Ruhunu and Sabaragamu netum

By KAMALIKA PIERIS

The three styles of traditional dance in existence today are Udarata natum (Kandyan dance), Pahata rata natum (Ruhunu dance) and Sabaragamuwa natum. W.B.Makuloluwa considered the Ruhunu style to be the second dance style in Sri Lanka. The ‘pahata rata’ had developed its own rituals for the gods (madu), the demons (thovil) and the planets (Bali).A unique dance style evolved within the madu and thovil rituals. This dance style is today known as ‘Ruhunu natum’. Ruhuna deserves praise for preserving its dance. It was under European rule for nearly 450 years. Ruhunu dance was included into the dance syllabus of the Government College of Fine Arts in 1962.

The Ruhunu style is best seen in the Devol Madu dances, which include the thelme dance for god Dolaha and in the Maha Sohon samayama, Sanni yakuma and Gara yakuma of the thovil rituals, where masks are used.The seven Samayam netum are performed only in Ruhunu dance. There is a great deal of dance in Gara yakuma, with its 12 Gara yakas, but performances are very rare now, says Mudiyanse Dissanayake. There are also 32 Sindu vannam which later developed into dance.The Vadiga patuna dance, which is a humorous interlude in the Suniyam kepima ritual, is also in the Ruhunu style.

Ruhunu dances are performed in a specially constructed hut and a lot of it seems to be danced in a circle. There are three schools of Ruhunu dance. The Bentara tradition at Bentara, Raigam tradition at Weligama, Matara tradition at Matara and Tangalle. The Sanni yakuma is danced in Bentara, Galle, Matara and Tangalle. Mahasohon Samayama is danced mainly in Hambantota and Matara. The Ruhunu dancer receives a rigorous training.The training differs for each ritual.

Ruhunu dance is quite different to that of Udarata. Ruhunu dance has five beats. Dom ta ga di kita. The Ruhunu yak bere is also very different in shape and sound to the Udarata geta bera. The swinging hand movements, wide, angular foot work, the distinctive drum rhythms and costumes are some of the distinguishing qualities of the Ruhunu dance, observed Makuloluwa. Ruhunu dancing looks jerky and ungainly to a person seeing it for the first time. The costumes, especially in ‘thelme,' are colourful and elaborate with much decoration and embroidery. The Vadiga patuna costume is specially arresting.

Sauris Silva(1898- 1992) was the dancer most responsible for bringing Ruhunu dance before the public. Sauris, a school principal, had danced in his father Suwanda Hennedige Konnehamy’s Thovil troupe. Sauris later added ‘Silva’ to his name. Sauris did programmes on low country dancing on Radio Ceylon, published the first book on pahata rata natum in 1965 and taught Ruhunu dance at the Government College of Fine Arts . He wrote the first syllabus for the College. He presented a performance of Ruhuna dance when the Queen visited in 1952. According to Sauris’s son, Suwanda, Pani Bharatha and Sauris Silva had formed the first ever dance troupe to tour India.Pani Bharatha wrote the ‘Sauris Silva saudama’ in 1976. Sauris Silva’s dance costumes, masks, books, yantra mantra manuscripts and Bali paintings were obtained by the Colombo Museum in 1976.(Suwanda H.J. Sugunasiri. Sunday Island. 14.10.12 p 12).

Sauris taught Ruhunu dance to his nephew, the lawyer, Chandrasena Daluwatte, who performed it whenever possible. Kalinga Obeywansa (b. 1925) had a Ruhuna dance troupe. It toured several countries such as Austria, Czechoslovakia, England, Germany, India, Korea and Russia. He had a dancing school in Colombo, where he taught various forms of Ruhunu dance to a large number of students. He published Ruhunu netum siddanta sameekshanaya in 1996.

The third dance style emerging in Sri Lanka today is the Sabaragamuwa dance. This dance style is associated with the Saman Devale, Ratnapura and the Gam madu Pattini rituals in the Sabaragamuwa region. The Sabaragamuwa tradition has two divisions, Ratnapura and Kegalle. The Ratnapura tradition is located in Bulatgama, Dodampe, Elapata, Galukagama, Galelupita, Gonagala, Hunuwela, Kalawana, Koskolawatta, Kawuduwava, Matuwagala, Palikada, Panukerapitiya, Pussella, Ratkagala and Udugala. The Kegalle tradition can be found in Alapalawela,Boyagama, Dehimaduwa, Halagiriya, Kivulpane, Kobbawela, Molagodadeevala, Matiyagane, Urapola, Werake andWekoladeniya. (Pani Bharatha charitapadanaya p 5, 10.)

Sabaragamuwa dance has movements,which are ‘distinctive to Sabaragamuwa dance only’. They are seen at their best in the Pahan maduwa. In Sabaragamuwa dance the hands are never raised above the head, instead the arm is extended backwards at an angle to the body. In the mandiya position too, the hands do not rise above chest height. Ear lobe, shoulder, elbow, knee and big toe should be in a straight line in mandiya. There is a training system which moves the pupil from easy to difficult steps.

Sabaragamuwa tradition has its own distinctive costumes,songs, drum beats and drum styles. There are 32 vannam, 32 tala and at least 27 nada mala. In ancient times, the drum used was the ‘patawa’ drum, today, it is the daula. Sabaragamuwa daula is larger than other daulas.The Udarata daula gives two separate sounds from the two sides. The Sabaragamuwa daula gives out the same sound from both ends.

Supporters of this dance style say Sabaragamu dance is the oldest of the three dancing systems in Sri Lanka. They say Kandyan dance has borrowed from Sabaragamu, not the other way round. In Sabaragamu vansa katawa ,G.V.Abeyratne says Sabaragamuwa had dances which are not found in the Udarata or pahata rata dances. When the Dalada was at Delgamuwa vihara, the perahera consisted of Sabaragamu dance. During the time of Rajasinha I Sabaragamu dance had over 200 dances in its repertoire.

The astrologer for Rajasinha I was ‘Dodampe Ganitha, he added.

The Delgoda sannas nindagama and Kukulegama Hapugoda sannas nindagama are mentioned. The author also refers to dance and drum parampara, such as Kokkowita, Nivitigala, Elapata, Kalawana parampara and those connected with the Kukulegama Ganegoda devale.But under British rule, In 1926 Sabaragamu dance was confined to the Saman devale perahera in Ratnapura. The dancing families were allowed to perform only in the Sabaragamuwa provinces, while Udarata got state recognition.

The revival of Sabaragamuwa dance seems to have started in the 1930s. Batugedera Basnayake, Gunasekera Rate Mahatmaya and E.A Delgoda had wanted the dancers to establish a Sabaragamuwa dance school . This was probably after the Udarata dancers started their schools in the 1930s. S. L. B. Kapukotuwa, Education officerfor dance and musicrecognized the 18 Sabaragamu vannam in 1934. They were written up by Ven. Kiriella Gnanavimala in 1936., Abeyratne also says that in 1936, Udarata dancers including Sederaman and Malagoda Hendrick met Sabaragamu dancers , Kavuduwave Guru, Kalawane Mudalihami and Ritivida Bandulahamiat Hirimadagama Walauwwa and together they developed new beats and rhythms.The book Sabaragamu vamsa katawa hasa photo of this group indance costume.

When the MEP government was established in 1956, Sabaragamuwa dancersmet the Minister for culture, Jayaweera Kuruppu.The Minister instructed N.Q Dias, Director, Cultural affairs to look into the position of Sabaragamuwa dance. Dias created a commission under E.A. Delgoda, President, Lanka Gandharva Sabha. The commission summoned 51 dancing families of Sabaragamuwa and issued a three part set of guidelines on Sabaragamu dance. The dancers did not like the guidelines. In 1978, when Sabaragamuwa dance became a subject in the Institute of Aesthetic Studies,a decision as to what was the authentic Sabaragamuwa tradition had to be made.They firstused the‘Delgoda guidelines’ then moved to asyllabus drawn up by Ven. Henpitagedara Gnanaseeha and Henpitagedara Gnanavasa. (Pani Bharathacharitapadanaya p 61)

W.B. Makuloluwa writing in the 1970s said he did not regard Sabaragamuwa dance as a separate dance style. He said it was a mix of Udarata and Ruhunu dance. Given its position between Udarata and Pahata rata , Sabaragamuwa had absorbed influences from both and created ‘an appealing style of dancing which is now identified as Sabaragamuwa dance’, he said.

Makuloluwa said Sabaragamuwa dance is confined to Ratnapura, he dismissed any Kegalle tradition of Sabaragamuwa dance. Iwish to make an observation as well.Sabaragamuwa was a ‘sulu disawani’ in the Udarata kingdom, not a Maha disawani. Sabaragamuwa was considered a troublesome disawani and the position of disava of Sabaragamuwa was always given to an ‘outsider’, not someone connected to the disavani. I do not think Sabaragamuwa was in a position to create an original dance style.

Udarata influences could be seen in the vannam and sawdam, said Makuloluwa. Some items are in the original form, some are variants. Ruhunu influence could be seen in the hand and foot gestures and some of the jumps in Sabaragamuwa dance.Heen talam pada, mudun talam pada, kumara pada, kalasam pada, kala paliya and sindu matraya have been taken from Ruhunu, but the execution is different. Makuloluwa ended by saying Sabaragamuwa dress is also a blend of Udarata and Ruhunu styles.

Udarata, Sabaragamuwa and Ruhunudance styles were developed in localities which were geographically adjacent to each other and shared common boundaries. The dances were therefore able to borrow from each other, very easily. Some dance sequences, such as ‘savudam hata’are found in all three styles. The Devol madu yagaya is also found in Udarata and Sabaragamuwa. Pandam, Salu, Kendi, Kalas and Kukulu Pali are danced in both Udarata and Ruhunu.Udarata and Ruhunu use the same dance terms such as ‘sat padaya, salu paliya’and the same names for ornaments, ‘silambu,gejji, narupata.’ But the Ruhunu term for the Udarata ‘pa saramba’ and ‘goda saramba’ is ‘ilangam saramba. ’Mudiyanse Dissanayake said that Sabaragamuwa dance terms were similar to those in Devol madu.

To the onlooker, the three dance forms are utterly different. The movements and costumes of the three dance styles differ. The drums are also different and so are the sounds. Udarata has geta bere, Sabaragamuwa, the daula and Ruhunu, the yak bere. "There are less obvious differences too. The basic positions of the three dances are very different. As a result, the centre of gravity and the distribution of weight when dancing is also not the same.This is summed up very neatly in the Sinhala phrase ‘pagana vidhiya venas’.

Source: www.island.lk (24/08/2016)