A Book and Two Songs

The purpose of writing this post comes from a truly wonderful reason. I have just finished reading the 845 pages of රණ මඟ ඔස්සේ නන්දිකඩාල් (Road to Nandikadal #R2NK). Yay!!!! 

රණ මඟ ඔස්සේ නන්දිකඩාල් Book Cover

No, I am not here to review the book. Instead, I want to shine a light on the four verses that appear at both the beginning and the end, which touched me more deeply than anything else. After journeying through the whole page lot for a week or two, it was such a soothing experience to encounter those verses on the final page. I also wish to share the fascinating history of another song I lead into while listening to these verses.

The four verses:

"අවසන් හුස්ම පොද නොබියව හෙළන්නට
සිවු රියනේ හිත සතුටින් නිදන්නට
මිනිසකු විලස ඉපදුණු පල දකින්නට
පුළුවනි මරණ මංචකයේ වුවද මට"

I had never heard this song during my generation, either on TV or radio. It seems it was highly popular back in its day, but not during mine. I became curious to know what song featured these four gentle verses sung by Abeywardane Balasooriya and written by Sunil Ariyaratne. Fortunately, I found it online, in its original nostalgic charm, with music by Victor Ratnayake.

"ජීවිතය දෙස ආපසු හැරී බලන ගොවියෙකුගේ ජීවන චාරිකාව සහ ඔහුගේ උදාර සිතුවිලි "

අවසන් හුස්ම පොද නොබියව හෙළන්නට

සිවු රියනේ හිත සතුටින් නිදන්නට
මිනිසකු විලස ඉපදුණු පල දකින්නට
පුළුවනි මරණ මංචකයේ වුවද මට

දහදිය දිය උනේ නෑ මාලිගාවල
කඳුළැලි වැටුනෙ නෑ නිවටුන් දෙපාමුල
ගත හැඩි දැඩි උනේ ළඳුවල කැලෑ වල
කරගැට මතු උණේ නගුලට උදැල්ලට

මහ කෙත් රණ බිමට වැද ගෙන උදලු කෙටී
මේ රළු පොළොව ජය ලැබුවෙමි වැතිර වැටී
ඒ ජය මට නොවෙයි නුඹටයි ඉපිද නැතී
අද මා මළත් හෙට මා උන් සුවඳ ඇතී

පද රචනය : සුනිල් ආරියරත්න
තනුව සහ සංගීතය : වික්ටර් රත්නායක
ගායනය : අබේවර්ධන බාලසූරිය

Well... Most of the verses are quite general and could apply to anyone, but taken as a whole, the song reflects the noble thoughts of an upright farmer who led an honorable life. Even though the book was about soldiers, war, and the sacrifices they make, there’s not much difference between being a farmer and being a soldier. As the saying goes, “If you ate today, thank a farmer. If you ate in peace, thank a soldier.” (I’ve often seen this quote used by Indian people to buildup national pride.) So, with a slight modification to the two verses "කරගැට මතු උණේ නගුලට උදැල්ලට" and "මහ කෙත් රණ බිමට වැද ගෙන උදලු කෙටී," it becomes a perfect fit for gallant soldiers who lead a noble life.

These days, I don’t think a farmer could ever say “දහදිය දිය උනේ නෑ මාලිගාවල” or “කඳුළැලි වැටුනෙ නෑ නිවටුන් දෙපාමුල” in this economy. The Gamaraala (ගමරාළ) culture or Gama Gedara (ගම ගෙදර) culture that once held a respected place in the community during the agricultural era is now gone. Those were the days when we truly lived as an agricultural society. Now, Gamaraala (ගමරාළ) exists only in children’s books—if even there. Just think about the image of Gamaraala (ගමරාළ) versus the image of a farmer (ගොවි මහතා) you have in your mind.

Before moving on to the next song, I want to thank the author, Major General Kamal Gunaratne, a thousand times—not just for writing the book, but for including those four verses of this song—verses I had never heard before and that deeply touched my heart.

Alright, moving on to the next song. It was fairly popular in our time, especially if you listened to the radio. I don’t recall ever seeing it on a TV channel, though there’s a chance it might have played on ITN or SLRC back then. The song is Mahiyangane Rankotha Vaasanaawan. This had appeared on YouTube, alongside the journey of my search for four verses mentioned earlier.

This one was the original with that classic feel. I’ve seen another version from a 1992 music video with somewhat better sound quality, but I think the old one touches the heart more than the 1992 version.

මහියංගණේ රන් කොත වාසනාවන්
මහවැලි ගඟේ දියවර වාසනාවන් 

තුන්යම දුටුව සිහිනය වාසනාවන් 

බාල නඟෝ නුඹ මට වාසනාවන් 

ඉර බාරයි ඉර වට යන ගිරවුන්ට 

සඳ බාරයි සඳ වට යන සාවුන්ට 

මල බාරයි මල වට යන බමරුන්ට 

නුඹ බාරයි මතු මතුවත් නගෝ මට 

මහියංගණේ රන් කොත…

ඉරගල නුවර ඉරගල පවතිනා තුරු 

සඳගල නුවර සඳගල පවතිනා තුරු 

අපහද බැඳුණු සෙනෙහස මල් පිපෙන තුරු 

මේ ගඟ ගලනු ඇත දුක සැප දෙකම හුරු 

මහියංගණේ රන් කොත…

පද රචනය : සුනිල් සරත් පෙරේරා
තනුව සහ සංගීතය : සරත් ප්‍රනාන්දු
ගායනය : පියසිරි විජේරත්න

Lyrics: Sunil Sarath Perera

Music: Sarath Fernando

Singer: Piyasiri Wijeratne

1992 Music Video featuring Piyasiri Wijeratne

Piyasiri Wijeratne

I’d heard it a few times on the radio, and it was always such a beloved, touching piece of music. I think it was the combination of the melody and Piyasiri Wijeratne’s voice that made it so special and unique. After such a long time without hearing it, I instantly clicked to play it the moment I saw it. When I went to hit ‘like,’ I stumbled upon a wonderful comment saying it was from a television drama during the Mahaweli project era. I was like, “What??” From that moment, I set out on a mission to uncover the song’s history, and here’s what I discovered in the vast world of the internet.

It seems this song was adapted, with its verses taken from our traditional poetry related to the sacred tooth relic in the Temple of the Tooth, Kandy. Ref: http://www.lakehouse.lk/budusarana/2007/08/28/PrintPage.asp?REF=fea05

"ගද්‍ය පද්‍ය කලාව තුළ දළදා සාහිත්‍යයත් බිහිවිය. පාලි දාඨාවංශය, දළදා සිරිත, දළදා පූජාවලිය , දළදා කාව්‍යය, දළදා සතකය, දළදා චතුර, ඒ සඳහා නිදසුන් කීපයකි. කවියන් හා උගතුන්ගේ ගෞරවයට පාත‍්‍ර වූ වස්තුවක් වූවාසේම නූතන ගීතයට ද වස්තු බීජයක් බවට පත්ව තිබේ.

ඉරගල නුවර ඉරගල පවතිනා තුරු
සඳගල නුවර සඳගල පවතිනා තුරු
මැද මහනුවර රන්කොත පවතිනා තුරු
දින ලා යන්ට නොදෙනෙමි දිවි තිබෙන තුරු

ඉර බාරයි ඉර වට යන ගිරවුන්ට
සඳ බාරයි සඳ වට යන සාවුන්ට
මල බාරයි මල වට යන බඹරුන්ට
අපි බාරයි සිරි දළදා සමිඳුන්ට"

Commentators weren’t sure about the name of the television drama, so I came up with a few possibilities based on the clues I found in my search. 

It was most likely a drama created by Tissa Abeysekara for the Mahaweli Authority during the time Gamini Dissanayake served as Mahaweli Minister. Back then, the Mahaweli was the country’s largest project and required significant campaigning, and Tissa Abeysekara was commissioned to produce dramas to promoting this Mahaweli culture. I don’t think he was ever one to praise a political party. (Update: Incorrect. Turns out he was a member of LSSP, even went in May Day parades. But his wife, Asanka, may have prevented him from sit for election) In my time, I don’t recall seeing any TV dramas supporting a government project, not even during the war—just programs, clips, songs, and occasionally one or two one-act plays (ඒකාංගික ටෙලි නාට්‍ය) that made in earlier days such Amiththa Weerasinghe being a soldier- a campaign to encourage youngsters to join the army. From a civilization’s perspective, there’s something fascinating about party politics becoming a history; there’s so much to learn. It's a wonderful nostalgic sensation when looking back.

According to the following reference, name of this drama should be "Mahaweli Sihinaya" (මහවැලි සිහිනය).

Ref: http://archives.dinamina.lk/baddaramalla/?sid=article&dt=2013/09/17&id=2013/09/17/b1309175

I couldn’t find a title like that in Tissa Abeysekara’s teledrama list or anywhere else. However, I came across three titles said to have been done by him for the Mahaweli Authority around 1985: "Dolos Mahe Gangaawa" (දොළොස්මහේ ගංගාව), "Gangawa Tharanaya" (ගංගාවතරණය), and "Thunkal Sihinaya" (තුන්කල් සිහිනය). As facts presents, all three were written by Sugath Vatagedara, with "Dolos Mahe Gangaawa" being a 12-episode teledrama series, while "Thunkal Sihinaya" and "Gangawa Tharanaya" were one-act plays. I’m not completely sure, as I haven’t seen or heard of any of them before.

According to the facts identified, "Dolosmahe Gangawa" was a teledrama depicted the life of well reputed Dimbulagala Seelalankara Thera. "Thunkal Sihinaya" story was based on a conflict between the new settlers and original settlers of the Mahaweli Project.

One commentator mentioned that the storyline was about a middle-aged Mahaweli officer secretly in love with a young village girl. He never confessed his feelings, and she eventually married another young man. Another commentator said the story revolved around a 'Mahaweli Scholarship,' while someone else vaguely recalled that the cast included Sanath Gunathilaka and Nadeeka Gunasekara.

Well actually I have no idea of the name or the storyline of the drama this song "Mahiyangane Rankotha Vaasanaawan" contained. But one thing for sure, it was about Mahaweli, because likewise there were many teledramas televised those days based on this theme. Hope if you can help me.

A book and two Songs. The moment for the day.

Update [2026/7/31]: This song is from Gangawa Tharanaya (ගංගාවතරණය). Sanath Gunathilake and Nadeeka Gunasekara acted in Dolos Mahe Gangaawa (දොළොස්මහේ ගංගාව) where the village teacher girl the Mahawali engineer Sanath Gunathilake didn't confessed his love played by Moreen Charuni. Mahapola Scholarship story is a teledrama by Vijaya Dharma Sri titled Bhagya, main roles played by Ranjan Ramanayake and Ramani Bartholomeusz.