KAMALIKA PIERIS

Medical prescriptions were written down on palm leaf manuscripts. Besajja Manjusa is the oldest medical manuscript   written in Sri Lanka. There is a Sinhala translation of the Pali original in the Colombo Museum library. The manuscript of Bessajja Manjusa held in Ayurveda Research Institute, Maharagama was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World national register in 2016.

Bessajja manuscripts can be found in Dalada Maligawa patirippuwa library, Galvene purana vihara Angoda,   Mettaramaya in Bambalapitiya, Colombo , Valukaramaya  at Pamburana,Matara and  Kosgodella raja maha vihara

Sirancee Gunawardana says she has seen a   medical manuscript belonging to Ms. Sirimavo Bandaanaike, handed down from her grandfather, a medical practitioner.  It had prescriptions using herbs, roots, barks of trees and indigenous seeds, for ailments ranging from stomach trouble, pediatric, pregnancy, fever, headaches, cholera, small pox, chicken pox, eye, cancer and snake bite. It was written in 1850. There are 39 other such manuscripts in the collection.

Palm leaf manuscripts mention immersion therapy    and acupuncture. Sirancee has paid special attention to acupuncture. Sirancee found a very old manuscript on acupuncture in Institute of Ayurveda, Rajagiriya. It is very well illustrated.     Pelmadulla Raja maha vihara has a 12 th century manuscript giving acupuncture points for humans, also for cock, horse, buffalo. The full manuscript is reproduced in her book.  She has also included in full  another acupuncture manuscript by Sadiris Perera.

Manuscripts that give remedies for snake bite were known as Sarpa veda poth.  Colombo Museum Library has one where the prescriptions are given in verse. Sirancee   owned   a ‘very interesting’ ola on herbal treatment of cobra and other  snake bites.

The Sinhala state had its own healing system in the Udarata before the British  took over the kingdom. Western medicine soon displaced the vederala but some parts of the native system survived up to the middle of the 20 century.

The Report of the 1950 Commission on the Ancient system of Sinhalese Medicine (SP 17 of 1950) stated that Sihala vedakam was a distinct medical system with its own drugs, diagnostic methods and treatments. It was particularly effective for snake bite, fractures, rabies and cancerous tumors, said the Report.’  The Sinhala vedakam or Desiya chikithsa physicians saw themselves as a distinct group, belonging to ‘veda parampara’ through the possession of secret family recipes, the report said. A national health system cannot operate on secret   prescriptions.   This secrecy would have been a later aberration.

Sinhala vedakam prescriptions would have been recorded on palm leaf.  The National Library of Sri Lanka has publicized the fact that it has manuscripts on Sinhala Vedakam. Hugh Neville collection has a Sinhala pharmacopeia, written in 19 century. Pelmadulla purana Viharaya  had an ola dealing with surgical specialties, written in Sinhala, copied in 1862.

There are many palm leaf manuscripts   written in Sinhala    containing herbal prescriptions that have originated in Sri Lanka, said Sirancee.  Firstly, there is the  collection of prescriptions   which the vederala carries with him for immediate use.  It is a collection compiled by him or his ancestors and is known as ‘beheth vattoru potha.’ This potha contained prescriptions   for emetics, purgatives, medicine for diarrhea, piles, worm treatment and blood ailments.

 There is a  ‘beheth vattoru pota’ in the Kosgoda vihara library. There are about 103 beheth  vattoru poth in the TPP Goonetilleke collection. Historical Manuscripts Commission was shown a Udarata beheth potha,  One manuscript held in a curated collection, contained the prescriptions of a physician named Hatara Korale Huhgampola Ruppege Dara Mudalihami (sic).

Elephants played a major role in the Sinhala state. There are many palm leaf manuscripts on how to manage elephants and treat their illnesses. The manuscript titled ‘Hasti Yoga Silpa’ , seen by Sirancee is in verse and has charms for protection of elephants. Harakola Sri Anandarama Viharaya  in Gampola had two manuscripts on elephants, one manuscript was an Ali veda pota , the other was on elephant charms and sensitive spots.

Palm leaf manuscripts provide scattered information on music, song and dance. Alutnuwara  Raja Maha vihara had a manuscript with music notations. Sirancee Gunawardana in her book ‘Palm leaf manuscripts of Sri Lanka’ said she has not seen anything else like it and published a photograph of the manuscript in her book, see p 169. Historical manuscripts Commission found a manuscript which had a stanza in very rare meter   in a chant for Kataragama deviyo

  On the subject of drums, Andreas Nell presented the Colombo Museum library with a copy of an ola titled Bera, davul, tammata adiye upata.”  The original is in the British Library.  Tupavamsa manuscript mentions 20    types of drums used in Sri Lanka.  The Isavara nartaya” manuscript in the Colombo Museum, which is in Sinhala, gives 32 tunes for drums  written in kavi style.

 Regarding dance, Hugh Neville collection has a manuscript titled nrutya upata”. It has three sections, gitaya, nrutya, and pada and provides 36 different beats for the drum.    Alutnuwara  Raja Maha vihara had a manuscript called Pada Natuma.   

There were three other manuscripts on movement. Hugh Nevill collection had 100-year-old manuscript on Sokari nateema,. There were many palm leaf manuscripts on leekeli in Colombo Museum library. Historical Manuscripts Commission (1951) had found a manuscript, titled Pandama ganna kavi ,5 verses sung to invoke the blessing of the gods before the dancers approach the road.   This would have been for a perahera.

 There was some information on song. Historical Manuscript Commission (1933) found in family collections, lots of panegyric type songs for the Udarata kings.  One manuscripthad verses sung at the coronation of Kandyan kings. Verses sung at the coronation of king Narendrasinha were recorded in a manuscript titled Sringara alamkaraya (1842).

Sri Lanka has a notable   kavi tradition. There are many   kavi manuscripts dating from the 18 th and 19^th centuries, in palm leaf collections. An interesting feature in these collections, are the kavi to be sung at work, including songs to be sung when spinning thread.

Colombo museum library has a manuscript with two sets of kavi. Kavi to be sung when weeding paddy fields and Nelum kavi to be sung when reaping the harvest. The Nelum kavi manuscript was prepared by Tikiri Yadesguru in 1862.   

Olas contain kavi   for harvesting Kurakkan.  Colombo Museum library has a manuscript on growing    kurakkan (millet), how to sow the grain, protect it, fence it from wild pigs , how to put up a watch hut, how to harvest the millet and how to cook it.

Hugh Nevill collection has a kavi manuscript titled Peduru Male” This manuscript relates the story of a rush mat weaving competition between a mother-in-law and a daughter in law. They first weave ordinary mats then a strong knotted mat, gold flowered mat, tasseled mat, mat with hare, mat     showing a jackal about to eat the hare, then a deer mat, leopard mat, cat, rat, lion and elephant mats. Thereafter, they weave   a mat with a buddha’s throne and finally a mat with loha-maha-paya and dagoba design. Sirancee observed that this ballad describes various unusual mat designs    and provides information on the art of weaving rush mats.

Historical Manuscripts Commission (1933) found an architectural plan at Lankatilleke vihara, 17th or 18^th century .  It was   the ground plan of a royal palace, a ‘raja maliga salasma’. Design was rectangular, with ornate triangular and circular buildings within the space. The plan gave the Sinhala names for special buildings and the different departments set aside for different services. This was of considerable value    since these words are rarely met and indicates the functions of these apartments.

 Cook books were found among curated collections. Dalada Maligawa library has a book titled ‘Supa Sastra’ containing recipes and food prepared for the   king.  Hugh Neville collection has a manuscript in Sinhala which gives rules for selecting a cook, how to arrange the logs in a hearth, how to make a fire and how rice should be cooked. The ola gave instruction on cooking fish, meat, broths, vegetables, sambals, chutneys and spiced curries.  The ola had recipes   for making milk rice, pickle, jak fruit curry, and oil cakes. There was advice on how to avoid over eating and how to distinguish poisons in food.

Traditional Sinhala society believes in astrology. Horoscopes are cast when a child is born. The chart and interpretation are inscribed on an ola. This was the tradition up to the first half of the 20 century.  My horoscope, prepared in the 1940s, is on palm leaf. It is wound round and round and fastened through a slit in the leaf itself.  From 1960 onwards, horoscopes were written on paper, but there are persons capable of recording them on palm leaf, if requested, even today.

Traditional Sinhala society also believes in the supernatural. There is a great fear of sorcery in our society. Yantra (talisman) are used in Sri Lanka to counter   such sorcery. Yantra are mystic diagrams and geometrical designs, drawn onto strips of palm leaf or engraved onto copper or gold foil which are then rolled up and worn in a little metal case around the neck or upper arm as a protection against harm.

Yantra are meant to be protective charms primarily,   but yantra are also used for curative purposes, for soliciting favors, and in rituals of revenge.   Yantra were inscribed on palm leaf until recently.  They are now etched on thin copper sheets.

 Yantra manuscripts are profusely illustrated.  They have diagrams and also ritual images drawn on them. Yantra drawings are in secret code. Hugh Neville collection has manuscript containing seven yantras which served as guidelines for those creating yantra images. These were kept secret by the practitioners. 

LSD Peiris has one of the largest collections of Yantra manuscripts in the country. He has written a book titled ‘Yantra drawings in palm leaf, Sri Lanka.’ He has studied the subject for many years and has some interesting observations.

He says there is intricacy in the art forms way beyond what is needed, while preserving their ritual properties and intended purpose.   I found the proportions and the ornamentation around the geometric outlines, the circles, ovals, square, rectangles, diagonals and arcs very pleasing to the eye, though I could not appreciate their ritual significance.

Peiris says the script in which the text is written has ‘the authentic flavor of the Sinhala written script’. He says   it is possible to locate fragments of letters from the Sinhala alphabet in the drawings. This can be seen in the fingers, toes and facial features of the figures drawn in the yantra.   CONCLUDED.

REFERENCES

1st report of Historical Manuscripts  Commission 1933 SP 9 of 1933 

3rd report of Historical Manuscripts Commission 1951, SP 19 of 1951.

Report of the Commission on ancient system of Sinhalese medicine SP 17 of 1950

 Sirancee Gunawardana Palm leaf manuscripts of Sri Lanka .  1977  

L.S.D. Pieris Yantra drawing on palm leaf Sri Lanka 2018

UNESCO MOW