News & Pics: T S Thomas, Colombo
Daijiworld Media Network - Colombo (SB)
Colombo, Aug 26: Sri Lanka has a prominent place in the Hindu mythologies and its people view India with all reverence during its national festival, Perahera (meaning procession) which concluded on August 24, the full moon day.
The Buddhist festival which parade the sacred tooth relic of lord Buddha through the streets of Kandy, a hill station and the cultural capital of Sri Lanka attracted not only people from all over the island, but foreign shores as well.
Participating in this 235-year-old event, a Buddhist festival was an amazing experience. Moreover, it gave a unique experience different from Dusserah and other religious festivals celebrated in India.
Though Buddhism originated in India, it flourished mostly outside the country. Buddhism is the state religion of Sri Lanka where more than 70 percent of the population are Buddhists. After the Emperor Ashoka embraced Buddhism, his successors kept the sacred tooth relic in the Kingdom of Kalinga. It is believed that the tooth relic of Buddha was brought to Sri Lanka by the daughter of King Guhasiva, the king of Kalinga in 310 AD.
The Temple of tooth in Kandy was built within the royal palace complex which houses the only surviving relic of Buddha, which is venerated by Buddhists. The relic of Temple of tooth played an important role in the local politics since ancient times. It is believed that whoever holds the temple of tooth relic holds the governance of the country, which caused the ancient kings to protect the Temple of tooth with great effort. Kandy was the capital of the Sinhalese kings that withstood the European invasion for two centuries.
The Sri Lankan government has successfully implemented the banning of liquor in the city of Kandy during the festival days, which makes the event a smooth ceremony in every sense. With record breaking liquor consumption each year in Kerala during Onam and in Karnataka during Dusserah, the season make the celebration noisy and less disciplined in India, where as the Perahera stand as a unique event in full spirit without the ‘spirit’ of alcohol.
Unlike our festivals, the common people do not follow the procession, but they sit in both the side of the roads for hours, watching the spectacular cultural and religious procession where only the artistes, elephants and the temple priest occupy the roads and others just watch it respectfully. With the end of the civil war and peaceful atmosphere prevailing in the country, Sri Lankan authorities claimed that over 5 million people have watched the event this year. People start occupying their seats hours before in the footpaths and buildings as no civilian is allowed to walk in the roads after the procession begins.
Interestingly, the Perahera is not a harvest festival, but a ceremony
to appease God for good rain and crops.
During this unique cultural phenomenon, devotees pray for good rains to cultivate the crops. One of Buddhism’s most sacred relics, the sacred tooth is taken from the “Temple of the Tooth” and paraded through the streets. The procession include gloriously decorated elephants, a lively cast of dancers, traditional drummers, jugglers and fire-breathers milling amongst the crowds. In all 84 elephants took part in the procession on the last day.
The event attracted millions of devotees this year due to the peaceful
atmosphere after the end of the civil war, which soothed a healing
process between different communities, some people observed.
The event has also some cultural integration side. “The annual festival has united both Christians and Buddhists, not only culturally, but even resulted in many inter-caste marriages”, observed Father Christopher Theogupillai, the assistant parish priest of the St. Anthony’s Cathedral Church, Kandy.
The priest observed that he has witnessed over 30 inter-caste marriages between Catholics and Buddhists during his two years of service in the Cathedral parish, which lies in the Perahera route, near the tooth temple.