Rohana R. Wasala

The government must take full responsibility for helping the Most Venerable Mahanayake Theras and the Diyawadane Nilame/the lay Guardian of the Sri Dalada Maligawa and other relevant authorities to successfully conduct this year’s Kandy Esala Perahera ceremony without any untoward incidents, and for ensuring the security of the  of the devoted spectators who will turn up in their hundreds of thousands to see the pageant that has just begun.

The historic Kandy Esala Perahera, held annually in homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha (venerated by the Buddhists as symbolising the living Buddha), is scheduled to take place from August 18 to 28, according to the table of dates and times published on the official Sri Dalada Maligawa website. The formal commencement of the Esala Perahera was marked by the Kap Situweema (Kap planting) ceremony performed at the Dalada Maligawa premises at the auspicious time of 6.17 AM on August 13. 

Being the foremost Buddhist religious-cultural pageant among a number of similar Esala peraheras or processions conducted centering on prominent Buddhist shrines across the country that also accommodate devales (temples dedicated to Hindu or local deities), in the Sinhala lunar month of Esala corresponding to July-August, the Kandy Esala Perahera celebrates a later, naturally incorporated, Buddhist Hindu religious-cultural connection. The Dalada perahera tradition has a history of over 1700 years (from the early 4th century CE –  when the Dalada or the Tooth Relic was brought to Sri Lanka from Kalinga in India – to date). 

Incidentally, the description of the Dalada Perahera that follows the Schedule of the Perahera dates and times on the official webpage mentioned at the beginning is of very poor quality. I looked for the Sinhala version of the same, but found none. Foreign tourists are sure to glance at this garbled account of Esala Perahera in English that is, unfortunately, extremely misleading and obfuscating. They (foreign tourists) should be kindly guided to read the fairly authentic ‘history of the Dalada perahera’ found elsewhere on the same official website.

Now, elephants have been paraded in religious processions in Sri Lanka for over two thousand years, in addition to being used in work and warfare. Sinhalese Buddhists who use elephants in peraheras are not unaware of or insensitive to a certain degree of discomfort the animals are invariably subjected to when thus used. But they are secure in the pious conviction that by having those majestic animals participate in the sacred celebration (the Dalada Perahera), they cause them to acquire merit so their next birth will be on a human or even higher plane of existence. 

Sinhalese Buddhists have a very long history of treating elephants humanely, which is unique to them. In spite of this, since 2006, certain NGO animal rights groups and individuals with political axes to grind, have been raising unnecessary concerns specifically about elephants used in the peraheras. They seem to be completely ignorant or pretend to be so about the close rapport between humans and domesticated elephants that has evolved over the millennia in our country. The few local collaborators/gullible victims of these NGO animal rights vendors have begun to attack the hallowed tradition of parading specially trained caparisoned elephants in peraheras as a gross violation of animal rights. 

The real purpose of writing this brief opinion piece is to express serious concern about the newly emergent phenomenon of elephants used in peraheras running amok at various well known Buddhist viharas and even Hindu kovils in the country.

 In terms of an AI Overview accessed at the time of writing (August 13),       

In recent years, captive elephants participating in cultural and religious peraheras (processions) across Sri Lanka have occasionally bolted, turned aggressive, or run amok. These rampages—triggered by loud firecrackers, drums, and heavy crowds—have resulted in public panic, injuries, and fatalities, renewing intense debate over animal welfare”. 

These unflattering comments are obviously an exaggerated negative account of ‘occasional rampages’ that allegedly characterise the behaviour of poor elephants participating in the peraheras. Obviously, the carping complaints reflect the cynical view of a foreign tourist or a culturally alienated local unfamiliar with the long established perahera elephant culture of Sri Lanka. Firecrackers are not   set off in the course of a procession marching along streets filled with thronging crowds on both sides. However, while reading AI summaries, we must remember that AI is only a sophisticated technological tool, a highly complex piece of computer software, without consciousness, and that it can’t help reproducing the prejudices and erroneous judgements of humans contained in the huge amounts of data that it is made to process. AI itself warns that AI sometimes makes mistakes in answering questions put to it by users.

The same AI summary cites five notable elephant rampage incidents that occurred in Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2026. I mention these below with my own comments in parentheses: 

Controversy over ‘Tikiri’ (August-September 2019) – Though not a violent rampage, the widespread public outcry over Tikiri—an emaciated 70-year-old female forced to march in the Kandy Perahera—highlighted severe animal exhaustion. She was pulled from the parade and died shortly after. (Overaged, sick, emaciated, and exhausted elephants are never forced to march” in the Kandy Perahera or any other such perahera, for that matter, for these are religious events; torturing animals is unthinkable in such a context.)

Kotte (September 2019): A spooked elephant broke free from a Buddhist pageant near Colombo and charged into onlookers, leaving at least 18 people requiring hospital treatment. (A saboteur or a delinquent might have been behind the incident)

Kandy (August 2023): Five young decorated elephants went berserk during the historic Esala Perahera, causing a frantic stampede that forced terrified pilgrims to jump into a nearby lake to avoid being trampled. (I saw a live video of this highly unlikely case of five elephants on the rampage during the perahera watching it from abroad on streamed TV. In the past it was normal for perahera elephants to be shackled, for public safety. Why did the responsible authorities allow unfettered elephants to march in the perahera?) 

Hatton (March 2025): A man sustained injuries after being attacked by an elephant taking part in a local Kovil perahera in Kotagala. (Elephants participating in a perahera, even elephants in the wild, do not attack humans unprovoked.)

Dikwella (June 2026): Spectators and participants scattered in panic when a restless elephant grew agitated and ran amok during a regional temple procession in the Wewurukannala area. (There must have been a human miscreant behind the incident.)

Rakwana (June 2026): An elephant brought for the Poson Perahera at a local temple turned aggressive and trampled both its assistant mahout and the chief mahout to death near the temple grounds before fleeing into a field. (An extremely rare case of a perahera elephant turning so violent as to kill his own mahouts. Elephants are like human babies. They do not commit crimes. The keepers’ sobriety and conduct should have been thoroughly looked into.)

The foregoing outline of five elephant rampages between 2019 and 2026 reveals a dangerous trend towards an increasing frequency of such incidents that must be stopped for good. 

The government must take full responsibility for helping the Most Venerable Mahanayake Theras and the Diyawadane Nilame/the lay Guardian of the Sri Dalada Maligawa and other relevant authorities to successfully conduct this year’s Kandy Esala Perahera ceremony without any untoward incidents, and for ensuring the security of the  of the devoted spectators who will turn up in their hundreds of thousands to see the pageant that has just begun.