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DESCRIPTION OF THE KANDY PERAHERA

S. J. GUNASEGARAM

A faithful and fascinating description of the Kandy Perahera, as conducted in the Hill Capital during Knox’s time, in about the year 1680, is found on pages 125 to 127 of Knox’s “Historical Relation of Ceylon” (Glasgow Edition, MCMXI).

According to Knox, there were two annual solemn festivals held in the Kandyan Districts – the one in honour of the “Gods that govern the Earth and all things referring to this life”, and the other “belonging to Buddou whose Province is to take care of the soul and future well-being of men”.

Knox classes the Perahera under the festivals of ‘the former sort’ that is to honour the “Gods and procure their aid and assistance”. In Knox’s time the Perahera appears to have been held “early in the month of June or July, at a New Moon”. Though it was a “Solemn Festival and general meeting none were compelled”. Some went to one Pagoda and some to another. “The greatest solemnity”, he adds, “is performed in the City of Kandy”.

The Painted Stick

The most sacred object of worship was the Painted Stick hung with flowers and “wrapped in branched silk, some part covered and some not. The people bowed down and worshipped this and each one presented it with an offering. After receiving the free will offering of the people “the Priest takes the painted stick on his shoulder, having a cloth tied about his mouth to keep his breath from polluting the pure piece of wood, and also upon an elephant all covered with white cloth which he rides with all triumph that King and Kingdom can offer through all the streets of the City. But before him go, first some forty or fifty elephants with brass bells hanging on each side, which tingle as they go”.

Giants

Next in order followed men “dressed up” like giants; after these “a great multitude of Drummers, and Trumpeters and Pipers; then followed a company of men dancing. After them came women of such castes and trade as are necessary for the service of the Pagoda”. Among the latter were potters and washer-women in different groups by themselves “three and three in a row, holding one another by the hand”. Between each of these groups ‘go Drummers, Pipers and Dancers’.

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“Katarga Dio and Paththini Dio”

Within a yard of the Priest with the Painted Stick on his shoulder, two other Priests, one on the left and the other on the right, followed on mounted elephants. One of them “represented” the Kataragama deity and the other the Goddess Paththini. “These three Gods that ride here in company’ says Knox, “are accounted of all other greatest and chiefest, each one having his residence in a several Pagoda”.

Ladies

The elephants which carried these Gods were followed by cook women with ‘things like whisks in their hands to scare away flies – dressed in all their finery’. After these ‘walked thousands of ladies and gentlemen such as of the better sort of the inhabitants of the land arrayed in the bravest manner’. As in our own day, Knox is faithful to add, ‘all the beauties of Zeylone in their bravery go to attend their Gods in their progress about the city’.

The streets were decorated gaily with flags and pennons adorned with “boughs and branches” of coconut trees “hanging like fringes”. The roads along which the procession wended its way were lit with lamps ‘both day and night’.

Commanders and Soldiers

The rear was led by the commanders accompanied by soldiers. They were sent by the King so that the “ceremonies are decently performed”. The procession took place “one by day and once at night”. The entire festival is said to have lasted ‘from the New Moon until the Full Moon’.

Significance of the Painted Stick

Knox explains that the “Painted Stick” represented ‘Allout Neur Dio’, that is ‘the God and maker of Heaven and Earth’. Most of us are familiar with the antiquity of the worship of Murugan (Kataragama Deo) in Ceylon, and the popularity of the worship of Kannaki (Paththini Deo) in Ceylon since the days of Gajabahu I. To appreciate the significance of the Painted Stick one has to refer to the Silappathikaram, the epic of the Anklet. The Silappathikaram which relates the story of Kannaki, the chaste wife of Kovalan who was deified as Paththini, the goddess of Chastity, is also a treatise on Dance. The epic shows how religious dances were centered around the worship of Murugan known as the Kathirgaman God in Ceylon, and Mayon (Vishnu) and Korravai (Durga).

It will be recalled that Gajabahu I (113-115 A.D.) had been present, very likely at the invitation of the Chera King Senguttuvan, at the dedication of the Paththini Temple. On his

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return to Ceylon he is said to have brought with him Tamil colonists, (most of whom were skilled workers) and settled them in different districts – Alut Kuruwa, Sarasiya Patty, Pansiya Pattu, Thampane, Hewahetta, Yatinuwara, Egoda Tiha, Megoda Tiha (Rajavali).

The colonists were all Tamils. The perahera, as Knox saw it, was in all probability a festival originated by these colonists who had introduced the Paththini cult brought by them from their mother country. The worship of Murugan (Kataragama Deo) was probably as ancient as, if not earlier than, the period of Vijaya himself.

The significance of the Painted Stick is described in Silappathikaram. The story goes that during a dance in Indra’s heaven, Indra’s son Jayantha and Uruvasi behaved in an improper manner; and that Agastiya who was present cursed Jayantha to be born as a bamboo stick in the Vindhayas and Uruvasi to be born as a human dancer. Agastiya eventually modified the curse by declaring that the bamboo stick be used as a Talaikol (the ‘leading’ or ‘Head Stick’) gaily painted and decorated and taken in procession as a symbol of the art of dance, and that human dance artists born in the line of Uruvasi should worship the Talaikol and then exhibit their still in the Art of Dancing.

Perahera

The word Perahera would appear to be the ‘Sinhalised’ form of the Tamil ‘piraharam’, meaning the “Veediya” or the pathway round the precincts of a Hindu temple. Thus (Suththu) piraharam means a sacred possession round the temple precincts held annually in honour of a deity as it is taken round to the accompaniment of dance, music and other forms of rejoicing. In the Silappathikaram as well in the Epic Manimekalai (a Buddhist Epic in Tamil) the festival held in honour of Indra is described. The Allout Neur Dio corresponds to the Tamil Puthu (new) Neur (Ur) the New City. The new town was probably named by the new colonists and dedicated to Indra the Hindu “God and maker of Heaven and Earth”.

I give below more recent accounts of the Perahera from three different sources. The first is a fairly detailed description compiled by an European official in the Ceylon Government in the year MDCCCXXXIV (1834). This account ‘compiled from material furnished by a Native Chief’, is found in fuller detail in the Ceylon Almanac for the year MDCCCXXXIV, page 210.

“The Perahera¹ commenced with the new moon in Essela (August), and continued to the full moon.

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“Until the reign of King Kirti Sree² (A.D. 1747-1780) the Perahera was celebrated exclusively in honour of the four Hindu Deities – Natha,³ Vishnu, Kataragam,⁴ and Paththini⁵ and was altogether unconnected with Buddhism.

“The Perahera began with the consecration and hewing down of a young jak tree, and cutting the trunk into four legs and placing one before each of the four temples.

(The temples of Natha, Vishnu, Kataragam and Paththini).

“On the fifth day Randolee⁶ (or the golden Palanquin⁷ belonging to the consorts of the gods Natha, Vishnu, Kataragam Deo and of the goddess Paththni) were brought forth to join the procession; the Patripo⁸ (Octagon near the Maligawa temple) was decorated sumptuously with gold cloth and the chiefs, the soldiery and the inhabitants in general, in their best attire assembled; each department proceeded with its appropriate arms and banners.

“The two Adigars⁹ and the Gajanaike¹⁰ Nilame (chief of the elephant department) holding an ankusa¹¹ took their station in the great square on the right – the King in rich dress came into the Patripo, when the curtains were drawn aside. As soon as the King was presented to the public view, the leader of the band of singers recited an invocation in verse - instrumental music followed.

“The two Adigars and all the other chiefs presented themselves in view of the King, uttered loud prayers for the prosperity of the monarch and his kingdom, and paid homage by prostration.

The king then asked the first Adigar about the Dissavanies¹² and districts; the Adigar gave a description of the different classes of people and how they were marshalled. The king expressed his desire that the Chiefs should adjourn to the area opposite to the Devale and then conduct the procession.

“The chiefs proceeded thither and returned headed by their respective banners when they repeated the honours to his Majesty as before.

“The petty headmen were ordered to proceed and lead the procession. The Chiefs remained. The King repaired to the Maligawa¹³ and brought with his own hands the Karandoowe¹⁴ which he placed in the ‘ranhilligey’¹⁵ upon the elephant, and proceeded on foot to the square where he took his stand on the ‘haridagala’ (a stone having the figure of the moon carved upon

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it) with a silver wand in his hand, and followed in the train of the procession in the Randolee.”

(The order in which the procession was arranged is described here briefly by the writer).

The Last Night of the Perahera

“On the last night of the Perahera, after the procession had gone round the streets, it separated into two divisions: that part of it attached to the four gods taking a direction towards the ferry Getambe, and the other part belonging to the sacred relics proceeding to the Adahammuluwe,¹⁷ a spot set apart for religious purpose and assemblies of priests the limits of which are marked by carved stones within which the kings of Kandy are said to have had no authority.

“Here the shrine was removed from the elephant and deposited on a platform made for the purpose, where it remained receiving the adoration of the worshippers till 10 o’clock on the following morning.

Water Cutting Ceremony

“Meanwhile the other part of the procession having arrived at the river side, the ceremony of cutting water (Dia Kappanawa)¹⁸ took place. The Caporales¹⁹ and other officers of the respective temples were rowed to the middle of the river in decorated canoes, where the Caporales with a golden sword described a circle in the water from the centre of which each filled a golden vase (T. Chembu), and the water which was taken in the preceding year was poured out again. The procession then went to the spot where the relic had been deposited. After which the whole procession made a circuit of the city and halted between Natha and Maha Dewales, from whence the different parties returned to their respective temples.”

Here is another account of the Perahera from the work of a well known Sinhalese scholar (the late Mr. E. W. Perera), entitled “Sinhalese Banners and Standards” (Series A, No. 2), and quoted by Dr. H. M. de Silva, another distinguished Sinhalese, in the Times of Ceylon of 14.XII.56, in an article entitled, “The Sinhalese and the Tamils are Related”.

“In ancient times, in Lanka, the Hindu King was carried behind the procession with its golden Howdah. And like the former Kings of Lanka he²⁰ wished to display to the different classes of his subjects the rejoicings there were held in honour of Natha, Vishnu and other gods, regarded by all as conducive to prosperity. With this object preparations were made throughout the city that it resembled the city of the gods.

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“He caused the emblems of the gods in the temples to be placed on elephants and commanded them to be taken in procession accompanied before and after by elephants and a host of dancers, by numbers of elephants and horses, by men dressed as Brahmins gorgeously arrayed, by persons holding various umbrellas and chowries²¹ (yak-tail fans); by numbers of women, officers of state, sword bearers, shield bearers, spearmen and men at arms; by people carrying scarfs and flags, by men of foreign countries, men skilled in different languages, by crowds of artisans and craftsmen and assemblage of people.

“The King followed in Royal state like the King of Heaven, and when he had traversed the whole city with the procession (Perahera) returned and entered the Palace. While our great King thus celebrated Esala Festival yearly, he thought it proper as his faith and wisdom increased, that it ought to be preceded by a procession in the honour of Buddha.

“Until the reign of King Kirti Sree (Rajasingha, A.D. 1747-1780) the Perahera was celebrated exclusively in honour of the four deities – Natha, Vishnu, Kataragam and Paththini and altogether unconnected with Buddhism. The sacred Dalada Relic of Buddha was first carried in procession, together with the insignia of the four gods in A.D. 1775; the circumstances which gave rise to this innovation were as follows:

“The Siamese²² priests who were invited hither by the King Kirti Sree in the year of Saka 1675, for the purpose of restoring the Upasampadawa (the highest degree of ordination in the Buddhist religion) one day hearing the noise Jingalls etc., inquired the cause, and were informed that preparations were being made for celebrating a festival in honour of the Gods; they took umbrage at this and observed that they had been made to believe the Buddhism was the established religion, and that they had never expected to see Hinduism triumphant at Kandy. To appease²³ them the King sent emissaries to assure them that this festival was chiefly intended to glorify the memory of Buddha and to convince them of it, the King gave directions that the great relic should be carried foremost in the procession. He at the same time dedicated his own howdah… in which the Karanduwa was placed during the procession to the Maligawa temple, and this howdah has been so used ever since. The King and his successors never after that had a howdah when they rode on elephants.

“Seven or eight years before the accession of the present Government the since deposed king bestowed a Rinhillegey on each of the four Devales²⁴ in Kandy; they had none before.

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“This clearly proves how Buddhism usurped the Hindu rites and how it adapted these to its own purpose.”

I give below, for what it is worth, a brief account of an eye witness of the Perahera in our own day.

“The Perahera (Tamil = ) (Piraharam) starts from the Paththini (Kannaki Temple) with the hoisting of the flag and the planting of a tree. Round the trunk of the tree is tied a string. This ceremony is called “Kap-Sittaveema”, and in Tamil Kapukaddu²⁵ (Tamil = ) i.e. ‘tying of the bangle’. The Sinhala term it will be noticed is a literal translation of the Tamil word.

“During the first five days, the Procession (Perahera) is confined to the ul-veethi (). The procession is called ‘kumbal’²⁶ Perahera in Sinhalese.

The Perahera proper (Suthu-Piraharam also known as in Tamil) takes the form of a procession round the streets of the city. On this final day which is a full moon day the procession is headed by the Tooth Relic.

“The water cutting ceremony – (theertham or ) i.e. the Dia Kappanuwa (a literal translation of the Tamil expression in Sinhalese), takes place in the Mahavali Ganga that skirts the city near Katugastota and forms the grand culmination of the Festival. A box that is carried in the procession is dipped in the water of the river, and the water is cut with a sword.

“When the water cutting ceremony is over, the Procession wends its way to the Paththini Devale back again and from there proceeds to the Maligawa temple. A chembu () (Chembuva in Sinhalese) which contains the ‘water cut’, is taken on this journey to the main temple and preserved till the next year.”

__________

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REFERENCES AND NOTES

1. Perahera is the Pali-ised form of the Tamil (Piraharam, i.e. the ‘Veediya’ or the ‘Veethi’ round the temple).

2. Kirthi Sri Rajasingha(m), a Tamil King and a Hindu who was King of KANDY (A.D. 1747-1780).

3. NATHA, i.e. Siva, the Supreme Being.

4. KATARAGAM or KATARAGAMA; Tamil, KATHIRAGAMAM, i.e., the Village (Kamam) let by the refulgence of Siva, the light of the Sun. (GAMA-PALI); Tamil KIRAMAM () KAMAM, ( , Village).

5. PATHTHINI, the Goddess of Chastity. Paththini is another name for Kannakai, the heroine of SILAPPATHIKARAM, the Tamil Epic of the second century A.D. The worship of Paththini was introduced into Ceylon in the reign of Gajabahu I (A.D. 114-136). Gajabahu, according to the Silappathikaram, was present at the dedication of the temple to Kannakai. On his return to Ceylon he is said to have brought with him a number of skilled workmen and artisans to Ceylon who were settled in different villages in the island.

6. RANDOLEE is the corruption of the Tamil (THANGA(M) = find or pure gold and oli () a covert i.e. the gold covert or casket in which the idol or relic was carried during the procession.

7. PALLANQUIN (Tamil, Pallakku). Palanquin is the English word derived from the Tamil Pallakku () in Malay the carriage is called ‘PALANKI’.

8. PATRIPO (PATTIRUPPU) means a ‘Silken Dais’. It is the combination of the two Tamil words Pattu () = silk and Iruppu () = seat i.e. the Silken Dais in which the King took his seat on festive occasions. ‘The Patripo’ (the octagon near the Maligawa temple) was decorated sumptuously with gold cloth.

9. ADIGAR Tamil Athikar or Athikara () meaning ‘a chief’, ‘one who exercises authority’ – an ‘Athipath’ ().

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10. GAJANAIKE; Tamil KAYAM () = elephant and NAIKE (NAYAGAM -) = Lord or chief. ‘The chief of elephant’. (cf. GAJABAHU (Pali) ‘KAYAPHAN’, (Tamil), a Pandyan Royal title).

11. ANKUSA (Tamil ANKUSAM), ‘an elephant’s goad’.

12. DISSAVANI; from the two Tamil words THISAI () a region (larger than a district) and VANNI, ‘a chief’ i.e. “a region under a VANNIYAR or CHIEF”.

13. MALIGAWA from the Tamil ‘MALIHAI’ () a palace; ‘a strong edifice’.

14. KARANDOOWE or KARANDAWA, from the Tamil KARANDE () an abode of Rishi or Sages. Here the KARANDAWA is the receptacle containing the image of the deity or the tooth relic of the Buddha as the case might be.

15. RANHILLEGEY (vide, Note 6 above) RAN = Thangam () in Tamil meaning ‘pure gold’. Here Ranhillegey would mean ‘the golden house or canopy under which the KARANDAWA is placed on the back of the elephant. (cf. Rangavadam (S); Rang (T) golden and ‘Vadam’ (T) cloth. The golden cloth worn by the kings’ household guards around their heads.

16. HARIDAGALA: Harida is the Prakrit for ‘Moon’ and Gala (S) is the Tamil Kal (). The King standing on a stone on which the moon was inscribed is meant to invoke the blessing of the gods on the Pandyan dynasty (the lunar or moon dynasty) to which the kings of Ceylon claimed to belong.

17. ADAHAN MULUWE; ADAHAN is probably from the Tamil word ADIHAL () meaning ‘MUNIS’, RISHIS or PRIESTS, and MULUEW the Tamil MULAI () ‘a corner’, ‘a dwelling place set apart’ (cf. also the Tamil ADAITHTHAL) ‘securing’, and () (ADAIKKLAM) a ‘refuge’, ‘Asylum’.

18. DIA KAPPANAWA. Sinhalese: ‘DIA’ ‘WATER’ and ‘KAPPANAWA’ ‘to cut’. It is a literal translation of the Hindu ceremony. In Tamil it is also referred to as the ‘THEPPAM FESTIVAL’ because the cutting of the water is done by priests who row out on a Theppam or boat. DIA again is probably derived from the Tamil THIAM () or () meaning ‘sweet’ ‘delicious’.

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19. CAPORALES (KAPURALAS). Generally a Veddah placed in charge of the Deity in a Kovil in the Sinhalese Districts particularly in the Veddah country.

20. ‘he’ refers to KIRTI SREE (KIRTHI SRI) RAJASINGHA(M) mentioned here as emulating the former Hindu Kings of Ceylon.

21. CHOWRIES, the anglicized form of the Tamil KAVARA () ‘KAVARI VAL’ in Tamil means the tail of the Yak, used to fan idols in procession. The YAK TAIL hair was also used as a wig by females. KAMBAN in his Tamil RAMAYANAM (10^th century) refers to it as one of the articles on sale in the markets of the Tamil country.

“”

(MITHILAI PADALAM, v. 20).

22. The Siamese Priests were invited by the Hindu Tamil King of Kandy KIRTI SREE for ordaining Buddhist Priests. It may be observed, incidentally, that the Siamese were at an earlier period Saivites. Quaritch Wales in his ‘SIAMESE STATE CEREMONIES’ states, “They have also one hymn in Tamil, written in one Indian character, but this language they do not likewise understand – the tests which the Siamese Brahmins now possess are the Sanskrit and Tamil Mantra (hymns) with instruction in Siamese for the preliminary rites intended to be used in daily worship, and as an introduction to the more important ceremonies.” Page 55. The Tamil mantra is the ‘opening of the Patals of Kailasa’, p. 56.

23. The Kings of Ceylon had all to appease the Buddhist priests. The numerical strength of the priests and the hold they had on the common people would appear to have been great. Still it was not the clamour of the people but the demand of the Priesthood that obliged the King to introduce the innovation.

24. DEWALES: The English form of the Tamil THEVA ALAYAM () ‘the temple of the gods’.

25. KAPPAKKADDU. Tamil . (Kappu) in Tamil ‘bangle’ and () )Kaddu), ‘to tie’.

26. KUMBAL possible from ‘Kumbal’ or ‘Kuvial’ (Tamil) a procession en masse, together (not a methodically arranged one as the procession round the city) and confined to the immediate precincts of the temple.