‘Cumaratunga created a philosophy on Sinhala grammar’

Says Martin Wickramasinghe

Without blindly following the tradition of grammar, commenced with the Sidath Sangarawa Cumaratunga Munidasa’s Vyakarana Vivaranaya can be considered as the first broad attempt to analyse the Sinhala language, placing it on a new vision.”

(The 77^th Death Anniversary of Cumaratunga Munidasa was commemorated on 02 March, 2021)

Cumaratung’a Concept of Grammar

In the introduction to his seminal work on Sinhala grammar, “Vyakarana Vivaranaya,” Cumaratunga says

“Similar to a society that has no rules and regulations, a language also becomes messier and messier…Many a grammarian considered the grammars of other languages in formulating a grammar for the Sinhala language. In fact, the rules they followed were those of Pali and Sanskrit…The Sidath Sangarawa and those that followed it (in this endeavour) clearly show this dependence…Herein we based our effort only on our language… The rules that were solely confined to Sinhala were seen by us as most noble…

‘Cumaratunga Created a Philosophy on Sinhala grammar’ –

Martin Wickramasinghe

The late Martin Wickramasinghe, journalist, writer and intellectual, who popularized the reading habit among our society with a rich variety of publications, including short stories and novels, as well as an array of critical compositions, was a contemporary of the late Cumaratunga Munidasa. Martin Wickramasinghe critiquing the works of Cumrataunga in his ‘Ape Viyath Parapura ha Bhasha Samaja Parinamaya’ (Our Erudite Generation and the Evolution of Language and Society) makes a unique assessment , especially of Cumaratunga’s expositions on Sinhala grammar. He says,

“The Sidath Sangarava is a prescriptive grammar and not a grammar based on principles of philosophy. Hence, Kumaratunga’s rejection of the Sidath Sangarava is justifiable; the reason being that he created new concepts based on his independent thinking. Turning out a philosophy into a prescriptive methodology is like an attempt to convert a philosophy into a religion….The usages like Ovun giya, minisun weda kala, daruwa gasin bimata panna, were created based on his philosophy of grammar, I think, because he intended to provide a grammar suitable for the colloquial language (as well). … Nelevili geeya (lullaby-verses) is a poetic composition effortlessly composed with words taken from the colloquial language.”

Professor J. B. Dissanayake, expressed views similar to those of Martin Wickramasinghe, on Cumaratunga’s approach to Sinhala grammar, in his ‘Bhashavaka Bhavithaya ha Vigrahaya’ (Usage and Analysis of a Language)

He says:

“Without following in the same manner the tradition of grammar commenced with the ‘Sidath Sangarawa’, Cumaratunga Munidasa’s ‘Vyakarana Vivaranaya’ could be considered as the first broad step to analyse the Sinhala Language basing on a new vision. Although this is not a comprehensive analysis of all the aspects, deviating from the tradition of language analysis that existed up to then, (Cumaratunga’s Vyakarana Vivaranaya) shows a more scientific analysis of the language. In the Vyakarana Vivaranaya there appears certain concepts that are being held in high esteem by modern linguist. “

Philosophy – Meaning and Usage

The word ‘philosophy’ takes in different shades of meanings, depending on the context it’s being used. However, all these definitions would lead to a common frame that it is the study of the general and fundamental nature of reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind and language. As a method philosophy is often distinguished from other ways of addressing (such) problems by its questioning, critical and generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument.” Further, logicality and rationality are two of the important cornerstone of any philosophical approach to an issue.

Cumaratunga’s Endeavour to Instill a Philosophic Base to Sinhala Grammar

Based on this definition Cumaratunga endeavoured to instill a philosophic base to Sinhala grammar by (i) analysing the development of the language through the ages, (ii) assessing the usages vis a vis the current context, and (iii) making it realistic and lively, as far as the idiom of the language permits. It could also be said that going beyond the prescriptive approach commonly adopted by grammarians, including the author of the Sidath Sangara, Cumaratunga introduced rationality to Sinhala grammar. Herein he was compelled to tap the Sinhala classics, both prose and verse, belonging to the golden-era of Sinhala literature, in ascertaining the true nature of the Sinhala language as well as apprehending how articulately the language was used to express ideas, feelings and sentiments.

When in English it is expressed that “a woman got a child by her husband /because of her husband” the Sinhala idiom as used in Sinhala classics is,

Baranes nuware Brhamdatta nam bamuna pinisa Dhanapathi nam beminiya kuse pilisinda gena…’ (Amavatura-Chapter on Paribrajaka Damanaya).

This instance alone shows the philosophies behind the two languages, Sinhala and English. However, it appears that ‘pinisa’ has lately been replaced by ‘bamunata dava’.

Cumaratunga’s Two Seminal Works – Vyakarana Vivaranaya and Kriya Vivaranaya

Cumaratunga in his unparalleled task of writing the two expositions the ‘Vyakarana Vivaranaya’ and the ‘Kriya Vivaranaya’ deviated completely from the dogmatic and prescriptive approach followed by the Sidath Sangarawa (as rightly pointed out by Martin Wickramasinghe) relying on the colloquial idiom in composing lively pieces of prose and verse. This is a trend not followed by any other linguist of the current times. Relying on the colloquial idiom is not a feature new to the Sinhala language. The colloquial Sinhala parlance heavily makes use of gerunds (bhava kriya/ bhava nama kriya/ haw namu kiriya pada). They are created out of verbs, but function as nouns.

See how the Amavatura writer Gurulugomi uses gerunds creatively in the conversation prince Siddhartha had with the horse Kanthaka at the commencement of his journey to emancipation:

“Bosathano Raal Kumaruvan deke pahayin bese ashvaya kara elaba, “Me re tho ma tharava. Mam mulu lova tharavami.”. (

The Bodhisatva, having seen prince Rahula, and descending from the palace, went towards the horse, and said to him “This night you take me across the river, (thereafter) I will take the entire world across.”

The Glamour of Grammar

Roy Peter Clark writing on ‘The Glamour of Grammar” extols the virtues of grammar in making one’s writings fascinating and glamourous. In this book he aims to put the glamour back in grammar, and convince those who use the language that grammar, in fact, adds glamour to writing, and does not take glamour out of it. Moreover, grammar brings clarity to what one says. The basic element underpinning glamour is to understand without vagueness what exactly the writer wishes to convey. In this context grammar becomes more a tool than a rule. Grammar, as expressed by him, gives the readers all the tools they need to ‘live inside the language’.

Cumaratunga was an ardent believer that grammar is there to embellish your writings. In an editorial captioned ‘The Birth Anniversary of Jesus Christ, he provided to the Lakmini Pahana journal on December 25, 1934, a lively verbal portrayal of the story of the woman caught in adultery. This incident is a beautiful illustration of Jesus Christ silencing his critics while graciously addressing a sinner in need of mercy. According to a critique “The poignant scene delivers to anyone with a heart weighed down with . When Jesus forgave the woman, he did not . Rather, he expected a change of heart–. In turn, he presented the woman with an opportunity to begin a new life.”

This is how Cumaratunga colourfully portrays and breathes life into the incident, resting the description on the highest norms of grammar:

එ දා ගැහැනු කම කෙලෙසන වරදක් කොටැ අසු වැ, මර බියෙන් තැති ගෙනැ වෙවුලවෙවුලා බිමැ හොත් අසරණ ගැහැනිය දැන් පෙනෙයි. ර්‍ණමෙ තරම් නීච කමක් කළ මැය ගල් ගසා මරම්හ” යි මහත් මහත් ගල් අතින් ගෙනැ ඇය වටා රවමින් ගොරවමින් සිටි සාහසිකයෝ පෙනෙති. ඒ කලකලය අසා ශාන්ත වැ දාන්ත වැ එ තැනට පය න`ගන ඔබ ද පෙනෙන සේකැ. එ තන්හි තතු විමසනු වස් ඔබ මුවින් නික්මෙන රජත කිංකිණි නාදයෙන් කන පිනායෙයි. රළු පරළු හ`ඩින් අර අසරණ ගැහැනිය ගේ දොස හුවා කියන සාහසිකයන් ගේ අමිහිරි වචන ද නෑසෙන්නේ නො වේ. ඔබ කුමක් කී සේක් ද? ර්‍ණතොප අතුරින් එක ද වරදක් නො කළ තැනැත්තේ මේ ගැහැනියට පළමු මැ ගල් පහර ගසා වාෟ” කවර ආශ්චර්යයෙක් ද, කි‍්‍රස්තු තුමනි? එක අතෙකුත් නො
නැෙ`ගයි. එක ගලෙකුත් අතින් නො ගිලිහෙයි. මනුෂ්‍යයා ගේ සත්‍ය වූ තත්ත්වය ඔබ කෙසේ හැඳිනැගත් සේක් ද?

A reader of this passage would, for sure, will come to see how effective glamorous grammar and elite writing can be. In fact, in this particular composition Cumaratunga has followed the style and verbiage adopted by Vidyachacravarthi, the author of the Buthsarana, to describe the confrontation between the Omniscient One and Elephant Nalagiri. Similar to the occasion quoted above, the writer of the Buthsarana also exemplifies the different behaviours of the Omniscient One and the elephant.

’ඈතැ දුලීන් වැසී ගිය ඇත් රජ යැත මැතැ සවනක් ගන බුදු රැසින් සෑදී ගිය බුදු රජාණෝ යැ. ඇතැ කෝපයෙන් රත් වැ ගිය ය වටක් වැනි ඇස් ඇති ඇත් රජ යැත මෑතැ කරුණායෙන් තෙත් වැ ගිය නිල් මහනෙල් පෙති පරයන ඇස් ඇති බුදු රජාණෝ යැ. ඈතැ එබු-එබු පයින් මහ පොළෝ පළා පියන්නා සේ දිවෙන ඇත් රජ යැත මෑතැ එබු-එබු පයින් මිහි කත සනහ-සනහා වඩනා බුදු රජාණෝ යැ. ඈතැ බැලූ-බැලූ වන් අනේ අනේv යි කියවන ඇත් රජ යැත මෑතැ බැලූ-බැලූ වන් සාධු සාධු යි කියවන බුදු රජාණෝ යැ. එ වේලෙහි ඒ ඇතු ළං වත්, සැදැහැත්තෝ ළෙහි අත් ගසන්නට වන් හත බලා සිටියැ නො හෙම්හ යි මුහුණින් හෙන්නට වන් හ.

The technique adopted by the two writers, Cumaratunga and Vidyachakravarthi in composing the two passages appears almost identical, which establishes the fact that grammar and correct idiom would bring glamour and liveliness to one’s writing, and not vice versa.

Grammar is Language : A Teaching Philosophy and Grammar Gives Us Tools and Not Rules

The above exposition drives home the fact that language and its grammar should not/ cannot be taught purely by studying the grammatical rules of that language. In fact, the grammatical basis of a language cannot be/ should not be considered or treated as its rules but as tools. Herein what is necessary and more fruitful method would be to adopt a context-related approach, in realizing the basis of a language, so that when the context is remembered automatically the applicable tool would come to one’s mind. Hence, cramming or mind-teasing to remember different usages, considering them as rules would become irrelevant and superfluous. Cumaratunga says in his Vyakarana Vivaranaya that “The best approach to learn grammar is by studying how the language had been used by learned men.”

A Novel Art of Teaching Grammar as Extoled by Cumaratunga

The teaching of language (through grammar) is one that must be very well thought out by all educators, as it is not just your typical lesson plan. In fact, grammar and its many facets are engulfed in every aspect of writing, speaking, and just language in general. While many may see grammar as a tedious task both to teach and to learn, it is an important and necessary component to language that it can actually be fun and easy to teach and to catch on to. Through the instruction of reading and writing activities, grammar can be taught successfully in the classroom. However, this approach may be time consuming, as well as it demands preparation by the teacher to hunt for and collect instances as examples of different usages. Although it’s committed work for the teacher, ultimately both the teachers and the students stand to gain, as both become learners and teachers at the same time. This approach ultimately transforms the students to become inquirers, researchers and investigators in finding the correct answers on their own. This is, in short ‘experiential learning’, where students become investigators and their own teachers.

Grammar plays a significant role in professionalism and credibility, and there are many easy ways to emphasize this to students. Grammar is about professionalism. Many people will put down or discredit an article that has blatant grammar errors. If teachers can show students the importance of good grammar in the real world, they may be more apt to learn and retain it for everyday use—not just for use in the classroom. Show them examples of newspapers, brochures, and websites that use poor grammar, and have them evaluate the credibility of those pieces of text. It needs to be emphasized that grammar is not about rules but it is about tools, to make once language glamourous and lucid. We have, thus far caught grammar from the wrong end to memorize and byheart. Grammar is a practical subject. It. Therefore, demands a practical approach.