bharatayatra: part 1 - Sri Lanka: Kataragama

Kataragama must definitely rank as one of the most important locations of convergence of spiritual thought, nter-religious understanding and the oneness of humanity. Early in the morning, at the 4.30 am prayers, the devotees congregate at the premises, and within the same sanctum, there are Sinhalese Hindu priests and Buddhist monks. Outside the sanctum, in adjacent temples within the same compound, there are Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu priests, Hindu monks from India, Sinhalese Muslim priests and Tamil Hindu priests from India.

Its an amazing confluence. There is an elephant that keeps going around inside the campus, amidst hundreds of devotees thronging the pathways. The elephant goes to each place, the Kataragama temple, the Ganesha temple, the Buddhist temple, the Bodhi tree, the Siddi Sunni Muslim temple and other temples adjacent. At each of these temples, the elephant offers prayers and receives blessings from the priests.

At dusk hours, the hundreds of pilgrims crowd around the elephant excitedly, and keep taking photographs incessantly. The flashlights keep going off endlessly at very close range, and yet, the sacred elephant does not get startled.

There are pilgrims of all religions, and yet there is silence, sanctity and serenity. They are all happy. Long queues have patient devotees lined up. There are no VIP queues or shorter queues on payment basis. Amazing.

The most fascinating aspect of the sanctum sanctorum at the Kataragama Devale (= Temple) is that the iconic human-like deity is not established in stone or other forms. The story is that Kartikeya came to a closure on his journey away from Kailasa, after moving through the Indian Subcontinent and reaching Kataragama. He is supposed to have established himself at Kataragama and very soon the place began to be recognised as the Dakshina Kailasa.

Shiva followed Kartikeya, as he had done so, to all his locations earlier. Upon arrival at Kataragama, Shiva is thought to have settled at Wedahitykanda, a hill-top location, the highest in a complex of seven hills overlooking the river, countryside and the southern coast line of Sri Lanka. Kartikeya also had his presence at Wedahitykanda, at a hillside enclave, on a ridge just below Shiva's location. To this day, as you would visit the hill-top temples, you would visit the Kartikeya swami temple first, and later climb to the peak, to the higher ridge, and seek blessings from Maheshwara at the temple. Its an amazingly beautiful location.

It is said that at this location, Kartikeya and Shiva merged into one formless spirit, both being actually deities without human-like form, and converged into one singular aspect. Wedahitykanda and Kataragama are thought to be astral and cosmic gateways that our knowledge systems cannot comprehend. It is through these cosmic gateways that the unified aspect of Shiva and Kartikeya traveled back to Kailasa.

Kataragama seemed like an impossible dream, considering the situation in Sri Lanka during the previous several years. The country is much more peaceful now and seems to be settling down and becoming increasingly productive. There are only so many finite aspects of an island nation that are crucial and essential for its well-being. The first, of course, is water, mainly freshwater for drinking, agriculture and irrigation purposes. The second - would be the need to be careful with the nation's finances and not have to spend it up on fighting each other inside the island. The third important fulcrum would be to ensure human oneness, in spite of all the strife.

These three aspects are the common issues that are paramount to Kataragama, I guess. It is at the fringe of the forests at Yala, and inside a crescent of Wedahitykanda (Yala National Park), Lunugamvehera National Park and Uda Walawe National Park. The river, also known locally as Menik Ganga, flows southwards to Kataragama from Weheragala reservoir near Galge, at the common edge of Yala National Park and Lunugamvehera National Park.

It would have been so much more relevant for one to focus on the catchments and watersheds at Weheragala. But, this was Kataragama, and the southern abode of Kartikeya, and it was not the land of Shiva, in his aspect of Gangadhaara. I am sure that there would be an amazing understanding of Shiva and Kartikeya and Ganesha at Kataragama. It is also in the mystery of Sella Kataragama that one may find answers, and also at Wedahitykanda. What are the secrets of Kataragama, Wedahitykanda and Sella Kataragama?

bharatayatra: part 1 - Sri Lanka: Muneeswaram

Muneeswaram temple is in a better condition than the Tondeswaram Pancha-Ishwaram temple. The location is in a small hamlet beyond the Negombo creeks, north of Colombo, east of Chilaw. Most webpages, references, and maps seem to indicate the Muneeswaram temple at Puttalam. This is not correct. Chilaw is almost mid-distance between Negombo and Puttalam. The temple is only about 10 kms east of Chilaw on a very easy approachable road. There are other temples around the Muneeswaram temple. There seems to be mention of four Ganesha temples in a quadrant as four vertices to the Muneeswaram temple.

The sthala-purana (= ancient story of the location) refers to the times of the Ramayana, of Ravana establishing the pre-ancient Shiva lingam, and of Rama, Lakshmana, Hanuman, Sugreeva and Vibheeshana conducting prayers at the location and offering abhishekham (= dedicated prayers with offerings to be poured on the Shiva lingam).

The Shiva lingam within the temple sanctum is ancient but was established by rulers in Sri Lanka or from Tamil Nadu during the anno domini years before colonisation by European rulers. There are many fascinating stories about the temple and its struggle for survival during the colonial years of the Portuguese. The local community managed to protect the temple through several years of passive and persistent resistance. many devotees lost their lives in the repeated attacks by the Portuguese.

Today, the temple is venerated and worshipped by hindus, buddhists and muslims. Prayers are mostly offered by buddhist devotees and the temple is a paramount example of the convergence of religions. 

Kartikeya leaves Kailasa - The story and the mystery.

The story goes that there was a certain reward to be shared between Kartikeya and Ganesha. Shiva had to decide if the reward was to be shared or if it was to be given entirely to only one of his sons. There are many versions of this story, and some say that the reward was just a fruit, a magical fruit nonetheless, and other stories claim that the reward were two brides to be married to the two brothers. Anyways, Shiva determined a competition between the two brothers to help him choose. He asked them to circumnavigate the world, thrice, and return to Kailasa, to claim the prize. The brothers agreed to the competition.

Kartikeya went out, seated on the Peacock, his vaahana (= vehicle). He went about to complete the circumnavigation of the globe and completed three rounds and returned to Kailasa rapidly. Upon reaching Kailasa, Kartikeya found that Ganesha was seated comfortably, happy, and that he had already claimed the reward. On enquiry, he was told that Ganesha had moved, seated on his mushika (= mouse), that was his vaahana, and had merely done three rounds around Shiva and Parvati.

When asked for an explanation by Parvati, Ganesha had answered that, to him, his parents were his entire world. He had done what he thought was correct, and that he had gone around his parents, for they were the entire world. The answer had pleased Shiva and Parvati immensely, and they had given the entire reward to Ganesha, without waiting for Kartikeya's return.

The answer had angered Kartikeya. It implied that they had not valued the determination and hard work that he had put in while traveling around the entire world thrice. In anger, Kartikeya left Kailasa and traveled out of the Himalayas.

There is certainly an aspect of mystery about the exact nature of reward that was to have been shared between Kartikeya and Ganesha. One story reveals that it was supposed to have been a celestial mango given to Shiva by Narada when the latter visited Kailasa. The celestial nature of the mango was that it was a "fruit of knowledge" (= gnyana palam), coupled with excellent taste. 

Being young lads, the story goes, the desire to possess the entire fruit was competitive. An intriguing aspect of the competition is the immediate acceptance of the challenge posed by Shiva for the winner to be declared after knowing who circled the world and came back before the other. Perhaps, Shiva, had no other option but to accept Ganesha's intelligent maneuver in declaring that his parents were the world for him, and going around them, and thereby winning the mango-fruit. For, after all, wasn't it supposed to be the 'fruit of knowledge'? Who else could lay claim to it, other than the one with the sharper strategy?

The other mystery could be that it would have probably taken a tremendously longer time for Kartikeya to have gone around the world, and return to claim the mango-fruit. That was however not so, declares the Puranas. It is thus written that Kartikeya traveled on his celestial vaahana (= vehicle), the blue peacock, and returned in the "blink of an eye". 

This really intrigues me. If Kartikeya did return in the 'blink of an eye', it would have still taken Ganesha more time to actually walk around his parents. Anyhow, Kartikeya returned to Kailasa, understood that he had been outsmarted, and got angry. It is said thus, that there was perhaps inherent reason for Narada to visit Kailasa, and incite a family fight, and break up the happy household of Shiva and Parvati and cause the events in the future to begin to uphold all over the Indian Subcontinent.