Revisiting the sins of Leslie Gunawardana (Part lll) By Darshanie Ratnawalli Saturday, 21 March

2015 00:00

Professor KNO Dharmadasa, the present Editor in Chief of the Sinhala Encyclopedia goes
down in history as mounting to date, the only direct, authoritative academic challenge to
Professor Leslie Gunawardana, an ancient period historian of Sri Lanka who became a
darling of certain social anthropological circuits through his The People of the Lion: The
Sinhala Identity and Ideology in History and Historiography- (1979) and Historiography In a
Time of Ethnic Conflict, Construction of the Past in Contemporary Sri Lanka- (1995). This is
the third and last instalment of Prof. K.N.Os conversation with Darshanie Ratnawalli
continued from 08 March, 2015.

DR- So I once tried to find out if Prof. Gunawardana knew Pali

KNO- Why not. Why not!

DR- Every ancient historian has to know it?

KNO- Pali was a compulsory paper for people who did ancient Sri Lankan history.

DR- I ask because of the way Prof. Gunawardana tries to derive the word aya in his Prelude to
the State, 1982. He says (pp7); At twenty-eight of the 269 sites of ancient inscriptions are to be
found records set up by individuals who may be identified as rulers of minor principalities. In these
records they bear the titles Rajha (var. Raja), Gamani (var.Gamini) or Aya. While the first two of
these titles have been generally accepted as denoting the status of ruler, Paranavitana and other
scholars who followed him have traced the derivation of Aya and its Pli equivalent Ayya to
Sanskrit rya. However, the Pli equivalent of the Sanskrit rya is Ariya.. But thats not true. If he
looked at a Pali dictionary, the Pali equivalent of the Sanskrit rya is not only Ariya. There are three
Pali equivalents. One is Ariya. The others are Ayira and Ayya.

KNO- Thats right.

DR- So do you think he did not have his Pali dictionary when he wrote Prelude?

KNO- So whats the origin of ayya in Pali? He doesnt say?

DR- He says;Though it may be correct to assume that the greater majority of vocables in the
ancient inscriptions of Sri Lanka have parallels in Sanskrit and the Prakritic languages, it is quite
likely that some others may have a Tamil origin. The term marumakanake and its variantsare good
examples of words traceable to a Tamil originSimilarly, it is possible to compare aya and ayya with
the Tamil terms ayy (var. Kannada ayya, Malayalam ayyan, Tulu ayye) and ai. The term ayy and
its variants have been used as modes of addressing superiors. The term ai, which is represented by
the ninth letter of the Tamil alphabet, has been used in in certain instances to denote lord and
master, as in the Tirukkural, and in other instances as in the Cudamaninikantu, to denote ruler.
Hence it seems very likely that Aya was a word of Tamil derivation which the same meaning as
Rajha and Gamani
Side effects of political
scholarship
 Professor Leslie
Gunawardana informs us in the preface of that
work that he wrote Prelude to the State: An
Early Phase in the Evolution of Political
Institutions in Ancient Sri Lanka for The Sri
Lanka Journal of the Humanities of 1982,
published in 1985 while at the University of
Koyoto as Visiting Research Scholar. Its not
unreasonable to assume that visiting research
scholars would research. When Professor
Gunawardana declared on page 7 that the Pli
equivalent of the Sanskrit rya is Ariya , in
order to show that rya had no connection
to ayya or its Prakrit equivalent aya, he had not
researched enough. Given below is the relevant
Pali Text Society Dictionary entry.
Ariya (adj. -- n.) [Vedic rya, of uncertain etym.
The other Pli forms are ayira & ayya]-
(http://tinyurl.com/Define-Ariya)

Ayira (& Ayyira) (n. -- adj.) [Vedic rya,

Metathesis for ariya as diaeretic form of rya, of
which the contracted (assimilation) form is
ayya.- (http://tinyurl.com/Define-Ayira)

Ayya (n. -- adj.) [contracted form for the

diaeretic ariya (q. v. for etym.). See also ayira]
(a) (n.) gentleman, sire, lord,
master(http://tinyurl.com/Define-Ayya)

(ayy pl. the worthy gentlemen, the worthies),

amhkam ayyo our worthy Sir (adj.) worthy,
gentlemanly, honourable; The voc. is used as a
polite form of address (cp. Ger. "Sie" and E.
 address "Esq.") like E. Sir, milord or simply
KNO- But again isnt there the possibility
that the Tamil got it from Sanskrit? "you" with the implication of a pluralis
majestatis; ayy in addressing several; nom. sg.
DR- Not only the possibility. They call the as voc. (for all genders &
process the aryanization of the South
numbers) ayyo; f. ayy lady, mistress (=
KNO- Aryanization of the South. Exactly. mother of a prince); voc. ayye my lady;
ayya putta lit. son of an Ariyan, i. e. an
DR- The basic thing that comes out of this
aristocratic (young) man gentleman (cp. in
is that Prof. Gunawardana didnt know that
in the Pali Thripitaka, the word ayya is meaning kulaputta); thus (a) son of my master
commonly used as an honorific. He also did (lit.) said by a servant; lord, master,
not know that aya has been used in North "governor"(by a servant); by a wife to her
Indian Prakrit inscriptions. This is what
Paranavitana says about aya (Inscriptions husband; prince (see W.Z.K.M. xii., 1898, 75 sq.
of Ceylon, Vol.1, pp. cvi); But there is a & Epigraphia Indica iii.137 sq.) J vi.146.
term of respect applied to Buddhist monks
in the North Indian Brahmi inscriptions,
(Bharhut Inscriptions (CII, Vol. II, pt. II) by H. Luders, E. Waldschmidt and M.A. Mehendale,
p.191 and The Monuments of Sanchi by Sir John Marshal and Alfred Foucher, Vol. I, p. 295;
Inscription No.265.) that has been avoided in our documents. This is aya, equivalent to Skt. rya
and P. ayya, meaning Aryan or Noble. This term in our inscriptions, is reserved for princes.

KNO- This is again politics. I think Leslie wanted to be different from ordinary folk like us who see
the natural influence of Sanskrit and our classical heritage. He wanted to show that we had a lot to
do with Tamil contacts. Its for this kind of political view point that he overlooks obvious things.

DR- I think it was strange that nobody noticed these basic inaccuracies in his writing.

KNO- Because you dont expect a scholar of that stature to do this kind of thing.

DR- But then these were peer reviewed forums.Prelude to State appeared in The Sri Lanka
Journal of the Humanities, a Peradeniya journal.

KNO- Actually this is a very obscure article. I dont know how you got it. Even I tried to find it and
couldnt trace it. This unavailability was one reason people couldnt respond. This is a classic
example of a scholar getting hold of a view point and trying to get references to suit that ideological
stance. In People of the Lion he talks about social stratification, that our ancient society was
stratified on feudal lines. He adopts terminology used by Western scholars that this was a typical
eastern/oriental State. Then I pointed out that in ancient inscriptions all these artisans or people
youd normally call artisans, coppersmiths, silver smiths, ivory smiths are also becoming donors of
caves

DR- But they were still elite right, even though they were artisans?

KNO- Thats right. But for Leslie they are not elite. For him they are working class, feudal underdogs.

DR- He tries to argue that it was a feudal society?

KNO- A feudal society with social stratification and these workmen were the down trodden. The
classical view of Western scholars about the Oriental society.
DR- But Prof. Gunawardana was brilliant right? In some of his papers he argues well.

KNO- Of course. In Robe and the Plough he argues well.

DR- That is admired by many.

KNO- That was his PhD thesis. You read it?

DR- No. But people told me he is a brilliant scholar based on that. And also his challenge to Prof.
Paranavitana on Ceylon and Malaysia

KNO- Well that was not only he. There was also Indrapala. Although he later made a fool of himself,
Indrapala was one of the earliest to challenge Paranavitana. Of course then Paranavitana was alive.

DR- So three people challenged Paranavitana right? Sirima Kiribamune, Leslie Gunawardana and
Indrapala. And so did W. M Sirisena?

KNO- I dont know if Paranavitana was alive when Sirisenas book came out. Anyway
Paranavitanas error was obvious. It was during his last years in Peradeniya as a research
Professor. He read this paper about Ceylon and Malaysia in University. And we were all nonplussed.
Later when people started thinking about it and tried to see and decipher the things Paranavitana
said he could see, nobody could see anything more than what was already there. Only Paranavitana
could see them.

DR- See interlinear inscriptions?

KNO- Only then did people realize that Paranavitana was hallucinating.

DR- So this idea that Prof. Paranavitana was delusional started while he was still alive?

KNO- He was alive. When you read his book The Story of Sigiri , its a fascinating story. Like the
film Ten Commandments. He was creating a completely delusional world. Ian Gunatilaka was
telling us that a Hollywood director would go to town on this kind of script. I dont think Paranavitana
was being dishonest. At a certain stage of his life

DR- Is it possible that he could actually read these interlinear inscriptions?

KNO- I think he started seeing things.

DR- You mean theres nothing interlinear written there?

KNO- Nothing. Because nobody else could see. A lot of people went and made estampages and
tried to see. Because he was referring to well-known inscriptions where you had these scribbled
notes in between. Interlinear.

DR- But even C.E. Godakumbura sort of relied on these interlinear inscriptions.

KNO- But I dont think C.E. Godakumbura ever admitted that he could read them. He depended on
them because he was very close to Paranavitana. I think Indrapala was one of the earliest people
who went and copied and tried to read interlinear inscriptions.

DR- They challenged Prof. Paranavtana who was a very senior scholar when they were in their early
thirties?
KNO- Yes they were very young scholars. Of course they had their PhDs. They had been his
students also in Peradeniya.

DR- But at the time they could challenge a senior scholar like Paranavitana?

KNO- Yes. As you say this was scholarship. Not a personal attack. You should be able to do that

DR- So Prof. Kiribamune should have remembered that?

KNO- With Sirima Kiribamune it was a different story. Leslie was a junior person and her student. I
dont think she wanted to do that.

DR- Dr. Michael Roberts told me that even Prof. Indrapala she does not want to challenge because
of the friendship.

KNO- Friendship and again student.

DR- So you dont criticize your student? Is that a tradition?

KNO- No. It doesnt matter if somebody is friend, student or whatever. It shouldnt make a difference.
Although maybe in Sri Lankan contexts

DR- Even in American contexts you stick to your friend. For example Prof. Gananatha Obeysekera
was a great champion of Prof. Gunawardana?

KNO- Yes. But I actually dont know what Gananatha believes about these controversies. Have you
talked to him?

DR- No. But when Prof. Gunawardana died, he wrote a eulogizing obituary.

KNO- Actually I was one of the first to write an obituary for Leslie, to Sunday Divaina titled Going
away of a scholar

DR-You wrote an obituary? You felt comfortable about writing it in view of his possible dishonesty
and tampering with sources? You really felt he was a scholar?

KNO- Well I didnt want to

DR- Speak ill of the dead?

KNO- Not that. These personal weaknesses of people shouldnt be used to put them down

DR- He had a lot of potential?

KNO- He did and he had done good work. Did you see the obituary I wrote for the RAS journal?

DR- But what about his deliberate distortions?

KNO- Those of course you cant condone.
DR- Its a pity in a way. He became internationally famous and his views are still held in high regard
by people like Charles Hallisey.
KNO- But some of these things that Leslie had distorted doesnt Hallisey see through them?
DR- Nobody has noticed
KNO- But when you pointed them out to him, what did he say?
DR- I did not point them out to Charles Hallisey
See http://www.nation.lk/edition/component/k2/item/39288-revisiting-the-sins-of-leslie-
gunawardana-part-lll.html or http://www.nation.lk/epaper/sunday/2015/03/22/index.html#32/z for
original version