කුමාරතුංග මුනිදාස සාහිත්‍ය නිර්මාණ තුළින් පිළිබිඹු කෙරෙන ජාතික සංවර්ධන අර්ථ ශාස්ත්‍රීය දෘෂ්ටිවාදය

Cumaratunga Munidasa was an intellectual who lived in the first half of the 20th Century, who was well recognized in the Sri Lankan society as an expert in Sinhala language, grammar and poet. However, a glance into his literary writings would reflect an economic vision as well. Many a cross-section of the theme of national development appears addressed in his innovative literary constructions. Based on that observation, the present research intended to examine Cumaratunga writings at an economic philosophical angle to explore the possibility of extracting a strategic vision on economic development through such writings. It also analyses the extent to which such extracted policy directions conform to or differ from those teachings of well-known economic schools of thought such as classical school, Keynesianism or Socialism. In spite of some such parallels, a fundamental inference in this research is that the Cumaratunga economic vision essentially is not in conformity with the neo-liberal political mainstream and neo-classical economic rationale. It concludes that the economic vision perceivable in Cumaratunga writings is very strongly patriotic and national sovereignty-oriented, to such an extent that “patriotism” could even be perceived as a novel factor of production. The research observes that this Cumaratunga economic vision as revealed from our literary heritage has not been adequately deployed in determining development policies of Sri Lanka in the recent past. It also enables to deduce that an economic growth devoid of patriotism cannot lead the nation towards sovereign and sustainable development.