Feast of the Sorcerer [Sthavira-vada in Simhala]
p. 27 description of Su-niyama
he is seated astride |
"blue ... mare (velamba)" |
in his left hand |
"broken pot (kabala) of fire" |
in his right hand |
"sword" |
his body |
"is covered in snakes" |
pp. 38-39, 310-311 sorcery-techniques
technique |
method |
details |
pilluva |
p. 38 "sending an animal ... or some other small creature as an instrument of destruction" |
p. 310, n. 2:16 "Wirz (1954:203-6) gives details of pilluva ... the use of the mummified corpse of a child ... and its revitalization through magical means. The child is then instructed to visit the place of the victim and to destroy the victim ... . |
Other kinds of pilluva described by Wirz involve using snakes and chickens to attack victims." |
||
iri-pa:nnum [‘line’- (p. 354)] / va:l-pa:nnum [‘creeper’- (p. 359)] |
p. 311, n. 2:17 "poisonous creepers are likened to poisonous snakes" |
p. 38 "the drawing of lines (e.g., with funerary ash) or |
the planting of poisonous creepers in the way of victims so as to kill them" |
||
katugasima |
p. 38 "making wax effigies and |
sticking them with thorns at the five vital parts of the body" |
pa:tali giniam |
p. 311, n. 2:18 "a life in return for ... help" |
p. 38 "the burning of copper foil shaped like a human figure, causing a furious and maddening fever" |
? |
p. 38 "the introduction of poisons ... through the medium of tiny drops of oil onto the victim’s skin" |
p. 311, n. 2:19 "the heads of a great variety of snakes are boiled in a pot, a mere drop of the resultant brew being enough to cause death." |
bumipalu |
throwing of a substance into the abode of victim |
p. 39 "the ash of a burned corpse (mini alu), or |
the earth from a black ants’ nest (geri pas)" |
||
bandana |
[Skt.] bandhana (p. 352)‘binding’ |
p. 39 "hira bandana (tight ... bond) ... is suspected in the case of disputes between close kin ... ." |
"... muka bandana is to control the speech of another or to strike another dumb. |
||
... preta bandana ... the ghost of a dead relative becomes bound to the house of the victim, causing a train of misfortunes". {haunted house} |
||
p. 311, n. 2:20 "kalava bandana is intended to paralyze its victims in the midst of sexual intercourse." |
E&AHC = Paul Wirz : Exorcism and the Art of Healing in Ceylon. Leiden : Brill, 1954.
p. 39 "At Kabalava, a major shrine to Kuniyam, his destructive potency is understood to be constrained by a book bound by nine threads (nul) [/nul/ ‘thread (p. 356)]."
pp. 63, 115 the daimoness Ku-ven.i (‘badly-braided tress of hair’)
p. 63 |
"in the ritual drama of the Kohomba-Kankariya [a ritual cleansing from sorcery (p. 31)], ... Kuveni’s curse is significant in the use of the punava pot (the cursing or "leopard" pot, the leopard being one transform of Kuveni)". ["The spots of the leopard are indicative of the boils that covered King Panduva’s body as a result of Kuveni’s curse." (p. 312, n. 3:1) |
p. 115 |
"Kuveni born from the womb of Ivarama Kuveni bathes at a pond where the Nuga grows. ["The nuga (banyan tree) is connected with the planet Saturn (Senasuru [S`anis`cara])." (p. 317, n. 5:6)] The Prince (Vijaya) dwelled with Kuveni by the pond. He swore (divuru) never to leave her. The Prince became sick because he broke his vow. A canopy of red and blue cloth (ratnil piliyena) was raised to heal him. ... Vijaya’s hair is like a peacock’s plumes." |
pp. 68-69 myth of the 1st sorcerer Vas`a-vartin, the 1st victim of sorcery Manik-pala & of the 1st anti-sorcery rite by Od.d.i-is`a
p. |
myth |
68 |
"F. Mahasammata ... chose as his queen Manikpala, the sister of Vishnu. ... She was as rare as the most precious stone [/manikka/ ‘ruby’] ... . ... G. But Mahasammata ... journeyed to the city of the Asuras to wage ... a war of words, not of weapons. The news Mahasammata’s departure was carried to ... Vasavarti Maraya ... . Vasavarti ... desired to have sexual intercourse with the tender Manikpala. H. Vasavarti Maraya flew to Mahasammata’s palace, and as he approached, he changed his voice and his form to take on the appearance of King Mahasammata. But he could not change his smell. ... |
69 |
Vasavarti had the stench of the viper (pangiri). ... I. Vasavarti took water into his hand, drawing it from the fiery hell (aviciya). From this was born the ... water viper (ginijala polanga), and Vasavarti cast it into the queen’s bedchamber. ... J. The god Sakra’s throne grew hot, and Sakra came to Manikpala and helped her ... . ... K. The astrologers said that only Oddisa Rsi could heal the queen. ... His dwelling place was Ajakuta [Aja-kut.a] rock, a place so hot that a person’s body would be consumed with the heat. ... L. Vishnu changed himself into a beetle (kuruminiya) and brought Oddiya to the palace. {cf. [Kemetian] beetle-god H^PR pushing forward the sun} Oddisa then performed the first ritual to cure". |
pp. 74-75 the 3 walls & the 3 ditches surrounding Vad.iga [Vadigha?] Pat.una [/pat.u/ ‘clever’], the city of Od.d.i-is`a
# |
pp. 74-5 wall of __ |
p. 75 ditch |
1st |
p. 74 crystal |
dry |
2nd |
pp. 74-5 stone |
of mud |
3rd |
p. 75 metal |
of water |
pp. 74-77 myth of origin of Od.d.i-is`a Kumara [in Malabar "the art of black magic is called ‘odi,’the medicine man ‘odiyan.’" (p. 313, n. 3:6 – citing E&AHC, p. 33, n. 1)]
p. |
myth |
74 |
"A. The king of Vadiga (the father of Oddisa Kumara) ruled the country of Oddivaga in the land of Kalinga in Dambadiva [?/dambha-diva/ ‘fraud-rich’]. ... |
75 |
The king of Vadiga was married to the daughter of the Kalinga king. B. One day ... the Queen Yawudagiri ["Yawudagiri is ... the chief of the seven giris (or kiri amma, "milk mothers"). ... she is the daughter of Manikpala and [is] the person for whom the original rite of menstruation was performed." (p. 313, n. 3:7)] ... wanted to bathe in the pond. ... While she was bathing, she was seen by one of the great deities (mahesakya), who was passing overhead (Mara, Vasarti) ..., the god had sexual intercourse with the queen, [in this variant of the tale, "Queen Yawudagiri is impregnated by Vasavarti, but in other versions she is impregnated by Suniyam." (p. 77)] C. ... the queen was pregnant. ["Variants on the story ... state that Yawudagiri was menstruating (kilimale) at the time of her demonic conception, which occurred as she bent down to smell the flower." (p. 314, n. 3:10) {cf. Perse-phone, abducted by Hades while she was picking poppy blossoms}] ... D. The queen had two pregnancy cravings ... . ... E. The queen told the king that she ... longed to coil her body with cobras and vipers and to walk naked around Vadiga city. ... |
F. Ten months later, the queen gave birth to a son. ... G. The Brahmins announced that ... the prince would invade Lanka and eat all the human beings who lived there. H. At first the king ... gave the prince into the care of nursing mothers (kiri amma). When the prince reached the age of seven months, he was given his first rice to eat (kiri bhat) and given his name, Vadiga Kumara. When the prince reached the age of sixteen, he left the palace and went out into the jungle (Hirandara jungle). |
|
76 |
I. In the jungle he found an antihill (a golden anthill) {cf. emmets digging up gold among the Paktues (Pas^to), according to Herodotos}, and he reached into it, pulling out many cobras. He ... absorbed their poison into his body. He coiled his body with all kinds of serpents : the mapila (a bloodsucking snake), the polong telissa (jumping viper), the karavala (black-and-white ringed snake). He collected the bones of vipers and the thorns of poisonous creepers : timbol (a tree with toxic fruit and thorns) and ukkuresssa (the fruit parches the throat). The prince garlanded his head and shoulders with foul-smelling flowers. {flowers of certain large epiphyte (parasitic) plants are malodorous} He captured the Maha Kala Naga [Maha Kala Naga] (the great serpent at the beginning of time) and extracted his four venomous fangs on which dwelled the demonesses Takari, Makari, Yami [Yami], and Yamaduti [Yama-duti]. ["These are ... the wives of Suniyam." (p. 313, n. 3:8)] |
J. The prince now returned to Vadiga city. he killed his father, the king, and he ate all the people of the Vadiga country. He attacked the kings of Kalinga and Dantapura, killing them and eating all the inhabitants of these kingdoms. |
|
The prince gathered around him the eight demonesses of these two countries (Ailakkandi [/aila/ ‘offering-plate’ (p. 154) : /il.a/ ‘refreshment’ (name of wife of Budha) {with the name /ID.A/ cf. /IDE/ the mountain of Kassandra}], Mailakkandi [?/mila/ ‘closing the eyen’ {cf. closing of goddess’s eyen for Kassandra (according to Strabon, Geographia 6:1 – AC4, "Cult in Lucania")}], Vatakkandi [/vat.aka/ ‘ball, globule’], Totakandi [/tot.a/ ‘angry speech’], Asanikandi [as`ani ‘tip of missile’], Visanikandi [vis`ana ‘entrance’?], Kalaraksi, and Kaksadevi [/kaks.a/ ‘lurking-place; forest of dead trees; armpit’]). |
|
He also gathered terrible gods around him like Riratta, Maratta, Goratta, Mara [Mara] (Harbinger of Death), and Gora [Ghora = A-ghora] (a kind of terror). |
|
K. The prince how journeyed to Visalamahanuvara [Vis`ala-] (the mythic city of the Licchavis in Nepal), where he gathered about him the eighteen Sanni demons. Prince Vadiga ate uncooked human flesh. ... Eventually he came to the city of the lord of the demons, Vessamuni [Vais`ya-muni], at Kuverapura. Vessamuni gave Oddi authority to be a demon. Oddi then returned to Visalamahanuvara, with his eighty-four thousand followers, and he started to eat all the people of that city. |
|
L. ... Oddi returned at midnight and screamed three times at the north gate. ... M. The Buddha ... commanded Oddi to receive offerings (dola pideni) and sacrifice (degata billa, "animal with two legs"). ... |
|
77 |
N. [Od.d.i said :] "I am called Sri Oddi Madana ..., Kadiranga [?/khadira-anga/ ‘acacia-limb’] (horn of the buffalo killed by Mangara [?/mangala/ ‘auspicious’] deviyo {cf. kerukeion as horn of Akheloios, killed by Hera-klees}), Kama Rakshya Devatava." |
O. ... Buddha summoned the god of rain (Harahara ...) {Hara is a Bon deity.} and ordered this god ... bind Oddi to an iron pillar. {cf. the binding of Tituos} P. But the Buddha relented." |
AC4 = http://www.theoi.com/Cult/AthenaCult4.html
p. 125 directional gods
direction |
god |
p. 126 sequence of entries into performance-arena by dancers personifying these gods |
east |
Vis.n.u |
1st |
west |
Saman |
3rd |
south |
Kataragama |
2nd |
north |
Natha |
4th |
pp. 125-126 Vais`ya-muni
p. 125 |
"Vessamuni gathers around him a host that comes with the destructive force of the typhoon (veramba vataya)." |
p. 126 |
in his "golden palace ... the twenty-eight generals (yaksa senadipati) gripped their swords in anger. But Vessamuni gave a gigantic sneeze (nilocchumbaya), and ... demons scattered". |
pp. 128-132 various religious rites
p. |
rite |
128 |
"darsana [dars`ana], as Eck (1985:3) describes it for Hindu India, is an auspicious gaze, a central act of worship in which human beings see and are seen by the deity." |
130 |
"rites of the hatadiya [s.at.a-] (seven steps) ... are a repetition of those which Oddisa, the master sorcerer .., instituted for the cure of Manikpala." |
132 |
"The adura ... announces ... that he has been given permission by Mihikata [?/mihika/ ‘snow’] ["who made the original atamagala yantra." (p. 318, n. 5:15)] (Polova Mahi Kantava, Bumi Devi [Bhumi Devi], the earth goddess who protected Buddha from the forces of Mara) to recite the origin of the vidiya (vidi-upata kavi)." |
133 |
"The song tells ... how Vasavarti ... reaches into the hell of ignorance (aviciya) and draws out the burning flames (ginijala : ... semen?) which Vasavarti flings toward the queen, becoming the fire viper (ginijala polanga) that lodges in Manikpala’s womb ... . But Manikpala could not speak. [She became dumb, with aphasia.] ... |
134 |
The king dreamed of a viper. The viper was eating rocks and stones. It spat flames into the city." |
Eck 1985 = Diana L. Eck : Darsan. Chambersburg (PA) : Anima Books, 1985.
p. 134 colors of floors (storeys) of palace, which was "built by Visvakarma [Vis`va-karman] appearing with the matted hair (sadapalu)"
__ floor |
color |
deity |
top |
red |
Kataragama [/katara/ ‘cowardly, timid, embarrassed’] |
2nd |
blue |
Vis.n.u |
ground |
white |
Brahma |
p. 135 "The presiding exorcist invokes the power of ... the gods Isvara [Is`-vara], Saman [Saman], Boksal [Bhoks.a-], Vibisana [Vibhis.ana, a brother of Ravan.a], and Kataragama, who he declares have given him the authority (varam) to cross the threshold."
pp. 136-138 legend of Vais`ya-antara & Jujaka [/jujavas/ ‘speedy’]
p. |
legend |
136 |
"the marvelous generosity of Prince Vessantara, who gives away his wealth and possession, including his wife and two children, to the Brahmin Jujaka. ... |
137 |
Jujaka beat Vessantara’s children and then, when he decided to sleep, tied them with creepers to a tree. ... |
138 |
Jujaka, the greed-driven Brahmin, ultimately chokes to death on food". |
319, n. 5:18 |
"King Sanjaya of the Sivis [S`ivi-s / S`ibi-s], the father of Vessantara, had a dream foretelling the reunion of Vessantara’s family. ... Sanjaya causes the children to be released ... . ... Jujaka, now wealthy ..., overeats and chokes to death". |
p. 137 "Gautama Buddha ... was seated on his diamond seat (vidurasna [vid.ura-asana {/vid.ura/ is properly ‘beryl’, not ‘diamond’}]), when he was ... protected by the intervention of Polova Mahi Kantava, the goddess of the earth."
pp. 142-145 the snake of time {cf. the snake wrapped around the Mithraic leontocephalous god of time Zrwan Daregho-cvadata}
p. 142 |
"Maha Kala Naga, the great snake of time, the primordial snake located in ... the earth, ... coiled around the base of Mount Meru ... . The myths of Maha Kala Naga, the cobra king, ... tell of Suniyam’s birth from one of his nostrils and tell that from Maha Kala’s body grew the lime (dehi) cut at exorcism ... . The snake is also understood as the shadow cast by Muchalinda, whose great hood shades and protects the Buddha." [Mucalinda "is described as the uncle or father-in-law of Maha Kala Naga" (p. 319 , n. 5:22).] |
"the course drawn by the snake ... is ... the stalk of the lotus (nelum danda) by which Maha Brahma climbed down in the primordial creation of the world-universe (loka upata)." |
|
p. 145 |
"Terrifying dreams of cobras coiling around the body. Dreams of being eaten by poisonous vipers." |
{directly atop mt. Meru is Nandin the bull-god : cf. bull-headed time-god Maha-kala}
pp. 146-147 myth of origin of betel (dalumura upata)
p. |
myth |
146 |
"Sakra [S`akra] disguised himself as Solos [/sol.os/ ‘16’ (p. 359)] Gara Giri Raksaya, with his golden sword and his shaggy matted locks of hair, and appeared where the hare was meditating. ... The raksaya ... built a fire at the foot of a mountain three gavvas [/gavva/ ‘league’ (p. 353)] in height. ... The hare ... first went to the sacred pond Anottattavilla in the Himalayas ... . Then climbing to the mountain top, ... the are flung himself toward the fire. |
147 |
The raksaya now ... caught the hare as he fell. Sakra ... decided to honor the hare and painted his image with a golden brush on the moon ... . However, ... the paint-brush ... fell from the divine world down to the world of human beings. But the earth burst open and the brush fell deeper into the Naga world beneath. The Naga king, Maha Kala Naga, ... quickly swallowed it. The Naga king died within seven days, and a creeper (nagavalli) grew from his head {was he redincarnated as that creeper?}, which is how the betel leaf came to have its cobra shape." |
321, n. 5:29 |
A variant of this tale "has the paint-brush burning the Naga king’s throat. It sprouted from the king’s funeral pyre ... . ... According to Nevill (1955:166), this [/naga-valli/] is the name of the betel leaf at the time of Buddha Kasyapa [Kas`yapa]." |
Nevill 1955 = Hugh Nevill (ed. by P. E. Deraniyagala) : Simhala Verse. vol. 3. Colombo, 1955.
pp. 147-148 myth of the origin of lime-tree (dehi upata)
p. |
myth |
147 |
"Sakra [S`akra] took a precious blue stone upon which he wiped his sweat and flung it toward the earth. The earth burst open, and the gem fell into the Naga world. ... When he came close to it, the Naga king suddenly rushed upon it ... and swallowed it. The king |
148 |
became sick and died. The lime tree grew from his body{was he redincarnated as that tree?}, leaves from his hood, and thorns from the snake’s venom. The naga king’s teeth became the seeds of the lime, the naga’s venom, its juice. The poisonous spray of the cobra’s venom is like that of the squeezed lime (pangiri). The lime came through the seven seas until it reached Nanaya beach, and here, ... it took root. ... The branches grew in eight directions." |
321, n. 5:31 |
"According to Nevill’s account, eight limes were found beneath seven caskets in the Naga world. Viskam and Valaha journeyed to the Naga world and collected seven of these limes ... (1955:343). Nevill presents ... a second myth ... : A fight ... between Rahu [Rahu] and the Nagas during which Rahu was bitten. He passed the poison to the sun and the Moon, and this resulted in the darkening of the world. ... Sakra took a blue gem and wiped his perspiration on it. The gem fell into the Naga world and ... the Naga king ... promptly swallowed it. ... Ananda [Ananda] went to fetch it, but the ... rsis threw it into the sea, and it passes through the various oceans (the Blood Sea, the Milk Sea, etc.) and returned to the rsis, where the seed grew into a tree ... . Nine fruits were collected from one branch (the ascending branch), and the spell on the Sun and the Moon was removed (1954, 1:306)." |
Nevill 1954 = Hugh Nevill (ed. by P. E. Deraniyagala) : Simhala Verse. vol. 1. Colombo, 1954.
p. 321, n. 5:30 the fruit growing on the 8 directional branches of the primaeval lime-tree
# |
direct. |
fruit |
1st |
east |
kudali dehi ("leech lime") |
2nd |
S.E. |
nas-naran (citron) |
3rd |
south |
jama-naran (mandarin orange) |
4th |
S.W. |
dodan ("orange") |
5th |
west |
maha-naran (grapefruit) |
6th |
N.W. |
naran (orange) |
7th |
north |
yaki-naran ("demon orange") |
8th |
N.E. |
hin dehi ("small green lime used in ... sorcery") |
pp. 148-149 counter-sorcery by the a:dura
p. 148 |
Place the skull of a human being in a tree fork. Write the sorcerer’s name on the skull With the ash from a funeral pyre. |
p. 149 |
Maru Riri ["Riri is a form of Isvara" (p. 322, n. 5:35) {/riri/, /riri/ ‘yellow brass, prince’s metal’}] Suniyam, take the offering! Make a human effigy with a hondala root. Drive thorns into the head." |
p. 322, n. 5:38 the 7 offerings at the 7 steps, "in the Weligam korale tradition"
step |
offering |
1st |
"milk rice (kiri bat)" |
2nd |
"boiled rice colored with turmeric (ranvat bat)" |
3rd |
"flower petals for the nine planets" |
4th |
"roasted (pulutu) paddy grains (vi)" |
5th |
"curd" |
6th |
"treacle (pani [pa:n.i (p. 357)]) from the kitul palm" |
7th |
"a mixture of all the preceding offerings" |
p. 151 Step 1 : "May the thorns in the image be taken out."
Step 7 : "the power of the Sat [s.at.] (seven) Pattini. ... With the power of Maitri".
p. 153 yantra & threads
"when Manikpala fell unconscious, Oddisa burst through the earth and chose the spot where Visvakarma should draw the yantra with four kinds of ash." ["The ash of brick (gadol), lime (hunu), crystal (tirivana), and cow dung (goma)." (p. 323, n. 5:40)] |
"After preparing eight oil lamps to be placed on the pots (punkalas) at either side of the four doorways into the atamangala, the patient takes a lighted torch with which to burn the threads (kanya nul, virgin threads) that crisscross the front entrance. |
The master exorcist and the other aduras sing : ... May the demoness who waits at the entrance not bar the way! ... Queen Manikpala burned the threads. Buddha placed his footprint at Mecca." [?] |
pp. 150-155 healing rite in reference to deity Su-niyama (‘good agreement, good promise’)
p. |
rite |
150 |
"The patient places a small food-packet (gotu [got.u (p. 353)], made from jak, kos, tree leaves) offering in the lotus altar. This is for Suniyam". |
154 |
"a kinsman of the patient ... smashes a coconut ... . ... This is an auspicious act, the breaking of the coconut (polgediya) indicating the success of the rite ... . ... the master exorcist loudly proclaims, "Pura! Pura!" (Fill! Fill!). The cry is at once a reference to the auspicious or prosperous period of the ascendant moon (the period f the new moon) and also ... a call to distract the gaze, at this vulnerable moment, of demons who are lurking at the entrance. Once inside the atamangala, ... the exorcists sing ... of the demon Alavaka, whose spear could not penetrate the Buddha ... . These verses are understood to subdue the female demons, attendants of the demons Suniyam, who are attracted to the pots. A chair is to be used as an offering table is placed outside the entrance into the atamangala, and an offering basket (Suniyam vattiya) set upon it set upon it, into which the patient places offering for Sumiyam and his retinue of female demons. Sixteen small offering plates (aila) [/aile/ "Offering troughs ... made from banana trunks" (p. 351) {stems of banana-leaves}] are in the basket, the number indicative of independent conscious awareness ... . When finished they are taken to the place where the Suniyam clay image (baliya) is laid". |
155 |
"Offer Suniyam roasted grains and sea and land flesh. The rice is colored red and blue." "Suniyam Yaka ... traps tusked elephants and eats them." |
{The notion of how a ‘good promise’ can heal sickness would include the promissory agreement on the part of the patient (or patient’s relatives) to perform continuing religious functions (on behalf of a deity) in the future in return for getting cured of an ailment (by that deity) as of now.}
p. 323, n. 5:44 the nica-kula [/nis-kula/ ‘destitute of a family’] tinduva [/tindu/ ‘Diospyros embryopteris ( its fruit yielding a kind of resin used as pitch for caulking vessels)’] rite
"where ... the household has a history of persistent sorcery attack, a nicakula tinduva (outcaste destruction or finishing) may be performed. ... the Berava [Bhairava] exorcists (... virtually social outcastes) are the ritualists who might perform such a rite. A yantra is drawn on the ground in ash, with Sinhalese vowels placed at each of the corners. In the center is placed a bull’s head, on which are placed three betel leaves and three pinches of salt. A small fire is lit on the skull and a large cooking pot is placed on it, in which a variety of grains are roasted. The patient cuts the skull with a machete". |
p. 158 book by Od.d.i-is`a; his accoutrements
"The vadiga patuna ... declares that it is a book (potak) written by Oddisa on the command of god Sakra, and written in different scripts, ... it was written in ten different languages and was brought ..., ... on the back of Sakra’s royal elephant, to Oddisa’s cave (ratgal, red rock)." |
"Oddisa makes his sacrifice dressed in his turban (mundasana), his necklace of the nine qualities (navaguna vala), his sacred thread (punanula) [punanula (p. 358)], and other body ornaments (abarana) [abarana (p. 351)]." |
pp. 167-168 valvalu tinduva : severing of sorcery’s bonds
p. 167 |
"acts of the valvalalu involve shackling the patient in the poisonous coils or vines of sorcery. The master exorcist places bonds of hoops (valalu) over the patient’s body, pinning his arms to his sides. His wrists are cuffed with small hoops, as are the patient’s legs and ankles. ... These hoops are the vines or poisonous ties of the sorcerer. Before the hoops are placed around the victim’s body, the master exorcist takes a crown (otunna, woven with coconut leaves ...), and ... sings of its origin (otunu upata). He tells that it is the crown of the Naga King, ... and is made from 108 poisonous vines." ["Nevill (1955:350) presents ... a ... manuscript, which ... names some 108 of the poisonous vines. He states that each hoop indicates a different creeper." (p. 324, n. 5:49)] |
p. 168 |
"In the verses sung at this performance, the Naga king quells the fighting Nagas at Kelaniya. Kelaniya ... is a place of ... Viharamahadevi, the mother of the famous Prince Dutthagamini. ... King and people are engulfed by the sea, and only Viharamahadevi is spared ... . While binding the patient’s body, the master adura takes a spray of mango leaves (which have been hanging inside the atamagala, on the left, or moonside, of the structure) and brushes them repeately, head to foot, down the patient’s body. ... These actions ... sweep the body clean ... of the fire of curses, and, so the exorcist intones’ dispel the ten fears". |
p. 324, n. 5:51 the 10 bhaya-s (‘fears’)
# |
dread of __ |
1st |
bhuta (spirits) |
2nd |
yaksaya (daimones) |
3rd |
raksaya (planetary daimones) |
4th |
preta (ghosts) |
5th |
raja ("power" [royalty]) |
6th |
cora (thieves) |
7th |
gini [agni] (fire) |
8th |
mara (death) |
9th |
humbas (emmet-hills) |
10th |
vasangata roga (infectious diseases) |
p. 169 myths of origin of goddess Pattini [pat.t.in = lodhra] and of prince Od.d.i-is`a
"Pattini’s birth from the mango that Sakra, the king of the gods, gave to Buddha to eat. Sakra plants the stone [seed, kernel] in the land of the evil king of Pandi. Pattini is born from this stone and puts out the third eye of the cruel king." |
"Pattini destroys the city of Madurai as punishment for the unjust killing of her husband, Palanga, whom she raises from the dead (see Obeyesekere 1984a ...)." |
"Yawudagiri ... : ... the conception of Oddi as a result of her unwilling intercourse with a lustful god while she was bathing (during her menstrual period, kili mala), Oddi’s birth, ... how Oddi drinks the snake venom, changing its poison into the antidote of sorcery." |
Obeyesekere 1984a = Gananath Obeyesekere : The Cult of the Goddess Pattini. U of Chicago Pr, 1984.
pp. 171-175 cedana vidiya (demolition of theatric palace), a rite conducted after the main healing caerimony, in order to assure not-return of the pathologic condition
p. |
rite |
171 |
"three exorcist-dancers shoot clouds of burning resin (dummala) in the air toward the palace. |
Simultaneously, the master adura boils with limes ... . Their boiling is the making of nanu [nanu (p. 356)], the paste ... with which the king was anointed at ceremonies of installation and reempowerment. ... |
|
172 |
... exorcist-dancer ... mimes reading a horoscope. He declares they must hunt the boar. ... The pig scuttles away ... . ... Suniyam has the face of a pig (and the forehead of a bull) ... . The Buddha dies after a meal of pork ... . {or rather, of mushrooms sought by swine; as like died emperor Claudius} ... |
173 |
[The master adura] rushes ... through the doorway into the atamagala, and takes the rice pounder (molgaha) resting by the feet of the patient. ... [The master adura] screams ..., and reeling, encircles the palace. He sees the image of Suniyam at the apex of the palace’s central tower, and reaching up, hacks it down with his machete. He stabs ... the emblems of the Sun and the Moon at the side towers of the palace ... . |
174 |
... the cutting of the ash pumpkin, the puhul tinduva [puhul tinduva "ash pumpkin judgement" (p. . 357)] {the apotheosis of emperor Claudius (conducted by emperor Nero) was designated ‘pumpkinification’} ... In the puhul tinduva, the master adura lies down on a rush mat ... . His attitude is that of a corpse; his head is oriented toward the west, in the direction of death, and rests on the rolled end of the mat (where the head of a corpse is placed). {cf. the thrice-feigned deaths of emperor Tiberius} ... |
175 |
A basket of offerings is set on the exorcist’s stomach, on which an ash pumpkin is placed. ... At the adura’s feet, an egg is cooked in the cranium of a human skull". {cf. the decapitated human head under the feet of Kemetian god BS (BS = yBuS (Yru^-s^alem).} |
pp. 241-243 descriptions of some shrines
p. |
shrine |
241 |
"At one Suniyam shrine near the boundary of Colombo municipality, supplicants enter the premises through the jaws of a lion, a representation of the lion of Sinhala, the lion of state of the ancient (5th century C.E.) fortress site of Sigiri rock ... . Worshippers descend into a series of dark caverns ... . At the center of the shrine’s inner chambers ... are images of demons and gods. Bhadrakali is one, and the priest turns on a light that bathes her in a red light. ... A large statue of the devouring bearlike form of the great cemetery demon, Mahasona [Maha-s`on.a {‘great purple’}], has a prominent position. Mahasona, according to the myths of his rebirth, was destroyed ... and was restored to life, but in a distorted ... form, by Saturn, the planetary god ... . ... Mahasona is the commander-in-chief (senadipati) of Suniyam’s army." |
242 |
"A famous cursing shrine for the demon-deity Gale Bandara ... is situated outside the town of Kurunegala ... . ... The ... shrine is crowded with dogs ... given by supplicants". |
243 |
"There is a ... popular shrine at Gatabaruya (for the demon-deity Rajjaruvo Bandara) in the southern foothills of the Moruwaka District. ... The area of the shrine is overrun with cocks given in return for favors done." |
Bruce Kapferer : The Feast of the Sorcerer. U of Chicago Pr, 1997.