Abstract:
Fakeer Society has been interacting and influencing in Sri Lankan Muslims’
culture throughout the history with their activities related to art and literature. Among
their art forms, ‘Fakeer Baith’ plays major role for social and cultural interaction. They
have produced number of songs and performed them with the musical instrument
called “Dahara” in platforms such as stage, home yard of people and common places
where people gather, in order to convey moral thoughts and teaching. Their songs
mainly consist of religious & spiritual thoughts and social issues. They could be
identified and highlighted by some elements (they can be considered as literary
Devices) which Fakeers used commonly to produce their songs. This study also
focuses on identifying those common literary devices in their songs. It was counducted
based on selected songs of fakeers which are included in the dissertation entitled
“South Eastern Muslim Culture and Fakir Baith” (2018) submitted to the Department
of Languages of South eastern University of Sri Lanka in partial fulfillment of the
requirement for the award of special degree in Tamil. For this study, the formalist
approach was applied. As the result, following literary devices are found and
discussed: dramatic conversation, Imagination, Symbolism, Metaphor and word
choice for pleasure of listening.
