Son of a locomotive driver, 77-year-old Carl Muller survived three school dismissals, the Royal Ceylon Navy and Army, before settling down as a writer. At his colonial-style house in Peradeniya, central Sri Lanka, he looked anything but a cancer patient who, according to doctors, has six months to live, during the interview with our Colombo correspondent P K Balachandran.
Your early work on the Burghers (Euro-Lankan people) were denounced. But your Burgher trilogy was very popular. Then you started writing on Sri Lanka’s history. Why mix fact with fiction?
Even though I’d no formal education and was a riotous child, I was an avid reader. Early in life, I got to know the Dutch Burgher administrator-historian, Richard Leslie Brohier. Brohier liked me, and I used to often listen to him talk on the history of this country. From childhood, I also had a habit of taking down notes. When I gave historical details in a story, people believed what I wrote and were glad to know. Their grandfathers knew it all, but never passed the information on to the next generation.
Grandeur of the Lion is all about the Sinhalese kingdom of Anuradhapura. How did you get interested in this, and write so authoritatively on Buddhist life there?
As my father was a driver in Ceylon Railway, a transferable job, our family had to move from place to place. In the railway quarters of Anuradhapura, there were people from all ethnic groups, and I used to ask them questions, about Buddhism, the historic importance of the town and its contribution to the cultural life. Even though my father was not into reading, he’d buy me books of all kinds. I was in A’pura only for a couple of years, but it became very close to me because its history is that of Sri Lanka. Three different Buddhas are believed to have visited it in ancient times.
You own many books.
I’ve lost count. But I’ve collected some rare books during my travels abroad. Someone asked me if I’d sell a particular set for US $5,000. I asked him to fly a kite. “Even if you give me $5,000 per volume, I won’t give it,” I said.
Why glorify Buddhist kings, knowing that king Duttha Gamini is controversial?
The Anuradhapura period in Sri Lankan history deserves glorification.
You refer to Hinduism’s influence on Buddhism. How did you get interested in the same?
My father’s job put me in touch with Hindu Tamils. At A’pura, there were lots of Tamils in the railway colony. I used to find their way of life fascinating, and would ask them questions about their beliefs, myths and legends. That Tamils were opposite of Burghers in their attitude to life, also piqued my interest.
Why is India attractive?
I like India, and have written a book on it—Indian Journeys. Though India has big problems (mostly due to rapacious British rule), it’s trying to solve them. Unlike SL, India acknowledges outside influences. For example, Indian and Danish governments are jointly restoring Tranquebar (Tarangambadi) in Tamil Nadu, to celebrate their link established 300 years ago. In SL, people want to deny the past.
They say you’re obsessed with sex. How did conservative India take it?
Indians accept it. It’s in SL that I face problems. But that doesn’t worry me in the least. At a school prize distribution here, where I was the chief guest, the girl prefect told the audience she had not read my books because she had been told by elders not to. But even those who complain, read my books.
How do you rate present day Indian and Sri Lankan writers in English?
Indian writing in English is improving. I like Amitav Ghosh. But others have become repetitive or are recycling old ideas. As for SL, the problem is you have to pay to get published. A top Colombo publisher asked a leading author to pay LKR 1,85,000 ($1,500) for publishing her book. And unlike the Jaipur LitFest, the Galle Literary Festival is too expensive for locals. Authors have to pay for stay, food and transport.