SRI LANKA: ART AND LITERATURE

Visual arts have a long tradition in Sri Lanka, dating back to a century or two before the common era. One of the most notable examples of early art are the Kandyan era frescoes.

The Kandy Empire was active 1469-1815 and promoted arts and Sri Lankan culture. This was during a time when most of the people didn’t have any kind of formal education and were illiterate. As Buddhism spread, monks painted these pictures of Buddhist stories so that anyone could follow the stories. These fresco paintings were complex, most notably marked with a variety of flower decorations and people drawn to the side. What’s also impressive is that there are over 40 shades of paint used in these frescoes using a number of different natural-based paints and dyes. And these paintings can be seen in at least 36 different temples. 

Outside of that, Sri Lanka has also produced a number of other crafts. Woodcarving is popular and is used to create figurines, tools, utensils, jewelry, boxes, toys, etc. They also created wooden masks, which were generally tied to healing rituals to fight again the devils (called yakkas) that they thought caused disease.

They also used a handloom to create different decorative textiles, garments, and bags. The Portuguese and Dutch introduced lace making, also known as beeralu lace, which they caught on and created their own intricate patterns. Batik dyed cloth, which has its origins in Indonesia, is also popular in Sri Lanka. Coir products, made from soaked coconut husks, are typically twisted and spun into a rope-like material and coiled around to make mats and brooms.

Sri Lanka is also known for their rustic clay pottery, which is still popular today, despite being one of the most ancient traditions. Their lacquer ware, called laksha, offers a way of bringing beautiful color to bowls, boxes, and other works of pottery and woodcarving.

Storytelling has been a part of Sri Lankan literature from its earliest days. Like other ancient cultures, many of their early folk stories were told orally. However, of their written works, most of it was written in Pali, Tamil, or Sinhala. After the British arrived and up to current times, many writers write in English as well as in Sinhala and Tamil, with Sinhala being the dominant language.

Mahagama Sekara

Although poetry, drama, and novels are found in Sri Lankan literature, short stories seem to be the go-to style for many of these authors. And radio plays also seem to be quite popular. In classical poetry, two poets who stand out are Gurulugomi (12^th century) and Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera (15^th century). Other poets and writers who write in Sinhala include Mahagama Sekara (prominent in poetry and literature), Gunadasa Amarasekara (poet, writer, essayist), Parakrama Kodituwakku (mid-20^th century poet), Eric Illayapparachchi (writer, poet, lyricist), Lucien Bulathsinhala (playwright, poet, writer), Chandraratna Bandara (award-winning novelist), Munidasa Kumaratunga (novelist, linguist, poet, pushed for Sinhala language over Sanskrit), G. B. Senanayake (free verse poetry), and Sybil Wettasinghe (children’s literature and illustrator).

Michael Ondaatje

Two authors who were known for writing poetry in Tamil include Eelattu Poothanthevanar and Neelaavanan. One Sri Lankan-Canadian author is widely known: Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient received the Man Booker prize in 1992. Another Sri Lankan-British author, Romesh Gunesekera, also received the Booker prize for his novel Reef in 1994. There are several other award-winning novelists living in Sri Lanka and abroad.

Up next: music and dance