Introduction
With the COVID-19 epidemic spreading globally, Sri Lankans became more interested in searching for local remedies and age-old cultural practices to seek protection from the coronavirus. This paradigm shift led to a high demand in local ayurvedic medicine and adopting long-standing cultural habits as a means of staying healthy. These local cultural practices became the “new normal” for most Sri Lankans as having adopted a western style of life in pre-epidemic society. For others who were always appreciative of the value placed on ayurvedic medicine were not affected by the new cultural shift—old is good.
Similar, to overlooking the importance of local Ayurveda medicine is the cultural practices surrounding the ritual performance of the indigenous people of Sri Lanka. With the onset of colonization and modernization these ritual performances and its overall meaning to the society were ignored. Therefore, there is no better time than now to reflect upon what the local rituals meant for the village folks when they faced similar epidemics when western scientific knowledge was not available. The rituals are a colorful and fascinating performance ceremonies for the outsider not familiar with the local culture but there is meaning to every aspect of the ritual performances practiced by our ancestors.
The literature available on mask performances by the western scholars on Sinhalese folk culture is often highlighted for exorcism and entertainment characteristics. The westerners who discovered the mask ritual in Sri Lanka during the colonization era and wrote extensively on the subject interpreted the performances from their cultural perspective. However, the Sinhalese folk ritual and belief system extend beyond simple exorcism and fulfillment of village entertainment. A keen insight into folk-art traditions and the life of the folk people indicate these rituals provided social cohesion in times of difficulties. The indigenous people used the ritual performances to overcome difficulties faced by plagues, epidemics, and social changes over the years.
Out of the many rituals performed by our ancestors, the Sanni Yakuma is the most prominent and known ritual among people as it entails the use of many colourful array of wooden masks and elaborate performances. However, why the ritual should draw our attention these days is because it is all about curing sickness and very applicable to the current epidemic situation. The Sanni Yakuma ritual is known to provide cures for eighteen diseases by expelling the devils and spirits that cause the sickness by possessing the sick person. A detailed examination of Sanni ritual indicates it is fulfillment to society is beyond exorcism. The ritual boosts the confidence of the folk people to strengthen the community to face an epidemic by providing psychological support with Ayurvedic treatment to cure the disease.
‘What is Sanni yakuma’
The Sanni Yakuma is a thovil performance of the low country in Sri Lanka. The ritual performance is performed to please devils, demons, and spirits known to bring evil effects and causes illness on people and the community. To heal the patient from the illnesses, offerings are given to the devils to make them leave the human body they possess. In Sinhalese ‘yaksha’ or ‘yaku’ refers to a category of evil spirits. Hence, the ritual is also called ‘yak thovil’ or ‘yakun natima’ (devil dancing). The low country drum employed in the ritual is called the ‘yak beraya’. ‘Yak’ means devil and ‘beraya’ for drum in Sinhalese. The ‘Sanni mask’ classification comprises of eighteen distinctive masks representing eighteen evil spirits responsible for creating illnesses. Therefore, the ritual is also known as ‘Dha Ata Sanniya’, which means eighteen illnesses. ‘Dha Ata’ means eighteen and ‘Sanniya’ means illness or ailment in the Sinhalese language. The mask of the chief evil spirit known as “Maha Kola” devil has replicas of the masks of the eighteen spirits studded to indicate he is presiding over them. The Sanni ritual lasts long hours past midnight from sunset to sunrise. At the end of the ritual ceremony, the patient is expected to be cured. The uniqueness of the mask depends on the carving skill of the artists of the teaching clan and no two marks are identical but carries the same characteristics of the mask type.
‘Legend of Sanni Yakuma’
The legend of Sanni Yakuma states that King Asupala of Licchavi dynasty in India found his wife Asupala pregnant upon his return from war with Kuru Kindom in India. A maid to the queen convinced the king that it was not his child. The king ordered the queen to be executed. The child managed to survive, living off the remains of his mother. As he grew, the child vowed revenge on the father becoming Maha Kola devil, the chief of the eighteen spirits. He gathered poisons from the forest and formed them into eighteen lumps which then transformed into spirits. Kola sent these spirits into the Visala city in India to cause illness through wind, phlegm, and bile. The havoc wreaked the city and Lord Buddha recited Ratana Sutra to make the city free from fear and illnesses.
Maha Kola Mask Captured at the Jeweled Isle exhibition LACM June 2019.
“Colonial perspective”
The term ‘devil dancing’ was assigned to the Sanni ritual by the early westerners who first encountered the Sinhalese mask rituals during the colonial era. It stereotyped the ritual performance as primitive, superstitious, and socially low act (Ambos 2011). This led to Sanni ritual not being given prominence in society during the colonial era. It explains the wide gap in westerners writing on ‘Sanni yakkuma’ as a low country exorcism ritual whereas the locals consider it a healing ritual performed to obtain relief from bad effects. The early European studies failed to take a holistic approach to ritual performances to understand the origins or reasons behind mask performances at the time.
The dialogues between the mask performer and the ‘aduro’ or the ‘kattadiya’ who is the chief ritualist performer are comic and mostly improvised highlighting the theatrical nature of the ritual. The episodes in the Sanni yakuma have poetic verses to describe the setting and unique drumbeats accompanying each mask performer. The poetic verses and mask dance performances together with rhythmic drumbeats enhances the theatrical elements of the ritual performance.
Table 1: Devils (Yakshas) |
| |
Abimana Yakka | Causes mental diseases. | |
Kalu Yakka | Cause illnesses on women and babies. | |
Mahasona | Wolf headed cemetery devil. | |
Riri Yakka | Causes diseases connected with blood. | |
Suniyam Yakka | Arrives in the form of a young girl | |
Figure 5: The five devils appearing in Sanni Yakuma From left to right: Mahasona yaka, Kalu yaka, Riri yaka, Suniyam yaka, Abimana yaka | ||
Table :2 Pali performances | ||
Pandam Paliya | carries burning torches, | |
Anguru Dummala Paliya | Carries charcoal | |
Kadu Paliya | carries a sword | |
Kalas Paliya | carries a flowerpot | |
Salu Paliya | carries betel | |
Dalumura Paliya | carries betel | |
Tambili Paliya | carries a king coconut | |
Muguru Paliya | carries a club | |
Kukulu Paliya | carries a cock | |
Athu Paliya | carries branches | |
Dunu Paliya | carries a bow and arrow | |
Kendi Paliya | carries holy water in a pot | Figure 6: The Pali Masks (Locations: Ariyapala Museum, Amabalangoda |
Table 3: The eighteen spirits (Source: Wijesekera 1982) | Figure 7: Sanni masks (Location: Colombo National Museum and Ariyapala Museum)
| |
Jala Sanniya | Cholera | |
Gedi Sanniya | Causes furuncles, boils & skin diseases | |
Kana-sanniya | Blindness | |
Golu-sanniya | Dumbness/muteness | |
Naga-sanniya | Causes due to poisoning | |
Kora-sanniya | Lameness/paralysis | |
Gini-jala-sanniya | Malaria/fever | |
Amuku sanniya | Vomiting | |
Kola-sanniya | Black death | |
Beeta Sanniya | Confused behavior, timidity | |
Butha Sanniya | Nonsensical | |
Demala-sanniya | Bad dreams | |
Deva-sanniya | Epidemic disease, i.e. typhoid, cholera | |
Maru-sanniya | Delirium | |
Vata-sanniya | Shaking and burning of limbs | |
Pissu Sanniya | Craziness | |
Vedda-sanniya | Bubonic plague | |
Biri-sanniya | Deafness | |
Murta-sanniya | Swooning, loss of consciousness | |
Kapala-sanniya | Insanity | |
Pita-sanniya | Disease related to bile | |
‘Sanni Yakuma therapeutic analysis’
In the present society, the Sanni ritual process has become outdated with the introduction of western medicine. The Sanni ritual represents the advance therapeutic influence of the ritual performances of the past. Anthropomorphizing the demon through the characteristics of the actual sickness provide visual appeal to the patient and the audience. This drives the message the devil is present at the ritual and the sickness is cured when the demon leaves by accepting the patient’s offerings to the demon (Wijesekera 1982). Personifying helps the patient to believe he can deal with the illness as it is physically present face to face through the form of human figure. The dialogues used in the ritual make the powerful devils appear weak, providing the impression that demons can be controlled by humans. This process offers psychological assurance to the patient that he could deal with sickness and convinced he is on the right path to get relief from the sickness. This provides much needed mental confidence required for the healing process (Bailey and De Silva 2006). A patient’s mental health is vital to boost the immune system to deal with an illness. Good mental health along with medicine is required for a speedy recovery of any patient. Therefore, this psychological therapy in Sanni yakuma improves the effectiveness of the Ayurvedic treatment administered by providing a duel effect on the curing process.
The theatrical elements of the ritual provide the environment suitable for preparing the mindset of the sick person to create confidence in the process. By drawing attention towards the patient as the central character of the ritual performance the sick person is given prominence (Baddegama 2006) and creates he is important to the people surrounding him. This again helps to boost the mental confidence of the patient. The intended beneficiary of the ritual is not only the patient and includes the village community that comes together for the ritual performance as the audience as well as organizers of the ritual. The community comes together to support the family of the patient prepare for the ritual ceremony making it a community affair. The community presence also helps to invoke blessings on the village community and extend the same protection provided to the sick person.
The mask dancers humorous, and satirical dialogues with the chief ritualist helps both the patient and the community to heal together. The patient’s mind is relieved of any doubts that he has on his status, while at the same time the audience is kept entertained with humor. Humour and satire is a significant aspect of the Sanni yakuma ritual that draws the community to the performance. The theatrical effect of ceremony results in keeping the audience entertained throughout the performance which provides their acceptance of the ritual and adds legitimacy to the process. not only provide to receive the audience acceptance of the ritual process which provides legitimacy to the ritual performance.
Besides the psychological aspect, the ritual has its Ayurvedic remedies performed at the ritual performance. Before the ritual begins the performance arena and the house of the patients are disinfected using a liquid made of local herbs known to kill germs and viruses. Turmeric mixed water is the common disinfection used for the purification process. The turmeric water is also sprayed during the performance of the patient and the arena throughout the ritual. The utensils used for the ceremony are also cleaned using turmeric water. This purification process helps to kill germs and minimize further spread of the illness protecting the patient as well as the audience.
All rituals, including Sunny Yakuma begins with a lime cutting ceremony. It means cutting a few dozen limes while chanting a mantra in the front of the patient and placing them in bowel containing turmeric mix water and placed next to the patient during the ritual process. The water in the lime bowl is sprayed on the patient by the ritual performer throughout the ritual. Like turmeric lime is also known to disinfect germs. The chief ritualist use leaves of kohomba tree to mix and spray turmeric cum lime water. These leaves have properties known to alleviate ailment related to eye disorders, inflammation, and fever. The Kohomba leaves are used by the ritualist to decorate the performance arena which adds an extra layer of sterilization to reduce the spread of the disease.
Fire is used in some form in all ritual processes. In Sanni yakuma torches bearing fire is used by ritualist throughout the performance. These fire torches not only provide illumination during the nightly performance but has a latent effect in disinfecting the surrounding air. A fragrant organic powdered substance dug from fossilized plant materiel known as dummala is used by the ritualist to create large flares by sprinkling it on the fire. This light up the arena and dramatize the performance. When dummala burns it jets out a fragrant smoky cloud that travels with the air circulation of the arena. The heat from the fire and the smoke kills any viruses remaining in the air. This protects not only the patient but also the audience from being infected. Dummala is also sprinkled on burning charcoal on a kabbala (fire pan) and carried around the arena and inside the patient’s house to infuse the circulating air with dummala smoke.
An in-depth analysis of the Sani yakuma ritual reveal us that it is a well-thought process that interconnects a range of elements to promote community wellness and safeguard the health of the folk people. Therefore, stating the ritual as a devil dancing act doesn’t do justice to the folk community that put together this amazing creative performance many centuries back. Apart from the Ayurvedic benefits, the masks carving, and the theatrical aspects of the ritual highlight the artistic abilities of the ancestors that engaged in the ritual profession in Sri Lanka. Sanni Yakuma may not find us answers for the COVID-19 but understanding the intricate process that goes behind the ancient rituals of our ancestors in combating sicknesses helps us to appreciate our past and preserve the knowledge for the future generations.
Images of Dha Ata Sanniya displayed at the Masks of Sri Lanka exhibition, May 2019. Viewpoint Gallery, University of California at Irvine.
*Danushi De Silva is a Master of Finance student at Paul Merage School Business at University of California, Irvine.
**This article is written based on information gathered for an undergraduate research project on masks of Sri Lanka” completed in 2019. The visual images analyzed for the project were captured from the Colombo National Museum, Ariyapala Museum in Ambalangoda, and Puppet Museum in Dehiwala in Sri Lanka in 2018. The captured images from the museums were exhibited at the Viewpoint Gallery, University of California at Irvine (UCI) from 29th April to 5th May 2019. The exhibition displayed eighty photographs of Sinhalese traditional masks. Images can be viewed athttps://www.facebook.com/srilankanmasks/
*** In addition to analyzing the images and information from the three museums, I reviewed written literature on the subject by Sri Lankan and foreign authors.
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