H. L. D.Mahindapala

Just before I left Sri Lanka in 1994 I was jousting with Regi Siriwardena in the columns of The Sunday Observer over the value of Jane Austen as a novelist. That was my last battle in the The Sunday Observer. It began when Mervyn de Silva, the Editor of the Lanka Guardian reproduced my essay on Jane AustenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s masterpiece, Mansfield Park. Regi, who was a cultural icon of the English-speaking elite, used this as an opening to attack me by relying on his status as a respected critic of the fine arts, particularly English literature which was his specialty. But his main thrust in his attack on me was mainly political. Ensconced in the air conditioned ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Thatched PatioƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (the title of the magazine he edited) at the ICES, he did not take kindly to my attacks on NGOs, or my pro-President Premadasa politics, or my anti-Western editorials and, perhaps, most of all, my pro-Sinhala-Buddhist stance which must have been like a red rag to a bull.

So he took the opportunity to remark that I read Jane Austen in the night and in the mornings wrote editorials hammering everybody in sight, or something to that effect. That is fair enough. I could take whatever he said about me because I was ready to give it back to him in his own coin. Then as now he was the sacred cow of the Westernized elite and nobody would dare touch him .Perhaps, IƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢m the only who took him head-on. And he gave me the opening when he condemned Jane Austen as a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-boringƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ novelist. He did this just to get even with me and I felt a bit dismayed and disillusioned with his standards because I believed that he was above that kind of petty quibbling. Obviously he was hurling abuse at Jane Austen to spite me. Far better critics in the field of English literature had rated Jane Austen as a scintillating novelist reveling in the comedy of manners, a brilliant analyst of human conduct, and a countryside moralist with a universal message.

Jane Austen created her own ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-little commonwealthƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (as she claimed) ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ located in cottages and mansions of the lush greens of rural England and refused to tangle with the big, wide outside savaged and ripped apart by vicious human talons. Within her ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-little commonwealthƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ she created a moral universe in which human foibles and values clashed for supremacy. Mansfield Park, I argued, was the dramatic theatre where the worldly and the spiritual values clashed with Fanny, the moral centre, triumphing over the other frivolous contenders at Mansfield Park. Far from being ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-boringƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, her novels, filled with sense and sensibilities, are for refined minds with exquisite aesthetic tastes.

In fact, the literary guru of gurus of RegiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s time, F. R. Leavis, included Jane Austen in the illustrious list of the greats in the English literature. His opening line in the book announced: “The great English novelists are Jane Austen, George Eliot, Henry James and Joseph Conrad.” He ranked them not only for their excellence in craftsmanship but also for opening up ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-awareness of the possibilities of life.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ So Radhika Coomaraswamy seems to be out of touch with the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Great TraditionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ of English literature when she wrote in her latest eulogy: ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-When Regi made an artistic pronouncement, it was the ultimate word.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ He too had the capacity to politicize literary values to suit his political agenda.

As it happens, her books have been popular perennials, with film directors falling over each other to recreate her imaginative world in full length features and also in serials winning acclaim at the box office. The success of Jane Austen at all levels proves that Regi was ready to compromise his values and even principles when it comes to scoring points against his opponents. Regi need not have gone down that track of running down Jane Austen simply because he didnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t like my politics. He should have kept the two apart like the way any balanced critic would do. But that was Regi: beneath his moral exterior there was another streak that belied his superior pose.

Clearly, his petty blind spots made him a flawed intellectual who would, on the one hand, preach on the freedom of the press and, on the other, time sign a petition against the internationally celebrated cartoonist, Aubrey Collette, for drawing a sketch of Mrs. Bandaranaike with N. M. Perera, Pieter Keuneman, S. A. Wickremesinghe in one bed ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” a cartoon that was titled ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Strange bedfellows.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Long before the Muslim fundamentalist threatened the life of a Danish cartoonist, or issuing fatwahs against Salman Rushdie, Regi led the prim and proper path to political correctness on the slightest reference to sex. His double standards also led him to describe the mono-ethnic peninsula politics as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Tamil nationalismƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and, in the same breath, refer to the more broader and inclusive trends in the south as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Sinhala chauvinismƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.

He was prone to be very partisan at times and would not squirm at writing self-promoting advertisements in the guise of lit crit to boost his endeavours in various arts. For instance, he wrote a paean to Golu Hadawatha ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” a best selling pulp fiction at the time among romantic working girls ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” as if it was a profound classic, all because he had written film script which he thought would turn into a box office hit. .His film script for Martin Wickremesinghe classic, Gam Peraliya, was a flop because he turned the novel into a boy-meets-girl story. His plays were mainly monologues divided into two to make it look like a dialogue. IƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢m not saying this now because he is no longer among the living and not able to reply. Nor am I trying to violate the principle of nil nisi bonum. IƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢m merely repeating what I told him in my columns in the Sunday Observer and the Lanka Guardian at the time he was jousting with me. Those interested could refer the back number around April-May 1994.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

However, as detailed by Radhika, it must be admitted that he was ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-a poet, political activist, linguist, scholar, critic, author, scriptwriter, fabric designer, artist, political commentator, social activistƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and, to complete the list, also a dramatist and journalist. Above all Regi was a perceptive critic of the fine arts and the values he imparted had guided the younger generations. His forte was poetry though he dabbled in many arts. One of his best known poems, Colonial Cameo, represents not only his own personal agony but that of the nation too. It is poignant poem in which he describes his shame when his Sinhalese-speaking mother bade farewell to his teacher at St. Thomas College, Mt. Lavinia. In the only language she knows she said:: Gihin Ennang. The Anglicized, English-speaking class mates mocked his mother for using the vernacular and taunted her by saying: Gihin Varen. This linguistic insult shamed him and he never forgot it. It was the pain of the shame that made him cry in this poem. Regi concludes his poem on this grieved note:

My mother pretended not to hear that insult.

The snobbish little bastards! But how can I blame

them? That day I was deeply ashamed of my mother.

Now, whenever I remember, I am ashamed of my shame.

Though Regi is describing his personal emotions it was a humiliating experience that was shared commonly by the Sinhala-speaking community at large. Our mothers and fathers (including mine) had to cringe before the superiority of the colonial mastersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ language. Millions of them were overawed and downgraded to second-class citizens because they were not empowered by the language of the ruling elite. In the poem RegiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s mother stands out as the mother of all humiliated men and women who were deprived of their dignity by a handful of English-speaking ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-coconutsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (brown on the outside and white inside) who never failed to impress that they belonged to a superior breed. Eventually, it became the battle cry of the JVPers who resorted to fascist terror to breakthrough the language barrier.

RegiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s mother was the humiliated symbol of the prevailing alien culture of the society in which they lived. His poem is more than an angry explosion of a personal grievance. It is a political statement that encapsulated the plight of the millions of the Sinhala-speaking people. They were ridiculed, humiliated and cast aside as nobodies because Sinhala was the language of the servants and not the masters. Only the English-speaking elite, which was no more than 6% after nearly 150 years of British rule, occupied the pride of place, power and positions. Our mothers and fathers had to bear the shame because the only language they knew was not recognized as a legitimate means of communicating with the state elected by them. The state too was happy to rule the people in an alien language which was approved by an elitist minority holding key positions in strategic administrative and professional places. His last line which says that he was ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ashamed of my shameƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ is a guilt that should pain the minds of those who insisted on preserving English as the medium to protect their privileges, power and positions of a minority.

It was the legitimate right our people to demand and abolish the historical imbalances created by colonial rule. They were deprived of their language, their culture, their religion, and their way of life for nearly five centuries of colonialism. :RegiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s title, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Colonial CameoƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, aptly summarized the colonial experience which was never corrected until 1956. And this is where Regi abandons his mother and embraces what he considers to be political correctness. When the time came for him to stand up for the Sinhala-speaking mothers and fathers of the nation he refused to raise his voice in defence of these helpless, oppressed people. He ended up following the NGO line on the language issue as laid down in the Vadukoddai Resolution. He mentions his motherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s incident in passing in The LSSP in Wartime: A Memoir of Happenings and Personalities (ICES publication) and focuses essentially on his obsession with Trotskyism, the ideological fashion of the time.

His political thinking was shaped by underground political experiences he shared with the Trotskyites who were the anti-imperialist heroes of the day. Their jailbreak and escaping to India captured the imagination of the youth and the anti-British mood of the people.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  But the language issue which took centre stage in the political theatre of the evolving independent state, overriding all Marxist dogmas, was relegated to a non-issue, in his political calculations. Of course, he criticizes the Marxists for being ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-too narrowly economisticƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ when the need was to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-encapsulate the different social hierarchies, economic and culturalƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ In between, of course, he concedes that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-the ruling language (was) an important ingredient of social statusƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. It was not exactly a class distinction because the language gave a cultural status that was not corresponding to the economic status.

However, in his final analysis, he takes the NGO line and comes down heavily on the LSSP for not giving into the Tamil demands. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The LSSPƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s attitude to Tamil nationalism,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ he states, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-in those years was equally uncomprehending. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ The LSSP rejected even federalismƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦.Ironically, what happened in 1964 and after was like a Freudian ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”return of the repressedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, as the LSSP became a prisoner of the same Sinhala nationalism it had repudiated. In 1965-66 the party opposed DudleyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s language regulationsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  as a violation of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Sinhala Only ActƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, and in 1972 Colvin sponsored a constitution that consecrated Sinhala asƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  the only official language while rejecting he language and other demands of the Tamil people.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (ibid 74)

This explains why he became the darling of the NGOs and the Westernized elite. Radhika is one of them and she goes overboard when she says: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-One cannot analyse the political and creative intellectual currents of twentieth century Sri Lanka without giving him a central role.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ If anyone is to give Regi ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-a central roleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ in the political and creative intellectual currents of the twentieth century where are we to place Martin Wickremesinghe, Sarath Chandra, Gunadasa Amerasekera, Munidasa Cumaratunga, et al? And in political terms his affiliations with failed Trotskyism and Tamil tribalism do not make him a central figure in creative intellectual currents of the twentieth century either. He may have been central to the ICES ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” his last refuge where he was most comfortable with his ideological mates. But as far as national intellectual currents go he was at best a dilettante with a penchant for dabbling in a bit of everything, leaving behind, of course, some noteworthy contributions to poetry and lit crit when he was not petty or promoting his interests. (Example: Golu Hadawatha)

It is, indeed sad that a man of his talents failed to grasp the meaning of shame that his mother experienced. He joined the rest in belittling S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike who restored the respect and dignity lost by our people by introducing the Sinhala Only Act in 1956 and the Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act of 1958. Like all other products of the Westernized intellectuals of his time he saw it as an anti-Tamil act, following the political agenda of the fathers of the Vadukoddai Resolution. The Sinhala Only Act was not an anti-Tamil act. It was an anti-English act ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” the language of 6%.. But the propaganda cranked up by ICES et all was to project as if the Sinhala Only Act was designed to overthrow the Tamil language, or to deprive the Tamils of their rights. The Westernized Sinhala elite too joined hands with the Tamils who were among the minority that ruled the nation in English.

So restoring RegiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s motherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s language to its legitimate place was the natural, logical, rational, legal need of the day. It was not meant to overthrow Tamil because Tamil was not the official language of the country. In the colonial period the Sinhalese and Tamils both suffered because it was the language of the English educated elite. Regi missed the bus first by embracing Trotskyism which he acknowledged later was another imitative ideological fashion borrowed from the West. And, second, by taking refuge inside the air-conditioned ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Thatched PatioƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ provided by the foreign-funded ICES. As I have said before, if your patron is a smoker you got to carry a lighter. Regi never smoked. But he carried the lighter with a degree of urbane panache. For that he deserves full marks.