Sri Lanka Matha

Sri Lanka Matha

English: Mother Sri Lanka
National anthem of  Sri Lanka
Lyrics	Ananda Samarakoon, 1940
Music	Ananda Samarakoon, 1940
Adopted	1951
Music sample
Sri Lanka Matha (Instrumental)

Sri Lanka Matha (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික ගීය, Tamil: சிறீ லங்கா தாயே) is the national anthem of Sri Lanka. The words and music, written by Ananda Samarakoon in 1940, were officially adopted as the national anthem in 1951.

History

The song was officially adopted as the national anthem of Ceylon on November 22, 1951, by a committee headed by Sir Edwin Wijeyeratne. The anthem was translated into the Tamil language by M. Nallathamby.^[1]

The first line of the anthem originally read: Namo Namo Matha, Apa Sri Lanka. There was some controversy over these words in the 1950s, and in 1961 they were changed to their present form, Sri Lanka Matha, Apa Sri Lanka, without Samarakoon's consent.^[1] Samarakoon committed suicide in 1962 apparently due to the change in words.

The Second Republican Constitution of 1978 gave Sri Lanka Matha constitutional recognition.^[2]

Multilingual

The Sri Lankan national anthem is one of a number that are sung in more than one language: Canada (English, French & Inuktitut), Belgium (French, Dutch & German), Switzerland (German, French, Italian & Romansh), South Africa (Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans & English), Suriname (Dutch and Sranan Tongo), and New Zealand (English & Māori).

Although the Sinhala version of the anthem is used at official/state events, the Tamil translation is also sung at some events.^[1] The Tamil translation is used at official events held in the Tamil speaking regions in the North and East of Sri Lanka.^[1] The Tamil translation is sung at Tamil medium schools throughout the country.^[1] The Tamil translation was used even during the period when Sinhala was the only official language of the country (1956-87).^[1]

Tamil version controversy

On 12 December 2010 The Sunday Times reported that the Cabinet of Sri Lanka headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa had taken the decision to scrap the Tamil translation of Sri Lanka Matha at official and state functions, as "in no other country was the national anthem used in more than one language" (sic).^[3] The Cabinet's decision had followed a paper on the national flag and national anthem produced by Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister W. D. J. Senewiratne.^[1] The paper had drawn on the Singaporean model where the national anthem is sung in the official lyrics and not any translation of the lyrics.^[1] Based on this the paper recommended that the Sri Lankan national anthem only be sung in Sinhala and the Tamil translation be abolished.^[1] The paper's authors had failed to realise that the official lyrics of the Singaporean national anthem are in Malay, a minority language (75% of Singaporeans are Chinese). Government minister Wimal Weerawansa also wrongly cited India as an analogy and claiming that the Indian national anthem was in Hindi, the most widely spoken language in India, whereas in fact the anthem was written in Bengali, another minority language. Furthermore, Weerawansa was quoted by the BBC to have called the Tamil version a "joke".

The Cabinet's decision to scrap the Tamil translation caused much furor in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan government subsequently denied allegations that the Tamil translation of the anthem was to be abolished. The Presidential Secretariat went on record stating that that there was no basis to the media report and follow up reports which intimated the same.^[4][5]

Sri Lanka Matha (Mother Sri Lanka)

Lyrics	Sinhala Lyrics of the Anthem
Sri Lanka Matha, apa Sri Lanka, Namo Namo Namo Namo Matha. Sundara siri barini, Surendi athi Sobamana Lanka Dhanya dhanaya neka mal pala thuru piri, Jaya bhoomiya ramya. Apa hata sapa siri setha sadana, jeewanaye Matha! Piliganu mena apa bhakthi pooja, Namo Namo Matha. Apa Sri Lanka, Namo Namo Namo Namo Matha Obawe apa widya, Obamaya apa sathya Obawe apa shakti, Apa hada thula bhakthi Oba apa aloke, Aapage anuprane oba apa jeewana we, Apa muktiya obawe Nawa jeewana demine Nnithina apa Pubudu karan matha Gnana weerya wadawamina ragena yanu mena jaya bhoomi kara Eka mawekuge daru kala bawina yamu yamu wee nopama Prema wada sama bheda durara da Namo Namo Matha Apa Sri Lanka, Namo Namo Namo Namo Matha.	ශ්‍රී ලංකා මාතා අප ශ්‍රී....... ලංකා නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ මාතා සුන්‍දර සිරිබරිනී සුරැඳි අති සෝබමාන ලංකා ධාන්‍ය ධනය නෙක මල් පලතුරු පිරි ජය භුමිය රම්‍යා අප හට සැප සිරි සෙත සදනා ජීවනයේ මාතා පිළිගනු මැන අප භක්‍තී පූජා නමෝ නමෝ මාතා අප ශ්‍රී ...... ලංකා නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ මාතා ඔබ වේ අප විද්‍යා ඔබ මය අප සත්‍යා ඔබ වේ අප ශක්‍ති අප හද තුළ භක්‍තී ඔබ අප ආලෝකේ අපගේ අනුප්‍රාණේ ඔබ අප ජීවන වේ අප මුක්‍තිය ඔබ වේ නව ජීවන දෙමිනේ නිතින අප පුබුදු කරන් මාතා ඥාන වීර්‍ය වඩවමින රැගෙන යනු මැන ජය භූමී කරා එක මවකගෙ දරු කැල බැවිනා යමු යමු වී නොපමා ප්‍රේම වඩා සැම හේද දුරැර දා නමෝ නමෝ මාතා අප ශ්‍රී........ ලංකා නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ මාතා

IPA Transcription of the Sinhala text	English translation
ʃriː laŋkaː maːtaː, apa ʃriː laŋkaː, namoː, namoː, namoː, namoː maːtaː! sundara siri barini, surændi ati soːbamaːna laŋkaː. daːnja ɖanaja neka, mal palaturu piri, dʒaja bʱumija ramjaː. apa ɦaʈa sæpa siri seta sadanaː, dʒiːwanajeː maːtaː! piɭiɡanu mæna apa bʱaktiː pudʒaː, namoː, namoː maːtaː, apa ʃriː laŋkaː, namoː, namoː, namoː, namoː maːtaː! oba weː apa vidjaː, oba maja apa satjaː, oba weː apa ʃaktiː, apa ɦada tula bʱaktiː. oba apa aːloːkeː, apaɡeː anupraːneː, oba apa dʒiːwana weː, apa muktija oba weː. nawa dʒiːwana demineː, nitina apa pubudu karan, maːtaː. ɲaːna wiːrja waɖawamiːna ræɡena, janu mæna dʒaja bʱumi karaː. eka mawakaɡe daræ kæla bæwinaː, jamu jamu wiː nopamaː. prema waɖaː sæma bʱeːda duræra laː, namoː, namoː maːtaː, apa ʃriː laŋkaː, namoː, namoː, namoː, namoː maːtaː!	Mother Lanka we salute Thee! Plenteous in prosperity, Thou, Beauteous in grace and love, Laden with grain and luscious fruit, And fragrant flowers of radiant hue, Giver of life and all good things, Our land of joy and victory, Receive our grateful praise sublime, Lanka! we worship Thee. Thou gavest us Knowledge and Truth, Thou art our strength and inward faith, Our light divine and sentient being, Breath of life and liberation. Grant us, bondage free, inspiration. Inspire us for ever. In wisdom and strength renewed, Ill-will, hatred, strife all ended, In love enfolded, a mighty nation Marching onward, all as one, Lead us, Mother, to fullest freedom.

Tamil lyrics of the Anthem

ஸ்ரீ லங்கா தாயே - நம் ஸ்ரீ லங்கா நமோ நமோ நமோ நமோ தாயே நல்லெழில் பொலி சீரணி நலங்கள் யாவும் நிறை வான்மணி லங்கா ஞாலம் புகழ் வள வயல் நதி மலை மலர் நறுஞ்சோலை கொள் லங்கா நமதுறு புகலிடம் என ஒளிர்வாய் நமதுதி ஏல் தாயே நமதலை நினதடி மேல் வைத்தோமே நமதுயிரே தாயே - நம் ஸ்ரீ லங்கா நமோ நமோ நமோ நமோ தாயே நமதாரருள் ஆனாய் நவை தவிர் உணர்வானாய் நமதோர் வலியானாய் நவில் சுதந்திரம் ஆனாய் நமதிளமையை நாட்டே நகு மடி தனையோட்டே அமைவுறும் அறிவுடனே அடல்செறி துணிவருளே - நம் ஸ்ரீ லங்கா நமோ நமோ நமோ நமோ தாயே நமதோர் ஒளி வளமே நறிய மலர் என நிலவும் தாயே யாமெல்லாம் ஒரு கருணை அனைபயந்த எழில்கொள் சேய்கள் எனவே இயலுறு பிளவுகள் தமை அறவே இழிவென நீக்கிடுவோம் ஈழ சிரோமணி வாழ்வுறு பூமணி நமோ நமோ தாயே - நம் ஸ்ரீ லங்கா நமோ நமோ நமோ நமோ தாயே

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} D. B. S. Jeyaraj. "The language controversy over Sri Lankan National Anthem". dbsjeyaraj.com. http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/1871. Retrieved 17 December 2010. 
2. ^ "THE CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA - Section 7 The National Anthem". LawNet, Government of Sri Lanka. http://www.lawnet.lk/sec_process.php?chapterid=1981Y1V1C&sectionno=7&title=THE%20CONSTITUTION%20OF%20THE%20DEMOCRATIC%20SOCIALIST%20REPUBLIC%20OF%20SRI%20LANKA&path=6. 
3. ^ National Anthem only in Sinhala; Tamil version out
4. ^ "Sri Lanka minister denies Tamil national anthem ban". BBC News. 13 December 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11980434. 
5. ^ Reddy, B. Muralidhar (13 December 2010). "Colombo denies reports on Tamil National Anthem". The Hindu (Chennai, India). http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article950506.ece. 

External links

• Siha Shakthi - The "Himnuszok" website features a vocal version of the Anthem performed by the vocal group Siha Shakthi.
• MIDI File from Abacci Atlas
• An instrumental version of "Sri Lanka Matha" featured in the "Sri Lanka" entry at the website "National Symbols". (MP3 format)