The climactic moment at Kataragama, Sri Lanka when the indigenous “uddahveddahs” literally ambush the Kataragama god with bow and arrow just as he is about to cross the temple seemā (threshold) and enter their forest to pay a clandestine visit to their princess (and his sweetheart) Valli Amma.
Even today, Sri Lanka preserves in Kathirkāmam many archaic beliefs and practices that have long been lost throughout India. These traditions come broadly under the pre-Buddhist royal cult of maintaining justice and timely rains and fertility throughout the blessed island of Lankā.
Kataragama God’s twelve-man Canopy For millennia, the elusive Kataragama god has been honoured in diverse ways by His devotees and servants. One of these traditions–that of the kudai or royal umbrella, flourished in the last century. I know, because I