, Ananda Collage and Nalanda Collage. Thereafter
as an English trained teacher he served Prince of Wales Collage, Moratuwa,
Maliyadeva Collage, Kurunegala and for a short spell in Jaffna. In 1956, he
contested at the parliamentary general election and was elected M.P for Horana.
He was also co-ordinator, Research Department of the University of Kalaniya.
At the start
of his literary career he was a regular contributor of poems to Dinamina, Silumina,
Shinhala Bauddhaya and Sinhala Jathiya. Many were the topics on which he
composed lines. Unlike many other poets of his period, he had a fancy for
writing narrative poems. Through his works he wanted to tell a simple story. To
this group of stories in poems belong Sudo Sudu, Malhamy and Kala kanniya.
Sudo Sudu
first narrative poems he wrote. It is a shadow of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Enoch
Arden. The story has been sent in a rural background. It is woven around a love
triangle, the main characters of which are Heen Menike, Tikiri and Adiri, His
next narrative poems were Malhamy which again is an adaptation of William
Wordsworth’s Michal. It is a collection of seven stories. It tells the story of
a rural youth leaving his home and migrating to Colombo where he loses his
identity as a villager and becomes westernised. Kalakanniya is another story in
verse. To the class of adaptations from the West belongs Kandegedara. It has
closely followed Dora written by Alfred Tennyson a Victorian English poets. Some
of his other composition are Visivuna Tharu, Paminima, Mala Devola,
Punarikshana, Chaya, Piyavara Lakuna, Dhivari Gitaya, Jamma Dayadaya, Kana
Unda, Igilena Sihinaya and Sirima. Kelani Vitti is an account of Kelaniya.
The influence
of English Romantic poets can be clearly seen in most of his poems. The stories
of the west have been modified to suit the local social environment. In his
poems he has made an effort to use the language spoken by rural folk. However,
it seems that the refinement so important in poetry is lacking in his handling
of rural usage. Yet by introducing the form of narrative poems, using a form of
language that did not stir the readers merely by sound and by departing form
the conventional themes, Sagara Palansuriya’s contribution to Sinhalese
literature bears a distinctive mark
He died on
21.06.1961 at the age of 53.
No comments:
Post a Comment