The Ahikuntaka

www.dilmahconservation.org
The story of Rengasamige Masanna
When we first went to meet the head of the Andarabedda
village, Rengasamige Masanna, we were told that he had
gone to the lake beside, in order to fish. The house was made
of cement and had only two chairs which could be termed
as furniture. There was a statue of the Buddha and a picture
of the deceased Ven. Gangodawila Soma. We were told that
the picture of the latter was kept in the premises due to the
fact that this house was built and donated to Masanna as an
offering to the venerable thero.
Upon hearing of our arrival Masanna proudly showed us his
wealth in the form of three snakes. We were told that Masanna’s
livelihood was dependent upon the wellbeing of these three
animals. ‘The snakes have four castes, namely, Raja, Bamunu,
Weda and Govi. Snakes of the Raja caste are very rare and
I have with me snakes of the other three castes as well’ he
explained.
When we visited him for the second time, he had an addition
to his wealth, a python. He had removed the teeth from the
serpent and now uses it when exhibiting his animals. ‘I was
born when the gypsies were actually migrating from place to
place, with no permanent abode that was back in 1939. I spent
my childhood just like my forefathers did moving from place to
place with our snakes.’
Apparently, he did not know his year of birth until the year
1973. ‘In 1973 I had to get myself a national identity card and
for that I needed my birth date, which I had no clue about.
But, I knew my place of birth which was a village by the name
of Pothasiyambalawa. During my birth, I heard that a healer
by the name of Appuhami attended to my mother’s needs. I
went in search of him. By the time I found his residence, he
was dead and gone but there was a book that he had written
about his healing. This book which was also used as a diary
had a note regarding my birth. It was in the year 1939. That is
how I have a rough idea about my age.’
‘Our group consisted of about 10 to 12 families. We carried
our goods on the backs of donkeys. We also had around thirty
to forty goats with us. We had a few hunter dogs as well.
I spent my childhood looking after the goats and hunting
with my father.’ According to Masanna, he was one of the
first members of the community to have formal schooling.
‘My father could not read or write, but he knew the value of
education. During one of our migrations, my father decided
to stop at a place in Galgamuwa. There he sent me to a
Sinhala teacher who taught me Sinhala for six months. Later
on he enrolled me at the Thalagaswewa School for formal
education.’
Due to his son’s schooling, Masanna’s father decided to make
Thalgaswewa their permanent residence. Both mother and
father would go out in the morning and ply their trade and
then come back home at dusk. ‘My father, after about five
years of living had an altercation with the owner of the land
we lived on and that was the end of my schooling.
48 The Ahikuntaka
The story of Rengasamige Masanna