Kandy Perahera
One of the biggest Buddhist celebrations of the year, the annual Kandy
Perahera (Esala Perahera) is a religious ceremony during which devotees
pray for sufficient rains to bless the country and crop cultivation. One
of Buddhism’s most sacred relics, the Sacred Tooth is taken from the
Temple the Tooth and paraded through the streets as part of the Kandy
Perahera. Following this, more festive events take centre stage and
visitors can expect to see a lively cast of dancers, jugglers and
fire-breathers milling amongst the crowds
Kandy Perahera Commences on Esala Full Moon or “Poya” Day on the
month of July and concludes on Nikini Full Moon Poya Day on the month of
August held in July or August according to the dates of the full moon, Esala
Perahera has become a symbol of Sri Lanka . It is very grand with
months of elaborate preparation, elegant costumes, well choreographed
demonstrations of talent from various artistes and of course the sage
procession of well trained elephants. There are fire-dances,whip-dancers, Kandyan dances and various other cultural dances. The
elephants are usually adorned with lavish garments and beautiful lights.
The Kandy Perahera festival ends with a traditional ‘diya-kepeema’
ritual.
The significance of this great event is to invoke blessings of the
deities to ensure the farmers rain to cultivate their crops. This ritual
is performed by carrying the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha through
the city streets which is done with great ceremony.The tooth relic was brought to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the year 310 AD
and the first Esala Perahera (Kandy Perahera) was performed in
Anuradhapura, the first capital where the sacred relic was housed.
Even as the capital was shifted for strategic reasons due to invasions,
the Sacred Tooth Relic went with it too and was much revered and always
held in the custody of the king. Finally finding a permanent resting
place in the hill capital of the last Sinhalese kingdom, Kandy, the
Sacred Tooth lies in the “Dalada Maligawa” (Palace of the Tooth Relic)
which was built by king Wimaladharma suriya in the 16th century. This
three-storey building erected solely for the purpose of housing the
Sacred Relic still stands and is the most – visited and significant
temple of Sri Lanka.
The ritual of the Kandy Perahera continues in Kandy with more and
more people attending each year to watch a majestic tusker proudly
parade the streets of this ancient Sinhalese kingdom, followed by over
more than a hundred elephants in Kandy Perahera with the custodians and
other officials dressed in the traditional Sinhalese attire of
chieftains riding them. The sound of blowing conch shells and whip
cracking starts off the excitement or the approaching Kandy Perahera.
The beating of at least three types of traditional drums, the colorful
Kandyan dancers, acrobats, and other artists that perform in the Kandy
Perahera and the light of flame torches certainly would take you back in
time.
Last year the historic Esala Perahera in Kandy began on July 18, with
the usual installation of the ‘kapa’ (sanctified log) at the devales
dedicated to the four guardian Gods namely Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama and
Goddess Pattini. Kandy Perahera It was followed by the Devale peraheras
from 18 to 21, and by the Kumbal perahera from 22 to 26th .
The Randoli Perahera, the most grandiloquent of the Peraheras paraded the streets from 27th
to 31th . The ritual of the water-cutting ceremony was held on August
1, followed by the Day Perahera on the 2nd thus, bringing the grand
spectacle to an end.Seven days after the Day perahera, as tradition holds,
‘Waliyaknetuma’(an abridged form of Kohomba-Kankariya) is danced at the
Vishnu devale, by people of the ‘Balibat’ caste, for seven more days,
with masked dancing, to prevent malignant influences. This is a general
account of the Esala Perahera in Kandy, which has changed slightly in
detail down the ages, e.g., during the Kandyan period two peraheras were
held, one by evening and one by night, preferably during the Randoli
perahera.
The Esala perahera in Kandy, we see today, dates back to the reign of
Kirti Sri Rajasinha (1747-1780). It is a combination of the Dalada
perahera, and the four Devale peraheras dedicated to the guardian
deities of the island.Earlier, the Esala perahera was conducted exclusively to appease the
divinities, and patronized by the Malabari kings of South India, who
ruled the Kandyan provinces. They were Hindus. The month of Esala is
reminiscent of ‘Esala Dev-keliya’ (Play of the Gods).
How the band wagon of the Dalada perahera came to be merged with the
four devale peraheras, is an interesting story. When the bhikkus from
Siam (Thailand), headed by the Most Ven. Upali Maha Thera, came to Sri
Lanka, to bestow the defunct ‘Upasampada’ (the highest ordination
qualifying a bhikku), their arrival coincided with the Esala festival in
Kandy, when preparations were under way to hold the Devale peraheras
invoking the blessings of the gods for the king and his subjects.Kandy Perahera The Maha Thera Upali, having heard the noise of
jingalls (a kind of large Indian swivel musket), inquired from the king
the reason for all this noise the king told the Maha Thera that
arrangements were being made to hold the Devale peraheras, Kandy
Perahera during the month Esala, to appease the gods and to receive
their blessings
The Maha Thera immediately took offense over the news, and at the
attitude of the king in giving preference to Hindu customs, in a land
where orthodox Buddhism has gained ground for more than one thousand
years.he king, realising his mistake and using his wits, and so as not to
offend the Maha Thera, informed him that Dalada Perahera will lead the
procession followed by the Devale Peraheras, in their order of
importance. There had been, throughout history, processions of great
magnitude which could be considered as the precursors of the present day
Dalada Perahera.
When the ‘danta dhatu’ (Tooth Relic of the Buddha) was brought to the
island by prince Danta and princess Hemamala of Kalinga (Orissa),
during the reign of Kirti Sri Meghavarna (352-377), the three Buddhist
fraternities in Anuradhapura (Mahavihara, Abahayagiri vihara and
Jetavana vihara), claimed to possess it as the most revered object of
worship.
The king, wishing not to displease the bhikkus of the three viharas,
placed the Relic in a golden reliquary, and keeping it in his royal
chariot, allowed it to go to one of the three viharas.
The chariot unguided went to the Abahayagiri vihara, and the bhikkus
thera accepted it and enshrined it in a gaily decorated ‘dhatugruha’
(relic chamber). It later became the palladium of regal authority.
The Mahaviharavasins and the Jetavanavasins did not claim it. Before
the transfer of power from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruwa in 1058, the
Tooth Relic was annually taken in procession from the Vihara to the city
of Anuradhapura and back to the Vihara, with great pomp and ceremony.
It was the beginning of the Dalada perahera in the island.
The significant and widespread belief regarding the origin of the
Esala perahera is woven into the fabric of mythology, especially in
regard to the water-cutting ritual. During the reign of Vankanasika
Tissa alias Kasubu (109-112), a band of Cholians from South India,
invaded the island, and having slain the king, took away 12,000 Sinhala
captives to South India. His son, king Gajabahu, along with his
herculian soldier Nila, crossed the Indian Ocean to India, by cleaving
the waters of the sea with his massive iron rod.
After peaceful negotiations with the Colian king Senguttuvan, king
Gajabahu was able to bring back the captives, along with an equal number
of Cholians, in recompense. Later, they settled down in the villages of
Hewaheta, Tumpane, Udunuwara, Yatinuwara, Alutkuruwa etc. The
water-cutting ritual at the Getambe ferry reminisces the exploit of Nila
in cleaving the sea to go to India.King Parakramabahu I (1153-1186) of Polonnaruwa, held a Dalada
perahera, when there was a severe drought in the country threatening a
famine. The following day, rains came down in torrents inundating the
low-lying areas, and filling the lakes that had gone dry.
In the Dalada Siritha, a treatise on the Tooth Relic, it is said:
“Vesi novasnakala mama lesin Dalada pooja karanawa isa”. (When there is
no rain, make offerings to the Tooth Relic in this manner). There is
belief among the Buddhists that whenever there is severe drought, the
Tooth Relic should be carried in procession.Kandy Perahera History tells us that during the governorship of Sir
Edward Barnes (1824-1831), a Dalada perahera was held in Kandy in 1829,
on the advice of the Kandyan chiefs, to avert a severe drought. It
resulted in a heavy downpour when the flood waters spilled over the
Kandy lake submerging the low-lying areas, and making roads impassable.
The flood waters came to be known as the Dalada Watura (Relic water).
The governor was surprised over the miraculous power of the Tooth
Relic, about which a dispatch was sent to the Colonial Secretary in
England Kandy Perahera.
The Esala perahera ritual complex begins with the installation of
kapa, a pole about four feet in height, within each devale. A few days
before the new moon in August, the Basnayaka Nilames of the four
devales, along with the kapuralas, go in search of a young jak tree
(Artocarpus integrifolia) that has borne no fruit, and clear the ground
around the tree. It is then fumigated with the smoke of burning resin
and sprinkled with specially prepared sandalwood water.Flowers, betel, leaves and a lighted lamp are placed at the foot of
the tree, and the deity, whose abode, perchance, it may be is implored
to leave the tree, before it is felled. Earlier an asala tree (Cassia
fistula) was selected, instead of the lactiferous jak tree, to make the
kapa poles.Once the tree is felled, it is cut into four equal parts and
distributed among the four devales, the Natha devale getting the first
kapa. The traditional procedure followed in felling the tree is
mentioned in the Sinhala text Maimataya (Skt. Mayamata). Each log is
carried in procession and planted inside the devales.
Earlier they were installed outside the devales, but now having
reduced in size, they occupy an elevated ground inside each devale,
specially built for the purpose. It is known as kap-situweema.
For five days from the date of installation of the kapa, the kapurala
of each devale take around the log every evening (formerly twice a
day), accompanied by music and drumming, flag and canopy bearers and
spearmen and the sacred insignia of the gods (ranayudha).This takes the form of a little procession in each of the devales,
and is known as Devale Perahera. On the fifth day, the insignias are
taken out of the devale premises and borne inside a dome like structure,
known as the ranhilige, on the back of an elephant, accompanied by the
Basnayaka Nilame and his retinue.
The Devale peraheras come at the appointed hour and assemble in front
of the Dalada Maligawa. The Relic casket which is a substitute for the
Tooth Relic, is placed inside a ranhilige, which is tied on to the back
of the caparisoned Maligawa elephant.The Maligawa perahera joins the waiting Devale peraheras in front and
gives the lead in moving on. The perahera consisting the Maligawa and
Devale peraheras march through the prescribed streets, and it is called
the Kumbal perahera.
Randoli perahera is an expanded version of the Kumbal perahera, to
which are added palanquins (randoli) of the four devales. These contain
the ornaments of the goddesses, sword and pitcher of each devale. On the
5th day of the Randoli perahera, after a short break up, reassembles
and makes its way to the Asgiri vihara, where the casket is placed,
Kandy Perahera and the Devale peraheras return to their respective
devales.Later in the night the four Devale peraheras make their way to the
water-cutting site at Gatambe ferry. At the river the kapuralas of the
devales are Kandy Perahera led in a decorated boat to some distance,
from where they cleave the waters with the sacred sword, and collect a
pitcher full from the place where the sword touched the water, to be
stored in the devales for
one year, to be fed back into the river, at
the next water-cutting ceremony .On their way, the peraheras stop at the Ganadevi Kovil, Kandy, where
the assembled crowds received the blessings of the gods, in the form of a
tilaka (prasada) of sandalwood paste on the forehead.In the afternoon, the peraheras of the four devales form into one
unit and go to Asgiri vihara to join the Maligawa perahera. Thus, the
full procession is formed again and the Day perahera, takes a prescribed
route and goes back to the Maligawa, where at the prescribed auspicious
moment, the casket is replaced at the sanctum sanctorum
The introduction of Ves dancing to the perahera is of recent origin.
Ves is a sacred dance. The ves-tattuwa (the magnificent head dress of
the Kandyan dancer) is a sacred object guarded by a system of taboos and
traditions. As a form of dancing Ves is considered fit for the gods.
The Diyawadana Nilame, Punchi Banda Nugawela Nilame (1916-1937), who
introduced it to the Maligawa section of the perahera, has made this
great change
In 1828, when Governor Barnes participated in the Dalada perahera,
the Maligawa perahera consisted of the following: (1) Peramune Rala
riding the Yahalatanne elephant. Kandy Perahera (2) Gajanayaka Nilame
carrying the symbolic goad. (3) Kodituwakku Nilame and his retinue. (4)
Disava of Four Korales. (5) Disava of Seven Korales. (6) Disava of
Matale. (7) Disava of Sabaragamuwa. (8) Disava of Walapone and (9)
Disava of Udapalatha, each carrying their respective flags.
Today, the provincial representation has been forgotten. The
Kodituwakku department is absent. The Peramune Rala and Gajanayaka
Nilame are solitary representatives. The extinction of old elements and
the substitution of new elements have, doubtless, harmed the original
integral symbolism of the Esala festival.
The elephants are less in number than in the old days, when more than
one hundred elephants participated in the perahera. The winds of change
have affected the old customs and rites to a perceivable degree. In conclusion, the Esala Perahera, (Kandy Perahera) in Kandy is
believed to be a fusion of two separate but interconnected “Peraheras”
(Processions) – The Esala and Dalada. The Esala Perahera, which is
thought to date back to the 3rd century BC, was a ritual enacted to
request the gods for rainfall. The Dalada Perahera Kandy Perahera is
believed to have begun when the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha was
brought to Sri Lanka from India during the 4th Century AD.
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