News
Badulla village is fighting fit
PHI Jayaweera: Training villagers
Villagers in Koradekumbura, in Uva Paranagama are practising traditional martial arts, or Angam Pora, indigenous to the Uva Province to stay physically and mentally fit.
They are being seen as an exemplary community in a country where many suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetes, and conditions such as high blood pressure.
Regardless of the cold at dawn, children and seniors alike gather at a dusty patch to exercise under the tutelage of a karate exponent who is a retired public health inspector (PHI). Koradekumbura playground turns into an outdoor gym at 5.30 am for an hour. Apart from calisthenics, they are trained in martial arts indigenous to the Uva Province.
Koradekumbura has become known as the karate gammanaya, or karate village.
Aimed at schoolchildren, the morning physical exercises programme was started in August 2016 by retired PHI and karate instructor, Jayaweera Jayasundara. Then the seniors in the village joined in.
Villagers who have endured kidney ailments, strokes, arthritis, asthma claim to have regained their health after exercising regularly.
A J M Nandawathie, 67 said the villagers were mostly farmers. “When I was 49 years old, I suffered a stroke and was treated at the Badulla General Hospital.’’ Following the stroke she had been unable to work. “I had some difficulty breathing and felt pain in my chest. At the time, a physical exercise programme was started at Koradekumbura playground by PHI Jayasundara,’’ she recalls.
“We light up cadjan torches and gather at the playground at about 5.30 am every day. We exercise until 6:30 am. I am fortunate to have a healthy life now. When I consulted doctors at the Badulla General Hospital clinic they were surprised I was recovering fast. I was told it was due to the exercises.’’
76-year-old W S M Heen Menika: No more arthritis, no more cramps
K N P Konara said: “I retired as the principal of Koradekumbura Medaheena Vidyalaya. PHI Jayaweera held physical fitness sessions in the school. Villagers asked him to train everyone irrespective of age and gender. In response, adults joined, too. I joined in 2018. Today my high blood pressure has reduced. Now I am living a normal life.’’
He said PHI Jayasundara introduced the Uwa Satan Kalawa as well. “There are about 50 participants. I am a full-time participant. I am a pole-attacker and am also learning sword fighting. Now I am facing life with much enthusiasm. Retired people face the prospect of suffering from non-infectious diseases. These exercises and the Uwa Satan Kalawa help us overcome health problems.’’
W S M Heen Menika, 76, said she is a traditional farmer, and had suffered from arthritis and cramps, so she joined the karate lessons. “Now I am free of all these and doing the exercises just like a 20- or 30-year-old girl. I joined the martial arts team. I have participated in seven demonstrations.’’
Ven Dr Kotawehera Kashyapa said Badulla was famous as it was the kingdom of Rawana who is said to have built the first flying machine 6,000 years ago.
“In Uva there was a particular method of martial arts. Our elders say these had developed along with farming. Having studied animals fighting they had created a form of martial arts. Since people went to the battlefield from their paddy fields they used to take implements such as the mammoty, knife, sickle, and pestles as weapons.’’
The Thera said that in 1818, in the freedom fight, British armies fell to the attackers of Uva, and the British rulers prohibited the Uva martial arts in 1821 by a gazette notification. “Some of these martial arts techniques were then added to dancing. Since they were included in dancing performed for deities, they could still be seen at Paththini, Sandun Kumatu temples in villages in Welimada and Uwa Paranagama.’’ The efforts of Mr Jayasundara to re-create ancient martial arts and bring them to their former glory is commendable, the Thera said.
Mr Jayasundara said: “Those from age 5 years up can join. Simple exercises have helped patients take control of their diseases. Villagers have also switched to traditional food. Businessmen in the village have stopped selling instant food, alcohol and cigarettes. Now they sell food such as green gram. Our village is working with a village in Japan and has been selected for the competition ‘the best popular healthy karate friendship village in the world 2020’’’.