Silappadigaram and birth of Pattini worship

By Amal HEWAVISSENTI

The term 'Pattini' connotes a woman who has developed absolute fidelity to her husband. Ancient Indian literature in particular, is profusely scattered with direct references to miraculously sacrificial acts of women such as leaping into blazing fire to prove their truthfulness. This was a widespread occurrence on the part of women especially when their innocence or truthfulness was publicly questioned or challenged. In other words they were purely victims within the framework of male dominant society which is often viewed as a blemish on otherwise resounding glory of a well-developed civilisation in South India around 3,000 years ago.

Yet, the traditional South Indian thought demanded that man's life becomes sublime by his inner traits such as bravery, skill, generosity and self sacrifice. At the sametime, a woman who was otherwise deprived of higher social dignity could ascend to man's status purely by developing fidelity and truthfulness. It is on this landscape that Pattini Devi rises to a heroic status and takes upon herself the unthinkable rights and honour typically enjoyed by men but unjustifiably denied to women. The ritualistic practices of ceremonies and Shanthikarmas associated with Pattini Devi are generally performed to invoke blessings and relief for people in India and Sri Lanka. It appears that this form of worship of Dravidian origin has blended gradually with other religious rites and has turned out to be a main source of psychological relief for people in distress. But how did the concept of Pattini spring up?

Silappadigaram

The South Indian Tamil literature distinguishes three defined periods called "Sangam" and the books written in the third Sangam period are a storehouse of information about life of ancient Tamil people. Sangam is an officially traditional congregation of poets with State sponsorship by Pandyan kings for literary development. Silappadigaram, Walayapadi, Manimekala, Siwaksinthamani and Kundalakeshi are the fruits of the third Sangam period of Madhurapura which is the golden era for the ancient Tamil literature. Out of those books, the epic Silappadigaram is the masterpiece of the era.

Kannagi (Pattini Devi) in the royal court of the Pandyan king trying to prove her husband’s innocence

Silappadigaram, a Tamil epic centres around the legend of Pattini Devi whose influence became a novel faith for ordinary people. (Silappadigaram means the story of "Salamba" or Pattini Devi's anklet.) The writer is Ilanko Adigal the youngest son of 'Sereladen" the ruler of Kerala. He was a Jainist ascetic who witnessed the crucial moments in the life of Kovalan and Kannagi (later Pattini Devi) in the country of Pandya during his lifetime. Thus he wanted to fashion a fascinating book out of 'Kovalan-Kannagi' life and pay tribute to Kannagi's rare humanity. To complete the epic, Adigal had to
personally visit Kaveri Pattanama and Madurapura where the most important events in their lives took shape. In those cities he was able to test the authenticity of certain events in order to give a sense of credibility to his Pattini story.

Kovalan and Kannagi

The Pattini legend springs from the life story of Kannagi the daughter of a wealthy tradesman and her husband Kovalan, a son of an ordinary tradesman in the city of Kaveri Pattanam in Chola.
The writer of Silappadigaram, while recounting the tale of Pattini, describes the grandeur in the cities of Kaveripattam of Chola, Madurapuram of Pandya, and Wanchipuram of Kerala at that time.
Yet the real drama of their lives unfolds in Pandyan kingdom. Silappadigaram stresses that a woman who honestly premises a higher degree of fidelity to her husband is fit to be in good grace of Munis or even gods. Silappadigaram states that the marriage ceremony of Kovalam and Kannagi was performed in the grandest possible scale but their marital bliss was destined to be short lived.
By an ironic twist of fate, Kovalan deserted Kannagi and embarked on an amoral relationship with Madavi who showed a deliberate and stubborn desire to behave unacceptably. Although Kannagi was well-trained with the traditional ideas of fidelity, truthfullness and love lamentably she failed in all efforts to arrest Kovalan's passion for Madavi. The epic shows Madavi to be a morally bankrupt, socially contemptible character who strove every moment to satisfy the lustful men. The most striking aspect of Kannagi's nature emerges in her passive acceptance of her fate and in her tendency not to take offence at her husband's outrageous flirtings.
While Kovalan was squandering her wealth with Madavi, Kannagi continued to anticipate only the best to happen and minimise all other possibilities. She fervently expected a reunion with him at any cost.It becomes blatantly obvious that while Kovalam was living a luxury life with Madavi out of Kannagi's own wealth, Kannagi experienced a bitter, self-continued life wearing tattered clothes and confining herself to the walls of her house with all doors shut.

Crucial test

When Kovalan, in reduced circumstances, comes back to Kannagi and reveals his misery in expectation of certain kind of gain, she does not hesitate to give her pair of "Silambu" her only asset left, to Kovalan for a problem free life with Madavi.
These incidents collectively show that Kannagi's undisguised dedication to and respect for her husband is by no means marred by Kovalan's massive cheating.
Though she turned out to be an emotional wreck in the face of Kovalan's treachery, her respect for him made her blind to his blatant mischief. Silappadigaram presents a chain of moving events in course of which Kovalan was brought along the streets to be beheaded. Here, in the presence of the king Senguttuwan, she unleashed a wave of passionate expressions before her husband's dead body and pronounced her truthfulness which must bring him back to life. She leapt into a blazing fire by way of life sacrifice for her husband but the king saved her and bathed her in river Ganges as a mark of tribute to her divine nature.
Thereafter, she came to be known as "Pattini Devi". King Senguttuvan established a devale and erected a "Pattini" statue in honour of her truthfulness and fidelity which in turn vested divine power on her and created a novel form of worship for people.
This is the account of Pattini origin blended, to some extent, with supernatural traces and miraculous events as given in Silappadigaram.

Sri Lanka story

Silappadigaram states that "kayavahu of Sulilange" (Gajabahu the I in Sri Lanka) was among the royal guests who graced the ceremonial dedication of devale for Pattini Devi by the King of Kerala, Senguttuvan. It further elaborates how King Gajabahu celebrated the virtues of Pattini Devi and built an elegant devale for her, in Nawagamuwa, to mark the origin of a new faith. The following is the statement in the epic about Gajabahu's royal visit to Kerala.
"Then the King Gajabahu of the island of Lanka performed unbroken rituals daily and built a devale for Pattini eradicating the kingdom's evil atmosphere if any. He arranged Esala Perahera in honour of her name through the streets and enjoyed a total prosperity of a country which received enough rain in months of severe droughts."
Gajabahu was a contemporary with Senguttuvan who had been actively involved in scenes and events central to Kannagi's life story. Silappadigaram further states that Pattini Devi granted "wara" to the kings assembled in the first ceremony in Kerala and the rulers are said to have pledged to make ritualistic ceremonies for her.
Therefore it is totally safe to guess that Pattini worship and ceremonies associated with it came into operation since the reign of King Gajabahu the first. It is traditionally established that Gajabahu went to Cholian Kingdom to rescue Sri Lankan people in slavery there and he visited Senguttuvan of Kerala to discuss formally about the release of people. There he got the first chance to make his royal presence at the ceremony for Pattini Devi.
He launched the maiden Esala Perahera in Pattini's name and the tradition was upheld by successive rulers in Sri Lanka. In the eighteenth century, Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe incorporated the Pattini Esala Perahera to "Esala Dalada Perahera" under the counselling by Upali Thera who came to Sri Lanka from Myanmar. Thus, it has been held in Sri Lanka for eighteen centuries. In this way, the image of Pattini Devi earned a growing chorus of honour from people representing all strata of society both in India and Sri Lanka. For around 18 centuries, people have been praying to her for relief, appealing to her, asking her to "grant wishes" and performing a wide spectrum of ceremonies in honour of the great virtues that made her a goddess.
So much assured were people of her latent power to relieve them of their problems that they carved out her statues out of gold, silver or rock, erected a number of devales, composed verses and songs (eulogies) and composed multiple legends in order to exalt her awe-inspiring image.
In whatever way, the increase of high respect coupled with piety has made poets and lay priests of devales reproduce the concept of Pattini in multiple form.


They have created seven Pattinis namely Karamala, Uramala, Le, Mal, Gini, Weera, Siddha (Pattini). As time progressed, the reproduced concept of seven Pattinis became an astonishing family of twelve Pattini (Dolos Pattini Deviyo) in the wake of increasing public honour and respect for the "real image of Pattini Devi".
However, the Pattini Perahera is one of the four peraheras incorporated to the Dalada Parahera of Kandy.
The main Pattini Devale is situated in Kandy and the eulogy of Pattini (Pattini Halla) has greatly popularised the concept among people specially rural people in Sri Lanka. The folk games such as 'An keliya', 'Olinda keliya', 'Pol keliya', and 'wel keliya' are based on this concept and are still enjoyed among Sri Lankans.

Source:http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2011/01/02/imp03.asp

Nawagamuwa Devalaya - Dedicated to goddess Pattini

It was the day of the ICC Cricket world cup finals. Sri Lanka was yet to play the biggest match of the season. With the intention of coming back before the commencement of the match, we started our journey from Colombo to the famous Nawagamuwa Devalaya around 9 a.m. Situated at the 13th mile post of Colombo-Rathnapura Road, 4km from Kaduwela Junction, it is one of the most visited devalayas of the country.

Nawagamuwa Devalaya is a shrine dedicated to Goddess Pattini. Buddhists as well as non-Buddhists offer poojas to the deity with the intention of getting blessings for children and pregnant mothers. On the day we visited, the place was full of devotees despite the match. History of this devalaya goes back to the Anuradhapura era. As the legend unfolds King Gajaba 1 (A.D. 114 - 136) came from India with 12,000 men as prisoners, bringing with him a Pattini anklet, he landed at a place close to devalaya. Devalaya was built enshrining the anklet.
“Other version of this legend is that Goddess Pattini arrived at this place from India with 12,000 devotees belonging to 16 castes. The men and women settled down in adjacent villages to serve the goddess,” said Nawagamuwe Podi Hamuduruvo Atigala Kunnarathana Thera.

Moonstone with floral decor

“The well, which is believed to be the one that the Goddess Pattini used to bathe, can be found near the devalaya,” said the Thera. “The oldest building of the premises is the Pattini Devalaya. Viharageya and the other artefacts had been built later to accommodate the large number of devotees arrived at the place,” he added.
The temple, which is attached to the devalaya is Sri Sugathabimbaramaya. The first historical mention of the Nawagamuwa Pattini Devale is found during the Kotte period, in the ‘Godagama Sannasa’, it is said that King Buwanekabahu V (A.D. 1521 - 1580), a gift of oil is made for the Nawagamuwa Pattini Kovil Perahera.
This area was historically important even during the period of King Sitawaka. It is renowned that King Mayadunne (A.D. 1521 - 1580) had stopped at the Nawagamuwa Pattini Devale to make a vow before he went to war with the Portuguese in the Colombo Fort. According to the reports of the Portuguese, in 1550, the King of Portuguese sent 600 troops to help King Buwanekabahu V. They fought with King Mayadunne at Nawagamuwa. It is also recorded that in 1576, the Portuguese army destroyed Nawagamuwa Devale and established an army camp there.
The devalaya was rebuilt by King Mayadunne only to be destroyed again by the Captain of the Colombo Fort, leaving a pile of ruins. According to the Department of Archaeology some building materials, Dutch coins, and iron implements have been found during an excavation around the devalaya.
                                           Dagoba of the temple                                                     Bodhisatva Statue

                                                          

The Viharageya, which is believed to have been built in 19th century, is a beautiful building with paintings belonging to the Kandy era. It has four stone entrances and three Bodhisattva Statues. The inner part of the Viharageya has a long reclining Buddha Statue and a statue of God Vishnu. That ceiling is decorated with magnificent floral paintings. The door, which opens to the inner hall, is decorated with paintings of a flower and a picture of a worshipping ‘vamana’.
The stone pillars in front of the building are believed to be from a temple, which has been destroyed during the Portuguese period. The whole building is built on a stone foundation. The moonstone at the entrance, which belongs to the post Kandy period is rather different from what we see in other places. Instead of a liyawela this one has six petal flowers and tuskers.

There are also two doratupala figures and remains of a Makara Thorana. “The oldest shrine of the devalaya premises is the Galkanu Devalaya,” said Podi Hamuduruwo. This shrine is built of four stone posts. The remains of the original stone posts are still visible. Some people believe these as rubbles of the first Pattini Devalaya. However, this was rebuilt during the Katuwawala Sri Sumanathissa Thera, one of the Chief Priests of the Sri Sugathabimbaramaya.
The Maha Pattini Devalaya, the main shrine of the area, has been built during the 19th century. A gilded statue of the Goddess Pattini is enshrined in it. There are five other shrines stands in a row in front of the Maha Devalaya. Out of these Dedimunda, Kataragama and Vishnu Devalayas belongs to the 19th century, however others are built recently. During a recent research conducted by the Department of Archaeology, Viharage, Sangavasaya (the Monks abode), Galkanu Devalaya, Maha Pattini Devale, along with these three ancient shrines has declared as archaeologically important sites.

Ancient Devala

Old avasaya ge

In addition to that, a grove of Naa-tree, which is believed to be more than 100 years old, is also one of the protected sites. “The legend says that there is a white king cobra in this grove,” said Podi Hamuduruvo. “I have never seen him, but there are people who had spotted him,” he added. The procession of the devalaya is also unique. Unlike other shrines, Bulls are used for the procession instead of elephants. This is known as ‘Gon Pita Perehera’. “The jewels of Vishnu and Kataragama are taken on bulls back during the Perehera,” explained Podi Hamuduruwo.
Stories related to the devalaya are also interesting as much as its history. The most popular out of those is that once a Jak fruit has grown out of the wooden entrance of the devalaya. A villager who had come into the devalaya premises in search of his cow had spotted this well grown Jak fruit. The hungry villager had offered a portion to Goddess Pattini and had eaten the rest. Hearing this story the angry kapurala of the devalaya had cursed the villager. “However, it is said that the Kapurala himself had died from that curse,” explained the thera. “This devalaya is a place full of miracles. Unlike today, our ancestors believed that the deity punished the drunk devotees and never allowed to pass the devalaya with loose hair,” added the Thera.

Source:http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2011/04/17/fea28.asp