A critical study, in Sinhala, of the Guththila Kavya — one of the set poems of Sinhala classical literature and a text generations of Sri Lankan schoolchildren have worked through line by line. The title itself announces the approach: wichara weemansa, critical examination rather than retelling or translation.
The poem under discussion belongs to the Kotte period and is attributed to Vettewe Thera. It takes its story from the Guttila Jataka, an account of a previous birth of the Buddha, and turns on a contest of music between the master Guttila and his pupil Musila. The narrative is carried in stanzas, and the work has held a place on school and university reading lists in Sri Lanka for a very long time, which is part of why it continues to attract commentary.
Nisansala Gamlath writes here for readers who already have the poem in front of them, or in memory, and want a considered reading of it. The book is published by Godage International Publishers, an established Colombo house with a long list of Sinhala literary and academic titles.
Please note that the text is entirely in Sinhala. There is no English translation or parallel text. Readers who do not read Sinhala script will not be able to use it. For students sitting Sinhala literature examinations, for teachers preparing the Guththila Kavya for class, and for Sri Lankan readers abroad who want a critical companion to a poem they first met at school, it is written in the register such readers expect.
Buyers outside Sri Lanka often find Sinhala-language criticism of the classical texts hard to come by, since little of it is carried by general international booksellers. This is a working study of a canonical poem rather than an introduction to Sinhala literature as a whole, and it assumes some familiarity with the original.
- Author: Nisansala Gamlath
- Publisher: Godage International Publishers
- Language: Sinhala
- Pages: 88
- ISBN: 9789553077219
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