KAMALIKA PIERIS

After the end of the Eelam war, something new was introduced to the Sinhala-Buddhist arena, the   Worship of Ravana. Ravana worship has been introduced to Sri Lanka in the post-war period, without much fanfare. This is not the Ramayana Ravana this is Sri Lanka’s very own Ravana, sans Sita.

The west tried to bring attention to Ravana by asking, why Ravana has become so popular among Sinhalese Buddhists in the last decade. The answer is that there is no very great interest in Ravana today. The interest is the same as it ever was.  Everyone knows about Ravana and his dandu monara, but is not interested in knowing anything more about Ravana because he is too far away in time.

But there is a little known Ravana movement going on. This is an artificial one,   probably externally influenced and foreign funded. It is carried out by a small number of Ravana groups, who are actively involved in promoting Ravana, such as Ravana Shakthi  and Ravana Balaya.

One Ravana activist hailed from Kurunegala .He was the president of a popular Ravana research group, has written several books about Ravana and is very active in promoting his Ravana ideas amongst youngsters. He organizes training camps at the Ravana Research Centre. He initiated the construction of a Ravana shrine at a Buddhist site. He has presented the programme Hela Vansaya 

Ravana groups have constructed Ravana shrines and consider themselves the lay custodians of these shrines.  Processions and rituals are organized around these shrines, and people go on expeditions to explore and ‘reclaim’ the ancient kingdom of Ravana.

The Ravana movement is not interested in developing a separate Ravana cult. There are no separate Ravana temples. The Ravana shrines are   set inside Buddhist temples. They are deliberately placed at sites where Buddhists come to worship. Ravana statues are also available for purchase for worship at home.

 In this way, Ravana is placed in a Buddhist devotional framework, a Buddhist worldview and Buddhist time frame.   Ravana worship will help in the elimination of Gautama Buddha and his doctrine.

The text used for this is the  Lankavatara Sutra. This Sutra is not known in Sri Lanka , It  is  used only by Ravana supporters. Interested parties abroad have fed this to them. Ravana devotees are not scholars capable of  tracking down this Sutra..

The Lankavatara Sutra belongs to a set of Mahayana sutraswritten in the 4th century. It was  translated into Sanskrit by Nanjo Bunyu in 1923. D.T. Suzuki English translation of the Lankavatara Sutra in the 1930s.

According to the Lankavatara Sutra Ravana was a Buddhist who lived in the time of a previous Buddha (Dipankara Buddha). The first chapter of the Lankavatara Sutra (a later addition, according to Suzuki) states that the Buddha was invited by Ravana to preach the dhamma in Lanka. It is said that Ravana first went to see the Buddha, and invited him to come to Lanka. Ravana brought Buddha and his companions in the pushpaka ( a floral chariot that became  known as aerial car) to Lanka.

Links to Ravana have  been found  at Lakegala and Ranamure in Meemure,  and  also at Laggala. The villagers of Meemure are  believed to be descendants of King Ravana and his Yaksha tribe. The website of the Laggala-Pallegama divisional secretariat, says that villagers in Laggalabelieve that they are descended from Ravana and that they are the real yaksha people.  

Lakegala has been included in the  ancient kingdom of Ravana in Sri Lanka, by   Ravana supporters. Villagers living in Lakegala area are the descendants of Ravana, not Vijaya, they said. They are Yaksha

Lakegala was very important for Ravana. Lakegala was Ravana’s war zone. Lakegala was also  a point of orientation for sailors. Talaimannar and Koneswaram can be seen from the top of Lakegala. Ravana used it as point of orientation for his dandu monara.

At the top of Lakegala was the  observatory of rishi Pulasthi where he studied celestial objects . Ravana and Vishrava, Ravana’s father,  also studied astrology there. There were reflective mirrors on top of the mountain.    Lastly,  Ravana was not dead, he was in an unconscious state and  his body was being preserved in a boat full of herbs, in a location in   Lakegala.

Villagers in Ranamure believe that Ravana’s power is still present in the village. He is remembered in the village ritual, called the Ravana yakkama  which takes place annually  in the Ranamure village. Ravana was considered a deity, most often Bandara deviyo, but also Ravana devi, Bandara devi, Gange bandara, Sellam bandara, Brahmana bandara.

The revival of the yakkamas in the first half of the 2010s and the increasing tendency to call them Ravana yakkamas are recent inventions, carried out by Ravana groups.

At Ranamure there has been a deliberate attempt to introduce     Ravana worship. Villagers recalled that a ‘cultural program ‘was organized in the village and a statue of Ravana was brought and its connection to the area was explained. A Ravana cultural committee set up in Ranamure distributed a handout to   show the ‘original version of history.’ It explained that the ancestry in Ranamure is linked to Ravana, not Vijaya.

On another instance, a brand-new gold-colored Ravana statue from the Sri Devram Maha Viharaya   had been brought into Ranamure devalaya. Ranamure Devala did not contain any statues prior to the donation of the Ravana statue. The people who donated the statue, had come from Devram vihara in Colombo on a yakkama day and performed their own puja right next to the yakkama .

They said King Ravana is now Bandara deviyo,  or something like that . They donated the Ravana statue to the Devala and  commissioned the kapu mahaththaya to perform a puja once a week for several months. After the required period ended, none of the villagers took up the initiative to continue these pujas. Also, after the Divisional Secretariat withdrew their sponsorship of the yakkama in Ranamure, the yakkamas did not continue.

The brand new Ravana statue looked odd amidst the other objects. The statue does not fit into the ceremony, either, as  the Kapurala are expected to dance with the objects  belonging to specific deities and  yakshas, commented observers. 

The historical connection of Ravana is  emphasized by a select group of people with an interest in Ravana, others openly criticized it. Koning said that it was  mainly the people who devoted considerable time to ‘Ravana research’ who came up with details of Ravana’s connections to Lakegala. In Meemure and Laggala majority of the villagers are not interest in Ravana  . For most villagers Ravana is of limited relevance said Koning.  She should have said, ‘of no relevance whatsoever.’

Promoters of Ravana have tried to connect the yaksha ancestry to Ravana   not  Kuveni.  Some have merged the narrative of Ravana and the yakshas with the narrative of Kuveni and the yakshas, arguing that there were yakshas at Ravana’s time and that Kuveni was one of those yakshas that lived in Sri Lanka centuries after Ravana.

People often asked me how many Sinhalese Buddhists actually have an interest in Ravana, said Deborah de Koning who arrived in  Sri Lanka in 2016  to research on Ravana for her doctorate. She  found there was a group of Sinhalese Buddhists actively involved in promoting Ravana, a group of Sinhalese Buddhists who were clearly opposed to this, and a large group of Sinhalese Buddhists who have taken notice of the  emphasis on Ravana in the media.

  De Koning has compiled a list of the recent  books written on Ravana. 

• Amarasinghe, J. T. (2009), Ravana and Untold Truth About His Legacy, Kurunegala: Asliya Printers.
• Amarasinghe, J. T. (2014), Sri Ravana Urumaya saha Thaporavanaya: Mayanu Varsa 5126ka Gupta Ithihasaya , Kurunegala: Asliya Printers.
• Chulavansa, P. S. T. (2012), Hela Ithihasaye Ravana Rajathuma ha Lankapuraya, , Hettigama: Samanthi Poth.
• Gunasekara, S. (2015), Ethihasika Ravana , Boralasgamuwa: Visidunu Publications.
• Jayatilaka, B. M. (2013), Sri Ravanna Puvatha: Hela Yak Parapure Kathava, , Hettigama: Samanthi Poth.
• Jayatilaka, B. M. (2015), Sakvithi Ravana Hamuva Saha Venat Atbhuta Siduvem, Hettigama: Samanthi Poth.
• Kolonnave Siri Sumangala (2013), Visvadhipathi Maha Ravana: Sinhala Jathiye Piya vu Mani Manthaka Yagu Kaurana Maha Ravana Raju Pilibanda Vigrahayak , Pannipitiya: Sri Lankeshvara Maha Ravana Mehevara Divya Ramya Jaya Maluwa.
• Kolonave Siri Sumangala (2014), Sri Lankeshvara Maha Ravana, Pannipitiya: SriLankeshvara Maha Ravana Mehevara Divya Ramya Jaya Maluwa.
• Obeyesekere, M. (2012), Ravana Sistacaraya  Hettigama: Samanthi Poth.
• Obeyesekere, M. (2013), Sri Lankave Ravana Adhirajayage Sanskrithika Urumaya Hettigama: Samanthi Poth.
• Obeyesekere, M. (2015), Ravana, King of Lanka Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.
• Obeyesekere, M. (2015), Sri Lankave Ravana Adiradjayagen Pasu ape Raja Parapura,  Hettigama: Samanthi Poth.
• Obeyesekere, M. (2016), Ravana Amaraneyayi\ Hettigama: Samanthi Poth.
• Obeyesekere, M. (2016), Ravana Yali Negitiyi Hettigama: Samanthi Poth.
• Perera, M. (2017), Ravanayana: Saga of Lanka, Colombo 10:  Colmbo: Godage
• Premachandra, A. (2015), Ravana: Story of the Most Distinguished Lankan Monarch (translation of Uthuru Doratuwa]),Udumulla: Asoka Publishers.
• Premachandra, A. (2017), Lankadipati Sri Ravana
• Puja Bopitiye Ariyangnana (2017), Hela Isivara Maha Ravana: Ithihasayen Vasan Kala Maha Viravarayage Punaragamanaya  Ganemulla: Udaya Publications.
• Samarasinhe, R. P. (2014), Mityavak Novana Ravana Puravruththaya Dankotuwa: Wasana Publications.
• Sandakelum Vitana Gamage, (2015), Hela Vansaya Ravanadaya : Kartṛu Publications.
• Seneviratna, A. (2012), Sri Lanka Ravana Rajadhaniya Hettigama:Samanthi Poth.
• Seneviratna, A. (2014), Sri Lanka Ravana Rajadhaniya saha Sigiri Puranaya  Hettigama: Samanthi Poth.
• Somasundara, D. (2015), Ravana: Sri Lankave Shreshtha Raju Colombo  , Godage

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