Kataragama temple

Kataragama temple
කතරගම கதிரகாமம் Ruhunu Maha Kataragama devalaya in Kataragama
Country	Sri Lanka
Location in Sri Lanka
Geographic coordinates	6°25′N 81°20′E / 6.417°N 81.333°E / 6.417; 81.333
Architecture
Completed	c. 1100 – 15th century[1][2]

Kataragama temple (

The shrine has for centuries attracted Tamil Hindus from Sri Lanka and South India who undertook an arduous pilgrimage on foot. Since the latter half of the 20th century, the site has risen dramatically among Sinhalese Buddhists who today constitute majority of the visitors.^[4]

The cult of Kataragama deviyo has become the most popular amongst the Sinhalese people. A number of legends and myths are associated with the deity and the location, differing by religion, ethnic affiliation and time. These legends are changing with the deity's burgeoning popularity with Buddhists, as the Buddhist ritual specialists and clergy try to accommodate the deity within Buddhist ideals of nontheism. With the change in devotees, the mode of worship and festivals has changed from that of Hindu orientation to one that accommodates Buddhist rituals and theology. It is difficult to reconstruct the factual history of the place and the reason for its popularity amongst Sri Lankans and Indians based on legends and available archeological and literary evidence alone, although the place seems to have a venerable history. The lack of clear historic records and resultant legends and myths fuel the conflict between Buddhists and Hindus as to the ownership and the mode of worship at Kataragama.^[5]

The priests of the temple are known as Kapuralas and are believed to be descended from Vedda people. Veddas, too, have a claim on the temple, a nearby mountain peak and locality through a number of legends. There is a mosque and a few tombs of Muslim pious men buried nearby. The temple complex is also connected to other similar temples in

There are number of theories as to the origin of the shrine. According to

The medieval phase of the history of the shrine began with the arrival of Kalyanagiri Swamy from North India sometimes during the 16th or 17th century.^[17] He identified the very spot of the shrines and their mythic associations with characters and events as expounded in Skanda Purana.^[17] Following his re-establishment of the forest shrine, it again became a place of pilgrimage for Indian and Sri Lankan Hindus. The shrine also attracted local Sinhala Buddhist devotees.^[17] The caretakers of the shrines were people of the forest who were of indigenous Vedda or mixed Vedda and Sinhalese lineages. The shrines popularity increased with the veneration of the place by the kings of the Kingdom of Kandy, the last indigenous kingdom before colonial occupation of the island. When Indian indentured workers were brought in after the British occupation in 1815, they too began to participate in the pilgrimage in droves,^[18] thus the popularity of the shrine increased amongst all sections of the people.^[19]

Yaudheyas

, 200 BCE.

Hindu legends

According to Hindus and some Buddhist texts, the main shrine is dedicated to Kartikeya, known as Murugan in Tamil sources. Kartikeya, also known as Kumara, Skanda, Saravanabhava, Visakha or Mahasena, is the chief of warriors of celestial Gods.^[20] The Kushan Empires and the Yaudheyas had his likeness minted in coins that they issued in the last centuries BCE. The deity's popularity has waned in North India but has survived in South India. In South India, he became known as Subrahmaniya and was eventually fused with another local god of war known as Murugan among Tamils.^[21] Murugan is known independently from Sangam literature dated from the 2nd century BCE to the 6th century CE.^[22] Along the way, a number of legends were woven about the deity's birth, accomplishments, and marriages, including one to a tribal princess known amongst Tamil and Sinhalese sources as Valli. The Skanda Purana, written in Sanskrit in the 7th or 8th century, is the primary corpus of all literature about him.^[23] A Tamil rendition of the Skanda Purana known as the Kandha Puranam written in the 14th century also expands on legends of Valli meeting Murugan. The Kandha Puranam plays a greater role for Sri Lankan Tamils than Tamils from India, who hardly know it.^[24]

In Sri Lanka the Sinhala Buddhists also worshiped Kartikeya as Kumaradevio or Skanda-Kumara since at least the 4th century, if not earlier.^[1] Skanda-Kumara was known as one of the guardian deities until the 14th century, invoked to protect the island; they are accommodated within the non-theistic Buddhist religion.^[1] During the 11th and 12th century CE, the worship of Skanda-Kumara was documented even among the royal family.^[1] At some point in the past Skanda-Kumara was identified with the deity in Kataragama shrine, also known as Kataragama deviyo and Kataragama deviyo, became one of the guardian deities of Sri Lanka.^[1] Numerous legends have sprung about Kataragama deviyo, some of which try to find an independent origin for Katargamadevio from the Hindu roots of Skanda-Kumara.^[25]

Buddhist legends

One of the Sinhala legends tells that when Skanda-Kumara moved to Sri Lanka, he asked for refuge from Tamils. The Tamils refused, and he came to live with the Sinhalese in Kataragama. As a penance for their refusal, the deity forced Tamils to indulge in body piercing and fire walking in his annual festival.

Mahavamsa, the historic annals about Dutugamunu.^[1] Another Sinhala legend makes Kataragama deviyo a deification of a Tamil spy sent by Elara to live amongst the Sinhalese or a Tamil juggler who made the locals deify him after his death.^[27][28] Yet another legend says that Kataragama deviyo is a deification of the legendary king Mahasena, who is born as a bodhisattva or Buddha in waiting.^[29] Anthropologists Richard Gombrich and Gananath Obeyesekere were able to identify new strands of these legends and the originators of these legends since the 1970s, with the burgeoning popularity of the shrine and its deity amongst the Sinhala Buddhists.^[30]

According to the practice of cursing and

sorcery peculiar to Sinhala Buddhists, Kataragama deviyo has his dark side represented by Getabaru and Kadavara.^[31] The current Getabaru shrine is located in an isolated place near Morawaka. The shrine for Kadavara is in the town of Kataragama.^[31] His power to curse is carried out in secret outside the Main Kataragama deviyo shrine at a place at the Menik Ganga, where he receives animal sacrifices.^[31] Katagama devio is also directly invoked in sorcery practices.^[32]

Muslim legends

A number of Muslim pious and holy men seems to have migrated from India and settled down in the vicinity. The earliest known one is one Hayathu, whose simple residence became the mosque. Another one called Karima Nabi is supposed to have discovered a source of water that when drunk provides immortality.

mausoleums built over their Tombs.^[34]

Vedda legends

shaman becoming possessed with the spirits of the dead ancestors who guide the hunting party in techniques and places to go hunt. Anthropologist Charles Gabriel Seligman felt that the Kataragama deviyo cult has taken on some aspects of the Kande Yakka rituals and traditions.^[36] A clan of Veddas who lived near to the shrine was known as Kovil Vanam (Temple precincts). As a clan they are extinct but were to be found in the eastern province during the 19th century. Local Veddas believed that the nearby mountain peak of Vaedihitti Kande (The Mountain of Veddas) was the abode of the deity. The deity after coming over the shore married a local Vedda woman named Valli, a daughter of a Vedda chief and resided in the mountain.^[37] Eventually he was coaxed into settling down at the current location.^[36]

Temple layout

Almost all the shrines are nondescript small rectangular buildings without any ornamentation. There is no representative of deities adorning the outside of the buildings. This is in contrast to any other Hindu temple in Sri Lanka or India. Almost all shrines are built of stone except that one dedicated to Valli which shows timber construction. They have been left as originally constructed and there are not any plans to improve upon them, because people are reluctant to tamper with the original shrine complex.^[38]

The most important one is known as Maha Devale or Maha Kovil and is dedicated to Skanda-Murugan known amongst the Sinhalese as Kataragama deviyo. It does not have a statute of the deity; instead it holds a

Bo tree that tradition holds as sprung from the sapling of the original Bo tree in Anuradhapura, hence is very much held in high esteem by the visiting Buddhists.^[38]

Attached to the western wall of the shrine complex are shrines dedicated

Kadamba tree that is sacred to Murugan. Within the mosque are number of tombs of Muslim holy men. There is also a separate shrine dedicated to the tomb of Kalayangiri swamy known amongst Tamils as Mutuligaswamy kovil. It is also known as the Siva Devale.^[19][38]

Murukan and Kataragama deviyo cults

Buddhism doesn't encourage veneration of deities, and yet Buddhists in Sri Lanka make an annual pilgrimage to Kataragama.^[26] The deity has attained the position of national god amongst the Sinhalese. This reflects the similar position held by Murukan amongst Tamils.^[40]

Murukan

Murukan is known from Sangam Tamil literature.

rooster were also identified with the deity. Velans were a special class of priests identified with his worship.^[42]

With advent of North Indian traditions arriving with the

Toṇṭaināṭu

.

Katargamadevio cult

Legends in Sri Lanka claimed that Valli was a daughter of a Vedda chief from Kataragama in the south of the island. The town of

Tirukovil and Okanda.^[46] In the interior of the island temples such as Embekke were built in the 15 to 17 the century CE to propitiate the Murukan aspect of Kataragamdevio by the Sinhalese elite.^[47]

Since the 1950s the cult of Kataragama has taken a nationalistic tone amongst the Sinhalese people. People visit the shrine year long, and during the annual festival it looks like a carnival.

hook swinging.^[18] These ecstatic rituals have carried through the island and are widely practiced. Prominent Sinhalese politicians such as Dudley Senanayake and Ranasinghe Premadasa have associated with the temple upkeep by building, renovation and cleaning projects.^[48]

Festivals

The festivals and daily rituals do not adhere to standard Hindu

Agamic or Buddhist rituals. It follows what Paul Younger calls as ancient Vedda traditions of worship. Although since the medieval period Hindus, Buddhists and even Muslims have tried to co-opt the temple, deity and its worship as their own, the rituals maintained by the native priests are still intact.^[12] The main festival known in Sinhalese as Esela Perehera. It is celebrated during the months of July and August. About 45 days before the festival begins, the priests go into the forest and find two forked branches of a sacred tree. The branches are then immersed in the local river and kept at the shrines dedicated to Kataragama deviyo and Vali. When the main festival begins, the Yantra representing the deity is retrieved from its storage location, paraded through a street on top of an elephant, and carried to the Valli shrine. After two hours it is returned. On the last day of the festival the Yantra is left overnight at the Valli shrine and brought back to the main shrine. The priests conduct the rituals in silence, covering their mouths with white cloth. Associated with the main festival is fire walking arranged by a master of the ritual. Hundreds of devotees participate in fire walking, yet others participate in ecstatic dance forms called Kavadi and body piercing. Many of the pilgrims exhibit signs of being possessed.^[49][50]

Hindu and Buddhist conflicts

Sri Lanka has had a history of conflict between its minority Hindu Tamils and majority Buddhists since its political independence from Great Britain in 1948. Paul Wirz in the 1930s wrote about tensions between Hindus and Buddhists regarding the ownership and mode of ritual practice in Kataragama.^[51] For the past millennia the majority of the pilgrims were Hindus from Sri Lanka and South India who undertook an arduous pilgrimage on foot.^[52] By the 1940 roads were constructed and more and more Sinhala Buddhists began to take the pilgrimage.^[35][53] This increased the tensions between the local Hindus and Buddhists about the ownership and type of rituals to be used.^[51][54] The government interceded on behalf of the Buddhists and enabled the complete takeover of the temple complex and in effect the shrines have become an adjunct to the Buddhist Kiri Vehera.^[31][55] Protests occurred upon this development in the 1940s, particularly when restrictions were placed on Tamil worship at the shrine.^[56][57]

Typical Tamil Hindu rituals at Kataragama such as

Theravada Buddhism practiced in Sri Lanka to that of the personal Bhakti veneration of deities found amongst the Hindus of Sri Lanka and South India. The loss of Hindu influence within the temple complex has negatively affected the Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu society.^[58] According to Paul Younger, the Buddhist takeover was precipitated by the overwhelming participation of Buddhists in what are essentially Hindu rituals that worried the Buddhist establishment. There is a strong political and religious pressure to further modify the temple rituals to conform within an orthodox Theravada Buddhist world view.^[19][59]

See also

• Karthikeyan
• Kataragama Bodhiya

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Pathmanathan, S (September 1999). "The guardian deities of Sri Lanka:Skanda-Murgan and Kataragama". The Journal of the Institute of Asian Studies. The institute of Asian studies.
2. ^ Peiris, Kamalika (31 July 2009). "Ancient and medieval Hindu temples in Sri Lanka". Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
3. ^ Younger 2001, p. 39
4. ISBN 9780195173987
   .
5. ^ Wirz 1966, p. 16
6. ^ See map.
7. ^ Bechert 1970, pp. 199–200
8. ^ ^{a b} Younger 2001, p. 26
9. ^ Ancient Ceylon. Department of Archaeology, Sri Lanka. 1971. p. 158.
10. ^ Wright, Michael (15 May 2007). "The facts behind the Jatukam Ramathep talisman nonsense". The Nation. The Buddhist Channel. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
11. ^ Reynolds 2006, p. 146
12. ^ ^{a b c} Younger 2001, p. 27
13. ^ Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam The Worship of Muruka or Skanda (The Kataragama God) First published in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XXIX, No. 77, 1924.
14. ^ ^{a b} Wirz 1966, p. 17
15. ^ Paranavitana 1933, pp. 221–225
16. ^ Mahathevan, Iravatham (24 June 2010). "An epigraphic perspective on the antiquity of Tamil". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 1 July 2010. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
17. ^ ^{a b c} Wirz 1966, pp. 8–9
18. ^ ^{a b c} Younger 2001, p. 35
19. ^ ^{a b c} Younger 2001, p. 33
20. ^ Bhagavad Gita|Chapter 10|verse 20
21. ^ Womak 2005, p. 126
22. ^ Clothey & Ramanujan 1978, pp. 23–35
23. ^ Clothey & Ramanujan 1978, p. 224
24. ^ Gupta 2010, p. 167
25. ^ Gombrich & Obeyesekere 1999, p. xii
26. ^ ^{a b} Wanasundera 2004, p. 94
27. ^ Wirz 1966, p. 19
28. ^ Witane, Godwin (2001). "Kataragama: Its origin, era of decline and revival". The Island. The Island Group. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
29. ^ Raj 2006, p. 127
30. ^ Gombrich & Obeyesekere 1999, pp. 163–200
31. ^ ^{a b c d e} Feddema 1997, pp. 202–222
32. ^ Kapferer 1997, p. 51
33. ^ Younger 2001, p. 34
34. ^ Wirz 1966, pp. 23–25
35. ^ ^{a b c} Davidson & Gitlitz 2002, p. 309
36. ^ ^{a b} Clothey & Ramanujan 1978, p. 38
37. ^ Clothey & Ramanujan 1978, p. 39
38. ^ ^{a b c} Wirz 1966, pp. 26–35
39. ^ Wirz 1966, pp. 13–15
40. ^ Holt 1991, p. 6
41. ^ Clothey & Ramanujan 1978, p. 15
42. ^ Klostermaier 2007, p. 251
43. ^ Clothey & Ramanujan 1978, pp. 22
44. ^ Clothey & Ramanujan 1978, pp. 128–130
45. ^ Wirz 1966, pp. 36–45
46. ^ Bastin 2002, p. 60
47. ^ Gaveshaka (15 August 2004). "The exquisite wood carvings at Embekke". Sunday Times. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
48. ^ Bastin 2002, p. 62
49. ^ Younger 2001, pp. 27–31
50. ^ Raj 2006, p. 117
51. ^ ^{a b} Kandasamy, R (December 1986). "Sri Lanka's Most Holy Hindu Site becoming a Purely Buddhist Place of Worship?". Hinduism Today. Himalayan Academy. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
52. ^ Raj 2006, p. 111
53. ^ Gombrich & Obeyesekere 1999, p. 189
54. ^ Gombrich & Obeyesekere 1999, p. 165
55. ^ Younger 2001, p. 36
56. OCLC 230674424
    .
57. OCLC 492978278
    .
58. ^ Tambiah 1986, pp. 61–63
59. ^ Younger 2001, p. 40

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Cited literature

• Bastin, Rohan (2002), The Domain of Constant Excess: Plural Worship at the Munnesvaram Temples in Sri Lanka, Berghahn Books,
  ISBN 1-57181-252-0
• Bechert, Heinz (1970). "Skandakumara and Kataragama: An Aspect of the Relation of Hinduism and Buddhism in Sri Lanka". Proceedings of the Third International Tamil Conference Seminar. Paris: International Association of Tamil Research.
• Clothey, Fred; Ramanujan, A.K. (1978), The many faces of Murukan: the history and meaning of a South Indian god, Mouton de Gruyter,
  ISBN 0-415-34438-7
• Davidson, Linda Kay; Gitlitz, David Martin (2002), Pilgrimage: From the Ganges to Graceland: An Encyclopedia, University of California, Santa Barbara,
  ISBN 978-1-57607-004-8
• Feddema, J.P. (December 1997). "The cursing practice in Sri Lanka as a religious channel for". Journal of Asian and African Studies. 32 (3–4). The Netherlands: E.J. Brill: 202–222.
  S2CID 144302471
  .
• Gombrich, Richard Francis; Obeyesekere, Gananath (December 1999), Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka, Motilal Banarsidass,
  ISBN 81-208-0702-2
• Gupta, Suman (2010), Globalization in India: Contents and Discontents, Pearson Education South Asia,
  ISBN 978-81-317-1988-6
• Holt, John (1991), Buddha in the crown: Avalokiteśvara in the Buddhist traditions of Sri Lanka, Oxford University Press,
  ISBN 0-19-506418-6
• Kapferer, Bruce (1997), The Feast of the Sorcerer: practices of consciousness and power, University of Chicago Press,
  ISBN 0-226-42413-8
• ISBN 978-0-7914-7081-7
• Paranavitana, Senarath (1933), Epigraphia Zeylanica (PDF), vol. III, Oxford University Press
• Raj, Selva (2006), Dealing with Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia, State University of New York,
  ISBN 0-7914-6707-4
• Reynolds, Craig (2006), Seditious histories:contesting Thai and Southeast Asian pasts, University of Washington Press,
  ISBN 9971-69-335-6
• Tambiah, Stanley (1986), Sri Lanka : ethnic fratricide and the dismantling of democracy, University of Chicago,
  ISBN 1-85043-026-8
• Wanasundera, Nanda (2004), Cultures of the world: Sri Lanka, Times Books International,
  ISBN 0-7614-1477-0
• Wirz, Paul (1966), Kataragama:The holiest place in Ceylon, Lake house publishing house,
  OCLC 9662399
• Womak, Marie (2005), Symbols and Meaning: A Concise Introduction, Altamira Press,
  ISBN 0-7591-0322-4
• Younger, Paul (2001), Playing Host to Deity: Festival Religion in the South Indian Tradition, Oxford University Press,
  ISBN 0-19-514044-3

External links

• The Kataragama-Skanda website
• Pictures of Kataragama
• Embekke Kataragama temple
• On Foot by Faith to Kataragama
• Official Website – Ruhunu Maha Katharagama Devalaya Archived 27 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine