Known as the Swiss artist with a Buddhist touch and a builder between Switzerland and Sri Lanka due to his intensive study of Buddhism, Johannes Frischknecht’s paintings are something out of the ordinary. Unlike other artists Frischknecht paints using Mandala style.

Although many Sri Lankans are not familiar with the Sanskrit term Mandala which simply means circle, its presence in daily life is nevertheless obvious. For example each stupa is built according to the principles of the Mandala composition. The word Mandala itself is supposed to be derived from a ritual, during which the devotees used to walk around a stupa reciting prayers and chanting. Another prominent Mandala is the Dharmachakra, the wheel representing the eightfold path in Buddhism. The lotus flower is also a motive in many Mandalas. However, according to critics, the most stunning and unique Mandala found in Sri Lanka is the Moonstone with its ancient and deep symbolism.

Mandala art first blossomed mainly in the Tibetan schools of Buddhism. The art, with their rich pantheon of demons and Gods is a strict composition based on the Four Nobel Truths or the six Tantras and many other elements of the Buddhist teaching. According to critics, Mandalas found their way into Western culture in the 1950s and were discovered by eminent Swiss psychologist the late Carl Jung. Jung was known to observe the Mandalas irrespective of culture, religion or time as a universal phenomena which captures the essence of human life in artistic form.

Using the Mandala as a form of art Frischknecht takes the liberty to create innumerable variations while integrating Western and Eastern elements. Frischknecht drew his first Mandala at the age of five. For the past 30 years Frischknecht has painted Mandalas as a professional artiste for which he has received much recognition.

Frischknecht’s work can be seen and experienced in many meditation centres, clinics, retreats, hotels and in private homes across Europe. However, Frischknecht prefers his paintings to be exhibited in places where people can see them regularly or for longer periods of time to stress their healing effect.

Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Frischknecht said he is particularly enchanted by the opportunity to present a selection of 60 paintings in Sri Lanka. "This is my first visit to the country and is a great opportunity for me to familiarise myself with the Thervada Buddhism. I hope to take this opportunity to tour the country and visit many of the famous Buddhist pilgrimage places," Frischknecht said.

"I have been talking to people in your country and have found out that a high percentage are knowledgeable on the teachings of Lord Buddha. This is due to the fact that Buddhist monks teach the laymen everything they know with regard to Buddhism," says Frischknecht.

Frischknecht enjoys explaining the principles of composition and colouring and the rich symbolism expressed in his paintings. "I hope to contribute to the popularisation of Mandala art in Sri Lanka and I am very eager to know how art lovers will respond to my paintings," explained Frischknecht.

According to Frischknecht, his paintings should be studied for hours in order to understand the true meaning and colour combinations used. "If art lovers are fascinated with my paintings this gives me the opportunity to interact with them. This is my sole intention in painting," says Frischknecht who was invited by Events Manager, Thomas Imboden (who organises Cultural events for the Swiss Embassy), to display his paintings in Sri Lanka.

While Frischknecht uses colour pencils and acrylics to paint he takes from two weeks to three months to complete a painting.

Mandala exhibitions by Frischknecht held in Germany, Switzerland, Paris and Spain among others, while giving art lovers a new experience in painting, has contributed in making people aware of what can be done just by painting what comes to your mind at the time.

Sponsors for Frischknecht’s exhibition held recently at the Mount Lavinia Hotel were Sri Lankan Airlines, the Mount Lavinia Hotel, Seylan Bank, Mediawatch and ART TV.

Besides seeking to spell out the Cambridge-Bloomsbury sensibility a function of which is his novel about us, the seminar would also seek to clarify two points about the emergence of the cultural history of any country as it emerged from its British colonial period:

(i) How the British era through the language of English, was a condition of the achievement of this modern cultural period: a period which is of international quality and stature.

(ii) Whether what emerged is neither a Sinhala nor Tamil literary-cultural creation but an achievement of the Colombo intelligentsia, the formative influences on whom was the English language and European cultures assimilated through this language, which nursed their sensibility the creations of which have the West as an essential component even though the language of their work were Sinhala or Tamil.

Unlike painting, sculpture and architecture, drama, novel and film has to be expressed through a language. It is possible to view the language chosen by the creators of our novel, drama and film, Martin Wickremasinghe, Ediriweera Sarachchandra and Lester James Peries respectively or through which these arts were expressed by our renascent intelligence was Sinhala because the mother tongue of those who created the two literary forms and realised the film as art happened to be Sinhala through the accident of birth: the achievements of this period in cultural forms which require a language as its medium can be either a conscious choice of language by the novelist, dramatist and film maker or, the expression of the country’s intelligence, the Reason or Spirit of Hegel, to which the chosen language can in a sense be irrelevant or, both.

Unless we see and interpret our cultural achievement and history of the modern period in this light we cannot explain achievements whose medium is not language: the creations of the 43 Group in painting, Tissa Ranasinghe in sculpture and Minnette de Silva and Geoffrey Bawa in architecture all of whom have Western Europe as an essential component of their art and achievement.

This interpretation also points out that the novel, drama and film are as forms of art, Western.

Unless we see our modern cultural history in this light we could be generating another problem which can be intractable in theory and insoluble in practice: as with the exception of Lionel Wendt, four of the nine members of the 43 Group and Geoffrey Bawa who is of mixed ancestry, the creators of the modern period are those whose mother tongue is Sinhala, three of whom realised the novel, drama and film in Sinhala. Some will argue that what was realised is part of the emerging Sinhala national identity which was flowing with the stream and direction of independence, and that therefore there is the question of a separate Tamil national identity.

Those who hold this position are considered in this Question of Identity in terms not only of language literature and culture but of ethnicity, and by doing so are in fact saying that all forms of cultural achievement, i:e: the visual arts as well is a function also of ethnicity.

It is the case that within societies which are ethnically homogeneous all cultural forms have been a function, creations of the members of the same ethnic group: but this can in some instances at least be true not as a necessity but only as a historical fact.

Such an argument and position would not be possible on our view that a condition of the achievement of our modern period was English through the medium of which Western cultural influences formed an indispensable and integral component of what was realised: this would be true even after independence. 1948, when English and Western culture continued to be a dynamic component of the city and the sensibility of her intelligentsia who realised all that we achieved in this great period.

However, those who for the reasons we have spelt out hold that there is a separate national identity, that is a separate Tamil national identity, cannot explain our modern cultural achievements which had as an indispensable condition a non Sinhala component: the Western cultural traditions received through the medium of English which was necessary because of the technical limitations of our own historically inherited traditions.

To solve the technical problems of their art as they sought to articulate themselves they had to turn to the West.

We see this with convincing clarity in the work of the 43 Group: they could not have done without the technical resources of the impressionists and post impressionists.

We hold that we cannot do without this English-Western component in the further evolution of our cultural history when the generation which created our modern period, now entering their historical place, is followed — chronologically: not succeeded — by the intelligentsia whose language has been and is either Sinhala or Tamil.

The Sinhala intelligentsia who maintained the continuity with the earlier periods lived and worked in the rural hinterland of Colombo, and also carried the historical memory of the south. An important task which is also an achievement.

The Tamil intelligentsia or almost all of them lived and worked in Jaffna with some of them going further north to South India in pursuit of their studies and researches.

Just as some of the intelligentsia of the south went to North India and Shantiniketan.

The role of the Sinhala intelligentsia in particular which some at least perceived as being rival to and a replacement of the West which created the modern period must be seen instead as a stream flowing along side it to realise the flowering of seeds which increasingly lay dormant under Western skies since 1505.

The creators of our modern period solved two problems and did so simultaneously: solve the historical problem of our renascent intelligence which was seeking its down identity and do so through a solution to the technical problems of their art.

Does one characterise this new direction in seeking identity as a national identity? If one does other problems can be generated.

There is a sense in which this term can be used: a collective name for the cultural achievements of a people living within the territorial boundary which comes under a government and State. But if there is more than one language within that boundary the question of the homogeneity of that body of cultural achievement and history arises, which in turn leads to the question of the identity or collective identity of the body of people within that territory.

Continued next week

Commercial Bank of Ceylon (CBC) has taken the initiative to record Sri Lanka’s culturally rich folk wisdom by publishing Hela Maga Visithuru for the benefit of prosperity.

The book was launched with the objective of restoring and revitalising Sri Lanka’s mythological history, patriotism, religion, rituals, traditions, customs, cures and beliefs that have come down from generation to generation.

"We need to rediscover this vanishing trail which is slowly being lost in modernity," said Deputy General Manager, Personal Banking, Commercial Bank, Ravi Dias. "CBC is committed towards this national duty of preserving Sri Lanka’s traditional folk knowledge, which is unique. Folk wisdom has proved imperative in explaining the value system and the spirit of the culture. It inspires imagination, encourages reading, teaches traditions and helps us to understand others and ourselves better."

This worthy cause, which highlights the beliefs, rituals, the seemingly simple and innocuous practices of daily living of different people also aims at enlightening the present society to be more disciplined, well mannered, quality conscious and productive.

As a socially responsible corporate citizen, Commercial Bank was also firmly involved in a number of other virtuous endeavours through its Corporate Social Responsibility Plan — in the sphere of charitable activities, environmental issues and the preservation of culture. Among them, pride of place was given to the islandwide sa- fe bottle-lamp project in 2003. The publication of Hela Maga Visithuru portrays the true Sri Lankan spirit of the bank.

CBC has been actively involved in the production, promotion and telecasting of a special educational and historical-based programme Helamaga Salakunu that emphasised the lesser known facts of Sri Lanka’s better known archeological treasures like Sigiriya and Anuradhapura. Enthused by the high public response, the bank endeavored to organise the Hela Maga Visithuru campaign. People were invited via print and electronic media to provide their contributions in black and white on folklore and its roots. The campaign got an enormous response. It took more than a year to compile and accurately document the collection, which the bank received from all quarters of the country. An independent panel of academic experts headed by Dr. Adagama vetted the entries and edited the selections down to 275, from which 18 outstanding contributions were awarded special prizes, while certificates of appreciation were awarded to all contributors.

This 262-page book, which is the bank’s maiden attempt, weaves historical facts and imaginative fiction into a serene tapestry that actually takes the reader by hand to the life and times of a bygone era. Readers are made aware of the phenomena of life, farming rituals, Sri Lankan customs, beliefs and superstitions, ancient medicinal techniques, birthstones, folklore, societal methodologies and proverbs. The book also contains attractive line-art illustrations.

Hela Maga Visithuru will initially be available in Sinhala editions with Tamil and English versions to be published later. The volumes will be distributed free of charge to libraries, universities, institutions, selected schools and other places of reference. Plans are also underway to host this book on the web.

"There are mountains, hills, buildings and even plants full of mysteries, which exist beyond the ordinary dimension of human beings. Our chronicles, traditions, folklore, prehistoric cave drawings, archaeological evidence and ancient travellers’ records testify this," says Senior Manager, Marketing CBC, W. D. Yasaratne. "Tradition is something that provides us our roots. It’s something that we can rely on to stand straight. Our tradition has become a dwindling part of society where revitalising this has become the duty of this era."