Update : 26.02.2009 Part 2 of the site is now online! Click here to visit!
Update : 16.07.2008 Part 1 of the site is now online!
Update: 07.07.2007 Launching delayed due to some good and favorable reasons. See this post(in Sinhala) for more.
We are so pleased to announce the launching of part 1 of Selalihini Sandeshaya online edition on the 5th of July 2007. Here’s a FAQ. Nobody asked these questions but we thought this would introduce the work better.
What is Selalihini Sandeshaya?
Selalihini Sandeshaya is the most acclaimed duta kavya in Sinhala literature. Written by Ven.Thotagamuwe Rahula Thera, one of the greatest writers in the history of Sinhala literature. Ven. Rahula was born in 1408 and authored Selalihini Sandeshaya around 1447. The essence of the Sandesha poem or a duta kavya is the dispatch of a message through the agency of a messenger - either a living being or a natural phenomenon (clouds, wind etc). In this case, messenger is a bird. Starling. More information about the author, his work and Sandheshas (duta kavya) in general will be available on the new site.
What do you mean by an online edition of Selalihini Sandeshaya?
Part 1)
- Selalihini Sandeshaya will be available online for reading.
- Audio - you will be able to listen to each of these beautiful poems while reading.
- Complete commentary and explanations of “difficult” terms and words - sannaya & getapada wiwaranaya
Yes
Why Selalihini Sandeshaya, not something else?
Because we love it.
Is this a “copycat project” from already published books?
No it is not. We are well aware of the available editions and our sincere thank goes out to all the pioneers who took up the hectic task of editing and presenting this great literary work to Sinhala readers. We have followed most of these editions. However we have done our own editing work, provided our own commentaries and interpretations. Sometimes it might look similar and close to a certain edition. Sometimes it wont. All the sources and acknowledgments will be published.
In addition, we have to stress the fact that the present edition (1998 release, still available in bookshops) published by the Government for the benefit of A/L students is the worst edition we came across. It contains so many errors and we are deeply saddened by the carelessness of the editors who took up the task of introducing this literary gem to our future generations. It has gigantic errors from the very first poem. We did not follow that edition.
Why do you do this? Do you get money for this?
We do it as a service/contribution to Sinhala language and literature. We don’t do it for money. It’s been a great pleasure so far.
I can’t read Sinhala, what should I do?
1) Learn Sinhala
2) If you have windows XP service pack 2 on your PC, install the Sinhala pack or
3) If you use Mac, get support from this place or
4) for Linux based OSs, visit this page to get support
5) For more details, please read the Web Alochana help page
6) If you have Vista, latest versions of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, do nothing, go out and eat a kottu. Wait until we launch the site.
Who holds the copyrights?
Nobody. Great literary works should be considered as public property of human kind! This edition is free and open for distribution. Study and enjoy! However,
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
So you can’t sell it for money! Only for none commercial use.
I’m getting tempted to engage in a debate about Unicode Sinhala. Can I do it here?
No. Debates are over. What we do is work. Road is built. Vehicle is ready we are on the move. We extend our sympathies to those who still want to keep debating about the vehicle instead of travelling. Maybe you should go and listen to some oldies on Towerhall website. I’m afraid that site is also built with Unicode Sinhala. One of my favorite places :-)
Is this a world bank conspiracy or something?
Eat a kottu and drink a ginger beer, then you’ll feel much better.
Who’s behind this?
Well. this is a team work and this is the team :-)
Edited with introduction and commentary by Anandawardhana,
Web pages and layout designing by Poojitha Jayasinghe
Singing by Heshani Sarathchandra
Audio recording and sound management by Sudesh Mantillake
Anandawardhana, You support human right activists and Amnesty! You criticize our big guy with a mustache. Is this an international trick to destroy our culture?
You need to see a doctor.
What do I do if I find a mistake or error in your edition?
Please let us know as soon as possible : anandawardhana at gmail dot com
Can I make a suggestion?
Sure! Comments, critiques and suggestions are always welcome. Send them in now : anandawardhana at gmail dot com or leave a comment to this entry.
FAQ ends here.
We were compelled to take some initiative to enrich the online content in Sinhala language. Ven. Rahula thero’s work was the best starting point we could imagine. Instead of wasting time for useless debates, this is what we should be doing. It will take some more months to complete the full edition (Part 2) but we sincerely hope this will encourage others to take up similar endeavours.