Negative Aesthetic Expression of Sinhala Literary Identity: An Analytical Study with Reference to Sigiri Graffiti
Abstract
This research studies the negative aesthetic expression of Sinhala poetry. The practical implication of this study is to lucidly identify the thinking pattern of Sinhala society and aestheticism and add value to Sinhala literature. This study was conducted, taking Sigiri graffiti as the unit of analysis, considering the Sinhalese poet’s desire to create a dignified artistic sense via negative expression. Negative aesthetic expression is conceptualized in this study as a unique characteristic of Eastern aestheticism based on the undefinable, unthinkable and indefinite nature of person and the world. This research was a qualitative study and the data was analyzed via the content analysis method under analytical study methodology. The case study of this research is the preference for the negativity which appears in Hajime Nakamura’s Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples: India, China, Tibet, Japan (1969). The research problem is to study the aesthetic logic of negative expression of Sigiri graffiti which is the independent social poetic tradition in Anuradhapura era. The hypothesis is that there is a preference of negative aesthetic in Sigiri poetic tradition; the independent Sri Lankan poetry. Among the objectives, the Sigiri poetry will be analyzed through a novel approach. The famous Sigiri poem by Budal, manifests the undefinable and unthinkable thinking. The originality of this research is unraveling the fact that preference of negativity prevailed as an aesthetic thinking pattern in Sinhala poetry from a long time. As the conclusions, it was unveiled that negative expression is evident in 2/3rd of 686 Sigiri graffiti. In several poetry the preference negative aesthetic expression was evident in literary poetic techniques like irony, simile and metaphors.
