Is ‘Asakdakawa’ the most unique achievement of Sinhala Gee poetry?

Abstract

“Asankawathie Jathakaya” the three hundred seventy fourth of Sinhala Pansiya Panas Jathaka is the core element of “Asakdakawa”. The well-known author Gunadasa Amarasekara in his narrative poetry ‘Asakdakawa’ includes a detailed article themed “Is Asakdakawa the utmost unique achievement of Sinhala Gee Poetry?’. The article as well as the book ‘Sinhala Kavya Sampradaya’ state that Asakdakawa carries the greatest poetic form, sensation and the other three Gee poetries including Kawsilumina carry a less interesting poetic form. The intention of this research paper is to compare the primary source stories of Kawsilumina which were referred to as less interesting and Asakdakawa considered the greatest poetic form by Gunadasa Amarasekara in his article. Following Gunadasa Amarasekara’s statement as Kawsilumina being less fascinating, reasons against the theory of Gunadasa Amarasekara and the source of Kawsilumina – Kusa Jathakaya and the author’s alternations to the source story extending its validity across all time periods are evaluated in this research paper. While assessing the critiques in this regard, the study comparatively analyzes Asankawathie Jathakaya and Kusa Jathakaya .