Loathsome story by villagers about 4 suicides in Kamburupitiya
A story that had yet not come into the open about the tragic incident of a suicide of 2 daughters, a son who was a samanera and their father in Kamburupitiya which rocked the country some weeks before has now been revealed a hidden side to the story which has been going the rounds all over this particular village.
That story which is unfolded in written records left behind by the father prior to committing suicide
with his children is to some extent a sorrowful one. On the other hand it is one that sends a chill through one's spine. What the villagers say is that because the mother of the 16 year old daughter had come to know of an alliance with the girl's father, a dispute had flared up and the mother had left the house which finally paved the way towards this tragedy. What was published in the media after the incident of suicide that the father who was faced with difficulties of maintaining the children accompanied with the sadness of the wife desolating them, he had committed this revengeful deed for the wife to feel its awful repercussions. Reports were further published that on account of the argument which flared up with the husband not agreeing for the wife giving permission for her to go for an overseas job had left the house. However the tendency for women leaving for jobs abroad was a common occurence in this Kamburupitiya hamlet.Incidentally the father and mother of this family were engaged in cinnamon-peeling as a form of income. Though it was possible to earn a good income only during one period of the year of the cinnamon season it was at all times a difficult task for them to spend the rest of the year. For the very reason that this couple were faced with financial burdens they had dedicated the elder and the younger sons to the Sasana. With these conditions of this woman going abroad (as is seen happening in a number of neighbouring houses) for the purpose of maintaining the family resulting in such a cruel decision is somewhat of an incredible story as such.
After the tragedy of the suicides what the 19 year old thera who was the only individual of the children who were left behind has said that on occasions when disputes such as this happened before the mother was of the habit of leaving home and remaining at the ancestral home and returning after a short period. This time too it was to her ancestral home that she had gone. What was noted as something different in this instance was that her mobile phone had been switched off from the date she had left home and that instructions had been given to respond saying that she was not there. After the mother had left home the deceased 2 daughters had gone in search of the mother and the grandmother and has inquired as to whether mother had come when it was said that she had not come there and thus the 2 girls had been sent back empty-handed unlike in other instances. However when the daughters had inquired from the marketplace near grandmother's house tit had been confirmed that she is in fact at the ancestral place. This was recorded clearly in a letter of one of the deceased daughters.
The reason why the wife who was vexed with her husband because of the exchange of words that transpired over the matter of employment was not able to engage in baby-sitting at another house is a matter of conjecture. During the period she was away at her ancestral home she has not communicated with anybody in her house and just about two days before the suicides had called from a telephone box and informed that she had secured a job at a garment factory and would be coming the day after bringing the salary.
Whatever it is, though the husband and children had been continuously waiting for her arrival which proved futile afterwards had confirmed the attempt of suicide the father issueing necessary instructions to the children, it was stated in the letters. The elder daughter had informed about her despondency to the elder brother, the thera writing "people in the village have coined up various stories" and had further mentioned that the villagers have woven stories about her and father about a connection between the two of them and that those rumours have become confirmed as a consequence of mother's departure.
The incident of the disgusted father taking steps to asking the 2 daughters and the son to keep their hands behind their backs and made them hang with a rope tied with he himself taking away his life has indeed created a sensation in the whole country and having come to know about this the thera son the only living child who arrived the same day from Ratnapura was shocked and proceeded to provide evidence. But all in all the wife who was instrumental in a dispute with her deceased husband had not turned up even on that occasion. What is even more surprising is that after so many days passed by after the tragedy and even after the final rites of the deceased were over, she had still not come. The fact that she had not cared to see the faces of the children who was begotten by her and that of her husband for the last time further discloses the mystery embedded in the reasons for this deaths. Whatever it is, it is not clear whether it was so done because of the fear and embarassment of rumours of the villagers or because of the final request made on paper signed on a stamp not to let the wife see their faces.
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