{"id":134167,"date":"2023-05-04T15:35:06","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T22:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=134167"},"modified":"2023-05-04T15:35:06","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T22:35:06","slug":"how-this-demon-dance-banishes-illnesses-in-sri-lankas-remote-jungles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/05\/04\/how-this-demon-dance-banishes-illnesses-in-sri-lankas-remote-jungles\/","title":{"rendered":"How This Demon Dance Banishes Illnesses in Sri Lanka\u2019s Remote Jungles"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY ZINARA RATHNAYAKe\u00a0 Courtesy https:\/\/www.atlasobscura.com\/<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The kankariya dance all started with a legendary demon queen named Kuweni<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How This Demon Dance Banishes Illnesses in Sri Lanka’s Remote Jungles<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Drummerskohomba yak kankariya<\/em>, an ancient Sri Lankan dance said to banish the illness-causing spirit of a vengeful queen.” width=”1280″ src=”https:\/\/img.atlasobscura.com\/evBD7IVW0bSBipUjZRya9qF7qin9mDfinJFUNEQN0IE\/rt:fit\/w:1280\/q:81\/sm:1\/scp:1\/ar:1\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdGxh\/cy1kZXYuczMuYW1h\/em9uYXdzLmNvbS91\/cGxvYWRzL2Fzc2V0\/cy9lMmY1NjAzMDgw\/NGY2MjBlNDhfa2Fu\/a2FyaXlhIGt1d2Vu\/aSBrdXZlbmkgZGVt\/b24gZGFuY2Ugc3Jp\/IGxhbmthLmpwZw.jpg”><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drummers perform the\u00a0kohomba yak kankariya<\/em>, an ancient Sri Lankan dance said to banish the illness-causing spirit of a vengeful queen.\u00a0SAMAN WEERATUNGA\/ALAMY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AS DUSK FALLS, THE THUMPING sound of drums echoes through the jungles of central Sri Lanka<\/a>. Elaborately dressed dancers spin and swirl as their ornate silver headpieces gleam and bright red ribbons trail behind them. Their chests rise and fall beneath silver-beaded breastplates and two large mango-shaped earrings adorn their ears. The dancers carry candle-lit, hollowed-out coconuts and chant verses inviting gods and demons to their ritual. Sweet-smelling smoke from jasmine incense fills the air, obscuring the view of a banana bark altar with pictures of various Buddhist deities. As hundreds gather, the dancers tell the sad tale of the mythic, magical queen Kuweni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is kohomba yak kankariya<\/em>. Several times a year, often in April, Sri Lankans in the country\u2019s mountainous, central region hold this ritual to cure illnesses, prevent diseases from spreading, and seek blessings from the supernatural world. While today the ceremony tells Kuweni\u2019s story, whose name is sometimes spelled Kuveni or Sesapathi, in ancient times, the ritual was believed to have lifted the illness-causing curse Kuweni had placed on the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to legend, Kuweni was born in the 6th century BC to a yakka king who ruled Sri Lanka. The Sinhala word yakka<\/em> is derived from the Pali word yakkha<\/em> (Pali is a liturgical language often used in Buddhist texts) and the Sanskrit term yaksha<\/em>, which translates to demon.\u201d Dipavamsa<\/a>, the oldest historical account of Sri Lanka, describes yakka as a disorderly tribe of demons who eat human flesh and fight with each other<\/a>. Although her father was a demon, Kuweni may not have been one herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Prince Vijaya, a legendary Indian prince, and 700 of his followers invaded demon-controlled Sri Lanka. Kuweni appeared before the prince disguised as a hermit spinning cotton. Vijaya soon promised to marry Kuweni and make her his queen. Trusting him, she betrayed her father and demon brethren and helped the prince slaughter them. Only a few of the yakka escaped into the Sri Lankan jungles. After Vijaya took power, he broke his promise to Kuweni and married a South Indian princess, establishing the Sinhalese people who today make up the majority of Sri Lanka\u2019s population. Jilted and angry, Kuweni cursed Vijaya and his successors before the remaining yakka killed her out of revenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A Hindu priest holds a lit coconut oil lamp in front of statues of Prince Vijaya (left) and Kuweni (right) at the Sri Subramaniam temple in the southern Sri Lankan town of Matara. ISHARA S.KODIKARA\/STRINGER\/GETTY IMAGES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Later, when Vijaya\u2019s nephew Panduwas arrived in Sri Lanka to take the throne as his uncle\u2019s successor, Panduwas began to suffer from a mysterious illness. He couldn\u2019t sleep. Night after night, Kuweni, in the form of a leopard, appeared in his dreams and tried to kill him. Sleep deprivation drove Panduwas insane. Kuweni finally had her revenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book Kohomba Kankariya: The Sociology of a Kandyan Ritual<\/em><\/a>, social anthropologist Sarath Amunugama wrote that Kuweni\u2019s leopard is a symbolic representation of the fatal lie that was uttered by Vijaya to Kuweni to facilitate his conquest.\u201d Panduwas suffered due to his uncle\u2019s lie to the queen, wrote Amunugama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Lord Sakra, the ruler of heaven in Buddhist cosmology, sees Panduwas unjustly suffering for his uncle\u2019s deceit, he tells an Indian king about a ritual that will cure the ailing Panduwas. The king performs the ritual, and Panduwas recovers. Later on, the king instructed a local prince named Kohomba to perform the ritual any time it was necessary to repel Kuweni\u2019s illness-fueling ire. Since then, the ritual, called kohomba yak kankariya in honor of the prince, is performed any time a mysterious illness descends upon the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, folk priests\u2014village priests who conduct ancient rites such as the kankariya\u2014continue to perform the ritual dance whenever local communities are plagued with diseases, such as chickenpox. One such priest is 29-year-old Abheeth Shilpadhipathi, whose father and grandfather taught him the kankariya. Recently, when Shilpadhipathi drummed in a kankariya, it was to ward off the Covid-19 pandemic that plagued the country. Originally, the ceremony would\u2019ve lasted for about seven days, but today it takes less than a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Queen
Queen Kuweni was said to stalk the nightmares of King Vijaya\u2019s nephew, Panduwas, in the form of a powerful leopardess. ONDREJ PROSICKY\/ALAMY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before [the kankariya] begins, the chief [folk] priest pledges to the gods their intention in conducting the ceremony,\u201d Shilpadhipathi says. In the past, individual families performed a kankariya to cure diseases, but because it\u2019s an elaborate, expensive event, families rarely host them anymore. Buddhist temples and large social groups now conduct them annually or seasonally both as a healing and fertility ritual and sometimes just to keep the tradition alive. People do it to show their gratitude for a good harvest or good fortune,\u201d says Shilpadhipathi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People also perform the kankariya ritual to bestow good health, wealth, and even good school grades, says Sanushki Athalage, choreographer at Thaala Asapuwa<\/a>, a Sri Lankan Dance Academy in Victoria, Australia, where they teach the kankariya along with other traditional dances. It is also about giving and being selfless in return for a prosperous life. It is a beautiful concept that brings larger communities together in a common goal,\u201d Athalage says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhism in Sri Lanka is a complex system that incorporates shrines, rituals, and priests\u201d who negotiate with a vast pantheon of gods, deities, and demons, says Amunugama. Sri Lankan Buddhists believe that prayers and rituals, such as the kankariya, are a way to seek blessings and build good karma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Religious ceremonies are also a way to prevent meddlesome demons from interfering in people\u2019s lives. Kuweni isn\u2019t the only entity that can cause illnesses. Local folklore is full of demons who hunt humans and make them ill. When someone becomes sick, local priests are called in to identify the specific demon causing the illness. Once identified, the priest summons and vanquishes the demon in a dance or ritual, similar to the kankariya. One popular ritual performed in southern Sri Lanka is the Daha Ata Sanniya<\/em>, which is sort of a catch-all ritual that can cure illnesses caused by 18 different demons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Even
Even today, the mountainous jungles of central Sri Lanka teem with legends of demons, known as yakkas<\/em>. EFESENKO\/ALAMY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rituals like these are performed to relieve anxieties around mysterious diseases,\u201d says Athalage. When families are anxious, they seek blessings and help from higher powers to cure something that they don\u2019t understand.\u201d For the villagers, this excursion into the supernatural\u201d will help them live a relatively untroubled life,\u201d wrote Amunugama in his book. These rituals are a way to understand the incomprehensible, like why a loved one falls ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Kuweni caused illnesses like other demons, Shashiprabha Thilakarathne, a folklore scholar at the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka who researches Kuweni, explains that the demon queen might\u2019ve been human. It\u2019s difficult to say who she is. Folk literature tells us that she has supernatural powers. Sometimes she could even take the form of different animals,\u201d Thilakarathne says, explaining that her magic\u201d made Vijaya\u2019s weapons fall on demons\u2019 bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the last few decades, Kuweni has appeared as a character in pop culture, from television dramas to songs<\/a> and plays<\/a>. Kuweni has become relatable\u2014her motives clearer. Today Vijaya is often recast as the villain and Kuweni as the maligned anti-hero. She has shifted from a female demon spawn who cursed Sinhalese people to an embodiment of the modern woman, Thilakarathne explains. She is a wife, daughter, and mother. While Kuweni shares many traits with traditional yakka, she also stands out from them. She\u2019s demon-like, but not a demon herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kuweni, as I understand, is a model we can apply to our modern society. At one point, she\u2019s a daughter, then a lover and parent. She goes through many different challenges in life,\u201d Thilakarathne says, she represents us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ZINARA RATHNAYAKe\u00a0 Courtesy https:\/\/www.atlasobscura.com\/ The kankariya dance all started with a legendary demon queen named Kuweni How This Demon Dance Banishes Illnesses in Sri Lanka’s Remote Jungles<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}