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ලීලා
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1914
4 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Martin Wickramasinghe
72 books382 followersThe search for roots is the central theme in Martin Wickramasinghe’s writings on the culture and life of the people of Sri Lanka. He imaginatively explored and applied modern knowledge in natural and social sciences, literature, linguistics, the arts, philosophy, education, and Buddhism and comparative religion to reach beyond the superficial emotionalism of vulgar nationalism, and guide us to the enduring roots of our common national identity that exists in the folklife and folk culture of Sri Lanka...
Martin Wickramasinghe’s vision was primarily nurtured in the tolerant, humane, realistic attitude to life traditional to Buddhist folk culture. He valued the intellectual freedom and independence inspired by the Buddha’s ‘Kalama Sutta’ which he saw as a tradition to question tradition, not unlike the Western scientific attitude. Through his writings, he consistently opposed dogmatism, casuistry, elitism, and oppression in any form, be it cultural, religious, political or social.
His works have been translated and published in English, Hindi, Tamil, Russian, Chinese, Romanian, Dutch, German, French and Japanese languages.
Martin Wickramasinghe’s vision was primarily nurtured in the tolerant, humane, realistic attitude to life traditional to Buddhist folk culture. He valued the intellectual freedom and independence inspired by the Buddha’s ‘Kalama Sutta’ which he saw as a tradition to question tradition, not unlike the Western scientific attitude. Through his writings, he consistently opposed dogmatism, casuistry, elitism, and oppression in any form, be it cultural, religious, political or social.
His works have been translated and published in English, Hindi, Tamil, Russian, Chinese, Romanian, Dutch, German, French and Japanese languages.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 19, 2015
කථාව කුඩා ය. එහෙත් ඊට මුවාව කෙරෙන සමාජ විවරණය මහත් ය.
May 27, 2025
This is Martin Wickramasinghe's first book published in 1914, and it does have the freshness of a first book by the great author Martin within the writing style. The fact that intellectual discussions is happening within the story in a framed narrative to discuss social realism is just brilliant.
I read it on my way to the southern parts of the country by train, and by staying there, and it was so interesting to see the same train journey and stations mentioned in the book.
The content is so exceptional that is shows that even for his first book how much of a discussion he wanted to include , Leela offers critical insights into the early stirrings of Sinhala modernism, rooted in village life, social norms, and personal morality.Unlike the romanticized depictions of village life in pre-1910 Sinhala literature, Leela offers a realistic and critical lens on religious piety, gossip culture, and moral policing.The plot is relatively thin, serving more as a vehicle for ideas than a compelling narrative.However, its honesty, clarity, and willingness to question tradition are groundbreaking for its time.
Leela is notable for its bold critique of social norms and early use of narrative to examine community consciousness.
In the preface Martin explains how a friend who read the draft of Leela told him never to publish this , makes complete sense.
I am glad I read his later works first and then read his first book later in life.
Really enjoyed this book
I read it on my way to the southern parts of the country by train, and by staying there, and it was so interesting to see the same train journey and stations mentioned in the book.
The content is so exceptional that is shows that even for his first book how much of a discussion he wanted to include , Leela offers critical insights into the early stirrings of Sinhala modernism, rooted in village life, social norms, and personal morality.Unlike the romanticized depictions of village life in pre-1910 Sinhala literature, Leela offers a realistic and critical lens on religious piety, gossip culture, and moral policing.The plot is relatively thin, serving more as a vehicle for ideas than a compelling narrative.However, its honesty, clarity, and willingness to question tradition are groundbreaking for its time.
Leela is notable for its bold critique of social norms and early use of narrative to examine community consciousness.
In the preface Martin explains how a friend who read the draft of Leela told him never to publish this , makes complete sense.
I am glad I read his later works first and then read his first book later in life.
Really enjoyed this book
June 19, 2023
ලීලා වටා ඇල්බට් හා ගිල්බට් නම් පුද්ගලයන් අතර ඇති ප්රේම කතාවක්. 1914 ප්රථම වරට ප්රකාශිත මෙහි ලීලා යන නම යොදා ගනිමින් ප්රේම කතාවක් මෙහි දිගහැරැනද එහි මූලික අරමුණ වශයෙන් දැකිය හැක්කේ ලංකාව තුල මන්ත්ර,ගුරුකම්... වැනි මිත්යා විශ්වාස පිළිබඳව එකල මිනිස්සුන් තුල තිබූ විශ්වාසයන් දෙස බුද්ධියෙන් බැලීම සඳහා යම් යොමුකිරීමකි.
ඒ සඳහා ඔහු විසින් ආගම් හතරම තුල ඇති විවිධ විශ්වාස හා ලොව බොහෝ විවිධ රටවල් තුල පවතින විවිධ විශ්වාස උදාහරණ ලෙස ගෙන ඇත. එමගින් ලංකාව තුල පමණක් නොව ලොව බොහෝ රටවලද එවැනි විශ්වාස මිනිස්සුන් තුල ඇති බව පැහැදිලි වේ.
මීට අමතරව බුදුදහම පිළිබඳව සාම්ප්රදායට අමතරව වෙනස් ආකාරයකින් බැලීමට පාඨකයා මෙහෙයවයි.
කාන්තාවක් වටා ගෙතුණු ප්රේම කතාවක් ලෙස පාඨකයා ආක්රමණය කිරීමට යොදා ගත්තද කතෘවරයාගේ අරමුණ වෙනෙකකි.
ඒ සඳහා ඔහු විසින් ආගම් හතරම තුල ඇති විවිධ විශ්වාස හා ලොව බොහෝ විවිධ රටවල් තුල පවතින විවිධ විශ්වාස උදාහරණ ලෙස ගෙන ඇත. එමගින් ලංකාව තුල පමණක් නොව ලොව බොහෝ රටවලද එවැනි විශ්වාස මිනිස්සුන් තුල ඇති බව පැහැදිලි වේ.
මීට අමතරව බුදුදහම පිළිබඳව සාම්ප්රදායට අමතරව වෙනස් ආකාරයකින් බැලීමට පාඨකයා මෙහෙයවයි.
කාන්තාවක් වටා ගෙතුණු ප්රේම කතාවක් ලෙස පාඨකයා ආක්රමණය කිරීමට යොදා ගත්තද කතෘවරයාගේ අරමුණ වෙනෙකකි.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews