The front side
The archipelago is intriguing, to say the least. Proof if it were needed is the number of adventurers who have stopped here or mentioned it in their memoirs, from the illustrious Claude Ptolemy, who lived at the very beginning of our era, to the no less famous Jacques-Yves Cousteau, much closer to home. It is also said that Ibn Battûta visited the Maldives in the 14th century, during which time he married - several times - and left descendants, and that, in the following century, the Chinese explorer Zheng He also visited the archipelago.
However, at least three men prolonged their stay as much as possible in order to discern the traces of vanished civilizations behind the paradisiacal scenery. The trained eye of Harry Charles Purvis Bell (1851-1937), a British subject whose three first names are often reduced to their simple initials, thus came to rest on strange engraved copper plates that had been discovered on the atoll of Haddhunmathi and in the town of Malé, the "lōmāfānu". The archaeologist then returned to his first love, epigraphy and linguistics, in an attempt to decipher a script that had changed considerably since the 12th century, the estimated date of these remains. While Maldivian (divehi or dhivehi) is a language of Indo-Aryan origin, heavily impregnated with external influences from Arabic, Sinhalese, Portuguese, English and French, its written transcription has also evolved considerably, with the reading direction reversed and a specific alphabet(thâna). Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002), a Norwegian who gained renown for his Kon-Tiki expedition, also devoted himself to archaeological excavations in the Maldives, seeking to shed light on the subject that fascinated him all his life: finding evidence of population movements that took place so long ago that human memory has been unable to keep track of them. The fruit of his research was published by Albin Michel under the title Le Mystère des Maldives (The Mystery of the Maldives ), but is now unfortunately out of print.
Finally, in 1979, Xavier Romero-Frias, born in Barcelona in 1954, settled on the island of Fua Mulaku. Trained as an anthropologist, he took a particular interest in oral tradition, collecting and translating the tales told to him by the natives whose language he had learned. He then travelled to India to research neighbouring myths, in order to determine from which peoples they had originated. However, his publications were banned by the Maldivian government. Doomed, according to scientists, to one day be submerged by the waves, let's hope the archipelago doesn't disappear with its secrets.
The back
Relative geographical and political isolation, combined with linguistic particularism, have certainly not benefited translations, which are currently non-existent in French. Nevertheless, the archipelago has seen the birth of poets, and the one who can claim to be the father of Maldivian literature is certainly Husain Salahuddin (1881-1948), who acted as a bridge in both directions. A member of the Writers' Committee set up by President Mohamed Amin Didi, he also founded and directed the first school in Malé, thus occupying an influential position reinforced by his involvement in politics. Husain Salahuddin not only transposed Arabic, Urdu and Persian texts into Divehi, but also combined various writings to produce a biography of Mohammed in his own language. An attentive collector of oral tradition, he transcribed popular legends into an epic dedicated to the mythical national hero, Sultan Muhammad Thakurufaanu Al Auzam, who drove the Portuguese out of the archipelago in the 16th century. Finally, he has complied with the requirements of the Maldives' subtle sung poetry, which plays with anagrams and respects the "Boki Furaalhu Ali", which refers to the seven types of literature.
Bodufenvalhuge Sidi (1888-1970), considered the last great poet to master the art of "Raivaru" and to innovate in the composition of "lhen", also evolved in this highly refined style. Above all, he was recognized as one of the few people who still understood the island's ancient script, "Dhivehi Akuru", the rules of which he explained in an eponymous work. His first poetic forays were into political satire, and in 1925 he was associated, perhaps wrongly, with a plot against the ruling sultan, for which he was exiled for eight years on Hulhudheli. Yet Sidi never stopped writing, even if he later became more polished, even trying his hand at the novel with Dillygey Ibrahim Didi ge Vaahaka or Maa Makunudu Bodu Isa ge Vaahaka.
Grammar and pedagogy were also at the heart of the work of Muhammad Jameel Didi, born in 1915 and deceased in 1989, who wrote books for young people. The national anthem also features some of his verses. The portrait of this fertile era would not be complete without mentioning Aminath Faiza (1924-2011), who was also encouraged by the short-lived President Mohamed Amin Didi to continue along the path opened up by her uncle, who had encouraged her to write poetry from her early teens. The mother of Maldivian poetry, or "daisy flower" as it is known in the archipelago, she devoted her life to evoking love and religion, as well as societal problems and national unity. Finally, we could mention Ibrahim Chihab (1926-1988), Saikuraa Ibrahim Naeem (1935-2008) or Abdul Rasheed Hussein, born in 1946, three literary figures who navigated between political life and cultural action through the writing of essays, novels and poetry. While it is said that Rasheed Hussein now heads the Liyuntheringe Gulhun, a writers' association, the names that are now emerging are rather those of journalists such as Ali Rafeeq, editor-in-chief of the Haveeru Daily, who was awarded a National Award for Excellence by the government, or Hussein Fariyaaz, also commended in 2019 for his work in the sporting field.
This may augur well for a new openness to the world, although some of their colleagues have had run-ins with the judicial system, but at the same time, this shift is undoubtedly indicative of a certain lack of interest in divehi, which is complex and less valued during schooling, in favor of English, the national second language, which does not yet seem to have produced any great works.
