Piyasena Kahandagamage
Encyclopedia
Piyasena Kahandagamage is a Sinhala novelist and poet. Born in Baddegama
, Galle
, Sri Lanka
he was a teacher by profession and a union leader. After the UNP government came to power in 1977 he was transferred (as a punishment for his political work) to rural Bintanne in Ampara
district, where he based most of his novels.
Kahandagamage lost his job after the 1980 general strike. He started writing several serialized novels and articles for the Divaina
newspaper. Most of his stories are based around Dambana area where he lived and worked. He wrote several non-fiction books on Veddha culture, language and Sri Lankan farming methods.
His unique experience living among veddhas and his writings put him among the handful of writers who wrote about the rural Sinhalese and veddhas, including Leonard Wolfe and Maya Ranjan. His book Vanagatha Charika was translated to English as Jungle juants by Tilak Balasuriya.
Baddegama
Baddegama is a 1980 Sinhalese language film directed by Lester James Peries that follows the lives of village people in British Colonial Sri Lanka. The film is based on the 1913 book The Village in the Jungle by Leonard Woolf. Sir Arthur C...
, Galle
Galle
Galle is a city situated on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, 119 km from Colombo. Galle is the capital city of Southern Province of Sri Lanka and it lies in Galle District....
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
he was a teacher by profession and a union leader. After the UNP government came to power in 1977 he was transferred (as a punishment for his political work) to rural Bintanne in Ampara
Ampara
Ampara is a remote city on the East Coast of Sri Lanka, about 360 km from the capital city of Colombo. It belongs to the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. It was a part of the domain of Kavantissa and was then known as "Ambaragama", which over the years changed to Ambara to Ampara...
district, where he based most of his novels.
Kahandagamage lost his job after the 1980 general strike. He started writing several serialized novels and articles for the Divaina
Divaina
-External links:**...
newspaper. Most of his stories are based around Dambana area where he lived and worked. He wrote several non-fiction books on Veddha culture, language and Sri Lankan farming methods.
His unique experience living among veddhas and his writings put him among the handful of writers who wrote about the rural Sinhalese and veddhas, including Leonard Wolfe and Maya Ranjan. His book Vanagatha Charika was translated to English as Jungle juants by Tilak Balasuriya.
Works
- Bintanne Janakavi
- Bintanne Vitti
- Dakune Palathe Katabaha
- Digamadulu Janavahara
- Ibema Nalavian Puthe (collection of poems, 1979)
- Janasrutiya ha Janatava
- Kataka Mahima: Kamatha
- Kataka Mahima: Kumbura
- Kataka Mahima: Kempahan
- Kohombane Vattavidane
- Maa dutu Bintanne
- Nimanayake Andare
- Panamure Ath Raja
- Prasdhesiya Vivahara
- Vanagatha Charika
- Vana Vadule Vasanthaya