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A fading veneration shielded with unsolved mysteries In 1909, Henry Parker states in his book Ancient Ceylon that, “the four Guardian Gods (Hatara Waram Deviyo) of Ceylon are, Saman ‘Divya Raja’, in the east; Skanda, in the south; Vishnu, in the west – he is said to have delegated his powers to Vibhishana, the Rakshasa … Continue reading Vibhishana, the Rakshasa king of Western Province →

Tracing back the history of Vesak festival Vesak or the month of May is a time of celebrations for Buddhists all over the world. This month is known in Pali as Vesaakha and in Sanskrit as Vaisaakha. The Vesak full moon day is celebrated as the birth day of prince Siddhartha, the day of enlightenment … Continue reading Vesak celebrations; A Traditional Custom of the State →

Kiribath vehera is an archaeological site situated in Anuradhapura, the once glorious capital city of Sri Lanka. Situated in the far North of the Ancient city, out of the citadel, Kiribath vehera is in a sad state. To reach the site, one must pass the sacred city, traveling towards the North, taking the Sangamitta road, … Continue reading Ruins at Kiribath Vehera, Anuradhapura →

සුන්දර, ගුප්ත සීගිරිය.. දුරක සිට දුටු විට පවා මා දෙනෙත් පිනවන, සිත තුළ ආනන්දයක් ජනිත කරවන ඒ හුදෙකලා පර්වතය, සීගිරිය. මා මෙතරම් ආකර්ෂණය වී ඇති ඒ රමණීය ස්ථානය. මේ හුදෙකලා පර්වතය සියවස් දහස් ගණනක් තිස්සේ නිහඬව සඟවා සිටින රහස් කොපමණ ඇත්ද? සීගිරිය වටා පැතිර පවත්නා ශෝකී ගුප්ත සුන්දරත්වය කුඩා කල සිට මා වශී කොට ඇත. … Continue reading සුන්දර, ගුප්ත සීගිරිය. →

මේ කෙටි සටහන තබන්නට සිතුනේ වර්තමානයේ සිදු වන ‘බස මැරීම’ පිළිබඳ ව උපන් සංවේගයෙන් යුතුවය. මම බස සම්බන්ධයෙන් විද්වතෙක් නොවෙමි. නමුත් සිංහලයෙක්මි. එසේම ලේඛකයෙකි. එනිසා මවු බස සුරැකීම කෙරෙහි මාගේ අවධානය නිතැතින් යොමු වන්නේය. සිංහල බස විකෘති කිරීම, වැනසීම පිළිබඳව මා තුළ සංවේගයක් හට ගැනීම වැළක්විය නොහැක. සිංහල බස, එනම් සිංහල අපේ මවු බස, ලෝකයේ … Continue reading බස රැකීමද බස මැරීමද? →

Meeting Ganapati at Mihintale I walk through the ruins, as the path beckons me… I was standing in front of the ruined stupa which is known as one of the earliest Buddhist monuments of Sri Lanka, situated in Mihintale. Only the ruined brick dome of the stupa is visible as the upper part has been … Continue reading The forgotten tale of the elephant-headed god of the Sinhalese. →

Sri Lanka’s history and culture is interwoven with fascinating age-old myths and legends. Though Buddhism enjoys its states as the state religion of the country since the 3rd century BCE, pre-Buddhist beliefs and rituals of the islanders never faded away. In fact, these beliefs blended well with Buddhism and resulted in a beautifully unique intangible … Continue reading Upulvan; The god who is in colour like the blue lotus →

Reconnecting with our roots The month of April or Bak, is a time of celebration for the Sinhalese. The April festival is known as the Sinhalese New Year.  This festival season is more about a harvest festival and a set of age old rituals of paying gratitude towards Mother Nature and the gods of harvest. … Continue reading The Sinhala New Year; A festival of gratitude and harmony →

“In a child’s eyes, a mother is a goddess. She can be glorious or terrible, benevolent or filled with wrath, but she commands love either way. I am convinced that this is the greatest power in the universe.” ― N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms A woman’s love and care is unconditional, and her sacrifices … Continue reading Celebrating Womanhood throughout the centuries →

Rituals performed at Kataragama Esala perahera  The annual perahera is held in honor of the god residing in the shrine at Kataragama. This commences in July and lasts for two weeks and culminates on the Nikini poya day. The entire perahera procession is an intriguing fusion of cultures, religions and legends. Also it is a … Continue reading Kataragama Esala Perahera, Venerating the God of War →