30/06/2023
Remember Andare and Thennali Raman from tales we heard as children? They both (Andare in the Sinhala version of these tales and Thennali Raman in the Tamil version) were believed to be the wittiest men to live, who worked for the King as court jesters.
According to the tales, they not only entertained the court but also questioned the values and morals of the court when it lacked, in the most amusing and thought provoking ways.
I can't help wondering if an Andare can fix certain things in today's parliament. But that's for another post.
Our aachchi had a Thennali Raman tale for every life lesson. My favourite was when there was drought and shortage of food in the country, the King and his wives still had sugar for their teas (As in, they didn't have to compromise on anything). One day, Thennali Raman had seen sugar being dried on mats in the court yard and had asked the servants what it was for. And the servants, as instructed by the King had replied "It is just sand". Thennali Raman went home, brought his wife and kids back with him to the court, crying and howling saying his mother had passed away. He and his family started rolling in the 'supposedly sand', stuffing their mouths and pockets with sugar and crying "Mother is gone. Now we only have got sand to eat."
Apparently there was a Tamil expression வாயில மண்/sand in our mouths to express deep sorrow when someone dies all of a sudden leaving the family without any means for survival.
A friend recently mentioned an Andare story of how he died with his arms and legs spread out like a star fish so they had to make a funny looking coffin to put him in; he was jesting people even at the last breath.
After I was about 15 yrs or so, I started to see the several layers of wisdom these tales carried. On one hand, they were entertaining and thought provoking.
On the other, the tales portray the problems in the governing system and how the people needed a medium like Andare to bring these to light.
My grandma also told me that these jesters thought very witty and knowledgeable, were very poorly paid and lived a very humble life if not in poverty. She believed humor and spreading laughs were their way of coping with life.
It is not surprising that such tales have come from countries like ours where humor has always been a major coping strategy.
I don't know how many kids still get to hear these tales. We are losing this oral heritage slowly.
I have found some channels that still carry these tales. Andare : https://youtu.be/ATgFZxNFbU0
https://youtu.be/hdXxn4yxGsQ
Thennali Raman: https://youtu.be/vgGUHdXPYFA
https://youtu.be/_Jey0QgPPRU
Photo courtesy: Read about the monument built for Andare in his star fall pose on this website.
https://travelwithuma.com/hambantota/andarege-sohona/
