Page 332 - Proceedings book

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“Please Lord, I am swearing, I do not know where my husband is. Please save

my poor children.” Don’t lie woman. I will cut the heads of your children.
And you should pound your children’s heads. If you do not do so, I will make

you marry to a Rodi. I needed to save my children’s lives but being married to
a Rodi is the worst disrespect that which has been received by an upper-class

woman. People seem to be worried and shocked. I understood the fact that

even the god is not able to save us today. The king shouted again, “this name
of Ehelepola should remove from my kingdom. Every Ehela tree should be

removed.” The furious voice of king pictured me the beautiful yellow Ehela
flowers in the backyard of our Bangalow. I remembered once me and my

husband once enjoyed the beauty of that scenery together. And he used to

praise her beauty. Meanwhile, I remembered once I was harassed by King who
arrived at our home when my husband is not at home. … I embraced my

children with fear. My daughter is smiling without knowing anything. I
decided not to beg for the life from this despicable inhuman. (Kumārihāmi II,

2012)

Later, many literary works have been emerged while showcasing the sadness of
Ehelepola Kumārihāmi. The selected contemporary historical Sri Lankan Sinhalese

novelist, Priyanka Amarathunga has identified Ehelepola Kumārihāmi as a heroine
who sacrificed her life in order to save the honour of her family. Though the legend of

Ehelepola Kumārihāmi had been hidden under the waters of Bogambara lake, her
legacy continues up to the date. Amarathunga (2012) has mentioned her purpose of

writing this series of novels as follows,

Ehelepola Kumārihāmi is a heroine who sacrificed her life in order to save her
honour of the family. Though she had been unfairly hidden under the water,

her legacy should be continued. I am happy to receive many positive feed
backs from public on these novels and they congratulated me on informing

them about the unknown historical factors of Ehelepola Kumārihāmi.

(Kumārihāmi II, 2012)

1.3 The Objective of the present study

The objective of the present research is to investigate one of the marginalized
historical female icons in Sri Lankan history, Ehelepola Kumārihāmi in both Sri

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