Singing the national anthem In Sinhala and Tamil – Celebrating unity in diversity

by Satyajith Andradi-January 24, 2020, 8:07 pm

 Lankans – irrespective of language, ethnicity, religion, social status or caste – are exceptionally good at speaking proudly of the beauty and diversity of their motherland. We speak at length of the wide range of flora and fauna found in our country. We are proud of the cool tea-growing central highlands, the warm paddy-growing lowland plains, the sandy beaches, the rivers, the mountains, the lakes, and the rain forests, to name a few. Then, quite rightly, we go on to highlight that all these wonderful things are found in a surprisingly small area of twenty five thousand square miles.

The National Anthem Controversy

The 72nd Anniversary of Independence of Sri Lanka is fast approaching. It is indeed a day for the celebration of the beauty and diversity of our country. There is no better way to do so than singing our national anthem, which celebrates the beauty and diversity of our motherland. But, alas, the singing of the national anthem at the official Independence Day celebrations has become the subject of an acrimonious controversy between two groups – one claiming that it should be sung only in the original Sinhala, and the other saying that it should be sung in Tamil as well. This seems to be an instance where our gift for celebrating beauty and diversity of our country seems to fail us. It appears that we have left out the most valuable and indispensable facet of our nation – its people – from our universe of discourse on the beauty and diversity of Sri Lanka. We do not seem to be able to appreciate the charm and diversity of our people in terms of their varied languages, ethnicities, religions, cultures, arts, politics, education, professions, sports, and talents.

The Sinhala Original

The music and lyrics of our national anthem was composed by the renowned poet-composer and singer Ananda Samarakoon, who was one of the founding fathers of modern Sinhala music. The song consists of six stanzas. The first stanza, which is an affectionate salutation, serves as a refrain or chorus: The second and third recounts the beauty, diversity and prosperity of the land: The fourth and fifth praise Mother Lanka as the our source of spiritual sustenance : The fifth is an earnest prayer to Her: The sixth and last is an exhortation to Her children to march forward, shedding all differences and nurturing love for each another.

The lyrics of the national anthem of Sri Lanka are composed in highly Sanskritised Sinhala. In that sense, it closely resembles the Indian national anthem, which is written in highly Sanskritised Bangali. Needless to say, the song has numerous words taken from Sanskrit. Most of these loan words are used in their original Sanskrit form, whilst a few are adopted with minor modifications. The former category includes words such as Shri (prosperity), Matha (mother), Namo (salutation), Sundara (beauty ) Ati (beyond), Dhanya (grain ), Dhanaya (wealth), Jaya (victory), Ramya (beauty) Bhakti (devotion), Puja (worship ), Vidya (knowledge, science), Sathya (truth), Shakti (strength), Aloke (light), Anuprana (breath, after breath), Jeevana (life), Mukthi (salvation, release, freedom ), Nava (new), Jnana (wisdom), Virya (diligence, energy), Bhumi (land), Prema (affection), and Bheda (division, disputes), whilst the latter includes Sobamana (beauteous) and Siribarini (sustenance of prosperity). Interestingly, most of these Sanskrit loan words are also found in the Tamil language and are quite familiar to Tamil native speakers.

The Tamil Version

The Tamil version of the national anthem consists of a translation of the Sinhala original into Tamil by Pundit M Nallathamby in 1948. The lyrics are sung to the tune of the Sinhala original . The first stanza has been left unchanged, except in the case of two words – the Sinhala word ‘Apa’ (our) has been replaced with the Tamil word ‘ Nam’ (our), and the Sanskrit word ‘ Matha’ with the Tamil ‘Thaye’ (mother). It is interesting to note that the word ‘Matha has been adopted by both Sinhala and Tamil.

Unlike the first stanza, the rest of the lyrics have undergone a thorough translation, so much so that the numerous Sanskrit loan words found in the Sinhala original, which are also in the Tamil lexicon, are nowhere to be found in the Tamil version. The lines of the Tamil version are through and through Tamil, except in the few instances where a couple of new Sanskrit loan words such as ‘ Siromani’ (crest jewel) are introduced . However, what is wonderful about the Nallathamby translation is its preservation of the spirit of the Sinhala original.

Sinhala and Tamil in Sri Lanka –

a Case in Linguistic Diversity

The Sinhala and Tamil versions of the national anthem of Sri Lanka epitomizes the immense linguistic diversity of the country. Whilst the native Tamil speaker would be able to somewhat fathom the meaning of the Sinhala lyrics thanks to its numerous Sanskrit loan words, the native Sinhala speaker, who is not very conversant with the Tamil language, would find it extremely difficult to understand the Tamil lyrics. Actually, a Sinhala native speaker would understand the Indian national anthem, or even the Nepali national anthem, much better than the Tamil version of the Sri Lankan national anthem, thanks to the presence of many Sanskrit loan words in the Indian and Nepali anthems. However, this is not a cause for disappointment or alarm. On the contrary, it is a fact to celebrate. It speaks volumes of the linguistic diversity of the country. We celebrate the fact that Sri Lanka is a bio-diversity hot-spot of the world. Likewise, why cannot we celebrate its wonderful linguistic diversity? After all, Sinhala and Tamil have been spoken in the country for more than two millennia.

Sinhala, which is the native language of the majority of Sri Lankans, belongs to the Indo-European group of languages commonly known as Aryan languages. This group consists of a plethora of languages such as Sanskrit, Persian, Latin, Greek, Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Nepali, Urdu, Persian, Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish, English and German, to name a few. The Sinhala language, like Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, and Nepali, is considered to be an offspring of Sanskrit, the sacred language of ancient India. Sinhala is most probably the living eldest daughter of Sanskrit.

Tamil, on the other hand, belongs to the Dravidian family of languages. Like Sanskrit, Tamil is an ancient classical language of India. It possesses a great literature. However, due to the general Aryanisation or Sanskritisation of South India, Tamil has also come under the influence of Sanskrit. Hence, the presence of numerous Sanskrit loan words in the Tamil language. Similarly, the two-millennia long encounter of Sinhala with Tamil has enriched the former with numerous Tamil loan words. Sinhala native speakers constitute a majority of Sri Lanka’s people, whilst Tamil native speakers form a sizeable minority.

Language, Music, and Emotions

Language is a powerful medium of communication of ideas and emotions. By the same token, the lack of knowledge of a language could be a veritable barrier to meaningful communication. In fact, one often hears of the language barrier. The Tamil native speaker’s inability to understand the Sinhala lyrics of the national anthem, or vice versa, is a case in point. Language barriers often leads to misunderstandings and mistrust. This is a drawback of language, which could to some extent be overcome by learning the languages of each other. However, even where language barriers exist, music could do wonders, especially in the realm of emotions. Music is, in fact, the language of emotions. It could break through language barriers as far as expression of emotions are concerned. It builds bridges and binds people together.

A national anthem, like any other song, is a union of poetry and music. Hence, whilst the musical element is critically important, the linguistic component should not be under-rated. It is a widely accepted view that, a person is able to express her or his innermost emotions through the medium of her or his native language rather than through a different one. Hence, it is important that everyone be actively encouraged to use their native language. Needless to say, this applies in the case of singing one’s national anthem as well. Use of one’s native language will stimulate creativity, whilst learning other languages would enrich it further.

Celebrating Unity in Diversity

The recent history of our country has taught us a bitter lesson: It is about the heavy price we got to pay for our failure to appreciate and celebrate the diversity- linguistic and otherwise, amongst our people. Appreciating and celebrating the natural beauty and bio-diversity of our land is necessary and laudable. However, that alone is not sufficient to ensure national progress and well-being. It is absolutely necessary to appreciate and celebrate the beauty and diversity of our people as well. Thereby we would be able to holistically experience unity in diversity – the One in All, and the All in One. Singing our national anthem in Tamil as well as in Sinhala at the official Independence Day celebrations is a small but vital step in this journey. Let’s sing it with devotion and enthusiasm in the two main native languages of our land – Sinhala and Tamil. Let us also learn to sing it in the language of each other in the near future.