ABSTRACT
The Lankan society from the distant past has consisted of multi-racial identities. It is, thus, essential that such a society must embody characteristics like concord and mutual respect to avoid internal conflict. However, there has been a marked decline in the gradually emerging interracial conflicts. The origins of most of such conflicts are connected with educational and cultural interventions of colonial and post-colonial indigenization campaign. Indigenization movement, initially launched with a nationalist or patriotic motive, can be considered directly responsible for this state of affairs. Interestingly, many individuals who played a leading role in the second generation (1940–1972) of the Lankan indigenization movement were found to be students of Santiniketan, which was supposed to have influenced a sense of cosmopolitanism among them. Martha Nussbaum who carried out the study of the thought of Tagore and the intervention had offered an insight into Tagore’s cosmopolitanism and how Santiniketan had put the doctrine into practice. The present study seeks to explain whether features of cosmopolitanism were present in the thought and use of two leading men – Ediriweera Sarachchandra (1914–1996), a pioneer in the indigenous tradition of drama, in literary criticism and in dramatic art education and Sunil Santha (1915–1981), an innovator in indigenous music tradition – and to seek the conditions behind the said cosmopolitanism being not socialized. Discussions held with five scholars, books, press cuttings, video and audio data and internet data have been made use of as sources of the study. Initial deliberations hint that Sarachchandra was unable to follow Tagore’s cosmopolitanism. The intervention of Sarachchandra in indigenization movement had been interspersed with racial, caste and religious prejudice, neutralizing any trace of cosmopolitanism his academic training in Santiniketan may have induced. But on the other hand, Maname (the drama he produced) had significant humanist elements. Conversely, Sunil Santha’s work is often tinged with noticeable cosmopolitan approach, and yet there is a marked balking against debilitating forces. His journey was also halted by the Lankan Indianization project. The fight staged against imperialism by the first generation (1848–1948) of indigenization movement in Sri Lanka involved internal dissension of varied nature. Racism, divisions in religion, in language, patriarchy, caste system etc. were deeply rooted in the campaign, which was fundamental to patriotism. Such inherent discrimination in the cultural makeup of the country may have conditioned the indigenization campaign, making it difficult to convert into reality the influence Santiniketan had on the artists. The study intends to reveal that Indian expansionism, Marxism, Buddhist monastic culture, Christian missionary and the British control had not been helpful to imbibe cosmopolitanism. The absence of a conscious indigenization movement can be attributed to the chief cause for the failure to deliver the message of Tagore to Sri Lanka.
