Buddhanu Bhawena Lyrics by Nanda Malani

By the power of the Buddha, may mind and eye be lit like a lamp
May flowers of loving-kindness bloom upon the lake of joy
Spreading garlands of light, rays of supreme worldly wisdom
Victory and blessing to the people of the Hela land

Craving and clinging burned away completely
A lamp is kindled in the darkness of ignorance
Sounding out the festive joy of jewelled shoots
Victory and blessing to the people of the Hela land

The hum of the swarming bees and its echo rising
Bound in praise, the triumphant cry of victory
From the ten directions flow streams of milk and rice pudding
Victory and blessing to the people of the Hela land

This is a Buddhist blessing song, a mangala gee, the kind sung to call down good fortune on the country. It is not one person’s love or longing but a prayer for the whole island, written in the high, Sanskrit-flavoured Sinhala that lyricists reach for when the subject is sacred. The refrain that closes every verse, “Hela derana jana jayathu jaya mangalani,” is the heart of it: victory and blessing to the people of the Hela land, an old, proud name for Sri Lanka and its Sinhala people.

Each verse asks for the same thing through different images. The opening calls on the power of the Buddha to light up “mind and eye” like a lamp, so that clear seeing and a clear heart go together. Then it pictures loving-kindness, metta, as flowers opening on a lake, and the lake itself is mudita, the joy you feel at another’s happiness. Two of the four Buddhist heart-qualities are folded into a single picture here, kindness blooming on the water of gladness. The “rays” and “garlands of light” stand for the Buddha’s teaching spreading outward, wisdom described as light that drives back the dark.

That light-and-dark contrast carries the second verse. Craving and clinging, thanha and upadana, the two roots of suffering in Buddhist thought, are said to be burned clean away, and against the “darkness of ignorance” a lamp is lit. The lamp is a steady image in Buddhist devotion: knowledge that ends the dark of not-understanding. The “jewelled shoots” are the fresh, precious growth that follows once the mind is cleared, new life worth celebrating.

The last verse turns to sound and abundance. Bees humming and their echo rising stand for a swelling chorus of praise, the whole air ringing with the cry of victory. Then comes the closing blessing of plenty: from all ten directions flow “streams of milk and rice pudding,” kiri and kiribath, the milk-rice that marks every auspicious moment in Sri Lankan life, from New Year to a new house. To wish that it pours from every corner of the land is to wish the country prosperity, peace and good fortune, all of it laid at the feet of the Buddha’s grace.