At that time Kataragama was an isolated village connected to other human habitations only by jungle paths. The chief ones of these were the track to Tissa and that to Buttala.
1940 Esala Festival in Kataragama
The 1817 Uva-Wellassa Rebellion and its Aftermath
The period after Uva-Wellassa Rebellion seems to have been miserable at Kataragama, and Uva at large. Uva and Central provinces had been devastated by the British colonial military.
Traditions
Index of Kataragama Traditions Buddhist Kataragama Kataragama: Domain of benevolent god Skanda කතරගම කඳ කුමරු Buddhist Kataragama Video: ‘Kataragama’ – Dharmadasa Walpola & Jikki Kataragama: Where Sinhala and Hindu Cultures are Interwoven Kataragama, A Blessed City Interview: Aluthwewa Soratha Thero
Kataragama God “Mistakenly Ambushed”?
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.
Kathirkāmam, the Abode of Skanda
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.