Text by Priyanka Kahawanugoda
Pics, by Sisira Sarath Abeykoon
Translated by Malinda Seneviratne
Even in the burning midday sun, the young shoots of paddy seemed to be smiling. A public well filled to the brim with the bluest water mocked us and the perspiration that dripped from our brows. Two miles along this guru para which begins at the Pambadeniya junction on the Alawwa-Narammala Road is a place called Galthare. It is a village traditionally devoted to the production of vatapath, the fan made of palmyrah leaves used by bikkhus. It is not an easily accessible village. The road falls on to the Colombo-Kurunegala main road two and a half miles further down. In short, if ever they wanted to go to a big town the villagers would be forced to trek over two miles in either direction.

Sisira, who took me along broken paths that weaved between small village houses, finally stopped at a house built with makulu clay with a palmyrah leaf roof. In the garden was a vee bissa covered with straw. By the entrance to the house there was an enamel basin full of kumudu flowers. The lady of the house came out to greet us. Then she rolled out a mat and invited us to sit. It was after this that she asked us who we were and why we had come. She was a retired head of the handicraft centre in the village and was happy to tell us all she knew about the cottage industry that was woven around the palmyrah palm.

She began her story by reciting a set of verses titled "puskola upatha" which described the early beginnings of the palmyrah in Galthare. That historical stanza, itself inscribed on an ola leaf, now resides in the British Museum.

"Dekala neth dahasin yuth purunduru pasuvata lova pavathina napure

Ekala nandunuyanansiv thala biju gena sak sev veda gaganathure

Mekala mulu lova bovey sithamin sath korale rata meda ayure

Vapula lesa biju kiriyaka bhoomiya issaka kiv dev gala athure"

According to this, it was the God Sakra who, even more than the king, how had the responsibility to protect the Buddha’s word in this country. Perhaps the god reasoned that preservation necessarily required some kind of recording of the doctrine. Without waiting for the advent of paper, microfische and computer chips, God Sakra may have decided to introduce to the world the pus kola potha for the express purpose of recording the Buddha’s word.

The puskola upatha has it that the palmyah seeds taken from the garden of the gods, the Nandana Uyana, were meant just for the village Galthare, situated in the Sath Korale. While four seeds had been dropped in the village, one or two had fallen in other places it is said. This is how the presence of palmyrah in other parts of the country is explained. It is claimed, however, that the leaves of these specimens are not as large or of as good quality as those found in Galthare.

The pus kola upatha is but a set of verses that buttress or give rise to a folk tale. However, there is evidence that when the Dharma Sangayanawa was held in the Matale Aluvihara during the reign of King Valagamba, it was from Galthare that thal kola was taken for the purpose of transcribing.

"It is one of my great great grandmothers who had provided the thal kola as part of the King’s rajakariya," Ranmenike, our gracious host said. "She was ‘Liyana Archchi’ and it is from her that we got our vasagama, ‘Liyanaarachchi’".

According to Ranmenike, the provision of pus kola to the Dharma Sangayana was a rajakariya. It follows then that the planting, nurturing and protecting of the palmyrah, making the pus kola and taking it to the premises where the Sangayana was being held, would have taken place with the full support of the king. In any event it is clear that a special Royal plantation had been established in the village with the express purpose of providing pus kola for the scribes. Today this area is called Medilla. In fact, in the first map of the island this area is marked as Thalgahamaduwa as a part of crown land.

Some believe that this place was also the thal kola store of the King. Close to Medilla is a rock called "Thalpath Gala" upon which the leaves of the palm are laid out to dry subsequent to being boiled. Even today this rock serves this ancient function.

Until the Dharma Sangayana held in Aluvihara, there had been no recording. In fact it is only after the third Dharma Sangayana that details of the pus kola poth emerge. It is not easy to panhinda across the dried thal kolaya. It goes without saying that it is an art that needs far more skill that writing with a ball point pen on a sheet of paper. One needs to be trained for this. Writing, therefore, was an art and even the most casual perusal of ola leaf manuscripts would show how much creativity has been expended by the scribes of that time.

It is said that there had been people living in and around Galthare who were experts at writing on pus kola. It was they who had been given the Lyanaarachchi vasagama by the king.

We have now passsed the paper age and moved into the age of using computers as archives. Instead of the thal kolaya which could withstand rain and sunshine for over twenty years and give off an unparalleled coolness, we now use tiles on our roofs. Back then we took magal mats, thala kola mats and bags woven out of such material to the hena and the kumbura. Today the harvest that spouts out of the Agrimec machine is collected in synthetic fertilizer bags. The groom who went with a thal aththa and a hulu aththa when taking up residence under the binna marriage arrangement, can now go with an umbrella and a battery operated torch.

"aththa hondai poda vessata ihalanda

Piththa hondai thada vara badu ambaranda

Gobe hondai dasa dharme liyavanda

Me mala hondai bidu magulata genayannada"

There was a time when such verses which spoke of the virtues of different parts of the palmyrah were recited. Today the products of the tree are no longer considered necessities. And yet, even today, our bikkhus need a thala kola vatapatha to preach bana. It is because of this that ninety per cent of the villagers make a living out of the vatapatha. At the same time, these people who provide vatapath for the entire island, live a very fragile life.

It was in 1952 that there was a resurgence of the industry in Galthare. This was because a Handcrafts Board was established to promote such industries. Thirteen acres in the ancient thala garden was set aside for the cultivation of the palm. It was at this time that Ranmenike was put in charge of the handcrafts school that was set up in the village.

"There was a time when the products turned out by 10-15 children would fetch an income exceeding one hundred thousand rupees. This is not possible today. The price of certain inputs have gone up. The polish nails, varnish, dyes, in fact everything is very expensive. A bottle of varnish costs one hundred and ninety rupees. And after expending all our labour and creativity, we are frustrated by the absence of an assured market."

We went to the place where the school was, following directions given by Ranmenike. We saw dilapidated buildings. There were a few women. They spoke with us.

"Our teacher has gone to deliver some ‘orders’. We have to be thankful; she does her best to secure orders. But we are now running at a loss." That was what K.A. Anulawathie had to say. "Teacher" was their instructor. She would have to walk to get to Kudumulla. From Kudumulla, she would have to go by bus to wherever she was hoping she could get orders for the village products.

Tikiri Menike, who was was weaving a holder for kitchen spoons said "The income is not too bad". She went on to explain that although they make around four to five thousand rupees a month, almost half of it goes to cover the costs of production. "They buy one of these avanas for thirty rupees. One day I saw something that I had made in a shop in Kurunegala. They were selling it for Rs. 92.50. The shopkeeper said he would take off the 2.50 and give it to me for ninety! We create, businessmen make the profit. That’s the story. All we ask is that they buy it from us for at least forty rupees.

"Laksala gives us a good price. But then again, we have to wait for three or four months to collect the money. Also, it is not that we get a steady stream of orders. When we divide the orders that we get among ourselves, each gets to make just three or four items."

When they are unable to find the thala goba necessary, they have to travel about three miles on a bicycle to obtain the raw material. The price of a single thal gobaya in villages like Wilgamuwa, Galgamuwa and Metiyagane is five rupees. H.M. Gunatilleke said that these have to be opened out and boiled for about two days. "The kahata gets cleaned out when you boil it in a pot which contains papaw leaves. Then they have to be dried. They are then placed on a a wooden mould and cut according to specific shapes. An ekel is sewn around the edge and the avana is finished with a wool border."

When a wooded handle is ordered, they have to buy ettoniya, halmilla etc., and carve them by machine. A single person can make around 20 of these items a day. But if it rains, they cannot dry out the leaves and the process gets delayed.

It is the villagers themselves who take the products to the markets in Colombo, Divulapitiya and even as far as Hingurakgoda and Matara. And here they are faced with another problem, said A. Wijayalath Menike.

"There is no unity in the village. People undercut each other by supplying goods at lower prices to the same shop. So we are forced to sell at a lower price. The trader, however, does not reduce his price. This won’t happen if we all agree on a price. This is an industry that is on the verge of collapse due to the small profit margins. It is our own fault."

This view was endorsed by other women as well. It is the story of almost all cottage industries in this country. At the end of the day, an age old industry and one which is closely tied to the story of civilisation in our country, stands on the brink of extinction. Without the vatapatha, what happens to the Bikkhu? What happens to bana? One could argue that the power of the Dhamma itself would suffice to overcome such "technicalities". Somehow that does not seem a good enough response to the issue of gratitude to a people whose ancestors played a key role in preserving the word of the Buddha. It is always worthwhile referencing heritage. To do that, there has to be traces of heritage and these should not be allowed to be erased, for when that happens, we erase part of who we are.