Asoka Mal Mala Lyrics by MS Fernando

(Stringing garlands of asoka flowers,
having wandered into the asoka flower garden,
singing songs that soothe all sorrow,
who are you, tell me, Mala…//)

Look, how lovely you are,
hardly second to the flowers that bloom in the forest.
Are you some heavenly maiden?
Tell me, my love,
who are you, singing songs alone here in the forest,
full of joy.. full of joy…

Garlands of asoka flowers….

In your poor little hut
there is happiness, comfort and sweet ease, my girl.
None of that is in my royal palace.
Don’t leave, my love.
Leaving a loving sweetheart in sorrow,
no, I want no royal comfort…

Garlands of asoka flowers….

It will be written across the Sinhala land,
into our history, this love story of ours,
if you become my beloved,
Asokamala.
I will be Prince Salli of blessed Sinhale,
my bride.. my bride..

Garlands of asoka flowers….

This song retells one of the most loved romances in Sri Lankan history, the story of Prince Salli (Saliya) and Asokamala. Salli was the son of King Dutugemunu, the great hero-king, and by birth he was heir to the throne. The legend remembered for centuries is that he fell in love with Asokamala, a young woman of low caste, and chose her over the crown, giving up his royal right rather than give her up. The song puts us right at the moment the two of them meet, with the prince singing to the girl.

The opening sets the scene in an asoka flower garden. The prince comes upon a girl stringing garlands of asoka blossoms, lost in her own song, and the sound and the sight stop him in his tracks. He asks who she is, almost unable to believe she is real. He says she is hardly less beautiful than the flowers blooming around her and wonders aloud whether she is a suranganawi, a heavenly maiden from the old stories rather than an ordinary village girl. The asoka flower itself carries the feeling here. Its name means “without sorrow,” so a garden full of asoka blooms is a place where grief is lifted, which is exactly what this meeting does for him. Her song is described as one that “soothes all sorrow,” tying her straight to that image.

The second verse is where his choice becomes clear. He tells her that in her poor little hut there is real happiness, comfort and sweet ease, and that none of that warmth exists in his royal palace. This is the heart of the legend put plainly, that love and contentment in a humble home outweigh the gold and grandeur of a throne. He begs her not to leave, and says he wants no royal comfort if it means leaving the one he loves in sorrow. A prince turning his back on a palace for a girl in a hut is the whole point of the Salli and Asokamala story, and the verse says it without flinching.

By the last verse he is looking ahead. He tells her that if she becomes his beloved, their love will be written into the history of the Sinhala land for all time, and he names them both, calling her Asokamala and himself Prince Salli of Sri Lanka, his bride. There is real tenderness in that closing, “manaaliye, manaaliye,” my bride, my bride, repeated softly. What the listener is left holding is the warmth of a love story Sri Lankans have carried for generations, the idea that a true heart is worth more than a kingdom, sung as if it is happening right now in a garden full of flowers named for the end of grief.