Saluting the Sage of Koggala

‘…As far as the eye can reach’

Head by master sculptor Tissa Ranasinghe

By D.C. Ranatunga

The village of Koggala occupies a long stretch of land bounded on one side by the sea and on the other by the wide river of enchanting beauty, the Koggala Oya. A smooth black ribbon of road linking the southern towns of Galle and Matara separates the village from the sea. 

The verandas of houses bordering the road face the seafront, which itself is a long veranda running the length of the village. The railroad extends as far as the eye can reach, like an endless stepladder with no beginning and no end. 

The rail track is on the embankment, a few feet above the ground. The scooping of earth to raise the embankment many years ago left long ditches on either side. Some of the ditches, fed from water from nearby culverts, have become little ponds, abounding in water lilies, lotuses and little fish.

This is how ‘The Sage of Koggala,’ the great literary figure in contemporary Sri Lanka, Martin Wickramasinghe described the village he was born in, 125 years ago (29 May 1890), in his celebrated novel, ‘Gamperaliya’ (‘The Uprooted’) written in 1944. As school children, we – the ones away from the south – heard of Koggala when we were in the SSC form (present GCE O/Level) when we had ‘Pavukarayata Gal Geseema’ (1936) as our text for Sinhalese literature.

The teacher prompted us to read more books by the author and we, who had a love for the language and culture of the land, enjoyed reading them. As we grew up, we used to pass Koggala on our way down south but it was nine years back that I physically went and studied the place in depth.

 

Koggala Museum

That was when the Martin Wickramasinghe Trust picked two of my friends – photographer Sarath Perera and Art Director Somachandra (Ruwan) Peiris – and myself to do a book on the Koggala Museum of Folk Culture set up by the Trust. It was not a catalogue they wanted, but an interesting publication based on the artefacts in the museum. 

On our first visit to the site, we felt quite impressed. The sprawling greenery around the imposing building where the artefacts were displayed, the long open garages where old style carts – from elephant-drawn ones to double and single bullock carts, and fishing ‘oru’ used by the village folk were housed, the old style ‘sekkuwa,’ the simple and charming house where MW was born, up to the ‘samadhi’ where his (and his wife’s ashes) are interred inspired us. 

Once we saw the collection, of course, we realised the gravity of the assignment. The material meticulously stacked in the glass cupboards had to be carefully taken out and handled. It was so puzzling for Sarath and Ruwan to decide how they could be displayed in the most artistic way and create an impact. Having set up a studio there, both of them spent days photographing the stuff.

 

Koggala village

During our initial discussions we realised the need to make it a lively book and not a mere collection of pictures. This made us go about Koggala village and capture the moods MW had vividly described in his writings. And we found so much.

It was quite a big task planning to get the desired effects. For instance, it took several days to arrange the picture to illustrate the opening paragraph in this article. Ultimately when Sarath took a series of photographs at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning when traffic was minimal, Ruwan had a choice in selecting one to be used as virtually a double-page spread in the opening chapter describing ‘A Charming Village in the South’.

In ‘Ape Game’ – 1940 (Lay Bare the Roots), MW writes how the beach was forbidden territory to the young ones. It was only by sneaking out of home that they could play in the beach. They sea-bathed, hunted for sea-shells flung up on the sand and the brilliantly-hued fish and other small sea creatures disporting themselves in the reef pools.

“The calm, still sea, a huge slab of sapphire dazzling under sunlight, inspired us with awe, even with a kind of terror. It was an awe begotten of beauty, fear of the immensities of depth of the sea, and the echo of a term used by our elders, ‘pitasakvala’ or the outer supernatural world beyond the sea… Perhaps this village folklore found an echo with me then; the villagers believed that only demons dwelled beyond the horizon… The urge to probe and question was inherent in my nature. How was the sea created? How did the hills and rivers appear? These were some of the questions that occurred to me then. The questions arising in my mind drove me into attempts to read ponderous volumes which were a trial to my mind, before I was even fifteen…”

 

Madol Duwa

And then there was the ‘Madol Duwa’. How could one resist capturing the island Koggala Oya? And the rock that gave the village its name. 

In ‘Viragaya’ (1957) the writer says: Kok-gala is the name of the big rock beyond the fields on the far side of the village. The cranes from everywhere around come to this rock to roost. During the past few months I have been looking round to see the first crane come to roost and noting down the time it gets there. The time changes by a few minutes each day. It changes according to the rime the sun sets. As nightfall approaches, one or two cranes alight on the rock and strut about as if they are trying to smell out something. They must be looking for the roosting places they are used to. Soon cranes begin to arrive from all directions, swooping down and perching on the rock. The rock is covered with birds poking about looking for their roosts and stumbling against each other, and it begins to hum like a hornet’s nest.”

We felt illustrating these in the book would make it lively reading. We gave life even to some of the static objects by creating situations of how they were used in temples, homes and villages hundreds of years ago.

 

Inspired by the house

The house, which forms very much a part of the Museum, not only fascinated us but also prompted us to pick the title of the book. There is the room where he was born. His personal belongings and the writing table he used are arranged in another room. The ‘Hall of Fame’ portrays his life story through photographs, books, paintings, sketches, souvenirs, awards and memorabilia along with pages from his hand-written manuscripts and letters. A little away from the house is the ‘samadhi,’ completing the life story. 

We named the book ‘From the Cradle’.

Pix by Sarath Perera