Untitled Document

By Susantha Goonatilake

A Pongu Sinhala - Buddhist Vesak
The crowds in all the Pongu Thamil meetings are induced, like ruling party
meetings in the South where an audience is bussed in and other carrots thrown in. The inducements in the Pongu Thamil meetings are stronger. It is often an order with the threat of Tiger violence always in the air. In Trincomalee, I heard that the much celebrated Pongu Thamil there with the provocative picture of Catholic priests marking out the future boundaries of Tamil Eelam was again a transported crowd.

But what drew large audiences, live, as well as in the electronic media were the Vesak celebrations. It illustrates one of the hoary givens of social science namely that unintended effects of actions may far outweigh overt, declared outcomes. The declared outcome of the MoU is surrender to the fiction of traditional homelands by a defacto handing over of a merged North and East to a totalitarian outfit. But the opening up of closed spaces, illustrated by Vesak would probably give lie to this government acquiescence to Tiger kappan . Let me explain. This was the first Vesak after a long time without barriers in areas outside the Wanni. Some TV channels broadcast live Vesak from the most unusual sites. These included Seruwila, antirimalai, Sri Pada and Anuradhapura, all with Sinhala-Buddhist histories at least 2,300 years old. Another channel had discussion programmes on history. The general commentary was all Sinhala Buddhist history, including in so-called Tamil areas. Rupavahini covered the thousands who flocked to the 2,200-year-old Seruwila near Trincomalee, deep in Tiger claimed territory. Ten days earlier, I had personally heard from the chief monk there that he provided medicines to all in the area Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims alike. Yet, the Tigers had made no less than six attempts on his life. The Seruwila TV Vesak coverage had a well informed commentary which gave details of inscriptions, ruined temples, ports and numerous historical references. In short, the programme was a lie to the whole Tamil traditional homelands project.

Here, the MoU by allowing in again direct evidence was delivering its opposite.
The TNL programme from Tantirimalai, an area often attacked by bands of roaming Tigers had a similar debunking effect. Through detailed descriptions in the broadcast, histories from the 3rdC BC were told and retold. Mention was made of the bringing of the Mahabodhi - a Tiger target - via the port Jambukola Pattana in Jaffna peninsula. It was an unintended puncturing of artificial myths concocted over the last few decades by a well paid local and foreign industry.

The ITN programme from the epi-centre Anuradhapura, especially the broadcast from the Ruwanveli Seya, covered a large slice of the Sinhala Buddhist heritage. It was again a telling and retelling of an inheritance. Meanwhile, the discussion programme on Swarnavahini on the Sinhala heritage dealt with the Kavantissa period, the father of Dutugemunu. All these delivered electronically a continuous flow of historical memory to this nation; one possessing the most reliable history in the South and South East Asian region of nearly two billion people. But, it was the festivities along Bauddhaloka Mawatha that had the largest live response.

Police estimate that half a million flocked to Colombo for Vesak . A high percentage would have walked through Bauddhaloka Mawatha, closed to traffic.

Traffic blocks extended for miles and going a few hundred yards took hours. Most jam-packed was the live show at the BMICH grounds; others saw the elaborate Vesak lantern exhibition along the road. The live show broadcast on state TV, was a multi media event, simultaneously, a giant pandal, a TV projection, dance and music and a play - actually a play within a play - all combined into one historical whole.

The theme of the multi media event was the coming of the Dalada from India and its vicissitudes in the centuries hence as the national palladium of the country. It did not show the Tiger attack or the recent Sunday Observer assault on the Dalada but it traced the Dalada Hamuduruwo's wanderings as the Sri Lanka capital shifted from place to place often to protect it from invaders.

It projected on screen the various ruins of ancient buildings which housed it as the capital shifted from Anuradhapura, through Polonnaruwa, Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa, Kurunegala and Kandy. Reconstructions of these were shown in the pandal. Attending the displays was a grandfather telling his grandson of the Dalada's history. Interspersed were staged scenes from the past.

A continuous subtext was the disunity of the country which led to past historical reverses. The disunity in the national family was displayed by three quarreling siblings dressed in UNP green, SLFP blue and JVP red. Interestingly no Tiger or other colours, the family was a Sinhala Buddhist one. This state show ended with the grandfather telling the young boy that it was his turn now to defend the Dalada, code for the country's heritage. The finale was heart rending.

There is a theory that this largest of recent Vesak show was state managed to deflect nationalist criticism of the government. It probably was.

But it illustrated the fact that one could attempt to cut the Sinhala-Buddhist heritage out and replace it with fiction but could not prevent truth bobbing up in the most unexpected of places. Vesak illustrated this triumph of truth over fiction. It was actually a "Pongu"-Sinhala-Buddhist rally, where people of all ethnic groups celebrated Sinhala-Buddhist inclusiveness.

I saw at Dematagoda, a Tamil family grinning from ear to ear rushing across the traffic and at Wattala, a Catholic family joining the Vesak throngs. Not under threat of Tiger guns, they walked freely. Sadhu! Sadhu!

Back to Columns