Kataragama Murugan Temple,
Srilanka – History
Origin Theories:
There are number of theories as
to the origin of the shrine. According to Heinz Bechert and Paul
Younger, the mode of veneration and rituals connected with Kataragama
deviyo is a survival of indigenous Vedda mode of veneration that preceded the
arrival of Buddhist and Indo-Aryan cultural influences from North
India in Sri Lanka in the last centuries BCE, although Hindus,
Buddhists and even Muslims have tried to co-opt the deity, rituals and the
shrine. But according to S.
Pathmanathan, the original Kataragama shrine was established as
an adjunct guardian
deity shrine to Skanda-Kumara within
a Buddhist temple complex.
This particular shrine then
became idealized as the very spot where Valli met Murugan amongst
local Tamils and Sinhalese, and Kataragama deviyo subsumed the identity of
Skanda-Kumara and became a deity on his own right with rituals and pilgrimage.
According to Pathmanathan, it happened after the 13th century CE
when Murugan became popular amongst Tamils and before the 15th century
CE when the poet Arunagirinathar identified the very
location as a sacred spot.
Literary Evidence:
The first literary mention of
Kataragama in a context of a sacred place to Kandha-Murugan is in its Tamil form Kathirkamam in
the 15th century devotional poems of Arunagirinathar. Tradition
claims that he visited the forest shrine when he composed the poems. According
to his poems, the deity dwelt on top of a mountain. The first mention of
Kataragama deviyo in the form Khattugama, as a guardian deity of Sri Lanka
and its Buddhist relics,
was in the Pali chronicle
of Jinakalamali written during the 16th
century in what is today Thailand. (see Jatukham Rammathep, a popular Thai
amulet, based on Khattugama, a deity from Sri Lanka).
Kataragama village is first
mentioned in the historical annals known as Mahavamsa
written down in the 5th century CE. It mentions a town named
Kajjaragama from which important dignitaries came to receive the sacred Bo
sapling sent from Ashoka’s Mauryan
Empire on 288 BCE. (According to Ponnambalam Arunachalam Kajjaragama
is derived from Kârttikeya Grâma ("City of Kartikeya"),
shortened to Kajara-gama).
Archeological Evidence:
The vicinity of the temple has
number of ancient ruins and inscriptions. Based on dated inscriptions found,
the nearby Kiri Vehera is believed to have been built
or renovated around the 1st century BCE. There is an
inscription, a votive offering to the Mangala
Mahacetiya, apparently the former name of Kiri Vehera on the orders of one
Mahadathika Mahanaga, a son of king Tiritara who
ruled in 447 CE. There is also an inscription of Dapula I dated to the 7th
century CE who built a sanctuary for Buddhist monks, but the inscription does
not mention Kataragama by name. Nearby Tissamaharama was
a trading town of antiquity by the 2nd century BCE, as indicated
by Prakrit and Tamil Brahmi legends in
coins and potsherds unearthed on the site. The region was part
of the ancient kingdom of Ruhuna which played an important role in
the political history of the island.
Role of Kalyanagiri Swamy:
The medieval phase of the
history of the shrine began with the arrival of Kalyanagiri Swamy from North
India sometimes during the 16th or 17th century.
He identified the very spot of the shrines and their mythic associations with
characters and events as expounded in Kanda
Puranam. Following his re-establishment of the forest shrine, it
again became a place of pilgrimage for Indian and Sri Lankan Hindus. The shrine
also attracted local Sinhala Buddhist devotees.
The caretakers of the shrines
were people of the forest who were of indigenous Vedda or mixed Vedda and
Sinhalese lineages. The shrines popularity increased with the veneration of the
place by the kings of the Kingdom
of Kandy, the last indigenous kingdom before colonial occupation of
the island. When Indian indentured workers were
brought in after the British occupation in 1815, they too began to participate
in the pilgrimage in droves, thus the popularity of the shrine increased
amongst all sections of the people.
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