Sunil Sarath’s Literary Odyssey-by Gamini Kariyawasam
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Sunil Sarath Perera, who has enlightened the spirituality of the world with a collection of meaningful and beautiful songs, March 05 will step towards the commemorative event of the eighth decade of his life pilgrimage.
I was led to engage in this kind of reflection on the mission of my closest friends in the fields of song literature and electronic media.
My friend Sunil Sarath Perera is appreciated by the people as a unique scholar who spread his brilliant skills in many events. It is not an easy task to summarize the great mission accomplished by him to our country in such a short letter. I have intended to examine briefly here the wonderful lines he made by conquering the printed and electronic media. His central trajectory spans the narrow paths of literature, electronic media and administration.
His literary jurney –
The priority of Sunil’s literary work is in the field of song treatises. He contributed many auspicious songs to the Sinhala song literature based on various experiences and themes. Sunil Amaradeva’s melodious song literature is sure to resonate through the ages. A unique place in Sunil Sarath’s hymns belongs to the collection of songs that convey the essence of breakthrough romance based on the breakup of love. It is not an easy task to weave a beautiful composition with sweetness and poetic qualities without monotony while creating lyrics with a very common object subject like love as the root of enjoyment. However, Sunil Sarath’s skills that he has inherited through his full experience have clearly distinguished the dynamic moods of love, and his ability to embody the supremely dynamic nature of love with great restraint is astonishing. Sunil once told us that the form of a song is a sound pattern born from a root of enjoyment. He turned his songwriting into a realistically eloquent, tasteful speech. The honor of introducing metaphorical beauty by combining nouns and verbs in song creation naturally goes to him.
The moon that melts the flowers of close hearts, the impermanence of the world, and the impermanence of change, touch the heart sharply. The mind feels. Sunil Sarath, who has mastered Nature ( සනාතන දහම) well, paints the reality with great restraint, showing how wonderful it is.
” She went away and disappeared
Between the shadows of a wild forest
Singing and holding me
She’s gone and gone.”
”ඇය යන්න ගියා මැකිලා
වන සිරසක තුරු සෙවණැලි අතරේ
ගී ගයමින් හිඳ මා තුරුලේ
ඇය යන්න ගියා මැකිලා”
The author’s ability to present the beautiful moments they spent in a visual form with a poetic imagination is amazing. In order to highlight the meaning of the song, H. M. Jayawardena Musician and Amarasiri Peiris Gandharvaya’s commendable efforts are invaluable.
“A tear of dew smeared the end of the flower petals
Cover your face with a cloak of mist”
”පිනි කඳුළක් මල් පෙති අග තවරා
මීදුම සළුවෙන් මුහුණ වසා”>
The writer draws the necessary symbols from the natural environment in a very sharp way to embody the eternal loss of his beloved.
That we will never meet again
Although he shook his head slightly
Can never believe
She won’t be back until summer.”
The lover wipes his head and sees that he swore by touching his head that he would never meet his beloved again. Summer is reminiscent of the twilight season of marriage. The old age approaching the twilight of life is an indispensable time for the young woman. However, it is hard to believe that she will come to him before summer. The last few verses of the song, Vipralambha Shringara, are powerfully shocking in the heart of the friend. The song and the burning music are able to evoke the pain of loneliness and separation. Sunil Sarath shows a very subtle excellence in the use of conceptual images and metaphors.
I remember how Prof. Wimal Dissanayake explained that the writer has made a great linguistic feat in the song “She went away and erased…”
.. He indicates that two different meanings are highlighted on two levels of meaning through one set of words as a special linguistic effect. He calls it a characteristic feature. The uniqueness of these lyrics is that they bring enjoyment to love and nature at the same time.
“Love poured a drop of water from the lake
Sitting next to her, she became aware of the pain and suffering
She took care of the children and sent them on their way
You are my mother after my mother’s death.”
The year 2012 came with Sunilun’s heart truly touching the sorrows of bereavement. His beloved wife, Sarojini, falls ill and is taken to the hospital. Sunil, who was staying next to the sick Sarojani for his mercy, composed the song based on his heartfelt intimacy. On February 15, 2012, Sarojini passed away, leaving Sunil and Sanjivi – Uvini – Udara, – Susangatha—with great emotion.
Sunil, who was a very sensitive artist, contributed many soulful poems to the song literature due to the shock in his heart caused by the death of his wife.
When you are awake and see the world,
He brings a sip of tea to his mother in the morning
Thinking about you
Moment by moment, I feel lonely
This emotional song is inspired by the painful breakup that Sunil faced in his real life at an unexpected moment.
In the night of full moon
Because I can see the frustration
The full moon is a beautiful natural sight that enchants the human mind. Ancient poets often likened the mouth of a young girl to Kamala, who was intoxicated by Nilabara.
However, Sunil Sarath, a talented poet, sees the rising moon in the mind of the poet.
At the very beginning of the song, his effort to intensely depict the sorrow and death of his beloved is excellent.
The beautiful song makes it clear that the end result of empty love is the pain of separation. He reminds the world of Sanatanism that no matter how beautiful love is, or how sweet nature is, all things are not eternal and changeable.
By studying the works of Sunil Sarath Perera, the next generation can find the right path to follow.
“The girl I loved the other day” Amaradeva, Sunil, who portrayed Amaradeva in his immortal tone, sees her as “giving mercy instead of anger,” proving that the impermanence of life changes little. Moving our hearts with a subtle shock. He uses a smooth verse combination pattern to express the beauty of time and impermanence in these songs. It shows the intensity and strangeness of his imagination.
Sunil is a pioneer in creating environmental song literature in the field of song creation. Sunil Sarath Perera’s work for the environment has not yet been evaluated quantitatively. Appreciating his environmental hymns is as much a cultural study as it is a reading of Sunil Sarath Perera. His works should be studied in depth while discussing the song literature. His exploration and revolution in linguistics should be brought to the attention of critics. Prof. Wimal Dissanayake’s keen attention to his exploits centered on the linguistic technique called metaphor, as well as the metaphor, deserves to be commended.
Here, Sunil introduced the effect of metaphor, especially the combination of nouns and verbs, in modern Sinhala song literature.
path of a mischievous girl as well as the charm of the environment.
Sunilun’s path is evaluated as that of a literary man who made a fundamental effort to direct the art of song criticism to a fresh path. The book “Song Composition Research” he wrote is a good example of this, and the number of articles written in newspapers introducing the face of artistic song is also important to remember here.
There are many books added by Sunil to the Sinhala literature family. Lonely Memory, Three Path Patterns, Maya Mawatha, Sandakat Mi na managed to attract the readership among them. In 1996, he was awarded the Rajya Sahitya Award for the book “Maha Kanda” which he penned.
Sunil, as the founder of the Rupavahini official magazine, has made an effort to bring the work of that institution to the masses. He pioneered the launch of the country’s first environmental magazine called “Soba”, and he published many environmental literature books.
Sunil is in Administration and Electrical Engineering.
Sunil’s accomplishments as not only a writer but also as an administrator and an electronic media expert.. That era can be described as an opportunity where administration and imagination came together.
His work as a senior assistant secretary in a number of ministries as well as an additional secretary in the Ministry of Environment was appreciated by the public. Once, he was engaged in the service of an embassy in the Middle East, and the service he did to raise the image of Sri Lanka in that country was excellent.
In July 1993, when Sunil Sarath assumed the position of Director General of Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, I was holding the position of Director General of Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. On this occasion, I remember how Sunil worked primarily to build the strong friendship that existed between the two of us as individuals and between the two institutions. Television and radio managed to create a bridge between the two. The two of us worked shoulder to shoulder and devised innovative strategies to build camaraderie between the programs, artists, and staff of the two institutions. As one of the steps, he led to the introduction of daily radio programs on television. When certain popular programs are being broadcast on television, I have taken steps to simultaneously broadcast those programs on radio waves. Television sets were not as common in remote villages then as they are today. Therefore, Menain provided a great opportunity for radio to bring television programs and online dialogues, songs, and music closer to rural people through the airwaves.
Among the series of popular programs that Sunil Sarath presented to the television audience as the director general of the Rupavahini , the “Manohari” song show has a prominent place. The “Buddha Purnima” program broadcast live on the Vesak festival day from the birthplace of Buddha in Dambadiva is the result of the efforts of Sunil Sarath.
On November 24, 2005, Sunil Sarath became the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, a fateful event. During his tenure, he was engaged in a mission to direct the radio in a new and effective direction. During that period, Sunil bequeathed the electric children’s radio to the children’s generation. A pioneer in building children’s literature. The theme song of Radio Children’s Pavilion, composed by Sunil “Ratata Pippena Mal” always reminds us of his great work for the promotion of children’s literature.
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On the occasion of the celebration of his 83 birthday, Sunil Sarath Perera, the great literary figure, let us remember with gratitude the great literary work he accomplished and wish him eternal life.
– Dr. Gamini Kariyawasam.
