Understanding the education system in the Kotte period of Sri Lanka through the form of poetry known as Sandesha Kavya of that era

Abstract

The era of the Sinhalese Kingdom of Kotte (1412 – 1597 A.D.), named after its capital, Kotte, is considered the golden era of literary and educational activities in historical Sri Lanka. The royal patronage, scholarly Buddhist monks and their monastic or pirivena education system with diverse subjects and curricula were known to be behind the success of literary and educational activities in the Kotte period. Although Buddhist monasteries (pirivenas) were the known educational institutes that prevailed in historical Sri Lanka, there has been a lacuna in identifying the specific education system and curricula in those places of education. This study was an attempt to shed some light on the educational system of that era through the form of poetry called Sandesha Kavya of that era, literary works intertwined with pirivena education, and the scholarly monks associated with those institutes. A Sandesha Kavya of ancient Sri Lanka was a lengthy collection of poems written in the form of a message supposedly carried by a bird as a messenger. In addition to a message, a Sandesha Kavya would include descriptions of the places the messenger bird supposedly travels through. One would have an insight into the culture and human behavior of those times through a Sandesha Kavya. Mainly based on Gira Sandeshaya (the message carried by a parrot) and Hansa Sandeshaya (the message carried by a swan), this study concluded that the education activities in the Kotte era were at an outstanding level in terms of teaching and learning, especially in the Buddhist monasteries named Vijayaba Pirivena and Padmavati Pirivena in Totagamuwa and Keregala respectively. Based on the available literary evidence narrated in the Sandesha poems, this study found that the educational and literary activities in the Kotte era were in a level higher than in other kingdoms of ancient Sri Lanka. Also, the royal patronage received from King Parakramabahu VI and the works and poetry of scholarly monks Totagamuwe Sri Rahula Thero and Wanaratana Thero contributed remarkably to the education and literary activities during the Kotte period.