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Kuveni
56 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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September 25, 2011
Henry Jayasena's Kuvani is a play in three acts, a re-telling of Kuvani's story, the first woman that was wronged in the Sri Lankan history, the woman who was tricked by her 'noble' husband, banished by her kin for falling for a foreigner(Vijaya, the rebellious son of King Singabahu in India) and betraying the country for love, who abandons her for a Princess from India, the woman who was called a she-devil that put a curse on the Sinhelese, the mother to Veddahs, aborigines of Sri Lanka.
"Kuvani" was greatly loved because it was a breakthrough in so many ways. It was the wake of the 'Stylised' drama of "Maname" and "Singabahu" of that peirod. Then the play deals with the oppisition between recorded history and hidden history and Jayasena introduces feminism, to look at her story, rather than hi(s)tory.
The setting is a frantastic one. The Hunter finds Jeevahaththa and Disala, the two children of Kuvani, waiting in the forest for their mother's return. The hunter learn the real story from the children and he and we realize that the children had been waiting for the mother for 2500 years, waiting for mother's return who has gone to beg for pardon from her uncle, who was killed by her kin in rage.
Jayasena then sets the setting in a courtroom where he makes a link to all the women like Kuvani that lives among us and then returns back to the story of the hunter and the two children.
Lakshmi de Silva has done a wonderful job in the translation. As I read, I can memorize the Sinhala writing. They match brilliantly. Five stars.
"Kuvani" was greatly loved because it was a breakthrough in so many ways. It was the wake of the 'Stylised' drama of "Maname" and "Singabahu" of that peirod. Then the play deals with the oppisition between recorded history and hidden history and Jayasena introduces feminism, to look at her story, rather than hi(s)tory.
The setting is a frantastic one. The Hunter finds Jeevahaththa and Disala, the two children of Kuvani, waiting in the forest for their mother's return. The hunter learn the real story from the children and he and we realize that the children had been waiting for the mother for 2500 years, waiting for mother's return who has gone to beg for pardon from her uncle, who was killed by her kin in rage.
Jayasena then sets the setting in a courtroom where he makes a link to all the women like Kuvani that lives among us and then returns back to the story of the hunter and the two children.
Lakshmi de Silva has done a wonderful job in the translation. As I read, I can memorize the Sinhala writing. They match brilliantly. Five stars.
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