Plus

Mother – A perennial folk theme

Mother’s day falls today
By Carlton Samarajiwa

Badagini vela mama giya kala puthuge geta
Maenalaa vee pathak dunnayi mallakata
Gandoo nogandoo kiyalaa hithuni mata
Maenalada puthey kiri dunne mama numbata

I was hungry and visited the home of my son;
He gave me a measure of paddy in a bag;
To take or not to take it, that was my question;
Did I measure out the milk from my breast to feed you, my son?

One of the best-known Sinhala folk poems, this is one that is unsurpassed for the sense of grief and poignancy it evokes. Time has not dulled its effect or withered its appeal. A bitter lament over filial impiety, its heart-rending pathos have echoed and re-echoed through our minds over the years.

This poem is not a sermon, and the folk poet does not moralize. Using a most striking dramatic situation, he conveys a deeply felt human emotion: in this case, a mother’s sense of grief and despair at a son’s ingratitude – maternal care forgot, mother’s milk remembered not.

In sharp contrast in content to the above is our next poem, which expresses the gratitude of a son. He lists her mother’s good deeds and expresses the supremest wish for her – nirvanic bliss, may she attain Nibbana.

Duk vinda dasa masa usulaa
vaedu daeyi ape ammaa
Andun thelin nithi sarasaa
aethikala daeyi amma
Rasa pala vaela nelaa dikee
rakshaa kala amma
Sathara apaavala noipadee
nivan dakin amma

The Sinhala folk poem bestows on Mother a venerated place. In the folk idiom she is “Gedera Budun” – the Buddha of the Home, and this is why the folk poet has sung so much in praise of AMMA in warm, glowing, evocative terms.

“Let my mother be my mother in all my future births” is the prayer of the child who sings:

Udin yanna ran thaetiyak laebeeyan
Bimin yanna muthu kudayak laebeeyan
Thaniyama yana kalata pirivara laebeeyan
Magey amma matuvath mata laebeeyan
May she have a golden chariot to rise into the skies
May she have a parasol of pearls to walk upon the earth
May she have a retinue to protect her when alone
And may she become my mother each time I am re- born.
“May it be my good fortune to have my mother in all my future births in Samsara” is the wish uttered and expressed in this poem.

Vaelley pipena bim mal vaasanaavan
Golley pipena pin mal vaasanaavan
Poya daata pun sanda vaasanaavan
Jaatheeth apey amma vaasanaavan

“Amma” is the two-syllabic utterance of all of us in times of grief, in times of suffering – in fact, almost always. Our next poem makes an invocation, an appeal, to Mother, either for assistance or for inspiration. There is no substitute for Mother: nor is there a substitute for a mother’s food. No other food satisfies a child’s hunger like the food cooked by Mother – “Anun deepu bath bada nopireyi amme.”

Kiri madhu vael kiri madhu vael kiri amme
Apith kirata andanaa lamayin amme
Anun deepu bath bada nopireyi amme
Aeaetha indan mata anda gahapan amme
There are few situations in a child’s life when it can do without Mother’s help, says this poem.

Amme amme mata kirambata yanta baehae
Kirin veley thada avvee into baehae
Koota galey pol ambaraa kanta baehae
Gadol linde diya aedalaa bonta baehae

Our final poem in celebration of “Mothers’ Day”sees the death of a mother as the beginning of all sorrow. Line by line it builds up a mood of hapless melancholy and pathos.

Nethata vila thamayi kandulaeli vaegireema
Kayata bala thamayi rasa aethi kiri beema
Maruta bala thamayi leda duk aethiveema
Dukata mula thamayi vaedu mava miya yaama

The tears that flow form a well in the eyes,
Mother’s milk is the fount of bodily strength,
Sickness and suffering are a summons to death,
And a mother’s death is the beginning of all sorrow

This is good, loving, honest Sinhala folk poetry, resonant with the best that the human spirit can bring to life. This is poetry of simple admiration, warm affection and honest appraisal. For how much longer will they be sung and remembered, we might ask. Is it doomed to become a forgotten thing of the past?

Top to the page  |  E-mail  |  views[1]
SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend
 
Other Plus Articles
Reel back in time and fact
Most of our cops – traffic police especially – are unfit to wear a uniform -- Letter to the editor
Today’s a special day -- Letter to the editor
April 5, Easter Sunday 1942: When I heard the mighty roar from above -- Letter to the editor
Uncle played a major role in making Zahira College a centre for Muslim education -- Appreciation
A blessed sister who brought tranquillity wherever she went -- Appreciation
PC who fought his cases hard and long, but the fight was clean all the way -- Appreciation
Earthquakes, volcanoes and Sri Lanka’s vulnerability
Booming rock creates lot of heat
Destruction of sanctuary new chapter in war on Kokkilai
Romancing the Raj
Still the simple, sturdy old world charm
Making it on merit
Bigger picture behind ‘making’ beauties
The greatest Googly (n) ever bowled?
Concise and lucid, with some emphasis on clinical teaching
How they saw Reality: Buddha and scientists
From pregnancy to parenting
Those were the days when tram cars plied the roads
Mother – A perennial folk theme
On the road again: Stage 3 of the Marine Drive project gets into top gear
Building bridges, breaking barriers
Lankan professors of Hong Kong Uni bestowed Endowed Professorships
Events

 

 
Reproduction of articles permitted when used without any alterations to contents and a link to the source page.
© Copyright 2010 | Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.Colombo. Sri Lanka. All Rights Reserved.| Site best viewed in IE ver 6.0 @ 1024 x 768 resolution