Sri Lanka Matha

ශ්රී ලංකා මාතා
ஸ்ரீ லங்கா தாயே

English: Mother Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Matha Sri Lanka Tāyē
Emblem of Sri Lanka
National anthem of  Sri Lanka
Lyrics	Ananda Samarakoon (1940)
Music	Ananda Samarakoon (1940)
Adopted	1951
Music sample
Sri Lanka Matha (Instrumental)

Mother Sri Lanka (Sinhalese: ශීරී ලංකා මාතා Sri Lanka Matha; Tamil: ஸ்ரீ லங்கா தாயே Sri Laṅkā Tāyē) is the national anthem of Sri Lanka.

History

According to Sumana Saparamadu, Samarakoon had been asked to write a patriotic song by the Chief Inspector of Schools for the Southern Province T. D. Jayasuriya.^[1] There are differing accounts as to the origin of the Sri Lanka Matha. According to K. M. de Silva, Howard Wriggins, The Times of India and IBN Live, Ananda Samarakoon was inspired by Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.^[2][3][4] Rupavahini, Sunil Ariyaratne and R. K. Radhakrishnan state that Samarakoon returned to Ceylon from India around 1938 and wrote Namo Namo Mata in October 1940, whilst teaching at Mahinda College, inspired by his learning under Tagore.^{[5][6][source needs translation][7][source needs translation][8][1][9]} In early 19th century, the popular music of Sri Lanka consisted of songs derived from the North Indian Ragadhari music. These songs lyrics often contained meaningless phrases with little or no literary merit. Samarakoon set out to create a form of a music that can be classified as Sri Lanka's own (Modern Sinhala Music) and came out with the song Ennada Menike(එන්නද මැණිකේ) (1940) that paved the foundation for the artistic Sinhala music. In 1940, he composed Namo Namo Mata to instil patriotism and love for one's country, in his students at Mahinda College,it was first sung by students in Mahinda College Galle.^[10][11] After the song was sung by the choir from Musaeus College at a public event it became hugely popular in Ceylon and was widely played on radio.^[12]

Prior to Ceylon's independence the Lanka Gandharva Sabha had organised a competition to find a national anthem.^[13][14] Among the entries were Namo Namo Matha by Samarakoon and Sri Lanka Matha Pala Yasa Mahima by P. B. Illangasinghe and Lionel Edirisinghe.^[13][14] The latter won the competition but this was controversial as Illangasinghe and Edirisinghe were members of the judging panel.^[13][14] Sri Lanka Matha Pala Yasa Mahima was broadcast by Radio Ceylon on the morning of 4 February 1948, independence day, but it was not sung at the official Freedom Day celebrations.^[13][14] Ceylon continued to use the British national anthem as its official national anthem after independence.^[2] At the first independence day ceremony held on 4 February 1949 at the Independence Memorial Hall in Torrington Square both Namo Namo Matha and Sri Lanka Matha Pala Yasa Mahima were sung, in Sinhala and Tamil, as "national songs".^[13][15]

In 1950 J. R. Jayewardene requested that the government recognise Samarakoon's Namo Namo Matha as the official national anthem.^[12] The government appointed a committee headed by Edwin Wijeyeratne, Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development, to pick a new national anthem.^[2] The committee heard several songs but, after much deliberation, picked Namo Namo Matha.^[2][12] The committee made a minor change to Samarakoon's song, with his apprival, changing the tenth line from "Nawajeewana Damine" to "Nawa Jeewana Demine Nithina Apapupudu Karan Matha".^[12] The committee's decision was endorsed by the government on 22 November 1951.^[2][16] The anthem was translated into the Tamil language by M. Nallathamby.^[12][17][18] Namo Namo Matha was first sung as Ceylon's official national anthem at the independence day ceremony in 1952.^[12][19]

In the late 1950s controversy arose over first line of the anthem, "Namo Namo Matha, Apa Sri Lanka".^[12][20] It was deemed to be "unlucky" and blamed for the country's misfortunes including the deaths of two prime ministers.^[20] In February 1961 the government changed the line to their present form, "Sri Lanka Matha, Apa Sri Lanka", despite Samarakoon's strong opposition.^[12][17] Samarakoon committed suicide in April 1962, leaving a note complaining that his anthem had been mutilated.^[12]

The Second Republican Constitution of 1978 gave Sri Lanka Matha constitutional recognition.^[21]

Multilingual

The Sri Lankan national anthem can be sung in Sinhala and Tamil, both of which are official languages of Sri Lanka. It is one of a number that are sung in more than one language: Belgium (French, Dutch and German), Canada (English, French and Inuktitut), New Zealand (English and Māori), South Africa (Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans and English), Suriname (Dutch and Sranan Tongo) and Switzerland (German, French, Italian and Romansh).^[18]

Sri Lanka Thaaye, the Tamil version of the Sri Lankan national anthem, is an exact translation of Sri Lanka Matha, the Sinhala version, and has the same music.^[22] Although it has existed since independence in 1948 it was generally only sung in the north and east of the country where the Tamil language predominates.^[22] The majority of Sri Lankans (around 75%) speak the Sinhala language and the Sinhala version is mainly used in Sri Lanka for public and private events and is the only version used during international sports and other events.^[18] Although the Sinhala version of the anthem is used at official/state events, the Tamil version is also sung at some events.^[17] The Tamil version is used at official events held in the Tamil speaking regions in the North and East of Sri Lanka.^[17][18] The Tamil version is sung at Tamil medium schools throughout the country.^[17][18] The Tamil version was even used during the period when Sinhala was the only official language of the country (1956–87).^[17][18]

Tamil version controversy

On 12 December 2010 The Sunday Times reported that the Cabinet of Sri Lanka headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa had taken the decision to scrap the Tamil translation of Sri Lanka Matha at official and state functions, as "in no other country was the national anthem used in more than one language" - even though the national anthems of Canada, South Africa and those of several other countries have more than one language version.^[23] The Cabinet's decision had followed a paper on the national flag and national anthem produced by Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister W. D. J. Senewiratne.^[17][24] The paper had drawn on the Singaporean model where the national anthem is sung in the official lyrics and not any translation of the lyrics.^[17] Based on this the paper recommended that the Sri Lankan national anthem only be sung in Sinhala and the Tamil translation be abolished.^[17] The paper's authors had failed to realise that the official lyrics of the Singaporean national anthem are in Malay, a minority language (75% of Singaporeans are Chinese).^[25]

Government minister Wimal Weerawansa had labelled the Tamil version a "joke" on Derana TV, and had cited India as an analogy.^[26][27][28] Some journalists, such as D. B. S. Jeyaraj,^[17] claimed that it was wrong of Weerawansa to cite India as an analogy because according to them the Indian national anthem was not in Hindi, which is the most widely spoken language of India, but in Bengali, a minority language.^{[29][30][31][32]} Although sources based on an official Government of India website state that the Indian National anthem was adopted in its Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly of India,^[33][34] the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly of India on 24 January 1950 does not mention that the National Anthem was "adopted", nor does it mention that it was done so in its Hindi version.^[35][36] In actual practice the unaltered Bengali version is the version sung as the National Anthem, with its words in original Bengali Tatsama, a highly Sanskritized form of Bengali that has Sanskrit words common to both Hindi and Bengali.^[37]

The alleged Cabinet's decision to scrap the Tamil translation caused much furore in Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan government denied allegations that the Tamil translation of the anthem was to be abolished.^[38] The Presidential Secretariat has stated that there was no basis to the media report and follow up reports which intimated the same.^[39] Nevertheless, an unofficial ban on the Tamil version came into being as fearful public officials in Tamil speaking areas stopped using the Tamil version or blocked attempts to use it.^[18][40] The Sri Lankan Army forcefully stopped any use of the Tamil version and taught school children to sing only the Sinhala version.^{[40][41][42][43]}

In March 2015 newly elected President Maithripala Sirisena announced that he would be issuing a circular which would state that there was no ban on singing the national anthem in Tamil.^[44][45] Sirisena's announcement was attacked by Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists.^{[46][47][48][49]} During Sri Lanka's 68th national independence day celebrations on 4 February 2016, the Tamil version of the anthem was sung at the official independence day celebrations for first time since 1949, when Namo Namo Matha had been a "national song".^[22][50] It was seen as a step towards reconciliation.^[22][51][52]

Lyrics

Sinhala	Tamil	Transliteration (Sinhala)	Transliteration (Tamil)	English
ශ්රී ලංකා මාතා අප ශ්රී....... ලංකා නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ මාතා සුන්දර සිරිබරිනී සුරැඳි අති සෝබමාන ලංකා ධාන්ය ධනය නෙක මල් පලතුරු පිරි ජය භුමිය රම්යා අප හට සැප සිරි සෙත සදනා ජීවනයේ මාතා පිළිගනු මැන අප භක්තී පූජා නමෝ නමෝ මාතා අප ශ්රී ...... ලංකා නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ මාතා ඔබ වේ අප විද්යා ඔබ මය අප සත්යා ඔබ වේ අප ශක්ති අප හද තුළ භක්තී ඔබ අප ආලෝකේ අපගේ අනුප්රාණේ ඔබ අප ජීවන වේ අප මුක්තිය ඔබ වේ නව ජීවන දෙමිනේ නිතින අප පුබුදු කරන් මාතා ඥාන වීර්ය වඩවමින රැගෙන යනු මැන ජය භූමී කරා එක මවකගෙ දරු කැල බැවිනා යමු යමු වී නොපමා ප්රේම වඩා සැම හේද දුරැර දා නමෝ නමෝ මාතා අප ශ්රී........ ලංකා නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ මාතා	ஸ்ரீ லங்கா தாயே - நம் ஸ்ரீ லங்கா நமோ நமோ நமோ நமோ தாயே நல்லெழில் பொலி சீரணி நலங்கள் யாவும் நிறை வான்மணி லங்கா ஞாலம் புகழ் வள வயல் நதி மலை மலர் நறுஞ்சோலை கொள் லங்கா நமதுறு புகலிடம் என ஒளிர்வாய் நமதுதி ஏல் தாயே நமதலை நினதடி மேல் வைத்தோமே நமதுயிரே தாயே - நம் ஸ்ரீ லங்கா நமோ நமோ நமோ நமோ தாயே நமதாரருள் ஆனாய் நவை தவிர் உணர்வானாய் நமதோர் வலியானாய் நவில் சுதந்திரம் ஆனாய் நமதிளமையை நாட்டே நகு மடி தனையோட்டே அமைவுறும் அறிவுடனே அடல்செறி துணிவருளே நமதோர் ஒளி வளமே நறிய மலர் என நிலவும் தாயே யாமெல்லாம் ஒரு கருணை அனைபயந்த எழில்கொள் சேய்கள் எனவே இயலுறு பிளவுகள் தமை அறவே இழிவென நீக்கிடுவோம் ஈழ சிரோமணி வாழ்வுறு பூமணி நமோ நமோ தாயே - நம் ஸ்ரீ லங்கா நமோ நமோ நமோ நமோ தாயே	Sri Lanka Matha, Apa Sri Lanka Namo Namo Namo Namo Matha Sundara siri barini Surendi athi sobamana Lanka Dhanya dhanaya neka Mal palathuru piri, jaya bhoomiya ramya Apa hata sapa siri setha sadana Jeewanaye Matha! Piliganu mena apa bhakthi puja Namo Namo Matha, Apa Sri Lanka Namo Namo Namo Namo Matha Obawe apa widya Obamaya apa sathya Obawe apa shakti Apa hada thula bhakthi Oba apa aloke Aapage anuprane Oba apa jeewana we Apa mukthiya obawe Nawa jeewana demine Nnithina apa pubudu karan Matha Gnana weerya wadawamina ragena Yanu mena jaya bhoomi kara Eka mawekuge daru kala bawina Yamu yamu wee nopama Prema wada sama bheda durara da Namo Namo Matha, Apa Sri Lanka Namo Namo Namo Namo Matha	Srī laṅkā tāyē - nam Srī laṅkā Namō namō namō namō tāyē Nalleḻil poli cīraṇi Nalaṅkaḷ yāvum niṟai vāṉmaṇi laṅkā ñālam pukaḻ vaḷa vayal nati malai malar Naṟuñcōlai koḷ laṅkā Namatuṟu pukaliṭam eṉa oḷirvāy Namatuti ēl tāyē Namatalai niṉataṭi mēl vaittōmē Namatuyirē tāyē - nam Srī laṅkā Namō namō namō namō tāyē Namatāraruḷ āṉāy Navai tavir uṇarvāṉāy Namatere valiyāṉāy Navil cutantiram āṉāy Namatiḷamaiyai nāṭṭē Naku maṭi taṉaiyōṭṭē Amaivuṟum aṟivuṭaṉē Aṭalceṟi tuṇivaruḷē Namatōr oḷi vaḷamē Naṟiya malar eṉa nilavum tāyē Yāmellām oru karuṇai aṉaipayanta Eḻilkoḷ cēykaḷ eṉavē Iyaluṟu piḷavukaḷ tamai aṟavē Iḻiveṉa nīkkiṭuvōm īḻa cirōmaṇi vāḻvuṟu pūmaṇi Namō namō tāyē - nam Srī laṅkā Namō namō namō namō tāyē	Thou Mother Lanka, Oh Mother Lanka we salute, salute, salute, salute Thee! Plenteous in prosperity, Thou, Beauteous in grace and love, Laden with grain and luscious fruit, And fragrant flowers of radiant hue, Giver of life and all good things, Our land of joy and victory, Receive our grateful praise sublime, we worship, worship Thee. Oh Mother Lanka! We salute, salute, salute, salute Thee! Thou gavest us Knowledge and Truth, Thou art our strength and inward faith, Our light divine and sentient being, Breath of life and liberation. Grant us, bondage free, inspiration. Inspire us for ever. In wisdom and strength renewed, Ill-will, hatred, strife all ended, In love enfolded, a mighty nation Marching onward, all as one, Lead us, Mother, to fullest freedom, we worship, worship Thee Oh Mother Lanka! We salute, salute, salute, salute Thee!

References

1. Sumana Saparamadu. "The Origin of our National Anthem". Sunday Observer. Associated Newspapers of Ceylon. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
2. de Silva, K. M.; Wriggins, Howard (1988). J. R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka: a Political Biography - Volume One: The First Fifty Years. University of Hawaii Press. p. 368. ISBN 0-8248-1183-6.
3. "Man of the series: Nobel laureate Tagore". The Times of India. Times News Network. 3 April 2011.
4. "How Tagore inspired Sri Lanka's national anthem". IBN Live. 8 May 2012.
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6. Gerald Wickramsuriya. "Dancing to our own tune". Sunday Times. Sunday Times. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
7. Sunil Ariyaratne. "ජාතික ගීය නිර්මාතෘගේ ජන්ම ශත සංවත්සරය අදයි". Sarasaviya. Sarasaviya. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
8. R. K. Radhakrishnan. "Sri Lanka to release stamp on Tagore". The Hindu. The Hindu. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
9. Gaveshaka. "The quest for the right song". Sunday Times. Wijeya Newspapers. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
10. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/121028/education/the-national-anthem-was-first-sung-at-mahinda-galle-17889.html
11. http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2006/05/14/jun02.asp
12. Bamunuarachchi, Jinadasa (2 February 2013). "Vasu, DO NOT KILL Ananda Samarakoon again". Daily News (Sri Lanka).
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16. "The quest for the right song". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 16 November 2008.
17. Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (17 December 2010). "The language controversy over Sri Lankan National Anthem". dbsjeyaraj.com.
18. Kodagoda, Anuradha (22 March 2015). "Namo, Namo...: A matter of language". Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka).
19. Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (31 December 2010). "National Anthem: From "Namo Namo" to "Sri Lanka Matha"". dbsjeyaraj.com.
20. "Ananda Samarakoon - The composer of our national anthem". Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka). 14 May 2006.
21. "The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka: Chapter I - The People, The State and Sovereignty". Policy Research & Information Unit, Presidential Secretariat, Sri Lanka.
22. Ameen, Azzam (4 February 2016). "Sri Lankan anthem sung in Tamil for first time since 1949". BBC News.
23. "National Anthem only in Sinhala; Tamil version out". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 12 December 2010.
24. Philips, Rajan (1 January 2011). "The Trilingual Master Plan and Monolingual National Anthem Muddle". The Island (Sri Lanka).
25. "National Anthem in Sinhala and Tamil". The Island (Sri Lanka). 16 December 2010.
26. "No scrapping Tamil version of national anthem: Sri Lanka". Zee News. 13 December 2010.
27. "Sri Lanka denies move to ban national anthem in Tamil". adaderana.lk. 14 December 2010.
28. "S.Lanka denies move to ban national anthem in Tamil". Radio Netherlands Worldwide. 13 December 2010.
29. "National Anthem and National Identity". The Island (Sri Lanka). 17 December 2010.
30. "Lanka scraps Tamil version of national anthem". Zee News. 12 December 2010.
31. "Sri Lanka's national anthem now only in Sinhala; Tamil version out". Deccan Herald. 12 December 2010.
32. "Sri Lanka scraps Tamil version of its national anthem". NDTV. 13 December 2010.
33. Chandra, Anjana. India condensed : 5000 years of history & culture. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2007. page 120
34. http://india.gov.in/myindia/myindia.php
35. "Constituent Assembly of India - Volume XII". Indian Parliament.
36. Roy, Shubhajit (17 June 2006). "NCERT needs to get its lesson right on anthem". The Indian Express.
37. http://rezwanul.blogspot.com/2007/08/national-anthem-of-india-is-in-bengali.html
38. "Sri Lanka minister denies Tamil national anthem ban". BBC News. 13 December 2010.
39. Reddy, B. Muralidhar (13 December 2010). "Colombo denies reports on Tamil National Anthem". The Hindu.
40. Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (21 March 2015). "Singing the National Anthem in Tamil Hailing "Mother Lanka" as "Sri Lanka Thaaye"". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).
41. "Sri Lanka Tamil national anthem row reignites". BBC News. 28 December 2010.
42. "Jaffna students forced to sing National Anthem in Sinhala". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). 28 December 2010. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010.
43. "'Disaster management' observed with Sinhala anthem in Jaffna". TamilNet. 27 December 2010.
44. Balachandran, P. K. (18 March 2015). "Sirisena Allows Singing of Lankan National Anthem in Tamil". The New Indian Express.
45. "Rumpus over national anthem". The Island (Sri Lanka). 21 March 2015.
46. "President Sirisena could be impeached - National Anthem in Tamil". Ceylon Today. 20 March 2015.
47. Karunarathne, Waruni (22 March 2015). "National Anthem In Tamil: Mixed Reactions". The Sunday Leader.
48. "Sri Lankan national anthem in Tamil causes backlash". Tamil Guardian. 21 March 2015.
49. "Lankan party opposes singing of anthem in Tamil". DAWN (newspaper). 20 March 2015.
50. Ramakrishnan, T. (4 February 2016). "Sri Lanka I-Day to have anthem in Tamil". The Hindu.
51. Mallawarachi, Bharatha (4 February 2016). "Sri Lanka Lifts Unofficial Ban on Tamil National Anthem". ABC News. Associated Press.
52. Ferdinando, Shamindra (5 February 2016). "Singing national anthem in Tamil receives mixed reactions". The Island (Sri Lanka).

External links

• National Anthems: Sri Lanka
• National Anthems: Sri Lanka
• Himnuszok: Sri Lanka
• National Country Symbols Of All Countries: Sri Lanaka