Serendib revisited

Chander Kanti Gariyali, Indian Administrative Service

A visit to Sri Lanka had been my long cherished desire. The opportunity came recently when I went for a brief visit to study family planning, women’s status and tourism in Sri Lanka.

The legend is that Prince Vijay Singh, perhaps from Kalinga, (Orissa) incurred the wrath of his father, the King, and was banished out of the land. The Prince accompanied by his close associate was despatched in a boat into the open seas. As luck would have it the boat landed in the island of Sri Lanka. The island was then ruled by the Queen of the local aboriginal matriarchal tribe.

Prince Vijay Singh who survived the journey, charmed the Queen. She not only sheltered him, but also married him. He usurped the power, crafty as he was, became the King, banished the Queen and her folks into the deep forest and brought himself a Princess back home from Orissa.

From then on more and more people from Orissa, Bihar, Bengal and other Northern Provinces kept joining the Prince continuously. The word ‘Singhala’ has originated from the word ‘Singh’, connected with the name of Vijay Singh and other members of the ruling clan.

The Tamil tradition in the east also dates back to antiquity, and people from the Southern part of India have also been simultaneously settling in parts of Sri Lanka from time immemorial. Over a period of time, so many different types of people have come to this hospitable island, and have lived for centuries, in love and harmony.

The flight to Colombo from Madras was straight, easy and quick, and was over, before I could have my cup of tea. After reaching the Colombo Airport and getting into the car, I dozed off for about 10 minutes. Suddenly when I opened my eyes, I lost my bearings. I thought I was dreaming. I was passing through a strange beautiful place. Suddenly I was overjoyed, because I thought this might be Paradise.

The exotic trees, lovely winding road, little exquisite village cottages, each one with its own little garden.

Tiny Souvenir shops with their wares of mud and clay; and bamboo and coconut leaves. Everything was so perfect, so neat, so flawless, so pleasant and so colourful, that it did not seem real. The dream ended as we reached closer to Colombo and our hotel.

Later I realised I was not the only one who felt so. Fourteenth Century Papal envoy to China Marigolini summarised some of his impressions of Sri Lanka, thus - “Now the paradise is a place that really exists upon earth, surrounded by the Ocean Sea in the regions of the orient, on the other side of Columbine - India, and against the mountains of Seyllan: and from Seyllan to Paradise is a distance of forty Italian Leagues; so that it is said that the sound of the waters falling from the fountains of Paradise, is heard there”.

On a similar vein, Bernard Shaw, on his death bed, expressed his last wish to be born again in ‘Sri Lanka’, if the doctrine of rebirth was a reality. In Colombo, the most beautiful place is the ‘Galle Face Green’, the beach which mercifully has been left large, open and unspoilt. All the important buildings and hotels are located in and around ‘Galle Face’.

Every morning we took lovely walks on the Galle Face green, where almost every health-conscious Colombo citizen comes for jogging. You are sure to meet the same people day after day. The beach has a lot of mobile eateries, where you get quick snacks, and even breakfast and dinner.

You find many people having their morning breakfast and evening snacks on the beach. The most popular snacks in Sri Lanka are ‘Hoppers’, egg hoppers and string hoppers (that is precisely the Appams, egg Appams, and Ediyappams of our own South India).

Plenty of these are available on the beach. You can also have a morning cup of tea at the beach, which is a cup of mild, tasty and sweet black-tea (since milk invariably arrives late). Colombo is dotted with hundreds of hotels and eating places.

However for Chinese, there is nothing like ‘Golden Dragon’ of Taj Samudra also situated at Galle Face. At stone’s throw are located Hilton, Hotel Nippon, Hotel Galle Face, Taj Samudra to name just a few.

My local host was the brother of Mr.Valsan, our Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner in Madras. He and his wife drove me around in Colombo, down the Galle Face, to the Port, and to the temple of Buddha called ‘Ganga Rama’ situated inside a beautiful lake in Colombo.

They also drove me to ‘Majestic City’ and ‘Liberty Plaza’, two important shopping centres in the city. They also took me to a fine Indian restaurant called ‘Saras’ so that, I could get over my homesickness, but the fact is that one does not feel homesick in Sri Lanka. Food in ‘Saras’ is good and you can sup on ‘Nans and Tikkas and Palak Paneers’.

It is very interesting to watch an amalgam of Buddhist, Hindu, Tamil and Christian traditions & cultures in Sri Lanka. Hinduism and Buddhism flourished side by side. At Negombo there is a Muruga Temple, as in many other parts of Sri Lanka.

Every person in this village, be it a catholic, an anglican or of any other religion is proud of their ‘Vel Festival’ in which all of them participate carrying their own Kavadis and other offerings to the Lord with six faces, the Shanmugha or ‘Kathargama’ as he is known in Sri Lanka.

Muruga is a popular deity in Sri Lanka and the famous and great temple of Kataragama is visited by people of all faiths and God’s presence is experienced by all. Another temple very popular with all the Sri Lankans irrespective of their faith is the temple of Muneeshwaran at Chilaw. It is also called ‘the temple of curse’.

If someone has wronged you, you go to the temple of Muneeshwaran, and curse him. This is a way of obtaining justice from God, when everything else fails. Similarly every ancient buddhist temple complex has Devals or shrines in the compound, devoted to various Hindu and local Gods and Goddesses. There are ritualistic obligations to be performed towards these, during daily prayers as well as festivals.

Kandy: This tradition is very profound in Kandy, where the ‘temple of tooth’ is situated. The Temple of the Tooth houses the ‘tooth relic’ of Buddha which was brought all the way from India by Hema Mala and Harshavardhan.

The legend is that when war broke in Northern India, and the stupa where the tooth was located, was in danger of plunder and destruction, Hemamalini who had hidden the ‘tooth relic’ inside her hairdo made the treacherous journey to Sri Lanka accompanied by her husband Harshavardhan.

Thus they brought the ‘tooth relic’ of Buddha, safely to Sri Lanka in the 3rd Century B.C. The original temple of tooth was built at Anuradhapura which was later on shifted to other locations depending upon the wars and power struggle in the country. It was a belief that whoever had the ‘tooth’ would rule the country. Anybody with the ambition to become a king would first try to gain control over the ‘tooth relic’.

Hence at the slightest inkling of trouble, the monks used to disappear with the relic and surface later at another location. The last king of Sri Lanka ruled from Kandy. He also built the latest and present Temple of the Tooth called the Sri Dalada Maligawa, where the tooth relic is housed even today.

The temple is a magnificent building with wood carving, painted ceiling and fine inlay work in ivory. The Tooth Relic rests inside a Gold and Gem-studded casket. The temple musicians in the tradition of ‘Nadaswaram’ players in our temples, play ritualistic music before the door of the Tooth-shrine is opened in the mornings and evenings.

During the Annual Kandy Festival a procession is taken out from the temple of tooth. All the four Hindu temples in Kandy belonging to Ganesh, Muruga, Vishnu and Siva are called Natha Devalaya.

Kathargama Devalaya, Vishnu Devalaya and Saman Devalaya participate in the procession with their utsav Moorthies, Priests, Elephants and temple musicians. The Kandy festival is the unique symbol of common socio-religious traditions of Sri Lanka. The festival is called ‘Kandy Perinara’ and celebrated on full moon day in the month of ‘Vaishaka’ near about August.

Kandy is situated on the banks of Mahaveli River (or Mahaveli Ganga) the life-giving river of Sri Lanka. Enroute to Kandy, we can stop at Cashew Stop where young beautiful girls in their lovely colourful costumes of lungi and blouse sell homeshelled, and home packed cashewnuts. All of them wear colourful pink vermillion sign (Bindi) on their foreheads. They wanted my glass bangles, which I distributed to them gladly. Next time, while going to Sri Lanka please take with you plenty of Bindi (Pottu), Bangles, Lungis, Indian Sarees, made both of cotton and silk. These make lovely presents for Sri Lankans.

Before the British rule, Kandy was the capital of Sri Lanka. The last King of Sri Lanka was deported to India by the British, kept in prison at Vellore Fort and died there in exile, in India. The last Royal family had close links with India. One of his ancestor kings had taken a Princess of Kerala belonging to the Nayyar Community as his Queen.

The King died issueless, and as per the Nayyar tradition, the succession passed on to the son of the Queen’s brother, who was also of Kerala descent. This interaction brought a lot of South Indian traditions to Kandy. ‘The Kandian Saree’ is one of the many outcomes of this relationship. The others being temple festivals, temple musicians, drummers and Kandian dances. Kandy has its own fantastic dance traditions.

However some of them are very close to, or partially influenced by Mohini Attam, Kathakali, Theyyam and Mask dances of South India. Kandian bridegrooms also wear a ‘Royal costume complete with a sword and a turban’ like the Rajputs in India. On the way to Kandy we came across a very ancient Buddhist temple, where we saw some of the most beautiful ancient paintings on the walls. This place is also famous for brass-artifacts, idols, icons, lamps, brass Buddha statues. The Singham (Lion) symbol of Sri Lanka, and the Sun and Moon symbols (which are supposed to be auspicious) are also available in brass. Beautiful Buddha statues are available in Kandy, in the shops of Chinese Craftsmen, in brass, teakwood and rosewood. However the best ones are in ebony, and are sold at a reasonable price.

While going to Kandy, you pass very close to the Tea Country. Ceylon Tea is famous all over the world and value is added to tea, by introducing various flavours. There is herbal tea, pure tea, cardamom tea, chocolate tea, ginger tea, to name a few. Tea is also packed in beautiful containers of wood, metal, weaving grasses, palm-leaf, coconut-leaf, china and so on. Something we have to learn from Sri Lanka, is ‘How to gift pack the Tea’. The China Pottery Industry is picking up very well.

The Noritake Pottery Factory set up with Japanese collaboration has become very popular among the tourists. You can buy directly, from the Government-owned Norataki showrooms, dinner sets, tea sets, coffee sets, beautiful porcelain gift items, toys and decorative china wall plates. The collection of wall plates on ‘Birds of Sri Lanka’ is beautifully painted and make excellent presents to be carried back home.

Also remember to buy ‘Tea at Tea Board’, spices at ‘Spice Board’ and ‘Gems’ at Gem Corporation showrooms’. You can be assured both of quality, and reasonableness of prices in these outlets. Some items can be more expensive outside. Another thing which should not be missed is buying some Batiks. Sri Lankan Batiks are most exquisite. You can buy lovely shirts, lungis, kaftans, scarves, nighties at ‘Fort’ area in Colombo. Batik prints are also available at all handicraft shops. At the Fort, you can also buy some lovely Sri Lankan ‘Baila Music’ both Sinhalese and Tamil. To my surprise, I found some in ‘Hindi’ also.

Chennai Online