In most colonial societies, nationalist and religious agitation have been critical in the drive for independence. In the early 20th century, in India especially, the rise of nationalism has been an important element in the battle against alien rule.
In Ceylon too, similar trends prevailed. But in this country, the nationalist stream of resistance to the British rule was a non formal force that had as its frontiersmen the indigenous leadership. The formal leadership were largely the English educated who intermixed with the British administrators. During the period of the legislative and State Council, Ceylonese leaders like D.S. Senanayake, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, Sir D.B. Jayatilaka, and Sir James Peiris formed the core of the leadership. It was they who were in the forefront of the formal battle for freedom from the British rule.
Pre-colonial history
If history of the colonial era is to be viewed in its proper perspective, one has to retrospectively examine the work of the non-formal leaders in the vanguard of the movement for freedom. It is in this context that this presentation will examine briefly one of the key proponents of that drive to freedom. Piyadasa Sirisena was a man of many natural gifts and talents, who was also imbibed with a genuine love for this country. As a historian and notable legal personality, N.E. Weerasooriya observed in his monumental “History of Ceylon”, 'Piyadasa Sirisena was an instrument of the silent revolution that swept this land and prepared its soil for political emancipation’.
How did Piyadasa Sirisena contribute to Ceylon’s political emancipation?
What was the means of reviving nationalism and a love of this land through which Sirisena wielded a pervasive influence on the minds of the indigenous populace? It was through communication, the most potent weapon in any society whether it be colonial or post colonial. Nothing could be more effective in transforming the mindset of the people.
He not only backed the drive to regain our freedom conducted by the other leaders referred to before, but also engaged himself in the arduous task of restoring their lost cultural identity.
In this regard, he used his pen more effectively than any other leader of his time. And what’s more, he used it fearlessly and with little care for his own safety against the mightiest imperial force of that era, the British.
Sirisena used two formidable instruments of communication with telling effect to bring about a transformation in the minds of a fallen people. One was the many novels he authored and the other was through his newspaper which he struggled to publish and which had a chequered history.
During the early years of the 20th century in Ceylon, Anagarika Dharmapala, the peerless Buddhist reformer and nationalist, had begun the Mahabodhi Society in Maradana. This society issued a number of publications directly connected with the rekindling of Buddhist and nationalist sentiment.
Such revivalist work no doubt led to a lateral formation in the early years of the freedom movement.
As this second front progressed, it provided support to the leading Buddhist families who joined the movement as it entered the mainstream of the agitational campaign which took different forms. One of the most important was the Temperance Drive.
Back in the 1930’s when the Temperance leaders like the Senanayake brothers, D.S and F.R, the Hewavitharana’s and the Wijewardenas worked hard to curb the growing habit of alcohol consumption. Piyadasa Sirisena backed the Temperance lobby through his newspapers. Besides this, his novels also attacked the growing menace of alcoholism and its harm to society.
The colonial administration undoubtedly viewed with increasing concern, the rising tide of nationalism and anti-colonial activity. They noted with alarm, the work of the two principal agitators, Anagarika Dharmapala and Piyadasa Sirisena. Dharmapala had launched an Island wide crusade against imperialism and superimposition of our society with an alien culture. Dharmapala’s fiery rhetoric aroused the Sinhalese in a manner that had not been experienced since the first religious debate against the British Christian missionaries in 1873 led by Venerable Migettuwatte Gunananda.
Press freedom
The British Colonial Administration had, long before the local campaigns using publications to arouse people, looked at press freedom with concern in India. It was as far back as 1857 that the colonial office enacted Press laws applicable to both India and Sri Lanka.
As this country proceeded towards 1930s, certain political reforms had been granted. But freedom was quite a distance away. Piyadasa utilised his novels, and the newspaper he published, in a sustained anti-colonial campaign.
By this time he had a large following and the masses were influenced by his varied work.
Historians are also of the view that Sirisena had a role to play in the movement for political formations. In fact, one such movement presaged was the formation of the Sinhala Maha Sabha. Siresena was the most popular novelist of the era and his novels were on nationalistic and patriotic themes. Piyadasa Sirisena died at the age of 71 just 2 years before independence. He had played an important role in the indigenous movement for freedom from the British colonial rule. His death prompted D.S Senanayake, the first Prime Minister of Independent Ceylon, to state that Sirisena had departed when Ceylon was at the doorstep of freedom, for which he had unobtrusively made a significant contribution.
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Some after thoughts on Independence
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