Punyakante Wijenaike (1933-2023), is considered one of the early fiction writers in English, from Sri Lanka. She started publishing her work back in 1963 ( she had started writing when she was 27), at a time when writing in English was the unpopular thing to do, especially after the Sinhala only movement having such currency just a few years back. I think the main reason that she became a house hold name back in the 1980s was the adoption of her novel, Giraya, to a Sinhala tele-drama, by that master producer, the late Lester James Peries. Back as a teenager I have watched that tele-drama, and it also introduced to most of us, the much respected business leader Peter D'Almeida in the lead role of Lal. Although that teledrama had a relative happy ending, the novel had a twist which raised its level in my eyes of Punyakante as an author - which, in turn, encouraged one of excesses - which is, purchase copies of the author's other work in the market ( which were somewhat difficult to find.) However, it was the recent passing away of the author, which prompted me to take my copy of Giraya for reading.
The novel could be looked upon from two perspectives. The first is Kamini's single handed battle to win over rights as a wife, to wedge in a chance for youth and modernity from the stranglehold of the previous generation (i.e. her mother in law) and old conservative ways. I sense the choice of her name as indicative of the change that is being promoted against an incumbent religious out look on life, which is the way of the life in the manor house. Punyakante, has made such inferences, which makes the book that much more brilliant.
"We came upon another husking coconuts. Into the brown earth he had driven an iron spike, the gleaming point turned cruelly towards the sun. He too was bare-bodied except for the loin cloth and he had tied a turban about his head and with intense concentration, brought it down on the spike. There was a piercing, tearing sound. One vicious twist of the hapless fruit and the husk loosened its hold on the nut within its womb. But the nut did not fall out. He attacked the other side of it. The third segment was removed by hand. The whole operation had taken only a few seconds and now the fruit lay on the earth without its protective shell."
Although Kamini may have won the battle, ultimately she loses the war, as there was much more than she initially read into, in the situation. This is where there is a difference between the novel, and the tele-drama, and the novel wins clearly for its darkness, hopelessness, and the deception that Kamini finds herself in. There is no doubt that Kamini is subtle, and plotting, as Lal reads her like an open book, when the damage is done. The beauty for me was Kamini's realisation at the end, once the dark secrets of the manor house surfaces to the top, that her actual saviours were those she fought. The parentage of Sugath is also hinted as in some doubt, especially after Lal's final outburst - a point however that is never doubted by Kamini. The conviction of Kamini was strong enough to dilute Lal's doubt, in my eyes.
All in all, it is a first rate psychological novel, set in a very Sri Lankan environment back in the 1950s. I have no hesitation in rating this among the best fictional works by I've read from Sri Lankan authors writing in English (e.g. Bringing Tony home, In My Kingdom of the Sun by Tissa Abeysekara, Stories by Charulatha A. Thewarathanthri, The Chinaman, and The Seven Moons of Mali Almeida). I have, over the last few days upon completing Giraya, purchased six other books from the author, including her Gratien award winning "Amulet".
Rating : *****
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