SRI CHANDRARATNA
MANAVASINGHE
In spite of his close
association with Colombo poets and his familiarity with their poetic tradition,
Sri Chandraratna Manavasinghe was a poet, who made an effort to deviate from
the familiar path and adopt an independent approach.
He was born on 19th
June 1913 at Puwakdandawa, Beliatta. His father was a village headman. He
attended Pannananda Vidyalaya, Beliatta fro his school education. G.P.
Piyadasa, a person well known in the area for his knowledge of Sinhala, Pali
and Sanskrit and the art of composing poems helped him to gain a knowledge of
those subjects. At the age of 12 he was ordained as a Buddhist monk at the
village temple where he continued to learn the oriental languages. During the
period that followed he disrobed once and re-entered the order and disrobed
gain.
As young man he went
to India. His stay in India gave him an opportunity to learn Bengali and Hindi
language and study Indian culture.
On his return to the
country, he became the editor of Hela Diva, a newspaper and in 1947, joined the
editorial staff of Lankadeepa. His writing talents came to be widely known as a
columnist. He wrote the poular column Vagathuga.
He became famous as a
lyric writer. Komala Rekha, Mee Kiri, Vesak Mihira, Guru Gedera Yana Ataramaga
Eth Gale Daru Pema, Mage Rata, Maha Bo Vannama, Poson Sivpada and Manikege Age
are some of his compositions. Manohari and Sepalika were the two operas written
by him.
The influence of
Rabindranath Thagore can be seen in some of his poems. He was also inspired to
some extent by Sinhala folk poetry. A distinguishing mark of Manavasinghe’s
poems is that he has med a conscious effort to ensure that he has made a conscious
effort to ensure that the words he used sound musical.
His death took place
on October, 1964.
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