Welcome to the weekly write-ups of the 7amused bloggers. This blog is run by the third year special students of the department of English, University of Kelaniya.
Pre colonial food culture in Sri Lanka was a harmonious blend of culinary and medicinal practices that were tied to human wellbeing. The production and the consumption of food were tied to class, cast, religion and rituals. Caste distinction in pre-colonial Sri Lanka was established based on how our ancestors contributed to the production of food. Further, pre colonial Sri Lankan food culture was rich and had a strong connection with nature. Going back to the pre-colonial era of the country, the diet of its people mainly consisted of, grains, cereal, vegetables, roots, seeds, freshwater fish and bush meat. Rice was the largely consumed, staple food in ancient Sri Lanka. Ancient Sri Lanka had an agrarian economy which shaped its cultural values, rituals and customs. Rice cultivation dates far back to the period of King Pandukabhaya who is believed to have built the first wewa , a large water reservoir used to irrigate paddy fields. However, it was during the reign of King Parakkranabah
Island of a Thousand Mirrors
ReplyDeleteScorched limbs, bloodied streets, bodies gutted by a million shards of metal and screams of death. These are the memories and experiences that are being forgotten and erased from the history of Sri Lanka; the violence of a nation hidden beneath a veil of grandeur and false security. As quoted at the beginning of the novel, Nayomi Munaweera sets out to explore how “the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting” in "Island of a Thousand Mirrors".
This is a novel that truly sends one on an emotional roller-coaster. Munaweera unearths the horrors of the past through the narratives of Yashodara Rajasinghe, a Sinhalese girl born and raised in Colombo and Saraswathi, a Tamil girl living in a border village fighting against the cruelties of war. The reader is taken through a story of great love affairs, betrayals, hope, deep trauma and violence. The way in which these characters are represented puts into question all our biases and preconceived notions of war, terrorism, nation, ethnicity and human life. This is a novel that will leave you with many questions as to who decides how history is narrated, who is a terrorist and who is the saviour, and is one life worthier than another.
The sufferings of Yashodara, her family and the traumatic experiences of Saraswathi provides glimpses of a “thousand mirrors” that reflect the intricacies of life, war and violence. These two narratives are brought together in one act of massive destruction (spoiler alert – Lanka, Yashodara’s sister becoming a victim of Saraswathi, who becomes a suicide bomber for the LTTE) and it is this moment that creates a perfect balance which shatters the notion of a single truth or perspective. Through Saraswathi’s final act of revenge against her rapists and what they represent, Munaweera shows how no one can be branded as the victim or the perpetrator. It is this greyness with which the story is unfolded that really appeals to me. The deep hatred and inhumanity looming beneath the lush greenery, sparkling seas and the beauty of the island is brought to surface by Munaweera as a powerful reminder of how our nation still has a long way to go in its journey towards reconciliation.
There are memories that should not be disregarded or forgotten in the attempt to heal the wounds of a broken society. To forget is to deny the existence of something. The gross misuse of power in rejecting histories, experiences and human life is what the novelist strives to acknowledge. As a diasporic writer, Munaweera brings in an important lens through which the past can be examined. We have all been affected by the ethnic conflicts and the political violence of the past few decades that has caused massive trauma. Regardless of whether you have experienced these horrors first hand or not, these are memories that will be a part of every Sri Lankan. This is a story that will speak for many by making you relive, negotiate and understand your own reality.
- Sasha Hewa