Hamuduruwos

When we hear the form of address as HAMUDURUWO without blinking an eyelid we think of the Buddhist monk in the temple. All Buddhist monks are addressed as hamuduruwo and when you say “yes” to a hamuduruwo, you do not say it the way we would say to anybody else, but ehei Haamuduruwane. Now I will go down a list and show you that it is not only in the temple that you come across the hamuduruwo. In a bygone era, there were so many hamuduruwos with unshaven heads, wearing either full suit or tweed cloth and jacket, or even a saree, instead of the robe and doing jobs outside or at home and not in the temples.

First you go to the walawwa in the good old days and there you get the walauwe hamuduruwo, which may be either the male chief occupant or his Walauwa, there are the Bandara Hamuduruwo, the male offspring and Dingiri Haamuduruwo, the female of the species.

Next, we go to the good old kachcheri, and whom do you come across there, but the Ejantha Hamuduruwo, that is the former Government Agent, a form of address may be used even at present though now we have the Divisional Secretary.

From the kachcheri to the courts and we come across the Nadukara Hamuduruwo, and here it is immaterial whether the judge is of the Supreme Court, Appeals Court or Magistrates’ Court, as all fall into the same category of address. In the court, earlier we had the Perakadoru Hamuduruwo and the Abdakath Hamuduruwo, when the lawyers were divided into Advocates and Proctors.

In the hospitals we had the dostara hamuduruwo, and it was immaterial whether such person was a Specialist, Registrar, House Officer or Apothecary, the form of address was the same.

Before the Grama Niladhari system was established we had the Korale Mahaththaya and Village Headmen. They were Korale Haamuduruwo and Arachchi Hamuduruwo. Most of them wore sarongs and shirts and a black jacket over the shirt.

In the Devale, we find the Nilame Hamuduruwo, that is, the Basnayake Nilame.

Fortunately, this form of address is now not very prominently used as the generations of that time are no longer there and the present-day people use the correct form of address, except in very rare cases. As such, now the Haamuduruwo is confined to the temples only.

But on second thought, as a Buddhist, I would like the hamuduruwo being outside the temples, judging from the way some of the monks behave, and also how they look, with their hair and beards unshaven and unkempt and wearing robes of different hues, some even with checks! Take the shameful cases of the two chief monks. One is keeping a woman and two children in his temple. The other had gone in civvies with three women on a two-day trip and on return was chased out of the temple by the dayakayas. This way I think many of the monks who do not follow the rules laid down by Lord Buddha should leave the temples before they are chased out.

Another thing that would annoy Buddhists is the thrones used by monks to deliver a sermon over the TV. Now what they should use is a simple armchair covered with a white cloth. But what you see is abhorring. Some of them are like huge thrones fit for a monarch and not a monk to deliver a sermon of less than one hour! But I do not think, even any present-day king or queen uses such elaborately carved thrones.

HM NISSANKA WARAKAULLE